"The rest of you stay here, my friends-in-arms.
I’ll go across with my own ship and crew
and probe the natives living over there.
What are they – violent, savage, lawless?
or friendly to strangers, god-fearing men."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 192-196. Odysseus makes the fateful decision to take one ship from his fleet to explore the island of the Cyclops. He wants to determine whether the natives are friendly to strangers or not. He will soon find out to his cost when he meets Polyphemus.