Simile Post, by Warren Griffin

"Agamemnon smiled and moved on,
Coming next to the two captains
Who shared the name Ajax
As they were strapping on their helmets.
Behind them a cloud of infantry loomed.

A goatherd standing on a rocky lookout
Sees a cloud moving in over the purple sea.
As a westerly gale sweeps it closer to land
It looks blacker than pitch. The sea ruffles
Beneath it, the air suddenly turns cold,
And the goatherd drives his flock to a cave.

So the dark battalions behind the two Ajaxes,
Squall lines of young men nurtured under the sky,
Bristling with shields and spears."  Iliad 04.289-302 (Lombardo translation)

An infantryman provides over-watch from a patrol base in Afghanistan while a storm approaches--rolling over the distant mountains.

In this example, the tenor are the Trojans observing the mass of infantry that has formed up behind the chiefs; the vehicle is the goatherd and his flock retreating to safety--in flight of an incoming storm. The simile helps the reader imagine the terrible size of the Achaean infantry, and signals that the real battle is to begin. The goatherd observing the sea only to notice an incoming storm can also correspond to any characters on the periphery of the engagement that had held wishful hopes that the battle could have been avoided through Paris' duel with Menelaus; now that the duel has been finished and the Trojans have broke the agreed terms, absolute war is inevitable.