Hospitality

Use in the book

The accusative ξενισμόν names the reception of Heracles narrated in Hippothales’ poem. The ancestral host’s relationship with Heracles supplies the occasion for the story. The noun designates an act of hospitality, not an abstract definition of friendship. In this scene it contributes to praise of family distinction, and Ctesippus presents the tale as well-worn material rather than new insight into Lysis.

Places to read

1. 205cτοῦ Ἡρακλέους ξενισμὸν — the entertaining of Heracles.

Use in the book

The dog’s alliance of bread links hospitality to attachment and recognition of authority. Its chain is described as a felt bond, and the comparison with horse and ox assigns different recognitions to different animals. This is Joubert’s observation and image, not a certified account of animal cognition. The later prescription moves indoors to the head: friends’ opinions need a free corner in which to lodge as they pass. A hospitable mind does not have to make each guest opinion its permanent belief. It must avoid filling every compartment so completely that conversation becomes unbearable.

Places to read

1. I, p. 386–387, entry 8, ¶1Hospitality supplies the dog with an alliance and a felt chain.
2. II, p. 740, entry 7, ¶1A free mental corner makes conversation with friends possible.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains the unfinished as-long-as clause and alliance of bread in the first witness. In the second it preserves corner, lodging and occupied compartments; the brain language is a spatial image rather than a new anatomical explanation.