Question

Which of these excerpts from the Iliad by Homer uses an epic simile? Good heaven! what active feats yon artist shows! What skilful divers are our Phrygian foes! Mark with what ease they sink into the sand! Pity that all their practice is by land! . . . Then rushing sudden on his prostrate prize, To spoil the carcase fierce Patroclus flies: Swift as a lion, terrible and bold, That sweeps the field, depopulates the fold; . . . Now flaming from the zenith, Sol had driven His fervid orb through half the vault of heaven; While on each host with equal tempests fell The showering darts, and numbers sank to hell . . . For lo! the god in dusky clouds enshrined, Approaching dealt a staggering blow behind. The weighty shock his neck and shoulders feel; His eyes flash sparkles, his stunn’d senses reel

Answer 1

Then rushing sudden on his prostrate prize, To spoil the carcase fierce Patroclus flies: Swift as a lion, terrible and bold, That sweeps the field, depopulates the fold

This passage is comparing Patroclus to a lion who is fast, brave, and able to kill every enemy in sight. 

Answer 2

Then rushing sudden on his prostrate prize,

To spoil the carcase fierce Patroclus flies:

Swift as a lion, terrible and bold,

That sweeps the field, depopulates the fold;