During this same speech, Athena instructs Telemachus to go home "and mix with the suitors there. / But get [his] rations ready [...]." In other words, he is to return home and mingle with the suitors, never betraying the plan he and Athena have devised for him to escape Ithaca in secret and go in search of news of his lost father. He is to make preparations for a journey and keep those preparations clandestine: such dissembling is certainly evidence of his cunning.
Then, when Telemachus does return home, Antinous (the suitors' unofficial leader) tries to draw him in and compel him to eat and drink with them, promising the prince that they will provide him with a ship and crew to go in search of news of his father. However, Telemachus will not be drawn in, and he says only that he will go, but "only as a passenger, nothing more," and he "nonchalantly drew his hand from Antinous's hand" while the other suitors taunt and jeer at him. Telemachus will not allow them to get to him, though, and he maintains his calm in the face of their insults so that he can protect his plan; this shows his cunning as well. He understands that deceiving them is paramount, and he has a will strong enough not to give in to his pride when they abuse him.
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