Both men bent on combat, on they fought like wind when a god sends down some welcome blast to sailors desperate for it, worked to death at the polished oars, beating the heavy seas, their arms slack with the labor

Both men bent on combat, on they fought like wind
when a god sends down some welcome blast to sailors
desperate for it, worked to death at the polished oars,
beating the heavy seas, their arms slack with the labor –
so welcome that brace of men appeared to the Trojans
desperate for their captains.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 3-8. The Trojan troops welcome their leaders Hector and his brother Paris back to the fighting. An epic simile compares the soldiers’ relief to a welcome blast of wind sent to tired sailors, who have been laboring to death at their oars in heavy seas.

Homer Quotes