The Odyssey Eumaeus Quotes

And royal King Odysseus answered warmly,
"Eumaeus, so much misery! You’ve moved my heart,
deeply, with your long tale – such pain, such sorrow."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 542-544. Odysseus is deeply moved by Eumaeus’ story about his difficult and painful journey from Syrie to Ithaca. Eumaeus was son of King Ctesius. He was kidnapped from his homeland as a child and ended up in Ithaca, where Odysseus’ father Laertes bought young Eumaeus as a slave. There are parallels between Eumaeus and Odysseus’ stories: both have suffered reversals of fortune, going from royalty to poverty and losing all.

The prince strode out briskly,
legs speeding him on till he reached the farm
where his great droves of pigs crowded their pens
and the loyal swineherd often slept beside them,
always the man to serve his masters well.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 618-622. The last lines of Book 15 tell us how Telemachus finally reaches the farm of the swineherd. Eumaeus’ loyalty and dedication to caring for the livestock of Odysseus’ family is highlighted by the fact that he often sleeps with the animals.

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.

"You’re home, Telemachus,
sweet light of my eyes! I never thought I’d see you again,
once you’d shipped to Pylos! Quick, dear boy, come in,
let me look at you, look to my heart’s content –
under my own roof, the rover home at last."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 26-30. Eumaeus greets Telemachus for the first time since his return from Pylos and Sparta. Telemachus visits the swineherd first, because of the suitors’ plot to kill him, so that he can send Eumaeus to tell Penelope of her son’s safe return.

"For many years, poor man,
heartsick for his son, he’d always keep an eye
on the farm and take his meals with the hired hands
whenever he felt the urge to. Now, from the day
you sailed away to Pylos, not a sip or a bite
he’s touched, they say, not as he did before,
and his eyes are shut to all the farmyard labors.
Huddled over, groaning in grief and tears,
he wastes away – the man’s all skin and bones."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 157-165. Eumaeus tells Telemachus how Laertes has been mourning the loss of his son Odysseus and now Telemachus. He is wasting away on his farm, refusing to eat.

"O nymphs of the fountain, daughters of Zeus –
if Odysseus ever burned you the long thighs
of lambs or kids, covered with rich fat,
now bring my prayer to pass!
Let that man come back – some god guide him now!
He’d toss to the winds the flashy show you make,
Melanthius, so cocksure – always strutting round the town
while worthless fieldhands leave your flocks a shambles!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 263-270. In a prayer for divine help, Eumaeus appeals to the fountain nymphs for Odysseus to return. He says that Odysseus would throw to the winds the cocksure Melanthius. The goatherd has been insulting Odysseus-the-beggar and also kicks him as he walks. This passage contains dramatic irony, because Eumaeus doesn’t know that the beggar he is with is Odysseus.

"You know how you can stare at a bard in wonder –
trained by the gods to sing and hold men spellbound –
how you can long to sit there, listening, all your life
when the man begins to sing. So he charmed my heart,
I tell you, huddling there beside me at my fire."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 575-579. Eumaeus tells Penelope how the beggar (Odysseus disguised) stayed with him for three days and charmed him with his wonderful storytelling. Using an epic simile, he compares him to a bard trained by the gods who can hold people spellbound.

"Cowherd, swineherd,
what, shall I blurt this out or keep it to myself?
No, speak out. The heart inside me says so.
How far would you go to fight beside Odysseus?
Say he dropped like that from a clear blue sky
and a god brought him back –
would you fight for the suitors or your king?
Tell me how you feel inside your hearts."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 21, lines 218-225. The disguised Odysseus wants to know if Philoetius and Eumaeus are on his side. He is testing how far they would go to fight beside Odysseus before he reveals his identity to them.

"I’m right here,
here in the flesh – myself – and home at last,
after bearing twenty years of brutal hardship.
Now I know that of all my men you two alone
longed for my return. From the rest I’ve heard
not one real prayer that I come back again.
So now I’ll tell you what’s in store for you.
If a god beats down the lofty suitors at my hands,
I’ll find you wives, both of you, grant you property,
sturdy houses beside my own, and in my eyes you’ll be
comrades to Prince Telemachus, brothers from then on.
Come, I’ll show you something – living proof –
know me for certain, put your minds at rest.
This scar,
look, where a boar’s white tusk gored me, years ago,
hunting on Parnassus, Autolycus’ sons and I."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 21, lines 233-247. Odysseus reveals himself to his faithful swineherd Eumaeus and cowherd Philoetius, who have reiterated their loyalty to their master. As a reward for helping him deal with the suitors he promises to reward them with wives, property and fine houses. Odysseus values their loyalty so much that in his eyes they will enjoy the same status as his son Prince Telemachus.

"When all the rest in there, our lordly friends,
are dead against my having the bow and quiver,
good Eumaeus, carry the weapon down the hall
and put it in my hands. Then tell the serving-women
to lock the snugly fitted doors to their own rooms.
If anyone hears from there the jolting blows
and groans of men, caught in our huge net,
not one of them show her face –
sit tight, keep to her weaving, not a sound.
You, my good Philoetius, here are your orders.
Shoot the bolt of the courtyard’s outer gate,
lock it, lash it fast."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 21, lines 259-270. Odysseus outlines his clever plan to trap the suitors and disloyal people in the palace. After the suitors try and fail to string his bow, Eumaeus is tasked to carry his bow to Odysseus. The swineherd is to tell the maids to lock the doors to their rooms. Odysseus instructs cowherd Philoetius to lock the courtyard gate so that no suitor can escape.
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