Hospital, :Miciiael de L'. See Hopitai..
Hospitality (^tXo^evia). .The practice of receiv- ing strangers into one's house and giving them suitable entertainment may be traced back to the early origin of human societj'^. It was practiced, as it stiU is, among the least cultivated nations (Diod. Sic. v, 28, 34 ; Caesar, Bell. Gall, vi, 23 ; Tacit. Germ. 21). It was not less ob- served, in the early periods of their history, among the Greeks and Romans. With the Greeks, hospitalitj' (^t- via) was under the immediate protection of religion. Jupiter bore a name {S.bvloc;') signifying that its rights were under his guardianship. In the Odyssey (vi, 206) we are told expressly that all guests and poor people are special objects of care to the gods. There were, both in Greece and Italy, two kinds of hospitality, the one pri- vate, the other public (see Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. V. Hospitium). The first existed between individu- als, the second was cultivated by one state towards an- other. Hence arose a new kind of social relation : be- tween those who had exercised and partaken of the rites of hospitality an intimate friendship ensued, which was called into play whenever the individuals might after- Avards chance to meet, and the right, duties, and advan- tages of which passed from father to son, and were de- servedly held in the highest estimation (Potter's Gi-eek Antiquities, ii, 722 sq.).
But, though not peculiarly Oriental, hospitality has nowhere been more early or more fully practiced than in the East. It is still honorably observed among the Arabs, especially at the present day. (See Niebulir, Arabia, p. 4(5 ; Burckhardt, i, 331, 459; ii, 651, 739 ; Jau- bert, Trav. p. 43 ; Russel's A leppo, i, 328; Buckingham's Mesopot. p. 23; Robinson's Researches, ii, 331, 335, 603; Prokesch, £■/•«■«». ii, 245 ; Harmer, ii, 1 14 ; Schultens, ix- cerpt. p. 408, 424, 454, 462 ; Layard's Nineveh, 2d ser. p. 317 sq. ; Hackett's III. of Script, p. 64 sq.) An Arab, on arriving at a village, dismounts at the house of some one who is known to him, saying to the master, " I am your guest." On this the host receives the traveller, and performs his duties, that is, he sets before his guest Ills supper, consisting of bread, milk, and horgul, and, if he is rich and generous, he also takes the necessary care of his horse or beast of burden. Should the trav"- eUer be unacquainted with any person, he alights at any house, as it may happen, fastens his horse to the same, and proceeds to smoke his pipe until the master bids him welcome, and offers him his evening meal. In the morning the traveller pursues his journey, making no other retimi than " God be with you" (good-by) (Nie- buhr, Reis. ii, 431, 462 ; D'Arvieux, iii, 152 ; Burckhardt, i, 69 ; KosenmUller, Morgenl. \\, 82, 257). The early ex- istence and lung continuance of this amiable practice in Oriental countries are owing to the fact of their present- ing that condition of things which necessitates and calls forth hospitaUtv. When popidation is thinly scattered over a great extent of country, and travelling is com- paratively infrequent, inns or places of pubUc accommo- dation are not found; yet the traveller needs shelter, perhaps succor and support. Pity promjits the dweller in a house or tent to open his door to the tired way- farer, the rather because its master has had, and is like- ly again to have, need of similar kindness. The duty has its immediate pleasures and advantages, for the traveller comes full of news — false, true, -wonderful ; and it is by no means onerous, since visits from wayfarers
are not very frequent, nor are the needful hospitalities costly. In later periods, when population had greatly increased, the estabUshment of inns (caravanserais) di- minished, but did by no means abolish the practice (Jo- sephus, Ant. v, 1, 2 ; Luke x, 34).
Accordingly, we find hospitaUty practiced and held in the highest estimation at the earliest periods in which the Bible speaks of human society (Gen. xviii, 3 ; xix, 2 ; xxiv, 25 ; Exod. ii, 20 ; Judg. xLk, 16). Express pro- vision for its exercise is made in the Mosaic law (Lev. xix, 33 ; Dent, xiv, 29). In the New Testament also its observance is enjoined, though in the period to which its books refer the nature and extent of hospitaUty would be changed with the change that society had undergone (1 Pet. iv, 9 ; 1 Tim. iii, 2 ;'^ Tit. i, 8 ; 1 Tim. v, 10 ; Rom. xii, 13 ; Heb. xiii, 2). The reason assigned in this last passage (see Pfaif, Diss, de Hospitalitate, ad loc. Tubing. 1752), "for thereby some have entertained angels mi- awares," is illustrated in the instances of Abraham and Lot (Gen. xviii, 1-16; xix, 1-3); nor is it without a parallel in classical literature ; for the religious feeluig wliich in Greece was connected with the exercise of hospitality was strengthened b)' the beUef that the trav- eller might be some god in disguise (Homer, Odyss. xvii, 484). The disposition which generally prevailed in fa- vor of the practice was enhanced by the fear lest those who neglected its rites should, after the example of im- pious men, be subjected by the divine wrath to fright- fiU punishments (^Elian, Animalia, xi, 19). Even the Jews, in " the latter days," laid very great stress on the obligation: the rewards of Paradise, their doctors de- clared, were his who spontaneously exercised hospitality (Schottgen, Ilor. Heb. i, 220 ; Kype, Observ. Sac?: i, 129).