Chapter 22

Chapter XXII Adventures of Ulysses. The Lotus-Eaters. Cyclopes. Circe.
Sirens. Scylla and Charybdis. Calypso The romantic poem of the Odyssey is now to engage our attention.
It narrates the wanderings of Ulysses (Odysseus in the Greek
language) in his return from Troy to his own kingdom of Ithaca. >From Troy the vessels first made land at Ismarus, a city of the
Ciconians, where, in a skirmish with the inhabitants, Ulysses
lost six men from each ship. Sailing thence they were overtaken
by a storm which drove them for nine days along the sea till they
reached the country of the Lotus-eaters. Here, after watering,
Ulysses sent three of his men to discover who the inhabitants
were. These men on coming among the Lotus-eaters were kindly
entertained by them, and were given some of their own food, the
lotus-plant to eat. The effect of this food was such that those
who partook of it lost all thoughts of home and wished to remain
in that country. It was by main force that Ulysses dragged these
men away, and he was even obliged to tie them under the benches
of his ship. (Tennyson in the Lotus-eaters has charmingly
expressed the dreamy languid feeling which the lotus-food is said
to have produced: "How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream
With half-shut eyes ever to seem
Falling asleep in a half-dream!
To dream and dream, like yonder amber light
Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height;
To hear each other's whispered speech;
Eating the lotus, day by day,
To watch the crisping ripples on the beach,
And tender curving lines of creamy spray;
To lend our hearts and spirits wholly
To the influence of mild-minded melancholy;
To muse and brood and live again in memory,
With those old faces of our infancy
Heaped over with a mound of grass,
Two handfuls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass.") They next arrived at the country of the Cyclopes. The Cyclopes
were giants, who inhabited an island of which they were the only
possessors. The name means "round eye," and these giants were so
called because they had but one eye, and that placed in the
middle of the forehead. They dwelt in caves and fed on the wild
productions of the island and on what their flocks yielded, for
they were shepherds. Ulysses left the main body of his ships at
anchor, and with one vessel went to the Cyclopes' island to
explore for supplies. He landed with his companions, carrying
with them a jar of wine for a present, and coming to a large cave
they entered it, and finding no one within examined its contents.
They found it stored with the riches of the flock, quantities of
cheese, pails and bowls of milk, lambs and kids in their pens,
all in nice order. Presently arrived the master of the cave,
Polyphemus,