Odyssey 9.146 · Book 9, lines 146–150
Landfall in the dark
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ἔνθʼ οὔ τις τὴν νῆσον ἐσέδρακεν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν, οὔτʼ οὖν κύματα μακρὰ κυλινδόμενα προτὶ χέρσον εἰσίδομεν, πρὶν νῆας ἐυσσέλμους ἐπικέλσαι. κελσάσῃσι δὲ νηυσὶ καθείλομεν ἱστία πάντα, ἐκ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ βῆμεν ἐπὶ ῥηγμῖνι θαλάσσης·
There no one caught sight of the island with his eyes, nor did we see the long waves rolling toward the shore, before the well-benched ships ran aground. And the ships beached, we took down all the sails, and also we ourselves stepped out onto the sea's surf.
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The setting
The blind approach completes. No one even sees the island or the surf until the ships have already grounded; then the crews lower sail and step out onto the beach.
A note on this passage
The landfall finishes as it began — in the dark. No lookout sees the island, no one even sees the long waves rolling to the beach, until the ships have already run aground on it. Only then do they take down all the sails and step out onto the surf.
The order of events is the meaning: they land before they perceive that they have landed. Homer stages the whole arrival as something that happens to the men rather than something they do, the grounding of the keel their first knowledge of the shore. It is a quiet, ominous way to set foot on the Cyclops's threshold — safe, ashore, and entirely in the dark about where the dark has brought them.
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