
Two crews, one shore
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εὖθʼ οἱ σπλάγχνα πάσαντο, θεῷ δʼ ἐπὶ μηρίʼ ἔκαιον, οἱ δʼ ἰθὺς κατάγοντο ἰδʼ ἱστία νηὸς ἐίσης στεῖλαν ἀείραντες, τὴν δʼ ὥρμισαν, ἐκ δʼ ἔβαν αὐτοί·
When they had tasted the innards, and were burning the thigh-pieces to the god, the others were putting straight in to shore, and furled the sail of the trim ship, hauling it in; and they moored her, and stepped out themselves.
As the Pylians finish the god's portion of the feast, Telemachus's ship glides in and his men perform the standard business of landfall — furling sail, mooring, disembarking.
The camera cuts between two crews. The Pylians are just finishing the god's portion — the tasting of the entrails, the thigh-bones burning on the fire — at the very moment Telemachus's ship glides in, furls its sail, moors, and puts its men ashore. It is a compact, expert piece of the standard 'landfall' type-scene.
The timing is design, not accident. A guest who arrives exactly at the sacrifice arrives when hospitality is most owed and most easily given — there is already a feast, and strangers at a feast must be welcomed. Athena is steering this boat; she has brought her charge to Pylos at the perfect hour to be taken in and questioned kindly.
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