Odyssey 2.309 · Book 2, lines 309–313
I cannot sit and eat with you
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τὸν δʼ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα·
Telemachus — Ἀντίνοʼ οὔ πως ἔστιν ὑπερφιάλοισι μεθʼ ὑμῖν δαίνυσθαί τʼ ἀκέοντα καὶ εὐφραίνεσθαι ἕκηλον. ἦ οὐχ ἅλις ὡς τὸ πάροιθεν ἐκείρετε πολλὰ καὶ ἐσθλὰ κτήματʼ ἐμά μνηστῆρες ἐγὼ δʼ ἔτι νήπιος ἦα;
And to him in turn wise Telemachus spoke in answer: Antinous, in no way is it possible, among you arrogant men, to feast in silence and make merry at ease. Is it not enough that before this you ravaged much and goodly wealth of my own, you suitors, while I was still but a child?
Word by word
The setting
Telemachus answers the mockery. He refuses the invitation to feast quietly and throws it back as an accusation: the suitors have already devoured his father's wealth — and did it while he was too young to stop them.
A note on this passage
The reply formula (‘wise Telemachus’) sets the tone: measured, not raging. He will not do what Antinous asked. There is no sitting and feasting in silence among men like these; and he turns the table's language into a charge — you have already stripped my house of much good wealth.
The undercurrent is the last clause: ‘while I was still a child.’ It says the child is gone. The boy the suitors have counted on being harmless is telling them, plainly, that the arithmetic has changed. This is the coming-of-age the whole book has been driving toward — announced not by a god now, but by Telemachus himself.
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