Odyssey 8.50 · Book 8, lines 50–54
Rigging the black ship
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αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥʼ ἐπὶ νῆα κατήλυθον ἠδὲ θάλασσαν, νῆα μὲν οἵ γε μέλαιναν ἁλὸς βένθοσδε ἔρυσσαν, ἐν δʼ ἱστόν τʼ ἐτίθεντο καὶ ἱστία νηὶ μελαίνῃ, ἠρτύναντο δʼ ἐρετμὰ τροποῖς ἐν δερματίνοισι, πάντα κατὰ μοῖραν, ἀνά θʼ ἱστία λευκὰ πέτασσαν.
But when they came down to the ship and the sea, they dragged the black ship to the sea's depths; in her they set the mast and the sails, in the black ship, and fitted the oars in leather thole-straps, all in due order, and spread aloft the white sails.
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The setting
The chosen crew reaches the shore and readies the vessel — a compact type-scene of launching: dragging the ship to deep water, stepping the mast, fitting the oars, and spreading the sails.
A note on this passage
A pure type-scene of rigging a ship, done in order: haul the black hull to deep water, set the mast and sails, fit each oar in its leather loop, everything ‘in due order,’ and spread the white canvas. It is a checklist made beautiful by rhythm.
The undercurrent is the phrase ‘all in due order’ (κατὰ μοῖραν). μοῖρα is ‘portion, allotted share’ — the same word that means a man's fated lot. Here it just means everything done properly, in its right place. But the sea people fit their tackle κατὰ μοῖραν while the poem's larger μοῖρα, fate, works on the man they are about to carry: the small orderliness sits inside a vast one.
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