"ἔνθεν δ᾽ ἐννῆμαρ φερόμην ὀλοοῖς ἀνέμοισιν
πόντον ἐπ᾽ ἰχθυόεντα· ἀτὰρ δεκάτῃ ἐπέβημεν
γαίης Λωτοφάγων, οἵ τ᾽ ἄνθινον εἶδαρ ἔδουσιν.
ἔνθα δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἠπείρου βῆμεν καὶ ἀφυσσάμεθ᾽ ὕδωρ,85
αἶψα δὲ δεῖπνον ἕλοντο θοῇς παρὰ νηυσὶν ἑταῖροι.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ σίτοιό τ᾽ ἐπασσάμεθ᾽ ἠδὲ ποτῆτος,
δὴ τοτ᾽ ἐγὼν ἑτάρους προΐειν πεύθεσθαι ἰόντας,
οἵ τινες ἀνέρες εἶεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ σῖτον ἔδοντες
ἄνδρε δύω κρίνας, τρίτατον κήρυχ᾽ ἅμ᾽ ὀπάσσας.90
οἱ δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ οἰχόμενοι μίγεν ἀνδράσι Λωτοφάγοισιν·
οὐδ᾽ ἄρα Λωτοφάγοι μήδονθ᾽ ἑτάροισιν ὄλεθρον
ἡμετέροις, ἀλλά σφι δόσαν λωτοῖο πάσασθαι.
τῶν δ᾽ ὅς τις λωτοῖο φάγοι μελιηδέα καρπόν,
οὐκέτ᾽ ἀπαγγεῖλαι πάλιν ἤθελεν οὐδὲ νέεσθαι,95
ἀλλ᾽ αὐτοῦ βούλοντο μετ᾽ ἀνδράσι Λωτοφάγοισι
λωτὸν ἐρεπτόμενοι μενέμεν νόστου τε λαθέσθαι.
τοὺς μὲν ἐγὼν ἐπὶ νῆας ἄγον κλαίοντας ἀνάγκῃ,
νηυσὶ δ᾽ ἐνὶ γλαφυρῇσιν ὑπὸ ζυγὰ δῆσα ἐρύσσας.
αὐτὰρ τοὺς ἄλλους κελόμην ἐρίηρας ἑταίρους100
σπερχομένους νηῶν ἐπιβαινέμεν ὠκειάων,
μή πώς τις λωτοῖο φαγὼν νόστοιο λάθηται.
οἱ δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ εἴσβαινον καὶ ἐπὶ κληῖσι καθῖζον,
ἑξῆς δ᾽ ἑζόμενοι πολιὴν ἅλα τύπτον ἐρετμοῖς.
ἔνθεν δὲ προτέρω πλέομεν ἀκαχήμενοι ἦτορ·105
Κυκλώπων δ᾽ ἐς γαῖαν ὑπερφιάλων ἀθεμίστων
ἱκόμεθ᾽, οἵ ῥα θεοῖσι πεποιθότες ἀθανάτοισιν
οὔτε φυτεύουσιν χερσὶν φυτὸν οὔτ᾽ ἀρόωσιν,
ἀλλὰ τά γ᾽ ἄσπαρτα καὶ ἀνήροτα πάντα φύονται,
πυροὶ καὶ κριθαὶ ἠδ᾽ ἄμπελοι, αἵ τε φέρουσιν110
οἶνον ἐριστάφυλον, καί σφιν Διὸς ὄμβρος ἀέξει.
τοῖσιν δ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἀγοραὶ βουληφόροι οὔτε θέμιστες,
ἀλλ᾽ οἵ γ᾽ ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων ναίουσι κάρηνα
ἐν σπέσσι γλαφυροῖσι, θεμιστεύει δὲ ἕκαστος
παίδων ἠδ᾽ ἀλόχων, οὐδ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἀλέγουσιν.115
notes
The Lotus Eaters. The Cyclopes.
