Odyssey 2.344 · Book 2, lines 344–348
Eurycleia, keeper of the store
Read the full text in our reader
κληισταὶ δʼ ἔπεσαν σανίδες πυκινῶς ἀραρυῖαι, δικλίδες· ἐν δὲ γυνὴ ταμίη νύκτας τε καὶ ἦμαρ ἔσχʼ, ἣ πάντʼ ἐφύλασσε νόου πολυϊδρείῃσιν, Εὐρύκλειʼ, Ὦπος θυγάτηρ Πεισηνορίδαο. τὴν τότε Τηλέμαχος προσέφη θαλαμόνδε καλέσσας·
Lockable doors, closely fitted, folding double, were set to it; and a housekeeping woman kept her post night and day, who guarded everything with her mind's deep cunning, Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, son of Peisenor. Her then Telemachus addressed, calling her to the storeroom:
Word by word
The setting
The room is sealed with folding doors that lock, and guarded night and day by the housekeeper Eurycleia, daughter of Ops. Telemachus calls her in to the storeroom.
A note on this passage
The room is sealed — close-fitted folding doors that lock — and it has a guardian: a housekeeper who keeps watch over it night and day. She is named with a full pedigree, Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, son of Peisenor, the honor Homer pays a figure who will matter. Then Telemachus calls her in.
Her defining phrase is νόου πολυϊδρείῃσιν, ‘with the deep cunning of her mind’ — the same knowingness the poem prizes in Odysseus himself. The house's treasure is guarded not by locks alone but by a shrewd and loyal intelligence, and it is to that, not to his mother, that Telemachus will entrust his secret. Eurycleia keeps the household's trust, and the plot is about to put it in her hands.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 2.344 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 2.344 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/2.344/