“.. say all this to Achilles if he will listen to you. Who knows but with heaven’s help you may talk him over, for it is good to take a friend’s advice.”
~ The Iliad - Book XI (Samuel Butler Translation. p80 / v800)
The Iliad Book XI. The war rages on. Key heroes like Diomed are wounded. Paris wounds many with his archery. Hector marches forward. Nestor pleads with Patroclus to ask Achilles to join.
This is a quote from Book 11 of The Iliad - “say all this to Achilles if he will listen to you. Who knows but with heaven’s help you may talk him over, for it is good to take a friend’s advice”. All key Greek kings, including Agamemnon, Diomed, Ulysses, and Ajax, have been wounded at this stage. When Patroclus comes to Nestor to ask about Machaon, Nestor tells Patroclus that Achilles is the only hope for them to survive. He hopes that as Achilles’s closest friend, Patroclus would be able to convince him to put aside his anger.