All 11 Uses of
torrent
in
The Iliad by Homer - (translated by: Edward)
- As when, descending from the mountain's brow,
Two wintry torrents, from their copious source
Pour downward to the narrow pass, where meet
Their mingled waters in some deep ravine,
Their weight of flood; on the far mountain's side
The shepherd hears the roar; so loud arose
The shouts and yells of those commingling hosts.†Chpt 1.4 *torrents = overwhelming amounts
- Thus labour'd they amid the stubborn fight;
But of Tydides none might say to whom
His arm belong'd, or whether with the hosts
Of Troy or Greece he mingled in the fight:
Hither and thither o'er the plain he rush'd,
Like to a wintry stream, that brimming o'er
Breaks down its barriers in its rapid course;
Nor well-built bridge can stem the flood, nor fence
guards the fertile fields, as down it pours
Its sudden torrent, swoll'n with rain from Heav'n,
And many a goodly work of man destroys:
So back were borne before Tydides' might
The serried ranks of Troy, nor dar'd await,
Despite their numbers, his impetuous charge.†Chpt 1.5
- Then Ajax, on the Trojans springing, slew
Doryclus, royal Priam's bastard son;
Next Pyrasus he smote, and Pandocus,
Lysander, and Pylartes; as a stream,
Swoll'n by the rains of Heav'n, that from the hills
Pours down its wintry torrent on the plain;
And many a blighted oak, and many a pine
It bears, with piles of drift-wood, to the sea
So swept illustrious Ajax o'er the plain,
O'erthrowing men and horses; though unknown
To Hector; he, upon Scamander's banks
Was warring on the field's extremest left,
Where round great Nestor and the warlike King
Idomeneus, while men were falling fast,
Rose, irrepressible, the battle cry.†Chpt 2.11
-
Nine days against the wall the torrent beat;†Chpt 2.12
- As some huge boulder, from its rocky bed
Detach'd, and by the wintry torrent's force
Hurl'd down the cliff's steep face, when constant rains
The massive rock's firm hold have undermin'd;†Chpt 2.13
- As in th' autumnal season, when the earth
With weight of rain is saturate; when Jove
Pours down his fiercest storms in wrath to men,
Who in their courts unrighteous judgments pass,
And justice yield to lawless violence,
The wrath of Heav'n despising; ev'ry stream
Is brimming o'er: the hills in gullies deep
Are by the torrents seam'd, which, rushing down
From the high mountains to the dark-blue sea,
With groans and tumult urge their headlong course,
Wasting the works of man; so urg'd their flight,
So, as they fled, the Trojan horses groan'd.†Chpt 2.16torrents = overwhelming amounts
- th' Ajaces in their rear
Stemming the war, as stems the torrent's force
Some wooded cliff, far stretching o'er the plain;†Chpt 2.17
- On, terror-struck, they rush'd; but Juno spread,
To baffle their retreat, before their path,
Clouds and thick darkness: half the fugitives
In the deep river's silv'ry eddies plung'd:
With clamour loud they fell: the torrent roar'd;
The banks around re-echoed; here and there,
They, with the eddies wildly struggling, swam.†Chpt 2.21
- His spear amid the tamarisks on the bank
The hero left; on savage deeds intent,
Arm'd with his sword alone, a God in pow'r,
He sprang amid the torrent; right and left
He smote; then fearful rose the groans of men
Slain with the sword; the stream ran red with blood.†Chpt 2.21
- Haste to the rescue then, and from their source
Fill all thy stream, and all thy channels swell;
Rouse thy big waves, and roll a torrent down
Of logs and stones, to whelm this man of might,
Who triumphs now, and bears him as a God.†Chpt 2.21
- There many a steer lay stretch'd beneath the knife,
And many a sheep, and many a bleating goat,
And many a white-tusk'd porker, rich in fat,
There lay extended, singeing o'er the fire;
And blood, in torrents, flow'd around the corpse.†Chpt 2.23torrents = overwhelming amounts
Definition:
an overwhelming amount -- especially of quickly moving water