Spun like locusts
swarming up in the air, whipped by rushing fire,
flitting toward a river – the tireless fire blazes,
scorching them all with hard explosive blasts of flame
and beaten down in the depths the floating locusts huddle –
so at Achilles’ charge the Xanthus’ swirling currents
choked with a spate of horse and men – the river roared.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 21, lines 13-19. The Trojans fleeing Achilles’s charge are caught in the River Xanthus. They are like swarms of locusts driven by fire to seek refuge in a river, as described in one of Homer’s beautiful epic similes.