Simile by Langston Lightcap

Book 16, Lines 373-380

In this way, each Greek leader took out his man.

Wolves will unerrnigly pick off lambs or kids
That have become seperated from the flock
Through the shepard's lack of attention,
The marauding predators making swift havoc
Of the defenseless young animals.

So too the Greeks hd their way with the Trojans,
Whose only tactic now was dishonerable flight.

The tenor in this simile is the Greek leaders who are fighting and killing many of the Trojan soldiers. The vehicle is the wolves who are killing the weaker and essentially defenseless lambs. By refering to the Greek leaders as wolves and the Trojan soldiers as lambs it shows just how vulnerable the Trojan soldiers are to the superior fighting abilities of the Greek leaders. It creates a vivid mental image of lambs being picked off one by one. The Greek soldiers are the hunters who dominate over the Trojan soldiers, their prey. The shepard refers to the Trojan leaders, most likely Hector and Aeneas, who are not giving their soldiers enough attention and are allowing them to be killed by the Greek leaders. The link between the Trojan leaders and a shepard shows just how influential they are to the success of the trojan army. Without their help the Trojan soldiers are helpless in the hands of the Greek leaders.