The Odyssey Eurycleia Quotes

A wail of grief –
and his fond old nurse burst out in protest, sobbing:
"Why, dear child, what craziness got into your head?
Why bent on rambling over the face of the earth? –
a darling only son! Your father’s worlds away,
god’s own Odysseus, dead in some strange land.
And these brutes here, just wait, the moment you’re gone
they’ll all be scheming against you."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 399-401. Eurycleia pleads with Telemachus not to sail to Pylos in search of information about his missing father. She predicts – correctly – that as soon as he is gone the suitors will be scheming against him. This foreshadows the suitors’ plot to kill Telemachus. The passage also shows the great love Telemachus’ old nurse has for him and her loyalty to his family.

"Courage, old woman,"
thoughtful Telemachus tried to reassure her,
"there’s a god who made this plan.
But swear you won’t say anything to my mother.
Not till ten or a dozen days have passed
or she misses me herself and learns I’m gone.
She mustn’t mar her lovely face with tears."
The old one swore a solemn oath to the gods
and voring she would never breathe a word.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 410-418. Telemachus makes Eurycleia swear an oath to conceal from his mother his plan to travel to Pylos for information about his missing father. He asks her not to tell Penelope until ten or twelve days after he has departed Ithaca. Eurycleia duly swears an oath not to breathe a word.

"Hear me, dear ones! Zeus has given me torment –
me above all the others born and bred in my day.
My lionhearted husband, lost, long years ago,
who excelled the Argives all in every strength –
that great man whose fame resounds through Hellas
right to the depths of Argos!
But now my son,
my darling boy – the whirlwinds have ripped him
out of the halls without a trace! I never heard
he’d gone – not even from you, you hard, heartless…
not one of you even thought to rouse me from my bed,
though well you knew when he boarded that black ship.
Oh if only I had learned he was planning such a journey,
he would have stayed, by god, keen as he was to sail –
or left me dead right here within our palace."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 814-827. A distraught Penelope has learned that her son Telemachus has secretly set sail to Pylos and Sparta, while the suitors plan to kill him on his way home. She rails at Eurycleia for hiding her son’s departure from her. She makes clear that had she known, she would only have let Telemachus leave over her dead body. Angered by the deception, Penelope calls Eurycleia hard and heartless. Penelope speaks of her torment of first losing her husband and now her son, blaming Zeus for this. She recalls how Odysseus was honored with fame as a great warrior. In a metaphor she compares his bravery to that of a lion.

"I knew it all, I gave him all he asked for,
bread and mellow wine, but he made me take
a binding oath that I, I wouldn’t tell you,
no, not till ten or a dozen days had passed
or you missed the lad yourself and learned he’d gone,
so tears would never mar your lovely face."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 839-844. Eurycleia admits to Penelope that she knew Telemachus had embarked on a sea voyage to find out what happened to his father. She provided Telemachus with bread and wind, but he made her swear an oath that she wouldn’t tell Penelope until ten or twelve days later.

"Up with you now, my good old Eurycleia,
come and wash your master’s…equal in years.
Odysseus must have feet and hands like his by now –
hardship can age a person overnight."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 406-409. As Penelope calls on Eurycleia to wash Odysseus-the-beggar’s feet, she appears to have a suspicion that her guest might indeed be her husband. At first she seems to ask the nurse to wash her master’s feet, then suddenly changes what she is saying to the guest being equal in years to the master.

That scar –
as the old nurse cradled his leg and her hands passed down
she felt it, knew it, suddenly let his foot fall –
down it dropped in the basin – the bronze clanged,
tipping over, spilling water across the floor.
Joy and torment gripped her heart at once,
tears rushed to her eyes – voice choked in her throat
she reached for Odysseus’ chin and whispered quickly,
"Yes, yes! you are Odysseus – oh dear boy
I couldn’t know you before…
not till I touched the body of my king!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 528-538. Odysseus’ old nurse Eurycleia sees through his disguise just as she is washing his feet. The instant she spots his scar she recognizes him and is overcome with tears of joy. Even after an absence of twenty years, Eurycleia is still caring and loyal to her king.

She found Odysseus in the thick of slaughtered corpses,
splattered with bloody filth like a lion that’s devoured
some ox of the field and lopes home, covered with blood,
his chest streaked, both jaws glistening, dripping red –
a sight to strike terror. So Odysseus looked now,
splattered with gore, his thighs, his fighting hands.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 426-430. Odysseus’ old nurse Eurycleia finds him covered in blood and surrounded by the corpses of the suitors. A vivid epic simile helps convey a clear picture of what has happened. Odysseus is compared to a lion that has devoured an ox, it strides home, covered in blood and looks a terrifying sight. The lion is a symbol of Odysseus’ power and strength.

Then back through the royal house the old nurse went
to tell the women the news and bring them in at once.
They came crowding out of their quarters, torch in hand,
flung their arms around Odysseus, hugged him, home at last,
and kissed his head and shoulders, seized his hands, and he,
overcome by a lovely longing, broke down and wept…
deep in his heart he knew them one and all.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 523-529. The final words of Book 22 describe how Odysseus has finally returned home after his twenty-year journey through difficult trials and hardships. Having defeated his enemies, the king of Ithaca has at last returned. The nurse Eurycleia tells the women servants the news and they all rejoice, hug and kiss Odysseus and welcome home their master.

"Penelope – child – wake up and see for yourself,
with your own eyes, all you dreamed of, all your days!
He’s here – Odysseus – he’s come home, at long last!
He’s killed the suitors, swaggering young brutes
who plagued his house, wolfed his cattle down,
rode roughshod over his son!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 23, lines 5-10. Eurycleia makes her way to the queen’s chamber to tell Penelope the goods news of Odysseus’ return. She informs her that the prideful and greedy suitors have met their end at the hands of her husband.

"I found Odysseus in the thick of slaughtered corpses;
there he stood and all around him, over the beaten floor,
the bodies sprawled in heaps, lying one on another…
How it would have thrilled your heart to see him –
splattered with bloody filth, a lion with his kill!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 23, lines 48-52. Eurycleia describes Odysseus’ moment of glory after he succeeded in wiping out the suitors. She tells Penelope of the dramatic and horrific scene she walked in on: Odysseus in the midst of the bodies of the suitors he killed. A metaphor compares Odysseus to a lion with his kill.
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