Sailing on, the Greeks reach the land of the Lotus Eaters. This brief episode reflects economically the threat that underlies all of Odysseus’s adventures in one way or another, annihilating oblivion—both in the sense of forgetting and being forgotten. Forgetting home (νόστου τε λαθέσθαι 97) will ensure that the sailors will be forgotten. Like the Iliad’s warriors, Odysseus and his crew face violent death in many forms, but just as dangerous, to Odysseus at least, is the threat of disappearing while alive from the admiring gaze of others, becoming nothing.
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Forgetting who you are risks losing the ability to win glory, the foundation of heroic status. Choosing to be nameless, as Odysseus often does, is by contrast somewhat less threatening, since anonymity can be used to manipulate others and avoid enemies and then discarded when the right moment for self-revelation arrives.
The encounter begins with Odysseus sending some of his men to scout out the local settlement and assess the people, “eaters of bread” (89), who live there. The epithet might seem out of place, since the Lotus Eaters are distinguished by the fact that they do not eat bread, but only the flower of the lotus. As is often the case with Homeric poetry, this small anomaly repays attention. Bread, made by modifying grain, a ubiquitous food source, is a common symbol for human culture in the Mediterranean, appearing with this meaning as early as 1600 BCE in the Epic of Gilgamesh. As that story begins, Enkidu, a wild man who runs with the gazelles and drinks from their watering hole, encounters a harlot sent by a hunter whose traps he has been disturbing. Enkidu enjoys seven days of lovemaking with the harlot, then eats bread and drinks beer—another human product made from grain—for the first time. The animals shun him now, as he has crossed the threshold from nature to human culture. He travels to the city of Uruk to confront Gilgamesh and later accompanies the king on an adventure to defeat the monster of the Cedar Forest, a typical exploit for the “culture hero,” who establishes or preserves civilization by defeating a creature that represents chaos (GiI.1–V.344). Like Enkidu, the Greeks have crossed the boundary of the human world, but the Greeks are leaving rather than entering.
Odysseus drags his unwilling shipmates, who have eaten the lotus plant and forgotten home (97), back to the ships and they sail on to meet the Cyclopes. There follows the first of three major episodes around which Books 9–12 are structured. Odysseus’s description of the one-eyed creatures establishes their peculiar mode of living immediately. They are ὑπερφίαλοι, which can mean physically enormous, but usually with the connotation of “overbearing,” “arrogant,” or “savage,” and ἀθέμιστοι, “lawless.” The former epithet is the most common one used of Penelope’s suitors. Like those oafish men, Polyphemus will prove to be a conspicuous failure when it comes to the civilizing norms of hospitality, θέμιστες, that articulate the poem’s moral and ethical standards.
Our view of these curious creatures is immediately complicated by the lines that follow (9.107–115). Here is a version of what the Greeks called the Golden Age, when humans lived alongside the gods and had no need of practical skills to secure food and lodging. The basic form of the myth appears widely across the Mediterranean in the 1st millennium BCE, perhaps best known through the biblical story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2.4–3.24). Each version features some form of paradise, when crops grow without cultivation and trees bear fruit continuously. This ideal world comes to end when a breach occurs between gods and humans, causing the latter to be cut off from the abundance once provided without any labor. In the Greek version, first appearing in Hesiod, Works and Days (109–201), the Silver Age follows, when humans had to compensate for losing their access to nature’s bounty by developing civilizing skills, growing and harvesting crops, banding together for mutual protection and benefit.
From the outset, the poet sends mixed signals about the Cyclopes. They are boorish like the suitors, asocial creatures living at a lower level of civilization than humans, isolated in their atomistic families, trusting in the gods rather than each other. They are primitive, but like the first inhabitants of paradise they are so because they have no need of community or civilizing skills to extract their livelihood through agriculture. At the same time, Polyphemus will prove to be a fastidious shepherd, caring for his flocks, tidily arranging his cave and pens, and making cheese from the milk of goats. Homer seems to have an almost anthropological interest in the Cyclopes, whose way of living offers insights into the trade-offs implied by the Golden Age myth. As this rich and entertaining episode unfolds, ironies will multiply. Polyphemus will prove to be a grotesque parody of the good host, and Odysseus, the obvious candidate for the role of culture hero, a treacherous guest. The interplay between anonymity and kleos continues, as the trickster uses his namelessness as part of his plan to conquer the powerful monster with intelligence, rather than force. And once again, the crew will suffer to satisfy Odysseus’s thirst for knowledge.
