And Hector too –
how could he hold back with his massing, armored Trojans?
Now like a flashing eagle swooping down on bird-flocks,
winged thousands feeding, swarming a river’s banks,
geese, cranes or swans with their long lancing necks –
so swooping Hector went headfirst at a warship,
charged its purple prow, and Zeus behind him
thrust him on with his mighty, deathless hand,
urging the soldiers on who crowded Hector’s back.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 15, lines 799-807. Hector is compared to an eagle swooping down on bird flocks in an epic simile describing how he moves against Great Ajax and the Achaean ships. He gets support from the god Zeus, who urges him and his soldiers on.