21st Century Classical Greek -- transpositions interrupt the flow

Book I section 52. I was going to do several sections in one post but then I found a number of things I thought you ought to know about.

τῇ δὲ ὑστεραίᾳ ἀναγαγόμεναι αἵ τε Ἀττικαὶ τριάκοντα νῆες καὶ τῶν Κερκυραίων ὅσαι πλώιμοι ἦσαν ἐπέπλευσαν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν τοῖς Συβότοις λιμένα, ἐν ᾧ οἱ Κορίνθιοι ὥρμουν, βουλόμενοι εἰδέναι εἰ ναυμαχήσουσιν.

[2] οἱ δὲ τὰς μὲν ναῦς ἄραντες ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ παραταξάμενοι μετεώρους ἡσύχαζον, ναυμαχίας οὐ διανοούμενοι ἄρχειν ἑκόντες ὁρῶντες προσγεγενημένας τε ναῦς ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν ἀκραιφνεῖς καὶ σφίσι πολλὰ τὰ ἄπορα ξυμβεβηκότα, αἰχμαλώτων τε περὶ φυλακῆς οὓς ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν εἶχον, καὶ ἐπισκευὴν οὐκ οὖσαν τῶν νεῶν ἐν χωρίῳ ἐρήμῳ:

[3] τοῦ δὲ οἴκαδε πλοῦ μᾶλλον διεσκόπουν ὅπῃ κομισθήσονται, δεδιότες μὴ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι νομίσαντες λελύσθαι τὰς σπονδάς, διότι ἐς χεῖρας ἦλθον, οὐκ ἐῶσι σφᾶς ἀποπλεῖν.

52.3: learn dioti. You haven’t seen it much but you will see it more than once as you read.

Notice the perfective conceptual verbs and derivatives in section 52. They have the nuance that at the point when Thucydides wrote this and other similar sections, the results of what he reports were still in effect. This supports the assumption that Thucydides wrote as things happened, instead of keeping notes and then sitting down and writing it up in one fell swoop after the plague. You may have to read the entire work and keep notes to see if things expressed in perfective held good throughout the war.

In particular look at the end of subsection 1. Thucydides talks about the gathering of the remnants of the fleet, then tells where they were going, then tells what the purpose of this was. He doesn’t use any of the classic purpose particles, the impersonal gerundive is a complement to boulomenoi. Jowett transposes the action and its purpose, creating a sort of parenthetical expression as if he is trying to round a period. Since we know that he doesn’t understand rounded periods, it’s sort of bogus. If, as I have said, Thucydides read his work to an audience as he went, he knew that they would care less about why the actions took place, than about what happened, which includes setting out for a specified location.

And then after specifying that location, he shows why the Korinthians were stupid to go there. There were no repair facilities in this uninhabited place and the Korinthians had not brought spares with them. The Kerkyraeans could simply retreat to Leukimmi on their home island and make all right and tight while giving Athins harbor privileges. These ideas are divorced by Jowett’s transposition.