As crosswinds chop the sea where the fish swarm, the North Wind and the West Wind blasting out of Thrace in sudden, lightning attack, wave on blacker wave, cresting, heaving a tangled mass of seaweed - so the Achaeans' hearts were torn inside their chests.

As crosswinds chop the sea where the fish swarm,
the North Wind and the West Wind blasting out of Thrace
in sudden, lightning attack, wave on blacker wave, cresting,
heaving a tangled mass of seaweed out along the surf –
so the Achaeans’ hearts were torn inside their chests.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 4-8. After being routed by the Trojans, the Achaean army is completely demoralized and seized by panic. An epic simile describes crosswinds chopping the sea and heaving a mass of seaweed along the surf, likening this to the Greeks’ hearts being torn inside them.

Homer Quotes