主題: 多層次的比喻
Iliad 12.
108-194
《伊利亞特》第十二卷描寫特洛伊人攻進希臘人的陣地，正面交鋒在壁壘之上，是戰爭的高潮之一，細節點出古代建造城牆壁壘等技術，對話之間勾勒出戰略與軍事布局。同時，是人性的描述。接下來這段，出現一型的例子，Asios帶領特洛伊第三分隊，但是卻不聽從Hector的指揮，因為不願意把馬車留下交給守衛看顧，執意騎馬闖關，詩人下註腳，這真是愚蠢之至 (νήπιος, silly)，也註定難逃死亡女神 (κήρ, the goddess of death) (Iliad 12. 113)。態度決定一個人的高度，驕必敗，Asios的命運事實上是自己造成的，這一段點出他的性格問題，第一，放不下馬車，不相信別人；第二，不服從，自大，所以不能融入團隊；第三，怨天尤人，之後就看見他失敗之際，還是不會檢討自己，而是責怪天神宙斯，而且口氣很差，直接說宙斯是騙子(φιλοψευδής，fond of lies) (Iliad
12. 164)。
《伊利亞特》第十二卷108-194行，出現幾處十分經典的比喻，例如這次抗敵成功的兩名希臘大將，被譽為兩棵狂風暴雨中的巨大橡樹:
τὼ μὲν ἄρα προπάροιθε πυλάων ὑψηλάων
ἕστασαν ὡς ὅτε τε δρύες οὔρεσιν ὑψικάρηνοι,
αἵ τ᾽ ἄνεμον μίμνουσι καὶ ὑετὸν ἤματα πάντα
ῥίζῃσιν μεγάλῃσι διηνεκέεσσ᾽ ἀραρυῖαι:
ὣς ἄρα τὼ χείρεσσι πεποιθότες ἠδὲ βίηφι
μίμνον ἐπερχόμενον μέγαν Ἄσιον οὐδὲ φέβοντο.
οἳ δ᾽ ἰθὺς πρὸς τεῖχος ἐΰδμητον βόας αὔας
ὑψόσ᾽ ἀνασχόμενοι ἔκιον μεγάλῳ ἀλαλητῷ
Ἄσιον ἀμφὶ ἄνακτα καὶ Ἰαμενὸν καὶ Ὀρέστην
Ἀσιάδην τ᾽ Ἀδάμαντα Θόωνά τε Οἰνόμαόν τε. (Iliad 12. 131-40)
These two made their stand before the lofty gate,
like two high-topped mountain oak
trees which defy
wind and rain each and every day,
anchored there
by huge extensive roots—just like
that, these two men,
trusting the power in their arms, held their position,
as great Asius approached. They did
not run off.
Holding bull’s hide shields up
high, with loud shouts,
Asius’ men came straight for the well-built wall,
behind lord Asius, Iamenus,
Orestes,
Adamas, Asius’ son, Thoön, and Oenomaus.
這兩位守在壁壘城門前的英雄是Polypoetes和Leonteus，他們奮力抵擋，有龐大的根基，強壯的手臂與力氣，抵擋日日狂風暴雨。這也是典型的荷馬是比喻，一個比喻英雄是大樹，而英雄就化為大樹。當特洛伊人拿著牛皮盾大喊，大樹，還是屹立不搖。
接下來還把這兩位大英雄比喻成不畏獵人的野豬 (Iliad 12.
146-49)，兩軍大戰，壁壘上的人紛紛丟下石頭，如雪花片片，這些都是史詩常見的比喻(Iliad 12. 156-58)。
當Asisu雙腿都中箭，心中充滿怨懟，大聲斥責宙斯，他也引用一個比喻，把這兩位捍衛壁壘的英雄喻為黃蜂 (σφήξ, wasp)，拼命守住蜂窩和保衛後代，堅決與採蜜人搏鬥 (Iliad
12. 167-172)。這比喻顯然看輕眼前的大英雄，但也點出Asisus自大的性格。此外，荷馬史詩中昆蟲的比喻較少，另外幾個例子: 1. wasps (Iliad
16.259-65); 2. bees (Iliad 2.87-90);
3. cicadas (Iliad 3.151.2); 4. flies
(Iliad 16.641-3, Iliad 17.570-2); 5. grasshoppers (Iliad 21.12-13)。
Polypoetes和Leonteus奮力擊倒敵人，特洛伊大將紛紛落地，史詩形容悲壯之景，連眾神看了都不禁心寒 (Iliad 12.
179)。
However, shields of one or one and a half meter height are also known to
have been used by the ancient Egyptian warriors. The size of the shield used
for fighting varied upon the usage of the weapon. Bronze shields were used at
the time of the New Kingdom reign. The metal shields were ornamented by carving
pictures on them. Big shields were inconvenient during wars as they were heavy
and restricted the time for which they could be carried. On the other hand,
smaller shields were easy to manage and also served the purpose of protecting
its user from being attacked.
From the same grave comes a gold ring representing a battle scene. One of
the warriors is completely protected by a tower shield with several embossed
dots on the external surface. These could be interpreted as the decorative
elements of a thin bronze plate placed as additional reinforcement, or the
studs used to joint together the several layers of hide.
