"And so the man is safe,
As you can see, and he’s coming home, soon,
he’s close, close at hand –
he won’t be severed long from kin and country,
no not now. I give you my solemn, binding oath.
I swear by Zeus, the first, the greatest god –
By Odysseus’ hearth, where I have come for help:
All will come to pass, I swear exactly as I say.
True, this very month – just as the old moon dies
And the new moon rises into life – Odysseus will return!"
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 344-351. Odysseus-the-beggar tries to comfort Penelope with assurances that her husband is safe and close by. He predicts and swears by Zeus that Odysseus will return as the old moon dies and the new moon rises that very month. This is one of the poem’s many examples of dramatic irony, with the audience knowing more than the character. We know that the visitor is Odysseus, but Penelope believes he is just a beggar. This passage also foreshadows the Greek hero’s return home.