Part II. The Relations of Propositions One to Another, Especially the Way of Denoting the Mode or Manner of Predication, and the Time of the Thing Predicated.
Chapter III.
The Optative and its Tenses: the Optative with ἄν
§ 129
The Optative (on the meaning of which see § 119) in independent propositions serves only to denote a wish that something may happen, or not happen, now or in the future: often with prefixed εἰ, εἰ γάρ (if but --!), εἴθε (oh that --!) (in Homer αἰ γάρ, αἴθε). Ἐπειδὴ πάντως ὁρῶ ὑμᾶς, Ἀθηναῖοι, ὡρμημένους στρατεύειν, ξυνενέγκοι ταῦτα (Thuc. 6, 20). Τούτων ἐγὼ εἴην (Eur. Were I but one of these!). Σὺ αὐτὸς ἅπαντα ἐπιστήσει, ἂν ἐγὼ βούλωμαι. Ἀλλὰ βουληθείης (Pl. Euthyd. 296. Would that thou mightest will it!). Μήτε Θηβαῖοί ποτε παύσαιντο, εἰ ἄρ’ εὔξασθαι δεῖ, τοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ἀγαθόν τι ποιοῦντας ἀτιμάζοντες, μήθ’ ὑμεῖς, τὰ ἐναντία τούτοις, τοὺς εὐεργέτας τιμῶντες (Dem. 20, 109). Εἴθ’, ὦ λῷστε, σὺ τοιοῦτος ὢν φίλος ἡμῖν γένοιο (Xen. Hell. 4, 1, 38). Οὕτως ὄναισθε τῶν ὄντων ἀγαθῶν ἡμῖν, μὴ περιίδητέ με ἀπολλύμενον (Dem. 28, 20; so may you enjoy --, as you do not suffer me to --).
REM. 1. Different from the simple wish is a question about possibility in the optative with ἄν: Ὦ Ζεῦ, πῶς ἂν τὸν αἱμυλώτατον ὀλέσσας τέλος θάνοιμι καὐτός; (Soph. Aj. 388. How may I find a way to destroy that most crafty man, and then at last myself to die? i.e. Might I but --.) Πῶς ἂν ὀλοίμην; (Eur. Med. 97.) [1]
[^1]: In the editions often erroneously without the note of interrogation.
REM. 2. A wish relating to the past which can no longer be fulfilled, is expressed by εἴθε with the indicative: Εἴθε σοι τότε συνεγενόμην, ὅτε δεινότατος σαυτοῦ ἦσθα (Xen. Mem. 1, 2, 46). By ὤφελον (debebam), εἴθε (εἰ γὰρ) ὤφελον (might I): negatively, μὴ ὤφελον, with the infinitive, is expressed a wish that cannot be fulfilled, whether relating to the present or to the past. Εἰ γὰρ ὤφελον οἷοί τε εἶναι οἱ πολλοὶ τὰ μέγιστα κακὰ ἐξεργάζεσθαι, ἵνα οἷοί τε ἦσαν αὖ καὶ ἀγαθὰ τὰ μέγιστα (viz. ἐξεργάζεσθαι, Pl. Crit. 44). (Εἰ γὰρ ὤφελον, O, if that could but be! I wish I might; Pl. Rep. 4, 432, with infinitive understood.) Μήποτ’ ὤφελον λιπεῖν τὴν Σκῦρον (Soph. Phil. 969; oh that I had only never --).
§ 130
a) The optative (by § 119 with Rem.) is used in dependent sentences which put something merely as a thought, and belong to a principal sentence in the past (aor., imperf., plusquamp., or historical present); in this manner it is put first in object-sentences with ὅτι, ὡς after verbs denoting an expression, opinion or knowledge (verba declarandi et sentiendi), and in dependent questions both about what is, and what shall be. (After the present and the future, the indicative is used; in questions of that which shall be, the subjunctive or the indic. future by § 121.) Περικλῆς προηγόρευε τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ὅτι Ἀρχίδαμος μέν οἱ ξένος εἴη, οὐ μέντοι ἐπὶ κακῷ γε τῆς πόλεως γένοιτο (Thuc. 2, 13). Προαγορεύω, ὅτι -- ἐστὶν -- ἐγένετο. Κῦρος μεταπεμψάμενος τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔλεγεν, ὅτι ἡ ὁδὸς ἔσοιτο πρὸς βασιλέα μέγαν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα (Xen. An. 1, 4, 11). Ἐπεὶ ταῦτα ἐκηρύχθη, ἔγνωσαν οἱ στρατιῶται, ὅτι κενὸς ὁ φόβος εἴη (Xen. An. 2, 3, 21). Ἐπεὶ ἀφίκοντο οἱ πρέσβεις οἴκαδε, τὸν Τιμαγόραν ἀπέκτειναν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, κατηγοροῦντος τοῦ Λέοντος, ὅτι μετὰ Πελοπίδου πάντα βουλεύοιτο (Xen. Hell. 7, 1, 38 = ἐβουλεύετο in the oratio recta). Οἱ Ἰνδοὶ ἔλεξαν, ὅτι πέμψειε σφᾶς ὁ Ἰνδῶν βασιλεὺς καὶ κελεύσειεν ἐρωτᾶν, ἐξ ὅτου ὁ πόλεμος εἴη Μήδοις τε καὶ Ἀσσυρίοις (Xen. Cyr. 2, 4, 7). Τότε ἐγνώσθη, ὅτι οἱ βάρβαροι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑποπέμψαιεν (Xen. An. 2, 4, 22). Τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ἧκεν ἄγγελος λέγων, ὅτι Συέννεσις λελοιπὼς εἴη τὰ ἄκρα (Xen. An. 1, 2, 21). Τισσαφέρνης διαβάλλει τὸν Κῦρον πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφόν, ὡς ἐπιβουλεύοι αὐτῷ (Xen. An. 1, 1, 3). -- Ἠρώτων Πολυκλέα, εἰ ἀναπλεύσειεν (he had put to sea) ἔχων ἀργύριον (Dem. 50, 55). Ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς πειρᾶσαι, εἰ δύναιντο ἐπιφλέξαι τὴν πόλιν (Thuc. 2, 77). Οἱ Ἐπιδάμνιοι πέμψαντες ἐς Δελφοὺς τὸν θεὸν ἐπήροντο, εἰ παραδοῖεν Κορινθίοις τὴν πόλιν (Thuc. 1, 25; whether they should deliver). Ἀλκιβιάδης ἀπορῶν, ὅ, τι χρήσαιτο τοῖς παροῦσι κακοῖς, τελευτῶν ἐπὶ Λακεδαιμονίους ἠναγκάσθη καταφυγεῖν (Isocr. de Big. 9).
