Some connections between the swineherd Eumaeus and Odysseus.
Eumaeus:
- Is of noble birth; his father a ruler of Syria (15.453 Lombardo)
- Suffers trouble in life.
- Is away from home for a long time.
- Is hospitable.
- Distrusts others’ words.
- Is skillful with his hands.
- Loves Telemachus.
- Shows strong loyalty to Odysseus’ family.
- Is a leader (Lombardo 14.25: “who could have commanded a platoon in war” ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν)
- Hates the suitors.
- Calls Odysseus “brother” (Lombardo 14.163: ἠθεῖον =lord and brother/ elder brother, close friend).
- Was raised with Odysseus’ sister Ctimene “almost as if I were one of the family” (15.400 Lombardo).
- Got a cloak and tunic from Odysseus’ mother Antikleia, very fine, and sandals. “But in her heart she loved me more than that” (15.406 Lombardo).
- Tells a long story about his own life, including conniving Phoenicians, like Odysseus does in the epic (15.430ff).
- Kisses and embraces Telemachus “as a loving father embraces his own son come back from a distant land after ten long years, his only son, greatly beloved and much sorrowed for” (16.18ff Lombardo).
- Calls Telemachus dear son φίλον τέκος 16.25.
- Hears Telemachus reciprocating his love when the youth calls him a pet name (“Papa” 16.34 Lombardo 16.31: ἄττα, “a vestige of baby talk” Stanford ad loc.)
- Will help kill the suitors in book 22.
D. B. Levine. September 10, 2012
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