These passages concern the welcome given to strangers. In Homer it is a sacred bond: strangers and beggars come from Jove, and a guest-friendship between grandfathers can halt a duel. Ovid’s gods test men by asking for lodging and find it only in a poor cottage. Cicero values hospitality chiefly among the great, and for the influence it brings. In the Gospels the stranger may be Christ himself, and in Acts the shipwrecked are kindly received by people the narrator calls barbarians.
Chosen by hand, not counted: a passage is here when it is plainly about the topic, and the list is not every mention. Each is shown in the order the books were written, and each links to the section it is in.
Diomed and Glaucus find their grandfathers were guest-friends, and exchange armour instead of fighting.
… Thus did he speak, and the heart of Diomed was glad. He planted his spear in the ground, and spoke to him with friendly words. “Then,” he said, “you are an old friend of my father’s house. Great Oeneus once entertained Bellerophon for twenty days, and the two exchanged presents. Oeneus gave a belt rich with purple, and Bellerophon a double cup, which I left at home when I set out for Troy. … Book 6 →The swineherd Eumaeus takes in the disguised Ulysses, saying all strangers and beggars are from Jove.
… Stranger, though a still poorer man should come here, it would not be right for me to insult him, for all strangers and beggars are from Jove. You must take what you can get and be thankful, for servants live in fear when they have young lords for their masters; … Book 14 →Cicero commends hospitality to distinguished guests, partly for the influence it brings abroad.
… Hospitality also is a theme of Theophrastus's praise, and rightly so. For, as it seems to me at least, it is most proper that the homes of distinguished men should be open to distinguished guests. And it is to the credit of our country also that men from abroad do not fail to find hospitable entertainment of this kind in our city. … Book 2 →The shipwrecked Trojans ask Dido for hospitable rites, and she receives them into Carthage.
… He whom you seek am I; by tempests toss’d, And sav’d from shipwreck on your Libyan coast; Presenting, gracious queen, before your throne, A prince that owes his life to you alone. Fair majesty, the refuge and redress Of those whom fate pursues, and wants oppress, You, who your pious offices employ To save the relics of abandon’d Troy; … Book 1 →Jupiter and Mercury, turned away by a thousand houses, are fed by the poor old couple Baucis and Philemon.
… Jupiter came hither in the shape of a man, and together with his parent, the grandson of Atlas, Mercury, the bearer of the Caduceus, having laid aside his wings. To a thousand houses did they go, asking for lodging and for rest. A thousand houses did the bolts fasten against them. Yet one received them, a small one indeed, thatched with straw, and the reeds of the marsh. … Book 8 →The king tells the blessed that when they took in a stranger they took in him.
For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: Matthew 25 →Two disciples press a stranger to stay the night; at table he breaks bread and they know Jesus.
But they constrained him, saying: Stay with us, because it is towards evening and the day is now far spent. And he went in with them. Luke 24 →The islanders of Melita light a fire for the shipwrecked, and Publius lodges them for three days.
For kindling a fire, they refreshed us all, because of the present rain and of the cold. Acts 28 →