Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.10.5 · 1.10.5
Sacrifices to Artemis before sailing
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Θυσίαι δὲ πρὸ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι καὶ εὐχαὶ τοῦ δήμου παντὸς καὶ δάκρυα πάντων, ὡς μελλόντων ἀπαλλάττεσθαι παίδων κοινῶν. Ἦν δὲ ὁ πλοῦς αὐτοῖς ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον παρεσκευασμένος.
Before the sailing there were sacrifices to Artemis, prayers from all the people, and tears from everyone, as though children of the whole city were going away. Their voyage had been arranged for Egypt.
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The setting
Book 1, chapter 10. Artemis is the goddess of Ephesus, whose festival opened the story (1.2).
A note on this passage
ἀναγωγή, "putting out to sea," is a sailor's word, literally a "leading up" of a ship from the shore into open water. Thucydides uses the same phrase, πρὸ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς, for the Athenian fleet that left for Sicily: the men said "the customary prayers before putting to sea" and poured wine from gold and silver cups, while the crowd on shore prayed with them (Thucydides 6.32.1). Egypt, where the voyage is bound, is the land of the Nile and of Isis, both named in the oracle (1.6.2).
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