The Odyssey Laertes Quotes

"Laertes is still alive, but night and day
he prays to Zeus, waiting there in his house,
for the life breath to slip away and leave his body.
His heart’s so racked for his son, lost and gone these years,
for his wife so fine, so wise – her death is the worst blow
he’s had to suffer – it made him old before his time.
She died of grief for her boy, her glorious boy,
it wore her down, a wretched way to go."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 15, lines 393-400. Eumaeus tells Odysseus about Laertes’ heartache over his lost son, he just stays in his house waiting to die. More shockingly the swineherd reveals the toll on Odysseus’ mother. Anticleia missed her son so much that she died of a broken heart, Eumaeus announces.

"For many years, poor man,
heartsick for his son, he’d always keep an eye
on the farm and take his meals with the hired hands
whenever he felt the urge to. Now, from the day
you sailed away to Pylos, not a sip or a bite
he’s touched, they say, not as he did before,
and his eyes are shut to all the farmyard labors.
Huddled over, groaning in grief and tears,
he wastes away – the man’s all skin and bones."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 157-165. Eumaeus tells Telemachus how Laertes has been mourning the loss of his son Odysseus and now Telemachus. He is wasting away on his farm, refusing to eat.

But he did find
his father, alone, on that well-worked plot,
spading round a sapling – clad in filthy rags,
in a patched, unseemly shirt, and round his shins
he had some oxhide leggings strapped, patched too,
to keep from getting scraped, and gloves on his hands
to fight against the thorns, and on his head
he wore a goatskin skullcap
to cultivate his misery that much more…
Long-enduring Odysseus, catching sight of him now –
a man worn down with years, his heart racked with sorrow –
halted under a branching pear-tree, paused and wept.
Debating, head and heart, what should he do now?
Kiss and embrace his father, pour out the long tale –
how he had made the journey home to native land –
or probe him first and test him every way?

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 248-263. Odysseus sees his father for the first time in two decades. The years have not been good to Laertes. He has aged prematurely and is weighed down with sorrow over his lost son. When Odysseus spots him working in dirty rags in his vineyard, Odysseus halts under a pear tree and weeps for his father. Odysseus wavers between embracing Laertes and telling him of his journey, or testing him first. The idea that Odysseus wants to test his aged father, perhaps to find out if he is still loyal to him, seems a bit harsh.

"You want no skill, old man, at tending a garden.
All’s well-kept here; not one thing in the plot,
no plant, no fig, no pear, no olive, no vine,
not a vegetable, lacks your tender, loving care.
But I must say – and don’t be offended now –
your plants are doing better than yourself.
Enough to be stooped with age
but look how squalid you are, those shabby rags."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 270-277. Odysseus compliments his father Laertes on the garden, admiring how well kept all of the fruits and vegetables are. However, he remarks on Laertes’ delapidated appearance and says that he is not doing as well as his plants.

"Stranger," his father answered, weeping softly,
"the land you’ve reached is the very one you’re after,
true, but it’s in the grip of reckless, lawless men.
And as for the gifts you showered on your guest,
you gave them all for nothing.
But if you’d found him alive, here in Ithaca,
he would have replied in kind, with gift for gift,
and entertained you warmly before he sent you off.
That’s the old custom, when one has led the way."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 310-318. Laertes doesn’t recognize the "stranger" as his son Odysseus. He tells him how he has lost faith in Ithaca, since it had come into the grip of the lawless suitors. Laertes’ love of and loyalty to Odysseus come across forcefully when he speaks warmly about his son’s kindness and hospitality to strangers.

"But tell me, please – in no uncertain terms –
how many years ago did you host the man,
that unfortunate guest of yours, my son…
there was a son, or was he all a dream?
That most unlucky man, whom now, I fear,
far from his own soil and those he loves,
the fish have swallowed down on the high seas
or birds and beasts on land have made their meal."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 23, lines 319-326. Laertes still does not recognize his son, who has been telling him that he met and befriended Odysseus. A doubting Laertes doesn’t believe that Odysseus is alive and wonders if he ever existed – "there was a son, or was he all a dream." He believes that his son is dead and never returning home. With a twist of irony, what Laertes doesn’t realize, but the reader is fully aware, is that the "stranger" he is saying all this to is his son.

At those words
a black cloud of grief came shrouding over Laertes.
Both hands clawing the ground for dirt and grime,
he poured it over his grizzled head, sobbing, in spasms.
Odysseus’ heart shuddered, a sudden twinge went shooting up
through his nostrils, watching his dear father struggle…
He sprang toward him, kissed him, hugged him.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 352-358. Odysseus lies to his father Laertes, telling him that he is from Sicily but five years before had befriended Odysseus and hadn’t seen him since. In an act of despair Laertes pours dirt over his head and sobs and shakes. Odysseus feels guilty for prolonging his father’s pain and he finally puts him out of his misery. Revealing himself, Odysseus kisses and embraces Laertes as his son.

"You – you’re truly my son, Odysseus, home at last?
Give me a sign, some proof – I must be sure."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 366-367. First Penelope doesn’t believe that Odysseus had returned, now it’s his father Laertes who doesn’t. But it is perhaps understandible that Laertes asks Odysseus for some proof, since he hasn’t seen him for twenty years. It’s only when Odysseus shows his father the scar that he received from a boar as a child that Laertes believes it is truly his son.

"If I’d been young in arms
last night in our house with harness on my back,
standing beside you, fighting off the suitors,
how many I would have cut the knees from under –
the heart inside you would have leapt for joy!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, 420-424. Laertes wishes that he had been a young warrior and fought side by side with Odysseus against the suitors. He believes that he would have killed many. Laertes goes on to kill Antinous’ father Eupithes before peace is established in Ithaca, and so plays his part in the fight.

"Laertes!"
Goddess Athena rushed beside him, eyes ablaze:
"Son of Arcesius, dearest of all my comrades,
say a prayer to the bright-eyed girl and Father Zeus,
then brandish your long spear and wing it fast!"
Athena breathed enormous strength in the old man.
He lifted a prayer to mighty Zeus’s daughter,
brandished his spear a moment, winged it fast
and hit Eupithes, pierced his bronze-sided helmet
that failed to block the bronze point tearing through –
down Eupithes crashed, his armor clanging against his chest.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 568-578. Athena gives inspiration and strength to Odysseus’ father Laertes to kill Antinous’ father Eurithes with his long spear.
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