If only the gods would arm me in such power I'd take revenge on the lawless, brazen suitors riding roughshod over me, plotting reckless outrage. But for me the gods have spun out no such joy, for my father or myself. I must bear up, that's all.

"If only the gods would arm me in such power
I’d take revenge on the lawless, brazen suitors
riding roughshod over me, plotting reckless outrage.
But for me the gods have spun out no such joy,
for my father or myself. I must bear up,
that’s all."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 3, lines 233-238. Telemachus wishes that the gods would give him the power of Orestes, who avenged his father’s murder, so he could take his revenge on the shameless suitors. Telemachus believes that the gods have no such plan for his father and himself. We have dramatic irony here, since the reader is in the know about Athena helping Odysseus to return home, where he will be able to deal with the suitors. The passage foreshadows the suitors’ fate.

Homer Quotes