Eurylochus is a very interesting character to me especially as both a parallel and foil to Odysseus. I could talk a lot about the different between Euryolochus in the Circe Saga and Odysseus in the Thunder Saga in regards to "sacrificing" the crew, but right now i want to talk about the brown cow and why neither he or the crew heeded Odysseus's warning because i see too many people interpreting it as an arrogant mistake.
Starvation has been a very big driving motif in the story. A very human need and the original catalyst that leads them to the cyclops in the first place. However many of the cyclops's sheep they were able to take, they have long since run out by Mutiny no doubt. They are starving.
Eurylochus's line "Ody, we're never gonna get to make it home
You know it's true" communicates to me that at this point he doesn't plan to. Him and the crew no longer really intend to survive because of how stacked the odds have been and how tired they are. They're not doing this to sabotage Odysseus or because they don't understand the risk or see what he sees. "How much longer must i go about my life like this when people die like this?" They know they're going to die but it won't be from starving. They're tired. Odysseus has to beg them to go faster to try and escape because he's the only one who cares to.
"But we'll die" isn't him asking Odysseus how he could do this to them, it's not spoken in shock, it's making him say it and accept it and understand the choice he's going to make because no matter how much Eurylochus "deserves it", it's not a light decision no matter how sure he makes it. Zeus knew it from the start and the entire crew knew it too. It's not a request, not full of spite, it's spoken by a man who has already long begun to grieve his own death. There's reason to say Odysseus would be the exact same if he wasn't so connected to the idea Penelope presents as stability and peace.
