§ 116 (341, 342)
(341, 342) The verb μέλλω with the infinitive of the future or present, rarely of the aorist, forms a peculiar mode of denoting the future as something which one has at this present time in hand, and is about to do (futurum in præsenti), which notation by means of the imperfect (ἤμελλον) is applied to the past (futurum in præterito): Μέλλω ὑμᾶς διδάξειν, ὅθεν μοι ἡ διαβολὴ γέγονεν (Pl. Apol. 21). Ἐνεθυμοῦντο οἱ Ἕλληνες, ὅτι ἀγορὰν οὐδεὶς ἔτι παρέξειν ἤμελλεν (Xen. An. 3, 1, 2). Ἀκούω τινὰ διαβάλλειν, ὡς ἐγὼ ἄρα ἐξαπατήσας ὑμᾶς μέλλω ἄγειν εἰς Φᾶσιν (Xen. An. 5, 7, 5). [1]
[1]: Ἤδη ἤμελλον ἀλλήλους ἀπολιπεῖν (Thuc. 6, 31). (Ἠμέλλησα ἰέναι.)
REM. 1. Especially frequent εἰ μέλλω, if I am to --, and ὁ μέλλων, he that would, in denoting that which must be done in order to secure some object: Δεῖ στρατιάν, εἰ μέλλει πράξειν τὰ δέοντα, μηδέποτε παύεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις κακὰ πορσύνουσαν (Xen. Cyr. 1, 6, 17). Τὸν μέλλοντα εὖ γεωργήσειν δεῖ τοὺς ἐργάτας καὶ προθύμους παρασκευάζειν καὶ πείθεσθαι θέλοντας (Xen. Œcon. 5, 15). But also Ἀνδρεῖον δεῖ εἶναι τὸν εὐγενῆ νεάνισκον, εἴπερ εὖ μαχεῖται (Pl. Rep. 2, 375).
REM. 2. Of the simple indicative future (not fut. in præterito) instead of the optative in propositions dependent on a verb in the preterite, see Optative, § 130, b. R. 2.
§ 117 (347)
a) (347) With the addition of ἄν the imperfect, aorist, and sometimes plusquamperf. of the indicative is used to predicate something which, under the supposition of a certain condition, would find (or have found) place, but which does not do so, because the condition does not exist. The condition is expressed in the indicative with εἰ. Of that which, as it is, does not find place, but would do so, and of a condition assumed in opposition to the actual present state of the case, the imperfect is used (εἰ ἐδυνάμην, ἐποίουν ἄν); if the condition and conditional result, under the same supposition, belong to the past, both of them stand in the aorist (εἰ ἐκέλευσας, ἐποίησα ἄν, εἰ μὴ ἐκέλευσας, οὐκ ἂν ἐποίησα). The plusquamperf. with ἄν in conditional propositions, is used only when an action (then or now) completed, and a state which has (then or now) ended, is meant to be denoted. (A plusquamperf. having the sense of the imperf. is used as imperf., e.g. εἰ ᾔδειν, ἔλεγον ἄν.) The time in the conditional, and that in the principal, proposition, may differ according to the sense. (There can rarely be occasion to use the plusquamperf. in both clauses.) Εἴ τι ἐμοῦ ἐκήδου, οὐδενὸς ἂν οὕτως μ’ ἀποστερεῖν ἐφυλάττου, ὡς ἀξιώματος καὶ τιμῆς (Xen. Cyr. 5, 5, 34). Οὐχ οὕτως ἂν προθύμως ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον ὑμᾶς παρεκάλουν, εἰ μὴ τὴν εἰρήνην ἑώρων ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου καλὴν καὶ βεβαίαν γενησομένην (Isocr. Arch. 87). -- Εἰ ὁ Φίλιππος τότε ταύτην ἔσχε τὴν γνώμην, ὡς χαλεπὸν πολεμεῖν ἐστιν Ἀθηναίοις, οὐδὲν ἄν, ὧν νυνὶ πεποίηκεν, ἔπραξεν (Dem. 4, 5). Ἴσως ἂν ἀπέθανον, εἰ μὴ ἡ τῶν τριάκοντα ἀρχὴ διὰ ταχέων κατελύθη (Pl. Apol. 32). -- Εἰ μὴ ὑμεῖς ἤλθετε, ἐπορευόμεθα ἂν ἐπὶ βασιλέα (Xen. An. 2, 1, 4; had ye not come, we should now --). Εἰ ἐγὼ ἐτόλμων τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἐπέτρεψας ἄν, ὦ Δημόσθενες, καὶ οὐκ ἐνέπλησας βοῆς καὶ κραυγῆς τὴν ἀγοράν; (Æsch. 2, 86; had I dared it, wouldst thou have suffered it?) -- Εἰ, ὅ σε ἠρώτων, ἀπεκρίνω, ἱκανῶς ἂν ἤδη παρὰ σοῦ τὴν ὁσιότητα ἐμεμαθήκειν (Pl. Euthyph. 14; I should already have finished my task of learning --). Λοιπὸν ἂν ἦν ἡμῖν περὶ τῆς πόλεως διαλεχθῆναι τῆς ἡμετέρας, εἰ μὴ προτέρα τῶν ἄλλων εὖ φρονήσασα τὴν εἰρήνην ἐπεποίητο (Isocr. Phil. 56; were it not the case that it had already concluded a peace). Εἰ ἐγὼ πάλαι ἐπεχείρησα πράττειν τὰ πολιτικὰ πράγματα, πάλαι ἂν ἀπολώλειν καὶ οὔτ’ ἂν ὑμᾶς ὠφελήκειν οὐδὲν οὔτ’ ἂν ἐμαυτόν (Pl. Apol. 31; I should long ago have perished, without benefiting either you or myself, from ἀπόλωλα). [1]
[1]: Ὁπότερον τούτων ἐποίησε Διογείτων, οὐδενὸς ἂν ἧττον Ἀθηναίων πλούσιος ἦν (Lys. 32, 23).
REM. 1. (347, R. 2) Sometimes, either in both clauses or in only one of them, the imperfect is used instead of the aorist, of relations belonging to the past; mostly (yet not always, especially in the poets) to denote an abiding state or a continued series of actions: Σωκράτης οὔτ’ ἠλίθιος οὔτ’ ἀλαζὼν φαίνεσθαι τοῖς συνοῦσιν ἐβούλετο· ἐδόκει δ’ ἂν ἀμφότερα ταῦτα, εἰ προαγορεύων ὡς ἀπὸ θεοῦ φαινόμενα ψευδόμενος ἐφαίνετο. Δῆλον οὖν, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν προέλεγεν, εἰ μὴ ἐπίστευεν ἀληθεύσειν (Xen. Mem. 1, 1, 5). Ἐγὼ ἐχθές, εἰ μὴ πολλοῖς διεπύκτευσα, οὐκ ἂν ἐδυνάμην σοι προςελθεῖν (Xen. Cyr. 7, 5, 53). Λιπόντες τὰς τάξεις προθέοντες ἁρπάζειν ἤθελον καὶ ἡμῶν πλεονεκτεῖν· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο πάντες ἐποιοῦμεν, ἅπαντες ἂν ἀπωλόμεθα (Xen. An. 5, 8, 13). The aorist is put instead of the imperfect in the principal proposition only when, with less accuracy, the relation is referred to the past or to a different time: Εἰ μὲν τὸ σῶμα ἐπιτρέπειν σε ἔδει τῳ, διακινδυνεύοντα ἢ χρηστὸν αὐτὸ γενέσθαι ἢ πονηρόν, πολλὰ ἂν περιεσκέψω, εἴτ’ ἐπιτρεπτέον εἴτε οὔ, καὶ εἰς συμβουλὴν τούς τε φίλους ἂν παρεκάλεις καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους, σκοπούμενος ἡμέρας συχνάς, ὃ δὲ περὶ πλείονος τοῦ σώματος ἡγεῖ, τὴν ψυχήν, περὶ δὲ τούτου οὔτε τῷ πατρὶ οὔτε τῷ ἀδελφῷ ἐπεκοινώσω, εἴτ’ ἐπιτρεπτέον εἴτε καὶ οὐ τῷ ἀφικομένῳ τούτῳ ξένῳ τὴν σὴν ψυχήν (Pl. Prot. 313).
