Odyssey 2.45 · Book 2, lines 45–49
Two evils on one house
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ἀλλʼ ἐμὸν αὐτοῦ χρεῖος, ὅ μοι κακὰ ἔμπεσεν οἴκῳ δοιά· τὸ μὲν πατέρʼ ἐσθλὸν ἀπώλεσα, ὅς ποτʼ ἐν ὑμῖν τοίσδεσσιν βασίλευε, πατὴρ δʼ ὣς ἤπιος ἦεν· νῦν δʼ αὖ καὶ πολὺ μεῖζον, ὃ δὴ τάχα οἶκον ἅπαντα πάγχυ διαρραίσει, βίοτον δʼ ἀπὸ πάμπαν ὀλέσσει.
but my own need, that evils have fallen upon my house, two of them: first, I have lost my noble father, who once was king among you here, and was gentle as a father; but now again a far greater evil, which soon will shatter my whole house utterly, and will destroy my living altogether.
Word by word
The setting
Telemachus turns to his real reason: his own household's ruin. He counts it double — the father he has lost, once a gentle king, and a second, greater evil now devouring the whole estate.
A note on this passage
He states the grievance and counts it in two. The first evil is the lost father — once king of these very men, and 'gentle as a father'; the second, and greater, is the ongoing one that will soon eat the whole estate.
The loaded word is ἤπιος, 'gentle.' Odysseus ruled kind as a father to his people, the ideal of the good king — and Telemachus sets that memory directly against the men now filling the hall with appetite. The praise is also an accusation. And the verbs for the second evil are futures — will shatter, will destroy: the ruin is still coming, not yet finished. Something remains to be saved, if anyone will act.
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