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"First observe this scar,"
answered Odysseus, "which I got from a boar's tusk when I was
hunting on Mount Parnassus. You and my mother had sent me to
Autolykos, my mother's father, to receive the presents which
when he was over here he had promised to give me. Furthermore I will
point out to you the trees in the vineyard which you gave me, and I
asked you all about them as I followed you round the garden. We went
over them all, and you told me their names and what they all were.
You gave me thirteen pear trees, ten apple trees, and forty fig
trees; you also said you would give me fifty rows of vines; there was
wheat planted between each row, and they yield grapes of every kind
when the seasons [hôrai] of Zeus have been laid
heavy upon them."
Laertes’ strength failed him
when he heard the convincing proofs [sêmata]
which his son had given him. He threw his arms about him, and
Odysseus had to support him, or he would have gone off into a swoon;
but as soon as he came to, and was beginning to recover his senses,
he said, "O father Zeus, then you gods are still in Olympus after
all, if the suitors have really been punished for their insolence
[hubris] and folly. Nevertheless, I am much afraid
that I shall have all the townspeople of Ithaca up here directly, and
they will be sending messengers everywhere throughout the cities of
the Cephallênians."
Odysseus answered, "Take heart
and do not trouble yourself about that, but let us go into the house
hard by your garden. I have already told Telemakhos, Philoitios, and
Eumaios to go on there and get dinner ready as soon as
possible."
Thus conversing the two made
their way towards the house. When they got there they found
Telemakhos with the stockman and the swineherd cutting up meat and
mixing wine with water. Then the old Sicel woman took Laertes inside
and washed him and anointed him with oil. She put him on a good
cloak, and Athena came up to him and gave him a more imposing
presence, making him taller and stouter than before. When he came
back his son was surprised to see him looking so like an immortal,
and said to him, "My dear father, some one of the gods has been
making you much taller and better-looking."
Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900 (?).
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