As when some master tanner
gives his crews the hide of a huge bull for stretching,
the beast’s skin soaked in grease and the men grab hold,
bracing round in a broad circle, tugging, stretching hard
till the skin’s oils go dripping out as the grease sinks in,
so many workers stretch the whole hide tough and taut –
so back and forth in a cramped space they tugged,
both sides dragging the corpse and hopes rising,
Trojans hoping to drag Patroclus back to Troy,
Achaeans to drag him back to the hollow ships.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 17, lines 450-459. The Trojan and Achaean fighters struggle to claim the body of Patroclus. Homer compares this to the hide of a big bull being tugged and stretched by the crews of a master tanner, using an epic simile.