Random observation/question: Why is it that "Myrmidon" (when not referring to the Myrmidons) is usually pejorative? Too loyal, too ant-like? Joined with Achilles' sitting out from the fighting and hence associated with some kind of Fifth-Column-ness?
This comment by Philip Giraldi on the recent National Intelligence Estimate refers to Karen Hughes' (media) "Myrmidons"--perhaps the reference to "worker bees" in the previous sentence is an indicator of a train of entomological associations? See these other references in the news too, including mention of "brown Nazi myrmidons"...
OED:
2. A member of a bodyguard or retinue; a faithful follower; one of a group or team of attendants, servants, or assistants. Also in extended use. [Occas. difficult to distinguish from sense 3.] ...3. a. A member of a gang or army adhering to a particular leader; a hired ruffian or mercenary. b. In extended use: an opportunistic or sycophantic supporter; a hanger-on.
I like this pair of attestations: 1874 F. W. FARRAR Life Christ II. lx. 372 Herod and his corrupt hybrid myrmidons ‘set Him at nought’. 1927 S. LEWIS Elmer Gantry iii. 45 No timid Jesus did he preach, but the adventurer who had..dared to face the soldiers in the garden, who had dared the myrmidons of Rome and death itself!
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