In Homer’s Odyssey, when Odysseus returns to Ithaca, disguised as a poor wanderer, he is given food and shelter by the swineherd, Eumaeus. The ancient Greek code for providing hospitality to strangers, xenia, was considered a sacred obligation overseen by Zeus. Eumaeus’s obligation would be to take the stranger to the house of his lord to be cared for. But he knows that the suitors who have invaded Odysseus’s house will treat him badly — a violation of xenia that could bring upon them the wrath of the gods. So he cares for this man himself, pronouncing those magnificent lines: “Stranger, it is not right for me to turn away any stranger, even one in a worse state than you are, for strangers and beggars all come in Zeus’ name.”
But the scene, as touching as it is, makes very clear that something is amiss; there is a fundamental disorder in Ithaca. A swineherd is taking upon himself the obligation of the lord, and the lords in the palace are acting like swine. The pen for pigs holds the noblemen, and the palace has become a pen full of pigs. The disorder of places reflects a deeper moral disorder.
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