Odyssey 2.386 · Book 2, lines 386–390
The ship goes down to the sea
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ἡ δʼ αὖτε Φρονίοιο Νοήμονα φαίδιμον υἱὸν ᾔτεε νῆα θοήν· ὁ δέ οἱ πρόφρων ὑπέδεκτο. δύσετό τʼ ἠέλιος σκιόωντό τε πᾶσαι ἀγυιαί, καὶ τότε νῆα θοὴν ἅλαδʼ εἴρυσε, πάντα δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ ὅπλʼ ἐτίθει, τά τε νῆες ἐύσσελμοι φορέουσι.
And she in turn asked Noemon, glorious son of Phronius, for a swift ship; and he with a ready heart promised it to her. The sun set and all the ways grew shadowy, and then she hauled the swift ship to the sea, and placed in it all the gear that well-benched ships carry.
Word by word
The setting
Athena, still in disguise, secures the actual vessel from Noemon, a young Ithacan. As night falls she launches it and stows the gear — the last preparations before Telemachus's secret sailing.
A note on this passage
The last piece falls into place: a real ship, lent freely by a named young man, Noemon. Homer grounds the divine machinery in a specific Ithacan and his generosity — the plan needs an actual hull, and someone in the town gives it gladly. Then the sun goes down, and under cover of dusk the goddess launches the vessel and loads its tackle.
Nightfall is the accomplice. The darkening streets that end the day also hide the departure; the secrecy Telemachus asked of the nurse is now written into the very hour. By the time the gear is stowed, everything is ready but the boarding, and the boy's voyage has quietly become a fact.
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