"Antinous, now how could I dine with you in peace
and take my pleasure? You ruffians carousing here!
Isn’t it quite enough that you, my mother’s suitors,
have ravaged it all, my very best, these many years,
while I was still a boy? But now that I’m full-grown
and can hear the truth from others, absorb it too
while I was still a boy? But now that I’m full-grown
and can hear the truth from others, absorb it too –
now, yes, that the anger seethes inside me…
I’ll stop at nothing to hurl destruction at your heads."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 344-351. An emboldened Telemachus, inspired by Athena, displays a man’s courage and determination in this rebuke to suitors’ leader Antinous. As they indulge themselves feasting on the palace food, the young prince lets the suitors know that they are no longer dealing with a timid boy but an angry man. He threatens destruction on their heads. Telemachus is attempting to assume the role of leader of his household.