“Herdsman and swineherd, shall I say to you Somewhat, or shall I keep it back? My heart Moves me to say it. Should Ulysses come, Led by some god, and suddenly, what aid Would he receive from you? Would ye take part With him, or with the suitors? Frankly speak; And tell me what your hearts would bid you do.”
Then answered thus the keeper of the herds:
“O Father Jove! wouldst thou but grant my wish, And let some god conduct him hither, then Shall it be seen what might is in these hands!”
So also did Eumaeus offer prayer To all the deities, that speedily The wise Ulysses might return; and when The chief perceived in all its truth the thought And purpose of their hearts, he spake and said:—
“Know, then, that I myself am he, at home Again, returning in the twentieth year, And after many sufferings, to the land That saw my birth. I know that I am come Welcome to you alone of all my train Of servants, since I hear no others pray For my return. Hear, then, what I engage Shall be hereafter. If some god o’ercome For me these arrogant suitors, I will give To each of you a wife and lands, and build For each a house near mine, and ye shall be The friends and brothers of Telemachus Thenceforth. And now, that ye may surely know And trust me, I will show a token here— A scar which once the white tooth of a boar Made, when long since, on the Parnassian mount, I hunted with Autolycus’s sons.”
Thus having said, he drew from the broad scar The covering rags; they looked and knew it well, And wept, and round Ulysses threw their arms, And kissed in that embrace the hero’s head And shoulders, while Ulysses also kissed Their heads and hands. The sun would have gone down Upon their weeping, but for him. He said:—