[377] νήποινον, here, as supra 160, ‘without making compensation,’ as “ποινή” may be used to represent the price or recompense paid for anything, cp. Il.5. 265“υἷος ποινὴν Γανυμήδεος”, compensation, as we should say, ‘for the loss of his services.’ Similarly “νήποινοι” infra 380, will mean ‘unavenged,’ i. e. ‘without any compensation being exacted from me.’ For in Homeric times “ποινή” was especially the payment made in lieu of private revenge (“τίσις”); cp. Il.18. 498“δύο δ᾽ ἄνδρες ἐνείκεον εἵνεκα ποινῆς”
“ἀνδρὸς ἀποφθιμένοιο”, see also Il.9. 632.To such “τίσις” or “ποινή” Telemachus would have been liable, had he violated the sanctities of hospitality by slaying the suitors under his own roof without warning. But he has now given them formal notice to quit, “ἐξιέναι μεγάρων”, and (says he) ‘if after this (“ἔπειτα”) ye perish within my house, ye will perish without recompense due from me.’ For a good account of the “ποινή” in early Greece see Grote's Gk. Hist.2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 128, with notes.
