The Odyssey

by Homer

Sons are seldom as good men as their fathers; they are generally worse, not better;

as soon as your back is turned these wicked ones here will be scheming to get you put out of the way, and will share all your possessions among themselves;

“Some things, Telemachus,” answered Minerva, “will be suggested to you by your own instinct, and heaven will prompt you further; for I am assured that the gods have been with you from the time of your birth until now.”

I would rather this, than get home quickly, and then be killed in my own house as Agamemnon was by the treachery of Aegisthus and his wife. Still, death is certain, and when a man’s hour is come, not even the gods can save him, no matter how fond they are of him.”