1.365–420

He tells them to hold down the noise so they can hear Phemius while they dine, then summons them to an assembly the next morning. He will have a blunt message for them then, he says: Go home and eat up somebody else’s food, perhaps trading off the hosting duties. If they keep devouring his household νήποινον, “without compensation,” (377) he will call on the gods to exact punishment. Then, a flourish of sarcastic wordplay and a prophetic wish:

νήποινοί κεν ἔπειτα δόμων ἔντοσθεν ὄλοισθε.

May you die then in this house, with no compensation.

Odyssey 1.380

Like Penelope, the suitors are amazed at Telemachus’s assertiveness. The poet now introduces the two leaders of the suitors, Antinous and Eurymachus, who will be his—and his father’s—principal antagonists. Antinous answers Telemachus’s sarcasm with some of his own: Surely the gods must have taught him how to be so high and mighty. Here’s hoping Zeus doesn’t arrange for him to be the ruler of Ithaka, though to be sure, the position would be part of his inheritance from his father (γενεῇ πατρώιόν, 387). The offhand tone of this last remark suggests that Antinous would rather not remind Telemachus of his inheritance, but now that the prince has stepped up, the murky question of succession inevitably arises. (see above, 23). He addresses it head-on in his reply: 

τὸν δ᾽ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα:
‘Ἀντίνο᾽, ἦ καί μοι νεμεσήσεαι ὅττι κεν εἴπω;
καὶ κεν τοῦτ᾽ ἐθέλοιμι Διός γε διδόντος ἀρέσθαι.
ἦ φῂς τοῦτο κάκιστον ἐν ἀνθρώποισι τετύχθαι;
οὐ μὲν γάρ τι κακὸν βασιλευέμεν: αἶψά τέ οἱ δῶ
ἀφνειὸν πέλεται καὶ τιμηέστερος αὐτός.
ἀλλ᾽ ἦ τοι βασιλῆες Ἀχαιῶν εἰσὶ καὶ ἄλλοι
πολλοὶ ἐν ἀμφιάλῳ Ἰθάκῃ, νέοι ἠδὲ παλαιοί,
τῶν κέν τις τόδ᾽ ἔχῃσιν, ἐπεὶ θάνε δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς:
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν οἴκοιο ἄναξ ἔσομ᾽ ἡμετέροιο
καὶ δμώων, οὕς μοι ληίσσατο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς.

Telemachus answered him thoughtfully: 
“Antinous, though you might be offended at what I say, 
I would be happy to accept the crown if Zeus should offer it. 
Do you think it’s the worst thing that could happen to a man? 
Surely it is not so bad to be king. Quickly the house 
is filled with prosperity, and the king himself has more honor. 
But there are many other Achaean princes,  
in seagirt Ithaka, both young and old, and one of these 
might seize the crown when brilliant Odysseus dies. 
But I will be the ruler of my own household 
and servants, whom brilliant Odysseus won for me by force.”

Odyssey 1.388–98

Telemachus speaks with authority, clearly marking the limits of his own control over people and events, and by implication, that of the suitors. If the gods should offer him the kingship, he would happily accept; if not, the island is full of other worthy candidates; in neither case do the suitors have an obvious claim. In any event—and here his tone is defiant—he will control his own household, a warning shot across the suitors’ bow. He addresses the suitors as peers, not as a boy among men, reflecting with insouciant detachment on the nature and promise of kingship: being king is not the worst thing that could happen to a man. The tentative boy Athena found surrounded by his potential enemies has been replaced by a young man who knows that he is destined—and required—somehow to take control of his household in his father’s absence.

Telemachus has thrown down some markers and Eurymachus now steps in to defuse the incipient conflict. Who will become king is, as Telemachus says, up to the gods to decide. No one would dream of disputing his right to control his household! That this seeming concession to Telemachus’s authority is illusory is clear enough from the suitors’ later plot to murder him. For now, however, it suits Eurymachus to bide his time while events unfold. At verse 405, he changes the subject abruptly to ask about the mysterious guest: Who is he? Where is he from? What did he want and why did he disappear so abruptly? Eurymachus has observed how attentive Telemachus has been to Mentes and perhaps feels threatened. Telemachus, though he senses that “Mentes” was a god in disguise (323–24; 420), plays it straight in his response, perhaps sensing that now is not the time to draw any further lines in the sand. He reaffirms that he is sure his father is dead, something we have heard from him before, though we at least might suspect that Athena’s influence might be pushing him away from certainty. In any event, there is nothing to worry about: Mentes was just an old friend of his father’s, king of the Taphians.

Further Reading 

Van Nortwick, T. 2008. The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds in Homer’s Odyssey, 4. n4. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.