Answer:
This excerpt mainly contains <u>metaphors.</u> Metaphors are comparisons of two things--example, fresh scent → sunny breeze--that are deemed alike in different aspects.
<em>note: metaphors never contain phrases such as, "like" or, "as" when comparing!</em>
In the book, there where a few characters that you can say were struggling for power. One person I would say before everyone would be Luke. His constant training and all his experience would make him fit the discretion also at the end he turned out to be the true lightning thief. Another would be Kronos, although he isn't mentioned until the end of the book, he was the one manipulating everyone's thought and turning the good bad. He gave Luke the idea to steal the master bolt. So either of the two could be the answer. Hope I helped. :)
Hamlet comments on Alexander the Great in this scene, because when he holds up Horatio's skull, he thinks about how it does not matter who a person is during his or her lifetime, all people are the same once they die. He goes on to describe that even a person as prominent as Alexander the Great will rot and decay like everyone else, regardless of his importance during his lifetime.
