Clavis Libri

Term

Hospitality

Sacred duty to welcome the stranger and the suppliant, protected by Jupiter and inherited from the Odyssey. The Aeneid measures people by it all the time: Dido welcomes the Trojans without hesitation, the king of Thrace kills Polydorus and breaks the law, the Cyclopes devour their guests, and Aeneas accuses Latinus of trading hospitality for Turnus's weapons.

Where It Appears