As a man aches for his evening meal when all day long
his brace of wine-dark oxen have dragged the bolted plowshare
down a fallow field – how welcome the setting sun to him,
the going home to supper, yes, though his knees buckle,
struggling home at last. So welcome now to Odysseus
the setting light of day.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 34-39. Odysseus is about to leave the Phaeacians and return to his homeland of Ithaca. An extended simile compares him to a farmer who works all day plowing, and then looks forward to the sun setting and going home to enjoy his supper. Odysseus is waiting for the sun to set so he can sail to Ithaca.