Homer's Iliad

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Near the climax of the Iliad, Achilles alone chases a large number of Trojans into the river Xanthos, where they take refuge, Homer says, like locusts  take refuge in a river when they are being attacked with fire. Emily Drummond notes that the people of Cyprus are known to have actually used this method to combat locusts, but she points out that the simile also needs to be seen next to other similes in the immediate context where Achilles is compared to fire. Iliad 21.8-16, discussed, translated, and read aloud by Emily Drummond.

ἐς ποταμὸν εἰλεῦντο βαθύρροον ἀργυροδίνην,
ἐν δ’ ἔπεσον μεγάλῳ πατάγῳ, βράχε δ’ αἰπὰ ῥέεθρα,
ὄχθαι δ’ ἀμφὶ περὶ μεγάλ’ ἴαχον· οἳ δ’ ἀλαλητῷ
ἔννεον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα ἑλισσόμενοι περὶ δίνας.
ὡς δ’ ὅθ’ ὑπὸ ῥιπῆς πυρὸς ἀκρίδες ἠερέθονται
φευγέμεναι ποταμὸν δέ· τὸ δὲ φλέγει ἀκάματον πῦρ
ὄρμενον ἐξαίφνης, ταὶ δὲ πτώσσουσι καθ’ ὕδωρ·
ὣς ὑπ’ Ἀχιλλῆος Ξάνθου βαθυδινήεντος
πλῆτο ῥόος κελάδων ἐπιμὶξ ἵππων τε καὶ ἀνδρῶν.