"I was driven thence by foul winds
for a space of nine days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we
reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes
from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our
crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they
had eaten and drunk I chose [krinô] two of my
company to go see what manner of men the people of the place might
be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and
went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no harm, but gave
them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate
of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back
and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching
lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their
nostos; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them
back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told
the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the
lotus and leave off wanting to achieve a homecoming
[nostos], so they took their places and smote the gray
sea with their oars.
"We sailed hence, always in much
distress, till we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman
Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes neither plant nor plough, but trust in
providence, and live on such wheat, barley, and grapes as grow wild
without any kind of tillage, and their wild grapes yield them wine as
the sun and the rain may grow them. They have no laws nor assemblies
of the people, but live in caves on the tops of high mountains; each
is lord and master in his family, and they take no account of their
neighbors.
"Now off their harbor there lies
a wooded and fertile island not quite close to the land of the
Cyclopes, but still not far. It is overrun with wild goats, that
breed there in great numbers and are never disturbed by foot of man;
for sportsmen - who as a rule will suffer so much hardship in forest
or among mountain precipices - do not go there, nor yet again is it
ever ploughed or fed down, but it lies a wilderness untilled and
unsown from year to year, and has no living thing upon it but only
goats. For the Cyclopes have no ships, nor yet shipwrights who could
make ships for them; they cannot therefore go from city to city, or
sail over the sea to one another's country as people who have
ships can do; if they had had these they would have colonized the
island, for it is a very good one, and would yield everything in due
season. There are meadows that in some places come right down to the
sea shore, well watered and full of luscious grass; grapes would do
there excellently; there is level land for ploughing, and it would
always yield heavily at harvest time [hôra], for
the soil is deep. There is a good harbor where no cables are wanted,
nor yet anchors, nor need a ship be moored, but all one has to do is
to beach one's vessel and stay there till the wind becomes fair
for putting out to sea again. At the head of the harbor there is a
spring of clear water coming out of a cave, and there are poplars
growing all round it.
"Here we entered, but so dark was
the night that some god must have brought us in, for there was
nothing whatever to be seen. A thick mist hung all round our ships;
the moon was hidden behind a mass of clouds so that no one could have
seen the island if he had looked for it, nor were there any breakers
to tell us we were close in shore before we found ourselves upon the
land itself; when, however, we had beached the ships, we took down
the sails, went ashore and camped upon the beach till
daybreak.
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