Further Reading
Austin, N. 1975. Archery at the Dark of the Moon, 143–149. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Clay, J. 1983. The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in the Odyssey, 125–132. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Dimock, G. 1989. The Unity of the Odyssey, 110–111. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Murnaghan, S. 1987. Disguise and Recognition in the Odyssey, 91–103. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Segal, C. 1983. “Kleos and Its Ironies in the Odyssey.” In Schein, S. 1996. Reading the Odyssey. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 201–222.
Tracy, S. 1990. The Story of the Odyssey, 60–61. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Van Nortwick, T. 1992. Somewhere I Have Never Travelled: The Second Self and the Hero’s Journey in Ancient Epic, 8–38. New York: Oxford University Press.
83 δεκάτῃ: supply ἡμέρᾳ (or ἥματι), dative of time when.
83 ἐπέβημεν: aor. > ἐπιβαίνω, + gen., “to arrive at.”
85 ἐπ᾽… βῆμεν: tmesis.
86 δεῖπνον ἕλοντο: “partook of a meal” > αἱρέομαι = “to partake of” in reference to a meal, with δεῖπον, δόρπον, δαῖτα, etc.
87 σίτοιό … ποτῆτος: partitive genitives after ἐπασσάμεθ(α) > πατέομαι, “to partake of.”
88 προΐειν: “I sent out,” impf. > προίημι.
88 πεύθεσθαι ἰόντας: “to go and find out,” introducing the indirect question in the following line.
89 σῖτον ἔδοντες: “bread-eating,” that is, “mortal.”
90 κρίνας: “choosing,” aor. ptc. > κρίνω. The antecedent is Odysseus.
90 τρίτατον κήρυχ᾽ ἅμ᾽ ὀπάσσας: “sending a third along with them as a herald.”
90 ὀπάσσας: “to send along as a companion,” aor. ptc. > ὀπάζω.
91 μίγεν: = Att. ἐμίγησαν > μίγνυμι, “to mingle with" (+ dat.)
93 σφι δόσαν λωτοῖο πάσασθαι: lit., “gave them to partake of lotus.” πάσασθαι ( > πατέομαι) takes a partitive genitive. πάσασθαι is an infinitive of purpose after the verb δίδωμι (Smyth 2008, 2009).
95 ἀπαγγεῖλαι πάλιν: “to report back.”
95 νέεσθαι: > νέομαι.
97 μενέμεν: = Att. μένειν.
99 ὑπὸ ζυγὰ δῆσα ἐρύσσας: “I dragged and tied them up under the oarsmen’s benches.” δῆσα = ἔδησα ( > δέω) with augment omitted, as is usual in Homer.
101 ἐπιβαινέμεν: = Att. ἐπιβαίνειν.
102 λωτοῖο: partitive genitive after φαγὼν, as with πατέομαι (lines 87 and 93).
102 λάθηται: the optative is expected after the secondary main verb (κελόμην, line 100), but here the subjunctive is more vivid. The verb, λανθάνω, in the middle voice means “to neglect, or forget,” and takes a genitive (νόστοιο; see Goodell 511.b).
103 κληῗσι: dat. pl. (alternative form of κληΐδεσσι)
104 τύπτον: = ἔτυπτον
105 ἦτορ: accusative of respect or specifying accusative (Goodell 537; Monro 137)
106 ὑπερφιάλων ἀθεμίστων: asyndeton (the adjectives are joined without a conjunction).
107 πεποιθότες: intransitive pf. act. ptc. masc. nom. pl. > πείθω. In the active voice πείθω normally means "to persuade," but the perfect active πέποιθα + dat. means "be confident in" or "have faith in." Relying on the gods the Cyclopes take things as they come.
