T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8

αὐτοῦ P-S writes αὐτοὶ on the ground that ἐς τ. Μ. αὐτόσε or ἐν τῇ Μ. αὐτοῦ would be right, and any other combination wrong. αὐτοὶ is then their act as opposed to the appointment of Pedaritus made by the Lacedaemonians at home. But the Peloponnesians at Miletus despatch Pedaritus by land to Erythrae, while on the spot they make P. governor in Miletus. The supposed difficulty of αὐτοῦ is removed by taking καθιστᾶσιν ἐς as a conventional phrase for to ‘put in charge of,’ implying not motion but investiture. αὐτοῦ refers to their own position while they act, not to the position into which P. is to be placed, i.e. αύτοῦ belongs to ὁ καθιστάς, not to ὁ καθιστάμενος. ‘There, at Miletus, they appoint to Miletus.’