went near the fruitful vineyard to try [his father]: nor did he find Dolius, on going down to the great orchard, nor any of his servants or sons: but they indeed had gone to gather heaps of stones to be a fence for the vineyard: but the old man led the way for them. And he found his father alone in the well-made vineyard, hoeing a plant: and he was clad in a sordid garment, patched, unseemly: and around his thighs he had bound patched greaves of bull's hide, to avoid the tearings [of the thorns];[1] and gloves upon his hands on account of the brambles: but above he had a cap of goat-skin on his head, giving way to his grief. When then much-enduring divine Ulysses saw him wasted with old age, and having great grief in his mind, standing under a lofty pear-tree, he shed a tear. Then he meditated in his soul and in his mind, whether to kiss and embrace his father, and tell [him] every thing, how he came to and reached his paternal land; or, whether he should first inquire of him, and try him in every thing. And thus it appeared to him to be better as he considered, first to try him with reproaching words. Having this intention, divine Ulysses went straight opposite to him; he indeed, holding down his head, was digging round a plant, but standing near him his illustrious son addressed him:
"O old man, want of skill does not possess thee in managing an orchard; but thy care keeps it well; nor is there any plant at all, either fig-tree, or vine, or olive, or pear, or border in the garden destitute of care. But I tell thee something else, but do not thou lay up anger in thy mind: good care does not keep thyself, but thou hast miserable old age at the same time, and thou art evilly squalid, and art clothed in unseemly guise. Thy master does not indeed take care of you [so ill] on account of thy idleness, nor is thy form or size at all servile to behold; for thou art like unto a king. Thou art like one who ought, when he has washed and eaten, to sleep softly: for this is the right of old men. But come, tell me this, and relate it correctly, whose servant art thou? whose orchard dost thou tend? and relate this truly to me, that I may well know, if indeed I am come to Ithaca, as this man told me, who just now met me, as I was coming hither, one not very wise: since he did not endure to tell me every thing, or to listen to
- ↑ γραπτῦς, τὰς τῶν ἀκανθωδῶν φυτῶν καταπεριξύσεις καὶ ἀμυχάς Schol.
