Odyssey 4.742 · Book 4, lines 742–744
Eurycleia answers: I will hide nothing
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τὴν δʼ αὖτε προσέειπε φίλη τροφὸς Εὐρύκλεια·
Eurycleia — νύμφα φίλη, σὺ μὲν ἄρ με κατάκτανε νηλέι χαλκῷ ἢ ἔα ἐν μεγάρῳ· μῦθον δέ τοι οὐκ ἐπικεύσω.
Then in turn the dear nurse Eurycleia addressed her: Dear child, then kill me with pitiless bronze, or leave me in the hall; but I will not hide the word from you.
Word by word
The setting
The old nurse Eurycleia — who raised Odysseus and now Telemachus, and who alone helped provision the ship — steps forward to answer her grieving mistress.
A note on this passage
Eurycleia meets the accusation head-on, offering her own life first: kill me or spare me as you will, but here is the truth. The gesture is theatrical yet sincere — a servant who has raised two generations of the house, staking herself on her mistress's mercy before confessing what she did. Her opening surrenders everything except the one thing Penelope needs: the facts.
The undercurrent is the special standing of the old nurse. Eurycleia is the one figure who can absorb Penelope's fury without fear, because her loyalty is beyond question — she is closer to the family than blood-servants, having suckled Odysseus himself. Her offer to be struck down is the confidence of someone who knows she will not be, and the scene turns on that intimacy: only she could have kept this secret, and only she can now be forgiven for it.
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