But the hero sprang away, far as a hard-flung spear, swooping fast as the black eagle, the fierce marauder, both the strongest and swiftest bird that flies the sky - on he streaked.

But the hero sprang away, far as a hard-flung spear,
swooping fast as the black eagle, the fierce marauder,
both the strongest and swiftest bird that flies the sky –
on he streaked.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 284-287. The river god Xanthus (known as Scamander to mortals) rises up in a murderous wave to halt Achilles’s rampage of killing. But as described in Homer’s extended simile the Greek hero runs from the attacking river like a swooping black eagle.

Homer Quotes