Hiking is a pleasant activity. how does the underlined gerund function in the sentence?

Read the excerpt from the odyssey. then, throwing his arms around this marvel of a father telemachus began to weep. salt tears rose from the wells of longing in both men, and cries burst from both as keen and fluttering as those of the great taloned hawk, whose nestings farmers take before they fly this excerpt is an example of which value important to ancient greek society? hospitality generosity perseverance family ties