As a lion springs on flocks unguarded, shepherd gone,
pouncing on goats or sheep and claw-mad for the kill,
so Tydeus’ son went tearing into that Thracian camp
until he’d butchered twelve.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 10, lines 561-564. The horrors and triumphs of battle are vividly described here, as Diomedes goes on a rampage through the Thracian part of the Trojan camp and kills the sleeping soldiers. He is likened to a lion pouncing on goats or sheep – many of Homer’s epic similes compare warriors to predators.