Ajax skilled as a show-rider, a virtuoso horseman
who picks from the herd four stallions, yokes them tight
and galloping off the plain comes racing toward a large city,
over a trafficked road and the crowds gaze in wonder,
men and women watching, as sure-footed, never a slip,
the rider keeps on leaping, swinging from back to back
and the pounding team flies on. So Ajax swung now,
leaping from deck to deck on the fast trim ships,
ranging with huge strides as his voice hit the skies,
keeping up a terrific bellowing, calling Argives on
to defend the ships and shelters.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 15, lines 789-799. Great Ajax defends the Achaean ships, leaping from deck to deck, shouting at the soldiers to defend the ships and huts. An epic simile describes him as like a virtuoso horseman driving a team of four galloping stallions and leaping from one horse to another with never a slip.