As a burly farmhand wielding a whetted ax, chopping a field-ranging bull behind the horns, hacks through its whole hump and the beast heaves up then topples forward - so Aretus reared, heaving up then toppled down on his back.

As a burly farmhand wielding a whetted ax,
chopping a field-ranging bull behind the horns,
hacks through its whole hump and the beast heaves up
then topples forward – so Aretus reared, heaving up
then toppled down on his back.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 593-597. When Automedon kills Priam’s son Aretus with a spear, Homer likens it to a big farmhand killing a bull with an axe, in an extended simile.

Homer Quotes