Simonides and Horace on the Death of Achilles

I reproduce the text of Simonides fr. 11.1–12 as given by West 1993a.6, Which corresponds to W² with the restorations proposed exempli gratia in his apparatus. In his initial publication, Parsons 1992a.28 recorded West’s proposal to locate POxy 2327, fr. 5 immediately before 2327, fr. 6, which in turn overlaps with POxy 3965, fr. 1; these three fragments laid out with two others form Simon, fr. 11 W². Parsons 1992a observes (i) that 2327, fr. 5 clearly speaks of the death of a hero, fr. 6 of the death of someone who dies at the hand of Apollo; (ii) that the physical evidence of the papyrus is compatible with, but does not provide absolute proof of, the relationship mentioned above between the two pieces; and (iii) that nonetheless other contexts can be imagined for fr. 5, even within the Elegy on Plataea, to which certainly belongs fr. 11.6–45 W². The “heroic death” which is compared to a tree cut down by woodcutters could be that of one of the combatants in Plataea ¹ rather than that of Achilles, as it would have to be if West’s collocation for fr. 5 is accepted.