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Eumaeus 1 was
Odysseus' loyal servant
and swineherd, a man of sound principles, who never
forgot the immortals. He received
Odysseus in his hut
when after his wanderings
Odysseus returned to
Ithaca, and later he helped his master to get rid
of the SUITORS OF
PENELOPE, who were pestering the palace.
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Prince in another island
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According to Eumaeus 1 himself, he came
originally from Syria, an island above Ortygia
(Delos) where the inhabitants lived a happy life,
never spoiled by scourges, and always reaching
Old Age. There Eumaeus 1
led the life of a little prince, for his father was
king of the island's two cities, being looked after
by a Phoenician nurse.
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His nurse betrays him
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To this island, says Eumaeus 1, came one day a
gang of Phoenician sailors with their ship stored
with pretty commodities, and one of them, having
seduced the prince's nurse, invited her to come
with them back to her country. She gladly accepted,
adding that she planned to bring away all the gold
that she could lay her hands on, and as a way of
paying for her passage home, she also offered to
bring little Eumaeus 1 on board with her. For, she
said, the little boy could fetch a fortune for them
when put up for sale in a foreign country.
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Sold in Ithaca
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The Phoenician traders stayed for a whole year
in the island of Syria, and when they had bought
their homeward freight and were ready to sail, the
nurse took the gold and the child and came on
board. However, while they still were in the open
sea, the treacherous maid fell sick and died, and
Eumaeus 1 was left alone until the ship arrived to
Ithaca where Odysseus'
father Laertes bought him. This is how Eumaeus 1
came to Ithaca, and as he was received in the house
of a kind master, he loved
Penelope,
Telemachus,
Odysseus, and the whole
of this family more than his own. For he said:
"... I shall
never find so kind a master again wherever I may
go, not even if I return to my parents' house ...
And much as I should like to be back in my own
country and set eyes on them again, my longing for
them has given place in my heart to overwhelming
regret for the lost
Odysseus." [Eumaeus 1 to the
disguised Odysseus.
Homer,
Odyssey
14.138]
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Brought up like a son
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Also Odysseus'
mother Anticlia 1 made a wide place for Eumaeus 1
in her heart, bringing him up together with her own
daughter Ctimene, until this girl was married to
someone in Same, in the island of Cephallenia. It
was then that Anticlia 1 fitted Eumaeus 1 in new
clothes, and packed him off to the farm.
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Hard working swineherd
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Having thus become the family's swineherd,
Eumaeus 1 used to take the animals to those
pastures where they could find the right fodder,
keeping the pigs at night in a large farmyard
surrounded by high walls of stone, which he had
himself built. And being a thorough kind of person,
he fenced the whole length of the walls with a
stockade made of oak. Inside the yard, which was
also protected by fierce dogs, there were twelve
sties for the pigs to rest; but the boars, which at
the time of Odysseus'
return had been decimated by the
SUITORS OF
PENELOPE, lay outside the yard. They could at
night be protected by Eumaeus 1 himself, who,
wrapped in a thick cloak, spent the night outside,
armed with a sword and a javelin to keep intruders
away. Eumaeus 1 used to take his meals and rest in
a cabin, and was otherwise assisted by four
labourers, one of which was Mesaulius, whom Eumaeus
1 had bought from the Taphian traders with his own
resources.
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Pension scheme in jeopardy
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Having lived thus for many years, and being a
loyal servant and a hard worker, Eumaeus 1 could
hope to be pensioned off, and receive from his
master Odysseus a fair
reward in the form of a bit of land, a cottage, and
an attractive wife. But life not always runs
smoothly, and the palace's finances being severely
undermined by the
SUITORS OF
PENELOPE, Eumaeus 1 saw his future in jeopardy.
And yet he was forced to slaughter the best animals
and send them to these glutton scoundrels, who were
never content with just one or two at a time. And
forced were too the other Ithacan herdsmen; for
also them had to choose day by day their best goat,
and drive it in for the
SUITORS to
guzzle on. So, being disgusted with the whole state
of affairs in Ithaca, Eumaeus 1 had lived the
recent years as a hermit, just with his swine, and
never coming to the city and the palace unless
invited by Penelope.
