"He must wear such rags, I know it,
knocking about, drifting through the world
if he’s still alive and sees the light of day.
If he’s dead already, lost in the House of Death,
my heart aches for Odysseus, my great lord and master."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 226-230. Cowherd Philoetius, still a loyal servant of Odysseus and his memory, thinks about his master, wondering if he is alive or dead. He is kind to the disguised Odysseus-the-beggar, bids him good day and ironically says that if Odysseus is still alive he must be wearing the same kind of rags. This passage contains an alusion to the Greek underworld of Hades, where the souls of the dead are said to have gone.