"This stranger here, our guest –
I don’t know who he is, or whether he comes
from sunrise lands or the western lands of evening,
but he has come in his wanderings to my palace;
he pleads for passage, he begs we guarantee it.
So now, as in years gone by, let us press on
and grant him escort. No one, I tell you, no one
who comes to my house will languish long here,
heartsick for convoy home."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 8, lines 30-38. In The Odyssey Alcinous is one of those characters who religiously observes the ancient Greek rules of a good host. Addressing the people of Phaeacia, he urges them to provide passage to Ithaca for Odysseus who is heartsick for home.