Odysseus Reveals Himself

22“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 overcome
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 you shall be
The friends and brothers of Telemachus
Thenceforth. And now, that you 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.”

23Thus having said, he drew from the broad scar
The covering rags; they looked and knew it well,
And wept, and round Odysseus threw their arms,
And kissed in that embrace the hero’s head
And shoulders, while Odysseus also kissed
Their heads and hands. The sun would have gone down
Upon their weeping, but for him. He said: —

24“Cease now from tears, lest someone from the hall
Should see us, and report of us within.
Now let us enter, not in company —
I first, and you thereafter, one by one,
And let the sign be this: the others all —
The haughty suitors —will refuse to me
The bow and quiver. When you bear it,
My noble friend Eumaeus, through the halls,
Bring it and place it in my hands, and charge
The women to make fast the solid doors;
And then if any one of them should hear
A groan or other noise of men within,
Let her not issue forth, but silently
Pursue her task. Meantime be it your care,
My good Philoetius, with a key to lock
The portals of the court and fix the chain.”

25Thus having said, into that noble pile
He passed again, and took the seat from which
He lately rose, and afterward, in turn,
Entered the servants of the godlike chief.