TELEMACHUS (son of Odysseus and Penelope)

The suitors who crowded the palace consumed his sheep and oxen, intending to continue consuming his estate without paying him, and Telemachus warned that Zeus would punish them if they continued to spend his father's money.^15,16,17,18 In response to their insolence, he told Antinous to stop criticizing his actions and to leave the house if he objected, asserting his authority as host.^19,18,20 He traveled by sea with a crew, and two dogs accompanied him when he walked to the assembly, while he kept the gathered stores hidden in the cloister.^{21,22,23,4,24}

In Pylos, Nestor ordered Telemachus’s horses to be put to the chariot and sent his son Pisistratus to escort him to Menelaus for counsel.^25,26 Telemachus ate and drank during a dinner with other men, taking his seat beside Nestor on soft sheepskins near Thrasymedes, and admired the many ornaments in the palace.^26,27,28,29 Menelaus took a seat near Telemachus before speaking to him, and a beautiful mixing bowl crafted by Hephaestus was placed before him by Megapenthes.^30,3,31,32 Polycaste, the youngest daughter of Nestor, provided Telemachus with a fair mantle and shirt, and he was joined in love with her.^26,33 On his return journey to Ithaca, the suitors planned to ambush and kill him while he traveled by sea, a danger Eumaeus had advised him to avoid from enemies plotting mischief.^34,35,36,37

Telemachus returned home to the countryside to inspect the herdsmen working on one of his farms, where Eumaeus tended the pigs that belonged to him.^38,39,37 When Odysseus finally appeared in his home, Telemachus was unable to believe the person before him was his father and was astonished to see him actually present.^40,41 He noted that Odysseus’s bed was empty and covered with cobwebs.⁴² Together, Telemachus and Odysseus planned to restrain the suitors, and Telemachus identified himself as the only man in Ithaca with rights over the bow.^43,44,45 In the ensuing conflict, Telemachus was destined to kill Amphinomus, though he also saved the life of another suitor.^46,47

Telemachus possessed some of his father’s wise discernment, and he asserted his maturity and knowledge of good and evil, refusing further violence.^48,49 He expressed disapproval of the men’s indecent handling of meat and liquor, attributing their behavior to an evil spirit, yet he did not wish to drive them away.⁵⁰ He offered protection to a stranger, declaring that anyone striking him would face multiple opponents, and instructed the stranger to beg from the suitors.^51,20,52,53 According to the Colophonian author, Telemachus married the sorceress Circe after arriving on her island, and some people claim he is the father of the poet being discussed.^54,55,56 He continued to hold his father’s lands without disturbance, a young lord who had grown into manhood and resembled his father in every respect.^57,58,59