Odyssey 9.91 · Book 9, lines 91–93
Among the Lotus-eaters
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οἱ δʼ αἶψʼ οἰχόμενοι μίγεν ἀνδράσι Λωτοφάγοισιν· οὐδʼ ἄρα Λωτοφάγοι μήδονθʼ ἑτάροισιν ὄλεθρον ἡμετέροις, ἀλλά σφι δόσαν λωτοῖο πάσασθαι.
And they, going off, at once mingled with the Lotus-eating men; nor then did the Lotus-eaters plot destruction for our own companions, but gave them lotus to taste.
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The setting
Blown off course past Cape Malea, Odysseus's fleet lands in the country of the Lotus-eaters. He sends a scouting party ashore; these lines report the welcome they meet.
A note on this passage
The scouts meet no violence. The Lotus-eaters plan no ruin — the poem is careful to say so outright — and simply share their food. The peril here wears no monstrous face; it arrives as hospitality.
This is the first of the fabulous dangers, and Homer sets it against the ordinary law of guest-friendship. The Lotus-eaters keep xenia flawlessly: they harm no stranger, they give what they have. The threat is not cruelty but a kindness that quietly dissolves the will to go home.
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