Antinous and Eurymachus still held back, each in the full assurance
that he, and none other, had strength to bend the bow.

II

Odysseus sat watching the wooers from his place at the upper end of
the hall, and his heart misgave him when he thought of the appalling
task which he had undertaken. He had acquitted himself like a hero in
many a hard-fought field, but never in all his life had he faced such
odds as these. While he thus mused, and weighed the chances in his
mind, he saw Eumaeus and Philoetius leave the hall together, and pass
out through the courtyard gate. Then a sudden thought struck him, and
muttering to himself, "I must risk it," he rose and followed the two
men. He found them talking together outside the courtyard fence, and
in order to make trial of their temper he addressed them in these
cautious terms: "Tell me truly, good friends, which side would ye
take, if by some miracle Odysseus suddenly appeared in this house?
Would ye be for the wooers or for him?"

Eumaeus and Philoetius with one voice protested that they were ready to
hazard their lives for the rights of their master, whereupon Odysseus
hesitated no longer, but answered: "The miracle has been wrought; I am
he! After twenty years of toil and wandering Heaven hath brought me
home. I have watched ye both, and I know that ye alone among all the
thralls remain true to me. Only continue steadfast for this day, and
your reward is assured. I will build houses for ye both, close to my
own, and ye shall dwell there with your wives, as my friends and
neighbours, equals in honour with Telemachus, my son."

The swineherd and neatherd listened with amazement, willing to
believe, but still half in doubt; but when Odysseus showed them the
scar, which they had seen many a time before, they were convinced, and
embraced their old master with tears and cries of joy. Having allowed
them some moments to indulge their feelings, Odysseus checked them
with a warning gesture. "Take heed to yourselves," he said, "or your
cries will betray us. And now mark what I shall tell you. I will go
back to the house first, and do ye two follow me one by one. To thee,
Philoetius, I give charge to make fast the gate of the courtyard, with
bolt, and with bar, and with cord. And thou, Eumaeus, when the time
comes, shalt bring the bow and place it in my hands, whether the
wooers cry out on thee or not; and when thou hast given me the bow, go
straightway and command the women to ma