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The SUITORS OF
PENELOPE
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Now the
SUITORS were not
just unwanted guests consuming
Odysseus' estate. This
is indeed what they were at the beginning. But
later, as their outrageous behaviour met resistance
from young
Telemachus, they
turned gradually into a seditious group, plotting
against the life of
Odysseus' son, and
threatening to kill the king himself, if ever he
returned. Whether they were or not fully aware of
their escalation, which changed them from pestering
youths into criminals, turned to be irrelevant for
Odysseus and his own
people, who, at the time of retaliation, mainly
considered the consequences of the
SUITORS'
actions.
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Receives his disguised master
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During the twentieth year of his absence,
Odysseus landed on
Ithaca. Disguised as an old beggar, and following
Athena's instructions, he
turned his back on the coast, and going through
woods and hills, came to the hut of Eumaeus 1.
There he was kindly received by the swineherd, who,
without recognizing his master, invited the beggar
to join him in his meal, putting bread and
wine in front of him, and
slaughtering a couple of young porkers for the
visitor's sake. And when
Odysseus thanked him,
said Eumaeus 1:
"... My
conscience would not let me turn away a stranger
who was even meaner than you, for strangers and
beggars all come in Zeus' name ..." [Eumaeus 1 to
the disguised Odysseus.
Homer,
Odyssey
14.56]
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Beggar and swineherd tell stories to each other
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During the talk, Eumaeus 1 told
Odysseus' the story of
his life, and Odysseus,
who was still playing the role of the beggar, told
him what appeared to be a bunch of lies. But the
swineherd was not unaware of the possibility of his
guest lying; for he knew that:
"Beggars in
need of sustenance tell lies, and are unwilling to
give a true story."[Eumaeus 1 to the
disguised Odysseus.
Homer,
Odyssey
14.124]
This is why it is clear that his favours rested
more, as he himself explained, on the respect he
had for the laws of hospitality and the pity he
felt for the stranger, than on stories meant to
touch his heart.
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Telemachus sends
Eumaeus 1 to the palace
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While Odysseus was
staying at Eumaeus 1's house, his son
Telemachus returned
from Pylos and
Sparta, where he had been
looking for news about his father, disembarking in
the island at the first point he reached. His ship
had just eluded the ambush that the
SUITORS had set
out at sea, and when
Telemachus, following
Athena's instructions,
came to Eumaeus 1's hut, he sent the swineherd to
go quickly and tell his mother
Penelope that she had
him safely back from
Pylos. And when Eumaeus 1
left the farm on his errand,
Odysseus revealed
himself to his son; and from that moment father and
son started to plan the downfall and death of the
SUITORS OF
PENELOPE. Eumaeus 1 was not first to deliver
the message; for a messenger from
Telemachus' crew had
been sent running off to the palace, and conveyed
it first. But on his way back, having climbed up
the hills above the city, Eumaeus 1 saw the
SUITORS' ship
that, without having achieved anything, came into
the harbour carrying a crowd of armed men.
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About begging for meals and not for work
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The day after, as
Odysseus and his son
had agreed,
Telemachus bade
Eumaeus 1 to take the beggar to the palace where he
could beg for his meals. In this manner, the
swineherd brought his king, who looked like a
wretched old beggar, to the city. In their way they
fell with the goatherd Melanthius 2, who drove some
goats for the
SUITORS, with
two shepherds to help him. And when Melanthius 2
saw the couple coming along, he burst into a
torrent of injuries. For Melanthius 2 was the kind
of man fond of reproaching those who, as he said,
always beg for meals and never for work. No doubt,
Melanthius 2 would have been able to give that
miserable wretch an occupation, so that he could
work his muscles up, preventing him at the same
time of being such a killjoy at parties just by
showing his nauseating presence. For such wastrels
as this one never want to do anything, but instead
love to walk around and make a living through alms.
