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Book Eleven
214). On that argument Akhilleus should now be anticipating what he
received after a fashion in book 19, a public acknowledgement by
Agamemnon of his 6CTT| (cf. 1. 411 —12 and 9.372—3 — where Agamemnon is
taunted for acting by proxy); yet Akhilleus says nothing here about frank
admissions on Agamemnon's part, Agamemnon being not so much as
mentioned, irepi youvcrra or-r^vai AiaaoiJievous, it may be said, implies a
more humble posture than that assumed by Odysseus and Aias in book 9
(see 9.50m.), but the lack of it did not form there any part of Akhilleus'
complaint. The verses therefore remain a strong indication that the
Embassy is among the latest of the ideas and episodes built into the Iliad
whose contribution to the poem is here and in book 16 overridden by an
older concept of a vengeful Akhilleus; they do not of themselves, of course,
indicate when or at whose hands the evolution of the tale of Akhilleus took
that form. See introduction to book 9 and 2-5i-2nn. for the methodology
adopted in this commentary in the face of such inconsistencies, and also
Page, HHI305-6, and Schadewaldt, Iliasstudien 81. The thesis that in oral
or oral-derived composition the poet habitually looks forward to the next
narrative goal (cf. introduction to book 10) explains silences with respect to
preceding events, but not contradictions.
610 = 10.118 where see n.
611-15 Patroklos is now given the role of messenger. He has previously
performed humble tasks for Akhilleus, having acted as server (9.20iff.),
officiant (9.219), and major-domo (9.658). These were normally the tasks
of KT)pUK8S, cf. Od. 7.178 (server), //. 12.351 (messenger). Patroklos is, in
comparison with Akhilleus, remarkably lacking in heroic self-assertiveness.
Even so his being assigned these humble roles seems to reflect the poet's
desire to bring him by any means to his audience's attention as Akhilleus'
ETodpos before his debut as warrior in book 16.
611 Contraction in the classical verb always affects the personal ending,
but epic forms in which the termination is unaffected and contraction of the
root and thematic vowels takes place are attested, cf. aiSsio (< aiSs-e-o,
24.503), uuOelai {Od. 8.180), velai {Od. 11.114, 12.141, < -s-e-ai); so here
ipsio sic, for epelo < Ips-e-o, with the same form of the root as IpsovTOci
(8.445, etc.).
615 TTOcpiYi^av: we should not enquire by what gate Agamemnon,
Diomedes, and Odysseus entered the camp, for up to this point the scene
of the narrative has been the battlefield, not the camp. Akhilleus is assumed
to be in ignorance of their fate - he first hears of it at 16.236°. The
wounded Makhaon, however, was driven past (irap-) Akhilleus' quarters,
which were on the Achaean extreme right, a detail that is necessary to
motivate Akhilleus' interest. With the shift of the narrative to the camp
the detail of the Achaean retreat becomes clearer. At 12.118 it is stated
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