Eumaeus

The nurse was killed by Artemis on the journey by sea, but the sailors continued to Ithaca where Odysseus' father Laertes bought him as a slave.

The swineherd refuses to accept the assurance that Odysseus is finally on his way home, though he loves him above all others (rendering him especially bitter towards the suitors of Penelope).

It is not for that reason that I shall respect and entertain you, but becauseI fear Zeus, the patron of strangers, and pity you.God-fearing, suspicious, and scrupulous, Eumaeus delivers probably the oldest extant example of literary sarcasm when, after Odysseus offers a bargain entailing that he be thrown off a cliff should he lose, he answers: That would be virtuous of me, my friend, and good reputation wouldbe mine among men, for present time alike and hereafter,if first I led you into my shelter, there entertained you as guest,then murdered you and ravished the dear life from you.

(XIV.402–6, Lattimore translation)Eumaeus is generous in his offerings to guests and gods (Hermes in particular) and so fair-minded as to strive to divide meals equally between everyone he feeds.

He says, And as a loving father embraces his own sonCome back from a distant land after ten long years,His only son, greatly beloved and much sorrowed for With Odysseus sitting beside Eumaeus and Telemachus, the audience is especially aware of this relationship.