109 φύονται: "grow," mid./pass.; the subject is neuter plural (τὰ … πάντα). Neuter plural subjects are usually followed by a singular verb, unless the constituent parts of the subject (as enumerated here in the first half of line 110) are emphasized (see Smyth 959).
110 αἵ τε: refers to αἱ ἅμπελοι. τε often appears with relative pronouns in Homer and need not be translated as a connective (Monro 266).
110 φέρουσιν: "produce, yield," LSJ φέρω V.
111 οἶνον ἐριστάφυλον: technically it is the vines that have large, beautiful clusters of grapes, not the wine.
112 τοῖσιν: dative of possession; supply the verb εἰσι.
vocabulary
ἔνθεν: from here, from there
ἐννῆμαρ: for nine days
ὀλοός –ή –όν: destroying, destructive, fatal, deadly, murderous
ἄνεμος –ου ὁ: wind
πόντος –ου ὁ: sea, open sea
ἰχθυόεις –εσσα –εν: full of fish, fishy
ἀτάρ: but, yet
ἐπιβαίνω ἐπιβήσομαι ἐπέβην ἐπιβέβηκα ––– –––: to go on, enter, mount, board (a ship) + gen.
γαίη –ης ἡ: land, region, district
Λωτοφάγοι –ων οἱ: Lotus Eaters
ἄνθινος –η –ον: of flowers
εἶδαρ –ατος τό: food
ἔδω ἔδομαι ἤδα ἔδηδα ἐδήδοται ἠδέσθην: to eat
ἤπειρος –ου ἡ: land, mainland, continent85
ἀφύσσω ἀφύξω ἤφυσα: to draw (liquid from a vessel)
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
δεῖπνον –ου τό: meal, supper
θοός –ή –όν: swift
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ἀτάρ: but, yet
σῖτος –ου ὁ: grain; bread
πατέομαι πάσομαι ἐπασάμην πέπασμαι: to eat
ἠδέ: and
ποτής –ῆτος ἡ: a drinking, drink
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
προίημι προήσω προῆκα προεῖκα προεῖμαι προείθην: to send ahead; to shoot
πεύθομαι: to find out, learn
χθών χθονός ἡ: the earth, ground
σῖτος –ου ὁ: grain; bread
ἔδω ἔδομαι ἤδα ἔδηδα ἐδήδοται ἠδέσθην: to eat
τρίτατος –η –ον: third (lengthd. poet. for τρίτος)
κῆρυξ –υκος ὁ: messenger, herald
ὀπάζω ὀπάσσω ὤπασα: to send as a companion, guide, or escort 90
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
οἴχομαι οἰχήσομαι ––– ––– ––– –––: to go, come move; to be gone, to have gone
Λωτοφάγοι –ων οἱ: Lotus Eaters
μήδομαι μήσομαι ἐμησάμην: to meditate, prepare, plot
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
ὄλεθρος –ου ὁ: ruin, destruction, death
σφεῖς: they
λωτός –οῦ ὁ: lotus
πατέομαι πάσομαι ἐπασάμην πέπασμαι: to eat
λωτός –οῦ ὁ: lotus
ἔφαγον (aor. with no pres. in use): to eat, devour
μελιηδής –ές: honey-sweet
καρπός –οῦ ὁ: fruit (of the earth), produce
ἀπαγγέλλω ἀπαγγελῶ ἀπήγγειλα ἀπήγγελκα ἀπήγγελμαι ἀπηγγέλθην: report, announce
νέομαι ––– ––– ––– ––– –––: to go 95
αὐτοῦ: at the very place, here, there
ἐρέπτομαι – – – – –: to feed on
νόστος –ου ὁ: return (home)
