"But I brought them back, back
to the hollow ships, and streaming tears – I forced them,
hauled them under the rowing benches, lashed them fast
and shouted out commands to my other, steady comrades:
‘Quick, no time to lose, embark in the racing ships!’ –
so none could eat the lotus, forget the voyage home."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 110-115. Odysseus deploys his quick intelligence and cunning when some of his crewmen get drunk on the sweet and mellow lotus fruit on the island of the Lotus Eaters. Under the influence of the potent lotus drug, they lose interest in continuing their journey home. Their only desire is to remain with the pleasure-addicted natives, eating lotus, all memory of their journey home having been erased. So he drags them back to the ship by force, binds them right to the rowing benches and commands the rest of the crew to set sail quickly.