Lotus Eaters: Homeric Parallel

After Odysseus escapes from Calypso's island and from the sea, he lands on Scheria (Book 6) and is entertained at King Alcinous's court (Books 7 and 8); in Book 9 he reveals himself to Alcinous and begins to recount the adventures of his voyage from Troy, "years of rough adventure, weathered under Zeus" (9:37-38; Fitzgerald, p. 158). Early in his voyage he and his men were driven by a storm to the land of the Cicones, the Lotus Eaters, "who live upon that flower" (9:84; Fitzgerald, p. 159), and Odysseus disembarked to take on water. Some of Odysseus's men met the friendly Lotus Eaters, ate the Lotus, and longed "to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland" (9:96-97; Fitzgerald, p. 160). Odysseus drove the infected men back to the ships and set sail.

(from Don Gifford with Robert J. Seidman, "Ulysses" Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's "Ulysses" [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988], p. 84. The first numbers following quotes from The Odyssey [for example, 1:115] refer to book and line numbers in the Greek text; English translations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald [New York: Doubleday, 1961])