κλαίω/κλάω κλαύσομαι/κλαήσω ἔκλαυσα ––– κέκλαυμαι/κέκλαυσμαι ἐκλαύσθην: weep, cry
γλαφῠρός –ά –όν: hollow, deep
ζυγόν –οῦ ὁ: bench (joining the opposite sides of a ship)
δέω: to tie, fasten
εἰρύω/ἐρύω ἐρύσω/ἐρύω εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα εἴρυσα/ἔρυσα/ἔρυσσα –– –– εἰρύσθην: to pull, draw, drag
ἀτάρ: but, yet
κέλομαι κελήσομαι ἐκελησάμην ἐκεκλόμην: command, urge on, exhort, call to
ἐρίηρος –ον: faithful, devoted 100
ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: comrade, companion
σπέρχω σπέρξομαι ἐσπερξάμην: to rage, storm; (mid. and pass.) to hurry, rush, dash
ἐπιβαίνω ἐπιβήσομαι ἐπέβην ἐπιβέβηκα ––– –––: to get up on, mount; to board (a ship)
ὠκύς ὠκεῖα ὠκύ: quick, swift, fast
ἔφαγον (aor. with no pres. in use): to eat, devour
νόστος –ου ὁ: return (home)
αἶψα: rapidly, speedily, suddenly
εἰσβαίνω (Ion. ἐσβαίνω) εἰσβήσομαι εἰσέβην εἰσβέβηκα ––– –––: to go into
κληΐς κληῖδος ἡ: bolt; (pl.) oarlocks
καθίζω (Ion. κατίζω) καθιῶ (Ion. κατίσω) καθῖσα/ἐκάθισα (or κατῖσα) κεκάθικα: to sit down; to set, place
ἑξῆς: one after another, in order, in a row
ἕζομαι – – – – –: to sit down
πολιός –ή –όν: white
ἅλς ἁλός ὁ: salt (m.); sea (f.)
τύπτω τύψω ἔτυψα τέτῠφα (or τετύπτηκα) τέτυμμαι ἐτύφθην (or ἐτυπτήθην or ἐτύπην): to beat, strike; (mid.) to mourn
ἐρετμόν –οῦ τό: oar
ἔνθεν: from here, from there
προτέρω: further, forwards
ἀχεύω, aor. 2 ἤκαχε, pf. pass. ἀκάχημαι: to be afflicted, be grieved
ἦτορ τό: the heart 105
Κύκλωψ –πος ὁ: Cyclops
γαίη –ης ἡ: land, region, district
ὑπερφίαλος –ον: mighty, very strong; arrogant, haughty
ἀθέμιστος –ον: lawless, without law
ἱκνέομαι ἵξομαι ἱκόμην ––– ἷγμαι –––: to come
ἀθάνατος –ον: immortal, deathless
φυτεύω φυτεύσω ἐφύτευσα πεφύτευκα πεφύτευμαι ἐφυτεύθην: to plant
φυτόν –οῦ τό: plant
ἀρόω ἀρόσω ἤροσα ––– ἀρήρομαι ἠρόθην: to plow
ἄσπαρτος –ον: unsown, untilled
ἀνήροτος –ον: unploughed, untilled
πυρός –οῦ ὁ: wheat
κριθή –ῆς ἡ: barley
ἠδέ: and
ἄμπελος –ου ἡ: grapevine 110
οἶνος –ου ὁ: wine
ἐριστάφυλος –ον: having large, beautiful clusters of grapes
σφεῖς: they
Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus
ὄμβρος –ου ὁ: storm of rain, thunder-storm
ἀέξω ἀεξήσω ἠέξησα ἠέξηκα ἠέξημαι ἀεξήθην: to increase, enlarge, foster, strengthen
ἀγορά –ᾶς ἡ: market place
βουληφόρος –ον: counselling, advising
θέμις –ιστος ἡ: norm, custom; right, law
ὑψηλός –ή –όν: high, lofty, high-hearted
ναίω – – – – –: dwell, inhabit, be situated
κάρηνον –ου τό: head; peak, summit
σπέος –ους τό: a cave, cavern, grotto
γλαφῠρός –ά –όν: hollow, deep
θεμιστεύω θεμιστεύσω ἐθεμίστευσα: to render justice; to govern, command (+ gen.)
ἄλοχος –ου ἡ: wife
ἀλέγω – – – – –: to trouble oneself, have a care 115