similes from Iliad 17
ὥς τις περὶ πόρτακι μήτηρ
πρωτοτόκος κινυρὴ οὐ πρὶν εἰδυῖα τόκοιο:
ὣς περὶ Πατρόκλῳ βαῖνε ξανθὸς Μενέλαος.
Like a cow about her calf, a new mother,
bellowing, having not known childbirth before,
so did fair Menelaus go about Patroclus. (lines 4-6)
ὥς τίς τε λέων περὶ οἷσι τέκεσσιν,
ᾧ ῥά τε νήπι᾽ ἄγοντι συναντήσωνται ἐν ὕλῃ
ἄνδρες ἐπακτῆρες: ὃ δέ τε σθένεϊ βλεμεαίνει,
πᾶν δέ τ᾽ ἐπισκύνιον κάτω ἕλκεται ὄσσε καλύπτων:
ὣς Αἴας περὶ Πατρόκλῳ ἥρωϊ βεβήκει.
Like a lion over his cubs,
one whom hunters have met face to face in the woods
leading his young: he celebrates in his strength
and draws down his brow, narrowing his eyes,
so did Ajax stand over the hero Patroclus. (line 133-7)
Patroclus is dead. The Trojans are trying to take his body in order to desecrate it. But Menelaus and Ajax are fighting to prevent this, with the fierceness of animals protecting their young. And damn, what a poignant comparison.
I want to call attention to the word order of the first line of Menelaus' simile. τις μητηρ, the words meaning 'a mother,' surround the word πορτακι 'calf,' creating a visual within the line itself of what the line is describing. You could also argue the same thing is happening in the last line of Ajax's simile.
~dys (both of these are my own work of translation.)