Eumaeus is the loyal swineherd he is a lower-class friend of Odysseus and has been around the family for a long time. In the Odyssey, Odysseus has to cover his true identity once he gets to Ithaca, so he can avoid danger and not ruin what Athena has planned for him and his family. He does this plenty of times in the epic but the most important one was his speech to Eumaeus, The loyal swineherd to see if he is still a loyal servant to Odysseus He does this by pulling on Eumaeus’s heart strings to cause him to be emotionally attached to what he is saying. Eumaeus’s uses his wits and realizes from the start that he is lying and finds a flaw in Odysseus story and uses awareness to pick the story apart and thinks twice before believing him. He also uses his loyalty of Odysseus to determine if the story is true.
Eumaeus, The loyal swineherd uses his wits to respond to Odysseus speech. Eumaeus is very close to Odysseus’s people and his son he comes to him hidden by Athena and tries to tell Eumaeus that Odysseus is coming he responds saying “You’ve moved my heart, deeply, with your long tale… such blows, such roving. But one part’s off the mark, I know- you’ll never persuade me-what you say about Odysseus” (14,409-412). he says “who are you” saying who are you to tell me about odysseus. Also says this to say no matter what you say I will not believe anything you say about Odysseus because there were to many false prophets come through saying they had news of the king. So, for him to believe that he is back he would have to see him with his own two eyes for him to believe anyone. He tells Odysseus that he knows the truth of his lords return and that he is destined to come home. Throughout the epic he has nothing but respect and loyalty for Odysseus and proves it by talking highly of Odysseus he says “Don’t spellbind me with lies! Never for that will I respect you,treat you kindly; no, it’s my fear of zeus, the god of guests, and because I pity you…(14,438-441). He feeds and takes care of the old man not knowing that it is odysseus even though he lies to him. He also says that Odysseus is still his master even if he is not with them in their time of need. He is really almost as loyal as Penelope.
Although he uses his wits he also uses his awareness to decipher what the old man is telling him. Eumaeus does not believe what he is saying because there has been to many false prophets to come through Ithaca he says “there they crowd the messenger, cross-examine him, heartsick for their long-lost lord or all too glad to eat him out of house and home scot-free”(14,425-427). The false prophets were just using the lost kings name to get a free meal and to be treated good in his palace not caring about nothing but themselves. Eumaeus is not falling for this again saying an Aetolian fooled him once about news of Odysseus and that he would be home by summer or harvest-time. Eumaeus is angry because all he does is take care of people when they come to him to his best ability and all they have to offer is false information about his master
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However Eumaeus also uses the loyalty he has for Odysseus as a sign in the epic he is not as eager to hear what the prophets are saying like the rest of Ithaca is because deep down in his heart he knows odysseus is destined to come home. He makes sure that things are taken care of in Odysseus absence. “Not his style to bed indoors, apart from his pigs. He geared up to go outside and it warmed Odysseus’ heart, Eumaeus cared so much for his absent masters goods”(14,592-595). He sleeps outside with Odysseus pigs to make sure nothing harms them and lets old man sleep in the house by the fire and puts a coat he had in reserve incase of a wild storm on him so he sleeps good. You have to be careful in this epic you never know when your master or a god is going to be checking up on you, so you have to welcome and treat all guests. After 20 years He is still loyal to Odysseus like he has never left even though he could have betrayed him and been like the suitors his loyalty to me is the best throughout the epic and it shows through the way he treats him his family and their belongings. He puts his life at risk helping Odysseus defeat the suitors.
References
- Shmoop: The Odyssey Summary
- GradeSaver: The Odyssey
- Ancient History Encyclopedia: Odysseus
- Classical Wisdom: Homer, The Odyssey Part Five – The Others, Sound and Fury
- Mythweb: Eumaeus – Character from the Odyssey
- The Conversation: A Brief History of Book Burning from the Bhagavad Gita to Harry Potter
