Odyssey 1.249 · Book 1, lines 249–251
Neither yes nor end — and the danger to himself
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ἡ δʼ οὔτʼ ἀρνεῖται στυγερὸν γάμον οὔτε τελευτὴν ποιῆσαι δύναται;· τοὶ δὲ φθινύθουσιν ἔδοντες οἶκον ἐμόν;· τάχα δή με διαρραίσουσι καὶ αὐτόν.
She neither refuses the hateful marriage, nor is able to make an end; and they, eating, consume my house; and soon they will destroy me too, myself.
Word by word
The setting
Still speaking to the disguised Athena, Telemachus states his mother's impossible position — she can neither accept a new marriage nor force the matter to a close — and then his own peril. These lines close his lament before the goddess answers.
A note on this passage
The lament reaches its core. Penelope is caught between two things she cannot do: she will not accept a new husband, and she has no power to force the suitors to a decision. Meanwhile they consume the estate day by day.
Then the last three words turn the whole scene. Until now the loss is property; ‘me too, myself’ makes it his life. A young prince with no grown kinsmen is a standing obstacle to men who want his mother and his house, and the boy knows it — the feast has a killing inside it. This is precisely the danger Athena has come to arm him against, and the reason her counsel, when it comes, is about survival before inheritance.
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