"Queen,
Arete, daughter of godlike King Rhexenor!
Here after many trials I come to beg for mercy,
your husband’s, yours, and all these feasters’ here.
May the gods endow them with fortune all their lives,
may each hand down to his sons the riches in his house
and the pride of place the realm has granted him.
But as for myself, grant me a rapid convoy home
to my own native land. How far away I’ve been
from all my loved ones – how long I have suffered!"
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 7, lines 172-181. Odysseus flings his arm around Arete’s knees and begs the queen to grant him passage to his homeland and family. He prays for the gods to endow the Phaeacian people with good fortune all their lives.