Straight to the prince he rushed
and kissed his face and kissed his shining eyes,
both hands, as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
As a father, brimming with love, welcomes home
his darling only son in a warm embrace –
what pain he’s borne for him and him alone! –
home now, in the tenth year from far abroad,
so the loyal swineherd hugged the beaming prince.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 16-23. This passage describes the emotional reunion between Eumaeus and Odysseus’ son Telemachus. An epic simile compares the meeting in the doorway of the swineherd’s hut to a father welcoming home his son after a ten-year absence abroad. The comparison is ironic because Telemachus’ real father, the disguised Odysseus, is standing watching and he is the one who has been gone for many years.