1. I’m analyzing the passage on pages 243-244, lines 472-482, said by Eurylochus. Odysseus and his crew has just had an encounter with Circe, in which Odysseus overpowered her magic and demanded his crew be turned back from swine to men. He is letting the rest of his crew know that it is safe to return to Circe’s halls. Eurylochus is the lone dissenter.
2. Having read Books 9-12, Eurylochus’ concerns don’t add up. He berates the crew for following Odysseus’ commands, because he believes Odysseus has only been leading them to danger. But Odysseus has actively tried to save his men at every turn. Eurylochus mentions “…tempting fate…”, what role does the fate the gods prescribe have in the realistic amount of his crew Odysseus can save? Is it Odysseus’ curse that leads them into peril’s way, or does a larger arc reveal itself in their daily struggles?
3. This passage is especially interesting because it begins with Odysseus saying that the rest of his crew “…jumped to do [his] bidding…”, where only Euylochus shows his discontent. It’s understandable that after a long and arduous journey, the crew might be upset at almost dying once again, but that only one member outwardly denounces Odysseus when he has proven that this time he isn’t putting his men in danger is symbolic of the role a fate set in stone plays for Odysseus. This is not the first mutinous outcry, not the first time members of Odysseus’ crew have went against Odysseus, and certainly not the last time until they all perish by the end of Book 12. Eurylochus asks “Why are we tempting fate?”. I don’t believe any action on the part of the crew, not their mutiny, not their strict adherence and loyalty to Odysseus, actually tempts fate. This is a story that begins and ends with Odysseus, it is Odysseus who shapes it when he can (when he makes a god angry). It’s prophesized by Tiresias in Book 11, and Circe in Book 12, what will inevitably happen to Odysseus and his crew, and clear restrictions are put on their behavior if they are to reach home. Even when his crew kills the cattle of the Sun, it is still the fault of Odysseus, because his lack of control over his crew not to rest on the island led to their actions. He is the figure in control for better or worse, and when he slips, he angers the gods.
It’s interesting foreshadowing that Circe turns some of Odysseus’ crew into swine, and then they are all to die, like pigs to the slaughter because they, like slaughterhouse pigs, have no role in their inescapable fate.