The Stranger's Welcome

What a host gives, and what dependence asks of a guest

A stranger's need can make a claim before anyone knows the stranger's name. Nausicaa and Eumaeus appeal to Zeus, while Dido remembers her own suffering. Marcus asks how a gift can escape the counting of debts; Dante hears what dependence on another household will cost.

1. Odyssey 6.206–210
2. Odyssey 14.55–66
3. Aeneid 1.627–630
4. Meditations 5.6.1
5. Paradiso 17.55–60