The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-09
NDLOTUSEATERS
INFORMATION ABOUT A FANCIFUL
EPISODE IN MYTHOLOGY.
People Lived on Fruits of Trees, but
of Homer and TennysOn.

Three questions naturally present them
selves at the outset:
First-Was there such a people as the
lotus eaters?
Second-Did the eating of the lotus fruit
by strangers have a deteriorating effect on
their love of home and native and
Third-What plants did they obtain their
food from?
The human race in its rudest and earli-
est stages subsists largely on the natural
products of the earth as they come to their
hands from nature; but as man becomes
civilized and cultured he develops the art
of cooking; and it is natural to suppose
that there we're people in the vicinity of
the Mediterranean sea whose principal food
consisted largely of one or a few favorite
fruits, which grew abundantly in their i'm
mediate locality.
The earlier historians and writer's.
Xenophon, Theophrastus, Diascorides and
Plinius, all describe people OF this charac-
ter and call them Lotophagi, or lotus-eat-
ers. They have located them In different
countries, as Asia Minor, southern Europe
and northern Africa. Homer is, perhaps,
the principal authority for the answer to
the second question. In Odyssey, Book 10,
as Ulysses is trying to double Cape Malca
In the Peloponnessus he is said to have had
the following experiences:
But on the afternoon Of the tenth day.
we reached, borne onward with an easy helm,
Lana Oh the lowry food, the lotus-eating realm.
Anon We step forth on the drear mainland,
AND draw fresh water from the springs, and
there,
Seated at ease along the silent strand.
Not far from the swift ships, our meals prepare.
Soon, having tasted of the welcome fare,
! with the herald, brave companions twain.
sent to explore what manner of men they were,
VINO on the green earth, couched beside the
Seemed ever with sweet food their lips to enter
tain.
Who, when they came to the delightful place
Where those sat feeding by the barren wave,
There mingled with the lotus-eating race;
Dreamed in their minds. but Of the lotus gave:
AND whose tasted of their howsry meat
Fast to that tribe, forever fain to eat.
hecklsss OF home return, the tender lotus sweet.
These aorely weeping by main strength we bore
sack TO the hollow ships with all our speed,
Under the benches; then the rest / lead
On BOARD and bid them to the work give heed,
Always to linger in that land, and feed,
careless forever of the home-return:
linen, bending to their oars, the foaming deep
they spurn.
-Morsley's Translation.
Tennyson, in most elegant verse, has
amplifed the above account in his Lotus
eaters" Several other ancient authors.
especially Pliny, ascribe to certain plants
and fruits similar amnestic effects on those
who eat of them. Modern therapeutics
knows of no plant which has the effect Of
abolishing the love of country. horne or
friends in those who partake of it's fruits.
The nearest approach to such manifesta-
tons is that of an overdose of alcohol or
the various forms of the opiate
preparations. But in these there is
a sort of temporary mental delir-
ium in which there is as likely to
be an increase of the love of home and
friends as the contrary. 1t is a singular
fact that of all the plants which are said
to have furnished the fruit eaten especially
by the lotus-eaters, not enc is noted for
possessing intoxicating or soporific prop
critics.
FINDING THE PLANT
When we attempt to learn which plant il
was that furnished the lotus-eaters their
famed fruit we find considerable literature
on the subject and also much confusion.
There are no less than eleven plants which
have at various times been credited with
the honor of having furnished the lotus
eaters with their special fruit; only six OF
these are entitled to serious consideration
A careful examination of their several his
tories reveals some interesting facts.
The word lotus is the Greek name for a
small tree belonging to the Buckthorn fam
lily, which Desfontaines named Zizyphus
lotus, and Linnius Rhamnus lotus.
1t grows wild in northern Africa, south
ern Spain and Italy. 1t has also been cul-
tivated in gardens; and Theophrastus asserts
that there was a form in which the fruit
bore no stones, showing an advanced stage
of cultivation and selection. It's fruit is a
red berry, near the size of 81 small olive.
and Is mildly sweet TO the taste. Herodotus
says there was a people living along the
Ltbyan coast and that the fruit of this tree
was their principal diet, and hence they
were known as the Lotophagi. He further
remarks that the slaves ate the fruit with
out removing the stones, while freemen
had the stones removed before they were
served. Pliny also relates a circumstance
where a large army subsisted principally
on this fruit for a time. 1t is also stated
by several ancient authors that it was a
common belief among the natives that If
strangers ate of it they were overcome by
a sort Of dreaming condition, in which
they lost all desire to return to their
friends, home and native land.
A second plant which is said to have
furnished this peculiar fruit is the date
plum (Dyospyrus Iotus), a small tree which
belongs 10 the same genus lnaJ our COM
mon perslmmon does. 1t Is said to be a
native of northern Africa, southern France
and Italy. It's fruit is about the size of
our ~persimmon, but is not of so fine a
flavor. 1t is also known as the lotus
and as the food of the Lotophagi.
by several of the ancient authors. The
third plant is the Lote or Nettle tree Gel
tbs australis.) 1t belongs TO the same genus
that our blackberry does, and is at home in
northern Africa, southern Spain, Italy,
France and Switzerland. 1t is a medium
sized tree with broad-spreading limbs. lts
fruit is about the size Of a common cherry,
is dark red or black when ripe an1 con-
tains one large seed. The taste. like that
of our tree, is pleasant and sugary, but
slightly astringent and is also said TO have
served as food to the Lotophagi, hence its
common name Lote.
Another claimant, among trees, to the
honor of furnishing the food OF the lotus
L. 1t belongs TO the bean family. and the
seeds and pod are used as food for man
and animals. 1t is found in various parts
about the Mediterranean sea and eastward.
1t is thought to be of Syrian origin. and
that 1t was carried westward by man. The
historian Blanca thinks that this was the
plant which Homer had in mind when
he wrote the passage quoted above from
the Odyssey. This is the plant alluded to
in the New Testament in the parable of the
p~rodigal son. And there is a tradition