Homer, Iliad 18.2-17 [for more on this passage, go here]
“Swift-footed Antilokhos came as a messenger to Achilles.
He found him in front of the straight-prowed ships,
Considering through his heart what things could have happened.
He was deeply troubled then and spoke to his own great heart:
“Oh, my heart, why are the long-haired Achaeans again
Clustering around the ships, horrified from the plain?
I hope the gods haven’t brought the evil pains to bear on my heart
As my mother once warned me and told me that
The best of the Myrmidons would be torn from the light of the sun
by Trojan hands while I was still alive.
Is it really that the bold son of Menoitios has died,
The fool. I really was telling him just to push the fire
From the ships and come back, and not to battle in force with Hektor.”
While he was going over those things in his thoughts and heart,
Then the son of glorious Nestor was coming near,
Shedding warm tears when he spoke his painful message.”
᾿Αντίλοχος δ’ ᾿Αχιλῆϊ πόδας ταχὺς ἄγγελος ἦλθε.
τὸν δ’ εὗρε προπάροιθε νεῶν ὀρθοκραιράων
τὰ φρονέοντ’ ἀνὰ θυμὸν ἃ δὴ τετελεσμένα ἦεν·
ὀχθήσας δ’ ἄρα εἶπε πρὸς ὃν μεγαλήτορα θυμόν·
ὤ μοι ἐγώ, τί τ’ ἄρ’ αὖτε κάρη κομόωντες ᾿Αχαιοὶ
νηυσὶν ἔπι κλονέονται ἀτυζόμενοι πεδίοιο;
μὴ δή μοι τελέσωσι θεοὶ κακὰ κήδεα θυμῷ,
ὥς ποτέ μοι μήτηρ διεπέφραδε καί μοι ἔειπε
Μυρμιδόνων τὸν ἄριστον ἔτι ζώοντος ἐμεῖο
χερσὶν ὕπο Τρώων λείψειν φάος ἠελίοιο.
ἦ μάλα δὴ τέθνηκε Μενοιτίου ἄλκιμος υἱὸς
σχέτλιος· ἦ τ’ ἐκέλευον ἀπωσάμενον δήϊον πῦρ
ἂψ ἐπὶ νῆας ἴμεν, μηδ’ ῞Εκτορι ἶφι μάχεσθαι.
Εἷος ὃ ταῦθ’ ὥρμαινε κατὰ φρένα καὶ κατὰ θυμόν,
τόφρά οἱ ἐγγύθεν ἦλθεν ἀγαυοῦ Νέστορος υἱὸς
δάκρυα θερμὰ χέων, φάτο δ’ ἀγγελίην ἀλεγεινήν·
Schol. A ad Hom. Il. 18.4
“People who are struggling for their loved ones fall into desperation among dangers. Their minds fall into misfortune in advance.”
οἱ περὶ τῶν φίλων ἀγωνιῶντες ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις δυσέλπιδές εἰσιν. ἔστι δὲ τῶν ἐν ἀτυχίᾳ προληπτικὸς ὁ νοῦς.
Schol. A ad Hom. Il. 18.10-11a ex
“According to Rhianos [fr. 1M] the issue isn’t that there are two [who are the best of the Myrmidons] but that Patroklos is not one of the Myrmidons, since he is a Lokrian from Opos. So, Aristarchus claims that that one should know from this that he is the best of the Myrmidons after him. According to some of those who follow Homer, Aktôr the father of Menoitios allegedly took Aigina and Menoitios was born from her and lived in Opos. So, Patroklos is a Myrmidon by origin. Patroklos can be said to be a Myrmidon for other reasons as well, thanks to the fact that he leads the Myrmidons after Achilles.
But how is it, some ask, that after Achilles learned this fact from his mother he still sent Patroklos to war? One might ay that it is because she didn’t speak the name or the time clearly, that there was some forgetting of these kinds of things at the right time. But once it happened, they recall it.”
Porph. (?) χερσὶν ὕπο Τρώων <λείψειν φάος ἠελίοιο>: ἐν τῇ ῾Ριανοῦ (fr. 1 M.) οὐκ ἦσαν οἱ δύο, ἴσως ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἦν Μυρμιδὼν ὁ Πάτροκλος· Λοκρὸς γὰρ ἦν ἐξ ᾿Οποῦντος. δεῖν δέ φησιν ὁ ᾿Αρίσταρχος οὕτως αὐτὸ παραδέχεσθαι, τὸν μετ’ αὐτὸν ἄριστον τῶν Μυρμιδόνων. | καὶ κατά τινας δὲ τῶν μεθ’ ῞Ομηρον ῎Ακτωρ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ Μενοιτίου λέγεται λαβεῖν Αἴγιναν, ἐκ ταύτης δὲ γενέσθαι Μενοίτιον καὶ οἰκῆσαι ἐν ᾿Οποῦντι. οὕτως οὖν γίνεται τὸ ἀνέκαθεν Μυρμιδὼν ὁ Πάτροκλος.
δύναται δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως Μυρμιδὼν ὁ Πάτροκλος λέγεσθαι διὰ τὸ μετὰ τὸν ᾿Αχιλλέα ἡγήσασθαι τῶν Μυρμιδόνων. | πῶς δέ, φασί, τοῦτο πεπυσμένος παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς ἔπεμπε τὸν Πάτροκλον εἰς τὸν πόλεμον; ὅτι, φαίη τις ἄν, οὔτε τοὔνομα σαφῶς εἶπεν οὔτε τὸν χρόνον, παρά τε τὸν καιρὸν λήθη γίνεται τῶν τοιούτων. ὅταν δὲ ἀποβῇ, μιμνῄσκονται.
