The Odyssey Eurylochus Quotes

She opened her gleaming doors at once and stepped forth,
inviting them all in, and in they went, all innocence.
Only Eurylochus stayed behind – he sensed a trap…
She ushered them in to sit on high-backed chairs,
then she mixed them a potion – cheese, barley
and pale honey mulled in Pramnian wine –
but into the brew she stirred her wicked drugs
to wipe from their memories any thought of home.
Once they’d drained the bowls she filled, suddenly
she struck with her wand, drove them into her pigsties,
all of them bristling into swine – with grunts,
snouts – even their bodies, yes, and only
the men’s minds stayed steadfast as before.
So off they went to their pens, sobbing, squealing
as Circe flung them acorns, cornel nuts and mast,
common fodder for hogs that root and roll in mud.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 10, lines 253-268. Circe’s offer of hospitality becomes Odysseus’ men’s worst nightmare. The enchantingly beautiful goddess uses trickery to lure them into her lair only to turn them into pigs. While she may not eat her guests like the Cyclops and Laestrygonians, she feeds them drugged food. She is a predatory temptress who uses her potions and powerful magic to ensnare men and transform them into animals. The only one to escape is Eurylochus, he smells a rat and doesn’t follow the others into Circe’s house.

"Poor fools, where are we running now?
Why are we tempting fate? –
why stumble blindly down to Circe’s halls?
She’ll turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions
made to guard that palace of hers – by force, I tell you –
just as the Cyclops trapped our comrades in his lair
with hotheaded Odysseus right beside them all –
thanks to this man’s rashness they died too!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 10, lines 475-482. When Odysseus goes to lead his men to Circe’s palace, Eurylochus tries to hold them back from going. In a "mutinous ourburst," Odysseus’ second-in-command questions why they are tempting fate and warns that Circe will turn them into animals. He calls on the rest to stop listening to the Odysseus whose rashness led to their comrades being killed in the Cyclops’ laid.

"You’re a hard man, Odysseus. Your fighting spirit’s
stronger than ours, your stamina never fails.
You must be made of iron head to foot. Look,
your crew’s half-dead with labor, starved for sleep,
and you forbid us to set foot on land, this island here,
washed by the waves, where we might catch a decent meal again."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 302-307. Odysseus’ second-in-command Eurylochus is a disloyal troublemaker and has "mutiny on his mind" in making this speech. He persuades Odysseus to put to shore for rest and a "decent meal" on god Helios’ island of the Sun. This is despite warnings by Tiresias and Circe to Odysseus that "the worst disaster" will befall them if they harm the sun god’s sheep and cattle.

But then, when supplies aboard had all run dry,
when the men turned to hunting, forced to range
for quarry with twisted hooks: for fish, birds,
anything they could lay their hands on –
hunger racked their bellies – I struck inland,
up the island, there to pray to the gods.
If only one might show me some way home!
Crossing into the heartland, clear of the crew,
I rinsed my hands in a sheltered spot, a windbreak,
but soon as I’d prayed to all the gods who rule Olympus,
down on my eyes they poured a sweet, sound sleep…
as Eurylochus opened up his fatal plan to friends.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 354-365. Odysseus falls asleep, allowing the mutinous Eurylochus to rally the starving ship’s crew to eat the sun god’s cattle. Odysseus blames the gods for making him fall asleep at the wrong time. The death of the crew is foreshadowed here, when Odysseus speaks of Eurylochus’ "fatal plan."

"Listen to me, my comrades, brothers in hardship.
All ways of dying are hateful to us poor mortals,
true, but to die of hunger, starve to death –
that’s the worst of all. So up with you now,
let’s drive off the pick of Helios’ sleek herds,
slaughter them to the gods who rule the skies up there.
If we ever make it home to Ithaca, native ground,
erect at once a glorious temple to the Sungod,
line the walls with hoards of dazzling gifts!
But if the Sun, inflamed for his longhorn cattle,
means to wreck our ship and the other gods pitch in –
I’d rather die at sea, with one deep gulp of death,
than die by inches on this desolate island here!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 366-378. A storm has trapped Odysseus’ and his crew on Thrinacia for a month, the island where sun god Helios keeps his cattle. Odysseus’ men are hungry and their master is sleeping. So Eurylochus suggests to the men that they should eat Helios’ cattle – a fatal decision for them. This is despite numerous warnings by Odysseus. This passage foreshadows that all of the men – with the exception of Odysseus – will die at sea.
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