E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

[3] 20. τοῦ τε χρόνου τὸν πλεῖστον—with μέχρι οὗ, most of the time they were controlling the sea and plundering the allies, ‘until.’ (Classen and Herbst understand by ὸ χρόνος the remainder of the campaigning season, but, without any qualification of χρόνος, this is surely impossible.) Of course the time intended must depend on the meaning of περιόντι τῷ θέρει, for which see next note. Thuc. means that the Corcyraeans did not keep their fleet at sea all the time between the departure of the Corinthian fleet and its reappearance.

24. περιιόντι τῷ θέρει —περιόντι, being the reading of all MSS, may be accepted. If περιεῖναι is intended, the explanation offered (Ullrich and others) is in ‘the remaining part of the summer.’ Herbst supports this rendering with ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ θέρει τελευτῶντι etc. (see the passages quoted by Mr. Forbes). But τῷ θέρει τελευτῶντι means in the summer when it was ending; and περιόντι τῷ θέρει=‘in the summer when it was (all) remaining over,’ the predicative partic., as Kruger says, modifying the whole sphere covered by the sense of the noun (cf. Bloomfield's note): this cannot yield the sense ‘in the remaining part of the summer.’ περιόντι must therefore be referred to περιιέναι, Aeolic elision. Examples of this elision of the ι of περί are Aesch Ag. 1145 περέβαλον, Eum. 634 περεσκήνωσεν, and περιών is frequently given in MSS. for περιιών. In Xen. Hell. 3.2. 25 the best MS. has περιόντι τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ. This means during the summer when it was coming round to autumn, drawing to a close. Steup and others, following the Schol. ἐνισταμένῳ, understand ‘when the summer came round’ to mean, when the next summer came; but this does not square so well with the concluding words of the chapter, which seem to refer to the winter of the year in which the battle was fought. If ‘drawing to a close’ is the meaning, then the dates would be:

Battle of Leucimme (c. 29. 4), ... Spring 435.

Return of Corinthian fleet (c. 30. 3), Autumn 435.

Corinthian preparations (c. 31. 1). Summer 435-33.

If, however, the sense is ‘when the next summer came,’ the first two dates should be altered to summer 435, and spring 434. (Remember that ‘summer’ in Thuc. includes spring and autumn.) In either case the calculations are based on the date of the battle of Sybota, for which see c. 51.

25. σφῶν—see c. 25. 2.