Eumaeus

Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, comes first to Eumaeus’s farm, and the swineherd welcomes him without knowing who he is. He shares his food, gives him a place by the fire, and complains about the suitors and the loss of his master. His hospitality is a quiet contrast to the behaviour in the palace.

Eumaeus is not a nobleman, but the poem gives him one of its most generous portraits. He is pious, practical, and loyal, and his hut becomes the base from which Odysseus reconnoitres his own house.

When Odysseus reveals himself to Eumaeus and Philoetius, they weep and embrace him, and he tests their loyalty before the battle. In Book XXII Eumaeus helps seize the treacherous goatherd Melanthius, arms himself, and fights beside his master. He kills the suitor Elatus and helps to clear the hall.

His reward is freedom and a place in the restored household. The poem does not sentimentalise servitude, but it does insist that fidelity is a form of heroism, and that the people who keep faith with an absent master deserve to share in his return.