"Stranger, if your spine and fighting pride
prompt you to go against this fellow now,
have no fear of any suitor in the pack –
whoever fouls you will have to face a crowd.
Count on me, your host. And two lords back me up,
Antinous and Eurymachus – both are men of sense."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 70-75. Telemachus loyally supports his disguised father in the fight with Irus. But he means the opposite of what he says, when he describes Antinous and Eurymachus as men of understanding. Here Homer uses irony to show Telemachus’ cleverness and skill in the art of deception. The prince doesn’t want the suitors to interfere in the fight or get wind of what he and Odysseus have planned for them.