[785] ὑψοῦ ἐν νοτίῳ, ‘they anchored her well out in the water.’ The expression describes a ship ready for sailing at a moment's notice. She is not drawn up on the sand, but with sails set and oars ready, she lies afloat; her stern made fast with a hawser to the shore, her bows moored to the anchor-stone (“εὐναί”). Cp. Il.14. 77“ὕψι δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ εὐνάων ὁρμίσσομεν”. The meaning of νότιον is the water near the shore, and the adverb ὑψοῦ is quite as accurate a description of its position as “ὕψι” in the phrase “ὕψι ἐπ᾽ εὐνάων” quoted above. We must suppose here, that they hauled up to shore, and landed (“ἐκ δ᾽ ἔβαν αὐτοί”) for supper. Such a process is the natural one, as no small boats were in use for embarking and disembarking. And this would be easy enough, if we may suppose that they had a running tackle passed through a loop round their mooring-stone. They could then haul to shore and haul off again at pleasure. This interpretation is borne out by Od.8. 55“ὑψοῦ δ᾽ ἐν νοτίῳ τήν γ᾽ ὥρμισαν, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα”
“βάν ῤ̔ ἴμεν Ἀλκινόοιο δαΐφρονος ἐς μέγα δῶμα”. The common reading “ἐν δ᾽ ἔβαν” comes from a misconception of the passage. The actual departure is described inf. 842. As an illustration of the practice of disembarking to take supper cp. Od.14. 347“αὐτοὶ δ᾽ ἀποβάντες”“ἐσσυμένως παρὰ θῖνα θαλάσσης δόρπον ἕλοντο”.
