"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.