Odyssey 13.172-183
ὢ πόποι, ἦ μάλα δή με παλαίφατα θέσφαθ᾽ ἱκάνει
πατρὸς ἐμοῦ, ὃς ἔφασκε Ποσειδάων᾽ ἀγάσασθαι
ἡμῖν, οὕνεκα πομποὶ ἀπήμονές εἰμεν ἁπάντων.
φῆ ποτὲ Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν περικαλλέα, νῆα,
ἐκ πομπῆς ἀνιοῦσαν, ἐν ἠεροειδέϊ πόντῳ
ῥαισέμεναι, μέγα δ᾽ ἧμιν ὄρος πόλει ἀμφικαλύψειν.
ὣς ἀγόρευ᾽ ὁ γέρων: τὰ δὲ δὴ νῦν πάντα τελεῖται.
ἀλλ᾽ ἄγεθ᾽, ὡς ἂν ἐγὼ εἴπω, πειθώμεθα πάντες:
πομπῆς μὲν παύσασθε βροτῶν, ὅτε κέν τις ἵκηται
ἡμέτερον προτὶ ἄστυ: Ποσειδάωνι δὲ ταύρους
δώδεκα κεκριμένους ἱερεύσομεν, αἴ κ᾽ ἐλεήσῃ,
μηδ᾽ ἡμῖν περίμηκες ὄρος πόλει ἀμφικαλύψῃ.’
"Alas!
The prophecies my father used to make
so long ago have come to pass. He'd say
Poseidon would get angry with us,
because we conduct all men in safety.
He claimed that one day, as a splendid ship
of the Phaeacians was returning home,
after a convoy on the misty seas,
Poseidon would strike her and then throw up
a huge mountain range around our city.
That's what the old man said. And now all this
is taking place. But come, let all of you
attend to what I say. You must now stop
escorting mortal men when any man
comes to our city. And let's sacrifice
twelve choice bulls as offerings to Poseidon,
so he'll take pity and not ring our city
with a lofty mountain range."
Phaeacians幫助Odysseus，卻惹惱海神，所以他們決定以後不再幫助海上迷途的陌生人。或許很多人或假借神祉的介入，例如海神的憤怒為由，但是，在人的心底，藏的是怎樣的盤算?「一遭被狗咬，終生都怕狗」，這是人之常情；只是，因為幫助別人遇到困難，就停止行善?
也許史詩又傳達一個想法，在航海世界，能不顧自身安危幫助別人真的很難得。或者，Odysseus深怕別人照著他的故事尋找這一夢幻的國度，造成Phaeacians的困惱，所以編造這故事。
