like flocks of sheep in a wealthy rancher's steadings, thousands crowding to have their white milk drained, bleating nonstop when they hear their crying lambs - so the shouts rose up from the long Trojan lines

But not the Trojans, no…
like flocks of sheep in a wealthy rancher’s steadings,
thousands crowding to have their white milk drained,
bleating nonstop when they hear their crying lambs –
so the shouts rose up from the long Trojan lines
and not one cry, no common voice to bind them
all together, their tongues mixed and clashed,
their men hailed from so many far-flung countries.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 502-509. An epic animal simile is used here to contrast the confusion and disorder in the Trojan army, by comparison to the well organized and orderly Achaeans. The Trojans are likened to flocks of sheep bleating nonstop when they hear their young lambs crying.

Homer Quotes