 However , critics note that in the Homeric narrative , Ulysses ' original mariners are dead . A significant irony therefore develops from Ulysses ' speech to his sailors — " Come , my friends , / ' Tis not too late to seek a newer world " ( 56 – 57 ) . Since Dante 's Ulisse has already undertaken this voyage and recounts it in the Inferno , Ulysses ' entire monologue can be envisioned as his recollection while situated in Hell . 
