Eumaeus in the ancient sources

Homer (22)

1. Homer, Odyssey 16.1–153Telemachus comes to the hutAt dawn Eumaeus and Odysseus prepare breakfast, and the dogs, which do not bark, show that a friend is coming. Telemachus enters, and Eumaeus embraces him, weeping, and Odysseus rises to give him his seat, but Telemachus bids him stay. Eumaeus tells him of the stranger, and Telemachus promises him clothes, a sword and shoes, but says that he cannot protect him from the suitors. He then sends Eumaeus to tell Penelope that he is home.
2. Homer, Odyssey 17.492–606Penelope sends for the strangerPenelope, hearing that the stranger has been struck, curses Antinous and asks Eumaeus to bring him to her, since he may have news of her husband. Odysseus tells Eumaeus to say that he will talk with her at dusk, when the fire will be kinder to him. Eumaeus returns to the hut after telling Telemachus, and Odysseus remains in the hall.
3. Homer, Odyssey 14.360–456Eumaeus doubts; supperEumaeus will not believe that Odysseus is on his way, and says that he has been deceived before by a man from Aetolia. Odysseus proposes a wager, but Eumaeus refuses, saying that it would be a poor return for his hospitality. The herdsmen come in, and Eumaeus kills a pig and shares the meat out, giving Odysseus the chine, which pleases him.
4. Homer, Odyssey 15.301–379Odysseus tests EumaeusIn the hut, Odysseus, wanting to learn whether Eumaeus will really keep him on, says that he must go to the city to beg. Eumaeus bids him stay and says that the suitors are hard masters, and that he would rather be the servant of a kind lord. Odysseus asks about the parents of Odysseus, and Eumaeus tells him that Laertes lives on, sorrowing, and that Anticlea has died of grief.
5. Homer, Odyssey 17.290–359Argos the dogAs they come to the palace, a dog lying on a dung-heap, Argos, who was once trained by Odysseus for hunting, lifts his head and recognises his master. He wags his tail and drops his ears, but cannot come, and Odysseus wipes away a tear, hiding it from Eumaeus. Then the dog dies. Eumaeus goes in to the hall and sits down opposite Telemachus, and Odysseus follows, taking a seat on the ash threshold, and Telemachus sends him food.
6. Homer, Odyssey 14.457–533The cloak; night in the hutAt night it is cold, and Odysseus, hoping for a cloak, tells a story of an ambush before Troy, in which he lay freezing without a cloak until Odysseus found him one by a trick. Eumaeus takes the hint and gives him a mantle and some skins. Eumaeus then takes his own spear and goes out to sleep beside the boars, which pleases Odysseus.
7. Homer, Odyssey 17.184–289Odysseus and Eumaeus on the road; MelanthiusEumaeus and Odysseus set out for the town, and at a fountain they meet the goatherd Melanthius, who curses them and kicks Odysseus. Odysseus holds back his anger, and Eumaeus prays to the nymphs of the fountain that Odysseus may come home to deal with such insolence. Melanthius threatens to sell Odysseus to a far country, and goes on before them, and the two come to the palace.
8. Homer, Odyssey 14.1–108Odysseus at the hut of EumaeusOdysseus goes up from the harbour by a wooded path to the hut of Eumaeus, which is surrounded by a high court and stands among twelve pigsties. Four fierce dogs rush at him, and Eumaeus drives them off and takes the stranger in, setting a bed of brushwood and a goatskin for him. Eumaeus mourns for his master and says that the suitors devour his pigs, and that he sends them the best of the boars.
9. Homer, Odyssey 14.109–190Eumaeus on his master; Odysseus swears he will returnThe stranger asks the name of the master, and Eumaeus answers that he has long since given up believing any wanderer who brings news of Odysseus. Odysseus swears by Zeus that his master will return before the month is out, and Eumaeus does not believe him. Eumaeus then asks the stranger who he is and how he came to Ithaca.
10. Homer, Odyssey 15.380–492Eumaeus tells his storyOdysseus asks Eumaeus how he came to be a slave, and Eumaeus says that he was the son of a king of an island called Syria, and was stolen as a child by a Phoenician woman who had been a slave in his father's house. She was taken off by sea and died on the voyage, and he was sold to Laertes. Odysseus answers that Zeus has given him good along with evil, and that he himself is a wanderer.
11. Homer, Odyssey 16.321–481The suitors' ambush fails; Penelope rebukes AntinousThe ship that was sent for Telemachus comes back, and the suitors, learning that he escaped, gather and plan to kill him. Amphinomus advises waiting for a sign from the gods, and Penelope comes down to rebuke Antinous for plotting against the son of the man who once saved his father. Eurymachus smooths it over, and Eumaeus returns to the hut that evening.
12. Homer, Odyssey 20.122–239The morning of the feastTelemachus rises and tells Eurycleia to look after the stranger, and the house is made ready for the feast of Apollo. The swineherd Eumaeus brings three fat pigs, and Melanthius brings the best goats, and Melanthius abuses the stranger again and kicks him. Philoetius, the cowherd, arrives with a heifer and goats, and speaks kindly to Odysseus, and both herdsmen pray that Odysseus may come home.