For suddenly, just as the men tried to cross,
a fatal bird sign flashed before their eyes,
an eagle clutching a monstrous bloody serpent in both talons,
still alive, still struggling – it had not lost its fight,
writhing back to strike it fanged the chest of its captor
right beside the throat – and agonized by the bites
the eagle flung it away to earth, dashed it down
amidst the milling fighters, loosed a shriek
and the bird veered off along the gusting wind.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 12, lines 230-239. As the Trojans led by Hector and Polydamas try to storm and breach the Achaean wall, Zeus sends a sign, an omen. An eagle with a serpent in its talons flies over the Trojan army. But the great bird is in agony from the serpent’s bites and flings it down to earth among the fighters.