The wounding of a hero, as in the case of the wound suffered by the hero Makhaon here, can put a stop to his aristeiā ‘epic high point’. See also the comment on I.11.288. The verb aristeuein here at I.11.506 can be interpreted as meaning ‘have an epic high point’, and we see that the wounding of Makhaon has stopped him from having such a high point. For more on aristeuein, which can also be translated as ‘strive to be the best, to be aristos’, see the comment at I.07.092–169.