REM. 2. Relative and conjunctional clauses which come to be enclosed in such a conditional or conditionated proposition, are expressed in the indicative. Εἰ ξένος ἐτύγχανον ὤν, ξυνεγιγνώσκετε δήπου ἄν μοι, εἰ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ φωνῇ τε καὶ τῷ τρόπῳ ἔλεγον, ἐν οἷςπερ ἐτεθράμμην (Pl. Apol. 17). Εἰ πλούτῳ καὶ κέρδει ἄριστα ἐκρίνετο τὰ κρινόμενα, ἃ ἐπῄνει ὁ φιλοκερδὴς καὶ ἔψεγεν, ἀνάγκη ἂν ταῦτα ἀληθέστατα εἶναι (Pl. Rep. 9, 382). Ἡδέως ἂν Καλλικλεῖ ἔτι διελεγόμην, ἕως αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ Ἀμφίονος ἀπέδωκα ῥῆσιν ἀντὶ τῆς τοῦ Ζήθου (Pl. Gorg. 506). Ἐχρῆν τοὺς ῥήτορας μὴ πρότερον περὶ τῶν ὁμολογουμένων συμβουλεύειν, πρὶν περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξαν (Isocr. Paneg. 19).
b) The condition which does not obtain, is not always expressed in a proposition of its own, but may be given in a different turn of expression, or be implied in the context of the passage as a whole: Βοὸς ἔχοντες σῶμα, ἀνθρώπου δὲ γνώμην, οὐκ ἂν ἠδυνάμεθα ποιεῖν ἃ ἐβουλόμεθα (Xen. Mem. 1, 4, 14). Ὥστε ἀπελάσαι Χαλδαίους ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ἄκρων (in order to expel), πολλαπλάσια ἂν ἔδωκα χρήματα ὧν σὺ νῦν ἔχεις παρ’ ἐμοῦ (Xen. Cyr. 3, 2, 16; I would have given). Ξένος οὐδεὶς ἀφῖκται χρόνου συχνοῦ ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν, ὅςτις ἂν ἡμῖν σαφές τι ἀγγεῖλαι οἷός τε ἦν περὶ τούτων (Pl. Phæd. 57; who would have been in a condition --). Ἑάλωκα οὐ λόγων ἀπορίᾳ ἀλλ’ ἀναισχυντίας καὶ τοῦ ἐθέλειν λέγειν πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοιαῦτα, οἷ’ ἂν ὑμῖν ἥδιστα ἦν ἀκούειν, θρηνοῦντός τέ μου καὶ ὀλοφυρομένου (Pl. Apol. 38; as would have been to you --). Especially note ἄν with the indicative, where in English we use otherwise with the conditional mood, to denote a relation different from the actual one: Ἐπιστευόμην ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων· οὐ γὰρ ἄν με ἔπεμπον πάλιν πρὸς ὑμᾶς (Xen. An. 6, 6, 33). (Ἤλπιζόν σε παρέσεσθαι· ἢ οὐκ ἂν ἦλθον.)
REM. 1. The hypothetical proposition with ἄν may have an object-proposition (with ὅτι or ὡς, or as dependent question) subordinated to it, or an inference (ὥστε), sometimes also in a different way: Ἡδέως ἂν πυθοίμην, τίν’ ἂν ποτε γνώμην περὶ ἐμοῦ εἴχετε, εἰ μὴ ἐτριηράρχησα (Dem. 50, 67). Οὕτω σαφῶς ὁ πατὴρ ἐμὸς τοὺς κατηγόρους ψευδομένους ἐπέδειξεν, ὥστε ἡδέως ἂν ὁ δῆμος δίκην παρ’ αὐτῶν ἔλαβεν (Isocr. de Big. 7; would have been delighted to take --). Ἔστιν οὖν ὅπως ταῦτ’ ἄν, ἐκεῖνα προειρηκώς, ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ μὴ διαφθαρεὶς ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν; (Dem. 19, 308.) Such a proposition may even itself be made the condition: Εἰ τοίνυν ἂν ἐμοὶ τότε ὠργίζεσθε, ὅτι οὐκ ἐτριηράρχησα, πῶς οὐχὶ νῦν προςήκει ὑμᾶς εἰσπρᾶξαί μοι τὰ ἀναλώματα; (Dem. 50, 67; if then the case be so, that ye would have been angry with me --.)
