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Odysseus takes refuge on the farm of the swineherd Eumaios, whither Athene brings Telemachos. Odysseus reveals himself, to Telemachos' disbelief:
"Telemachos, it does not become you to wonder too much
at your own father when he is here, nor doubt him. No other
Odysseus than I will ever come back to you. But here I am,
and I am as you see me, and after hardships and suffering
much I have come, in the twentieth year, back to my own country.
But here you see the work of Athene, the giver of plunder,
who turns me into whatever she pleases, since she can do thsi;
and now she will make me look like a beggar, but then the next time
like a young man, and wearing splendid clothes on my body;
and it is a light thing for the gods who hold wide heaven
to glorify any mortal man, or else to degrade him."
So he spoke, and sat down again, but now Telemachos
folded his great father in his arms and lamented,
shedding tears, and desire for mourning rose in both of them. |
