"The troops exulting sate in order round,
And beaming fires illumined all the ground."
Then follows the famous simile of the moon, suddenly throwing its radiance over the obscure features of the landscape.
But Homer, the poet of realities, soon returns to the true material—
"So many flames before proud Ilion blaze,
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays,
A thousand piles the dusky horrors gild,
And shoot a shadowy lustre o'er the field.
Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend,
Whose umber'd arms by fits thick flashes send;