REM. 2. Sometimes the aorist (rarely the imperfect) with ἄν denotes what would have happened at a past time, if the attempt had been made, and therefore what might, could, or should have taken place: Καὶ αὐτοὶ ἂν ἐπορεύθησαν, ᾗπερ οἱ ἄλλοι, τὰ δὲ ὑποζύγια οὐκ ἦν ἄλλῃ ἢ ταύτῃ ἐκβῆναι (Xen. An. 4, 2, 10). Ἐκ τίνος ἂν φιλίας ποτ’ ἐδάνεισεν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐμὸς τῷ ναυάρχῳ τὰς χιλίας δραχμάς, ὃν οὐκ ἐγίγνωσκεν; (Dem. 49, 50; could (or should) my father have lent --?) Οἱ Πέρσαι θᾶττον, ἢ ὥς τις ἂν ᾤετο, μετεώρους ἐξεκόμισαν τὰς ἁμάξας (Xen. An. 1, 5, 8). Οὐ γὰρ ἦν, ὅ,τι ἂν ἐποιεῖτε μόνοι (Dem. 18, 43; there was nothing that you could have done alone). Especially note ἠβουλόμην ἄν, I should (under other circumstances) have wished, I could have wished (said of wishes that are not to be fulfilled, vellem): Ἠβουλόμην ἄν, ὥςπερ πρόχειρόν ἐστιν ἐπαινέσαι τὴν ἀρετήν, οὕτω ῥᾴδιον εἶναι τοὺς ἀκούοντας πεῖσαι ἀσκεῖν αὐτήν (Isocr. de Pac. 36).
REM. 3. Sometimes the imperfect or aorist with ἄν is used to denote what in time past might, upon a given occasion, take place, i.e. what was wont to, and now and then did, take place. (The imperfect more of the recurrence of a state, or of an operation lasting some time; the aorist, of the repetition and recurrence of several actions.) Κῦρος, μεταξὺ τῶν ἁρμάτων καὶ τῶν θωρακοφόρων διαπορευόμενος, ὁπότε προςβλέψειέ τινας τῶν ἐν ταῖς τάξεσι, τοτὲ μὲν εἶπεν ἄν (would say)· Ὦ ἄνδρες, ὡς ἡδὺ ὑμῶν τὰ πρόςωπα θεάσασθαι· τοτὲ δ’ αὖ ἐν ἄλλοις ἔλεξεν· Ἆρα ἐννοεῖτε, ἄνδρες, κ.τ.λ. (Xen. Cyr. 7, 1, 10.) Ἀναλαμβάνων οὖν τῶν τραγῳδοποιῶν καὶ τῶν διθυραμβοποιῶν τὰ ποιήματα, ἅ μοι ἐδόκει μάλιστα πεπραγματεῦσθαι, διηρώτων ἂν αὐτούς, τί λέγοιεν (Pl. Apol. 22).
§ 118 (348)
(348) In some cases, however, the apodosis has the imperfect without ἄν, although depending on a condition which is intimated as not existing.
a) In speaking of what in a certain case in the past or present would be right, suitable, allowable, &c., but was not done, or is not done, the imperfects ἐχρῆν, προςῆκεν, ἔδει, ἥρμοττεν (καλῶς εἶχεν), ἐξῆν (ἦν, ὑπῆρχεν), and adjectives (also gerundives) with ἦν (κάλλιον, δίκαιον, κρεῖττον), are put without ἄν, in order to denote the duty or proper conduct unconditionally. Εἰ ἅπαντες ὡμολογοῦμεν Φίλιππον τὴν εἰρήνην παραβαίνειν, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἔδει τὸν παριόντα (an orator, who rose to speak) λέγειν καὶ συμβουλεύειν ἢ ὅπως ἀσφαλέστατα αὐτὸν ἀμυνούμεθα (Dem. 9, 6). Καλὸν ἦν τοῖσδε, εἰ καὶ ἡμαρτάνομεν, εἶξαι τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ὀργῇ (Thuc. 1, 38). Εἰ αἰσχρόν τι αἱ γυναῖκες ἔμελλον ἐργάσεσθαι, θάνατον ἀντ’ αὐτοῦ προαιρετέον ἦν (Xen. Mem. 2, 7, 10). (Εἰ δ’ ἦν ἀναγκαῖον ῥηθῆναι, οὐ Δημοσθένους ἦν ὁ λόγος, Æsch. 3, 229; it was not for D. to say it.) Τῶν ἐμοὶ συγγεγονότων τινὰ ἐχρῆν Μέλητον παρασχέσθαι μάρτυρα (Pl. Apol. 34). But also ἔδει ἄν: Εἰ ἐγὼ ἔτι ἐν δυνάμει ἦν τοῦ ῥᾳδίως πορεύεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἄστυ, οὐδὲν ἄν σε ἔδει δεῦρο ἰέναι (Pl. Rep. 1, 328; thou hadst no need, there would be no occasion, &c.). [1]
[1]: Ἠβουλόμην now and then for ἠβουλόμην ἄν (e.g. Arist. Ran. 866).
