ξεῖνοι δ᾽ ἀλλήλων πατρώιοι εὐχόμεθ᾽ εἶναι
ἐξ ἀρχῆς, εἴ πέρ τε γέροντ᾽ εἴρηαι ἐπελθὼν
Λαέρτην ἥρωα, τὸν οὐκέτι φασὶ πόλινδε
190 ἔρχεσθ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπάνευθεν ἐπ᾽ ἀγροῦ πήματα πάσχειν
γρηὶ σὺν ἀμφιπόλῳ, ἥ οἱ βρῶσίν τε πόσιν τε
παρτιθεῖ, εὖτ᾽ ἄν μιν κάματος κατὰ γυῖα λάβῃσιν
ἑρπύζοντ᾽ ἀνὰ γουνὸν ἀλωῆς οἰνοπέδοιο.
Amici autem altecurrum pateni gloriam esse
A principio · siquid senem interrogabis quom venerit
Laertem heroem · quem non fantur ad ciuitatem
Venire sed procul in agro nocumenta pati
Vetula cum pedissequa qua sibi cibumque et potumque
Anteponit quem iam ipsum labor imbris coepit
Serpentem per locum fertilem culture uinicose
As for your father, we were mutual guests
(Ask the old lord Laertes) from our youth.
225
With one old maid alone his meat to dress,
He lives at’s country house, he’ll tell you truth.
There creeps he in his vineyard up and down.
Friends of one another do we declare ourselves to be,
even as our fathers were, friends from of old.
Nay, if thou wilt, go and ask the old warrior Laertes, who, they say,
[190] comes no more to the city, but afar in the fields suffers woes
attended by an aged woman as his handmaid, who sets before him food and drink,
after weariness has laid hold of his limbs,
as he creeps along the slope of his vineyard plot.