Was looking today at the passage where Odysseus strikes Thersites, Iliad book II 265-269, noticing that “tear,” “back,” and “scepter” are all repeated in similar parts of the line. (“Scepter” toward the front, “back” toward the middle, “tear” toward the end, which, incidentally, rather indicates the order of events when Odysseus strikes Thersites.) I like how “blood-red welt” contrasts with “golden scepter” which occurs in the same position of the line that follows it. The gold of the scepter corresponds with the goriness of the welt, as if the goldenness created the redness: the scepter made the welt but the goldenness made the welt red.
ὣς ἄρ᾽ ἔφη, σκήπτρῳ δὲ μετάφρενον ἠδὲ καὶ ὤμω
πλῆξεν: ὃ δ᾽ ἰδνώθη, θαλερὸν δέ οἱ ἔκπεσε δάκρυ:
σμῶδιξ δ᾽ αἱματόεσσα μεταφρένου ἐξυπανέστη
σκήπτρου ὕπο χρυσέου: ὃ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἕζετο τάρβησέν τε,
ἀλγήσας δ᾽ ἀχρεῖον ἰδὼν ἀπομόρξατο δάκρυ.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 