b) By a rhetorical mode of expression, the imperfect without ἄν is used to denote what would be (or have been) an immediate and easily-foreseen consequence of any thing (instead of the aorist with ἄν. -- The consequence or prospective result denoted as already in the act of taking place). Ὡρμημένων τῶν ἐν Σάμῳ Ἀθηναίων πλεῖν ἐπὶ σφᾶς αὐτούς (against their countrymen at home), ἐν ᾧ σαφέστατα Ἰωνίαν καὶ Ἑλλήσποντον εὐθὺς εἶχον οἱ πολέμιοι, κωλυτὴς Ἀλκιβιάδης ἐγένετο (Thuc. 8, 86). Οὔτε ὡς ἀποκτείναιεν οἱ θεοὶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, εἶχον -- αἱ τιμαὶ γὰρ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἠφανίζετο -- οὔθ’ ὅπως ἐῷεν ἀσελγαίνειν (Pl. Conv. 190). Ταῦτα πράξας (had I done this --, by such actions), ἃ οὗτός μου κατηγορεῖ, ἐκέρδαινον μὲν οὐδέν, ἐμαυτὸν δ’ εἰς κίνδυνον καθίστην (Lys. 7, 32). (Ἦν is also now and then put, without this meaning, for ἦν ἄν (would have been), the hypothetical being rhetorically represented as actual: Μετὰ τὴν μάχην εὐθὺς ὁ δῆμος, ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐμβεβηκώς, ἡνίκ’ οὐδ’ ἀγνωμονῆσαί τι θαυμαστὸν ἦν τοὺς πολλοὺς πρὸς ἐμέ, περὶ σωτηρίας τῆς πόλεως τὰς ἐμὰς γνώμας ἐχειροτόνει, Dem. 18, 248. Other omissions of ἄν are very questionable. [2] )
[2]: Ἡ πόλις ἐκινδύνευσε πᾶσα διαφθαρῆναι, εἰ ἄνεμος ἐπεγένετο τῇ φλογί, Thuc. 3, 74. Ἐκινδύνευσε stands unconditionally (-- and would have been ruined, if --). Οὐ γὰρ δήπου σοῦ γε οὐδὲν τῶν ἄλλων περιττότερον πραγματευομένου ἔπειτα τοσαύτη φήμη τε καὶ λόγος γέγονεν, εἰ μή τι ἔπραττες ἀλλοῖον ἢ οἱ ἄλλοι (Pl. Apol. 20. A mixture of an unconditional expression: has not arisen without thy doing --, and a conditional, if thou didst not --).
REM. 1. Of ἵν’ εἶχον (that I might have) without ἄν (hypothetical final sentence) see Optative, § 131 b. R. 3.
REM. 2. The aorist with ὀλίγου, within a little, almost, always without ἄν: Ὀλίγου ἐξηπάτησάς με (Pl. Meno, 80).
REM. 3. The present and perfect indicative never take ἄν. In the older poetical language (Homer, Pindar, Choral Odes) occasionally ἄν (κέν) occurs with the future indicative by a mixture of a simple mode of assertion with a dubitative (Pres. or Aor. Optat. with ἄν). In Attic writers (except in Choral Odes) this usage is very questionable.
REM. 4. On the place of ἄν, its repetition, &c., see Optative with ἄν, § 139.