similes

Achilles → little girl simile

• Achilles compares Patroclus to a crying child clinging to her mother

Myrmidons → wolves

• Wolves tearing raw flesh, blood dripping from jaws

Myrmidons → wasps

• Wasps stirred from their nest, fiercely defending it

Battle clearing → storm-clouds dispersing

• As wind clears mist from the mountains

Patroclus → god of war

• He rages like Ares among the Trojans

Trojan flight → cattle fleeing a lion

• Trojans scatter in panic before Patroclus

Patroclus’ attack → blazing fire

• Like fire sweeping through dry woodland

Ajaxes (earlier overlap) → lions

• Standing firm over a kill (linked to wider Greek defence)

Sarpedon → oak / poplar / pine

• Tree cut down by shipbuilders

Armies clashing → flies around milk pails

• Swarming relentlessly in summer

Patroclus → lion

• Lion attacking cattle, doomed by its own boldness