Laertes’ grief has reduced him to sleeping in ashes beside his servants

Evidence

As for your father, he keeps to his own farm —he never goes to town — with no bed for him there, no blankets, glossy throws; all winter long he sleeps in the lodge with servants, in the ashes by the fire, his body wrapped in rags. — Homer; Robert Fagles; Bernard Knox, The Odyssey, 2283

Categorization

• XREF: This is a key detail for the recognition scene in Book 24 when Odysseus tests his father’s grief.