And having uttered these and other clever thoughts,
he finished his speech with the same kind of
elegance he had started it by landing a kick on
Odysseus' hip as he
passed by.
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Eumaeus 1 curses the goatherd
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Now, this kind of cheap morality with which
hypocrisy and fraud disguise themselves, was just
about nothing for Eumaeus 1, who could see through
it. And that is why he called upon the gods, cursed
the goatherd, and prayed for
Odysseus' return so
that he would send flying Melanthius 2's newly
acquired insolent manners; for this goatherd cared
in fact nothing for
Odysseus' herds, and
went about in the town leaving bad shepherds to
ruin the king's flocks. This kind of invocation
have of course no effect upon an impudent mind such
as Melanthius 2's; and that is why, on hearing
Eumaeus 1's speech, he retorted with more insults,
adding that he wished
Telemachus' death,
sure as he was that his father's homecoming would
never come about. And this said, he left to join
the SUITORS,
whom he admired and with whom he shared the meals.
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The Suitor Antinous 2 scolds the swineherd
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Eumaeus 1 and
Odysseus arrived to the
palace soon after the goatherd, and he who had been
wandering for twenty years started to go the rounds
and beg from each of the
SUITORS in his
own home. But beggars are not welcome among merry
banqueters, and that is why these asked each other
who he was and whence he came; and when they
learned from the goatherd Melanthius 2 that the
swineherd had brought him, the suitor Antinous 2
took the chance to scold Eumaeus 1, saying:
"O most
distinguished swineherd, why did you bring this
fellow to the city? Do we not already have tramps
in plenty to pester us and ruin our dinners? Are
you dissatisfied with the numbers collected here to
eat your master's food that you must invite this
one also?" [Antinous 2 to Eumaeus 1. Homer,
Odyssey
17.375]
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Who are invited and who not
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Now Eumaeus 1, who was following
Telemachus'
instructions and could not, in any case, have
invited Odysseus, said
with his own words what is known of all:
"Who would
take it on himself to press hospitality on a
wandering stranger, unless he were some worker for
the public good, a prophet, a physician, a skilled
workman, or inspired minstrel ...? These are the
men who all over the endless earth are invited. But
nobody would ask in a beggar to eat him out of
house and home." [Eumaeus 1 to Antinous 2.
Homer,
Odyssey
17.382]
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The beggar stays anyway
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Despite the several conflicts that the beggar's
presence caused,
Odysseus made a place
for himself in the palace, and it was Eumaeus 1 who
arranged a meeting between the king and
Penelope. For she,
seeing that the stranger had travelled far, was
anxious to ask him questions about her husband.
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The fateful bow appears
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On the second day of
Odysseus' arrival,
Penelope decided to
confront the
SUITORS with the
bow that was supposed to test their skill,
promising that she would marry whoever among them
who proved to be the handiest at stringing the bow
and shooting the marks. Having then declared this
to the SUITORS,
she told Eumaeus 1 to hand over the bow to them.
Eumaeus 1 accepted it in tears and put it before
the SUITORS, and
also Philoetius wept when he saw
Odysseus' bow. For
these loyal servants knew nothing yet of what their
master had schemed with his son, even less that he
was alive and near. Nor did they suspect that the
appearance of the bow signalled the downfall of the
SUITORS, and
not, as it seemed to them, the definitive
acceptance of Odysseus'
death. But the suitor Antinous 2 was not in a
sentimental mood; and that is why he scolded both
Eumaeus 1 and Philoetius, saying:
"You foolish
yokels ... poor wretches, why are you streaming
tears, snivelling and upsetting your mistress, as
though the loss of her beloved husband weren't
enough ..." [Antinous 2 to Eumaeus 1 and
Philoetius. Homer,
Odyssey
21.85]
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Difficult to bend on a holiday
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The SUITORS
decided then to try the bow from left to right, the
way the wine went round.
The first to make the attempt was Liodes, and when
he failed he said that this bow would break the
heart and be the death of many; and as it happens,
truth may come out of any mouth. Then the rest of
the SUITORS
ordered Melanthius 2 to grease and thaw the bow
before they tried it, and when also Eurymachus 2
failed, Antinous 2 proposed to postpone the test.
