The two similes in the passage present an image of odyssey as

Battered but unruffled

Explanation:

Simile is a figure of language that refers to comparisons. In the excerpt shown in the question above, we can see the presence of the simile in the following lines:

Comparisons show that there is a man who is badly mistreated and suffering like a beggar, but he bears this miserable situation unbeatably like a stone. From this we can conclude that the two similes of the passage present an image of the odyssey as battered, but unruffled  .

after the roman empire, the catholic church began to unify by taking on many duties of a government.

imma say false because i dont know anything about this.