Homeric Questions and On the Cave of the Nymphs

Α Again, speaking concerning Hera:

"As when the mind of a man darts, who, having traveled
Much land, thinks with wise thoughts,
'Would I were here or there,' and plans many things,
So swiftly she flew, the queenly Hera."

And having made the simile from the mind, and from flying the response, contracting the same, he says in other places: "Like a wing or a thought." And that is also wonderful in him. For having spoken more boldly from a metaphor, he adds a proper simile, strengthening it, so that he made the daring reasonable. Having said, therefore: "His heart within him barked," he adds:

"As a dog, standing over her weak puppies,
Γ Barks at a man she does not know, and is eager to fight."

And again concerning the army:

"And the ranks sat dense,
Bristling with shields and helmets and spears."
Having said this, he added:
"As the West Wind spreads over the sea,
Δ Rising anew, and the sea darkens under it."

But concerning the oxen, he uses it even more intricately. For having begun from a metaphor, he adds to it the consequent comparison, and on both he sets the simile. "Clamor to clamor." This is the metaphor. "As birds," the comparison. Then the simile: "And like the clamor of cranes that is in the sky before." Which is almost the only one of the similes that did not give a response. As the comparison and the metaphor together anticipate the response. Again, one must observe this in him: for he often transfers words appropriately placed for things into the similes, and those of the similes into the things. For example, "nations" of soldiers is said. And "swarms" of bees. Having exchanged the custom