For this day, being the holiday of the archer god
Apollo, was not time, he
argued, to bend bows.
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Odysseus reveals
himself to the swineherd and the cowman
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In the meantime, Eumaeus 1 and the cowman
Philoetius slipped out of the palace, and
Odysseus followed them.
Having called them out ,the king tested their
loyalty, and when he was reassured of their
feelings he revealed himself to them, showing his
well known scar. Then, after explaining his plan
and instructing them, he told them to return to the
palace.
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Argument about the bow
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When the three came back,
Odysseus asked the
SUITORS to let
him test the bow, not to win the lady, but for the
sake of testing. This was, as the
SUITORS saw it,
a preposterous idea, and it was evidently
wine without moderation,
they said, what had caused the beggar to lose all
sense of proportion, making him wish to compete
with his betters. Queen
Penelope reproached
then the SUITORS
for the meanness they showed to all who came to her
house, but
Telemachus, putting
an end to the argument, said:
"My mother, no
Achaean man has more authority over this bow than
I, to give or withhold, at my pleasure."
[Telemachus to
Penelope. Homer,
Odyssey
21.344]
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Eumaeus 1 forced to choose
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In the meanwhile Eumaeus 1, following the
instructions that
Odysseus had given him
moments ago outside the palace, picked up the bow
and was taking it along to give it to his master.
But suddenly the
SUITORS saw him
and yelled at him:
"Where are you
taking the bow, wretched swineherd and vagabond? If
we could have our way, the very dogs you have bred
would tear you to pieces, out there among your pigs
were no one goes." [The
SUITORS to
Eumaeus 1. Homer,
Odyssey
21.362]
And as servants are not used to oppose noblemen,
Eumaeus 1, frightened by the crowd of angry young
men, put the bow back where it had been. However,
Telemachus would not
allow now any hesitations, and forcing the
swineherd to choose sides, he threatened:
"Forward there
with the bow, old fellow! You'll soon find that you
can't obey us all. Take care I don't chase you up
the fields with a shower of stones."
[Telemachus to
Eumaeus 1. Homer,
Odyssey
21.369]
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The SUITORS'
laughter
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The SUITORS,
who were more aware of the entertaining value of
things than of their meaning, laughed all they
could at Telemachus'
outburst, disregarding the fact that now the
swineherd was not obeying them any more, but
instead, doing as
Telemachus had
demanded, carried the bow down the hall to
Odysseus.
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The SUITORS'
death
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This is how Odysseus
received the bow, and stringing it without effort
he shot all the marks. And without wasting any
time, he went for another target and shot the
suitor Antinous 2 dead. The
SUITORS, still
deluded, thought that he had killed their friend by
accident, but Odysseus,
revealing himself and refusing all agreement with
his enemies, started shooting at the rest of them.
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Traitors punished
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In the battle that ensued, no one among the
SUITORS
survived, and it was Eumaeus 1 that, having spied
the goatherd Melanthius 2 when he went to the
store-room to fetch a load of armour for the
SUITORS,
prevented him to fetch them, tying him with a rope.
When the battle was over,
Odysseus asked his
nurse Euryclia which among the fifty women-servants
in the palace had been disloyal. These were ordered
to clean the battlefield, removing the bodies of
the slain and washing tables and chairs. And when
the whole house was again in order,
Telemachus,
Philoetius and Eumaeus 1 took the women who had
betrayed their king to the courtyard, and hanged
them. And they also killed the disloyal servant and
goatherd Melanthius 2, after slicing his nose and
ears off, ripping away his privy parts as raw meat
for the dogs, and lopping off his hands and feet.
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Epilogue
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This is what has been told about Eumaeus 1, upon
whom freedom was bestowed when
Telemachus ruled
Ithaca. His death has never been reported.
Eumaeus 2 has nothing to do with him, and was a
Trojan warrior who fell at
Troy killed by
Diomedes 2.
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