As crosswinds chop the sea where the fish swarm,
the North Wind and the West Wind blasting out of Thrace
in sudden, lightning attack, wave on blacker wave, cresting,
heaving a tangled mass of seaweed out along the surf –
so the Achaeans’ hearts were torn inside their chests.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 9, lines 4-8. After being routed by the Trojans, the Achaean army is completely demoralized and seized by panic. An epic simile describes crosswinds chopping the sea and heaving a mass of seaweed along the surf, likening this to the Greeks’ hearts being torn inside them.