REM. As the perfect denotes the past in reference to the present (as a still existing result), a dependent sentence after the perf. does not take the optative: Ὡς ἠθροίσθη Κύρῳ τὸ Ἑλληνικόν, ὅτε ἐπὶ Ἀρταξέρξην ἐστρατεύετο, καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ ἀνόδῳ ἐπράχθη, καὶ ὡς ἡ μάχη ἐγένετο, ἐν τῷ ἔμπροσθεν λόγῳ δεδήλωται (Xen. An. 2, 1, 1). The historical present, in reference to the dependent sentence, may be treated as present or as a præteritum. An infinitive with a participle or a præteritum itself acquires the force of præteritum.
b) Often, however, the speaker, instead of denoting the relation of the dependent sentence, puts this in a livelier way immediately in the mood and tense which it would have in the oratio recta; consequently in the indicative (in questions of what shall be, is to be, in the subjunctive or future indicative): εἶπον, ὅτι ἐλεύθερος εἴην and ὅτι ἐλεύθερός εἰμι. Where in the oratio recta the present indicative would stand, sometimes the imperfect is put (of that which coincides in time with the principal sentence), so that the mood, but not the tense, is retained from the oratio recta: ᾔδειν, ὅτι ἐψεύδου. Ἔλεγον οἱ ἐπιτήδειοί μου, ὡς ἐλπίζουσι τὴν πόλιν ἕξειν μοι χάριν ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰρημένων (Isocr. Phil. 23). Πολλάκις ἐθαύμασα, τίσι ποτὲ λόγοις Ἀθηναίους ἔπεισαν οἱ γραψάμενοι Σωκράτην, ὡς ἄξιος εἴη θανάτου (Xen. Mem. 1, 1, 1). Ἔγνω Ἀρχίδαμος, ὅτι οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι οὐδὲν ἐνδώσουσιν (Thuc. 2, 12). Ἤδει Ἄφοβος σαφῶς, ὅτι ἐξελεγχθήσεται (Dem. 29, 9). ἧκεν ἀγγέλλων τις πρὸς τοὺς πρυτάνεις, ὡς Ἐλάτεια κατείληπται (Dem. 18, 169). Ἀνδροτίων ἐτόλμα λέγειν, ὡς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν καὶ δι’ ὑμᾶς ἐχθροὺς ἐφ’ ἑαυτὸν εἵλκυσε καὶ νῦν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις ἐστὶ κινδύνοις (Dem. 22, 59). Ἠτιάσατό με Ἀνδροτίων, ἃ καὶ λέγειν ὀκνήσειέ τις, τὸν πατέρα ὡς ἀπέκτονα ἐγὼ τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ (Dem. 22, 2). Πολὺν χρόνον ἠπόρουν, τί ποτε λέγει ὁ θεός (Pl. Apol. 21). Περιουσίαν χρημάτων οἱ παλαιοὶ οὐκ εἶχον οὐδὲ γῆν ἐφύτευον, ἄδηλον ὄν, ὁπότε τις ἐπελθὼν ἄλλος ἀφαιρήσεται (Thuc. 1, 2; since they could not tell when ...). Σιμμίου λέγοντος πάνυ ἐθαύμαζον, εἴ τι ἕξει τις χρήσασθαι τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ (Pl. Phæd. 95). Ἠρόμην Ἄφοβον, εἴ τινες παρῆσαν, ὅτε παρελάμβανε τὴν προῖκα (Dem. 30, 19, = Ἆρα παρῆσάν τινες --;). Πελοπίδας εἶχε λέγειν, ὅτι μόνοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων βασιλεῖ συνεμάχοντο ἐν Πλαταιαῖς (Xen. Hell. 7, 1, 34). -- Ἔγραφον ἂν διαρρήδην ἡλίκα ὑμᾶς εὖ ποιήσω, εἰ εὖ ᾔδειν καὶ τὴν συμμαχίαν μοι γενησομένην (Dem. 19, 40). [1] Οἱ Πλαταιῆς ἐβουλεύοντο, εἴτε κατακαύσωσιν [in or. rect. κατακαύσωμεν; subj. dubitat.] τοὺς Θηβαίους, ὥςπερ ἔχουσιν, ἐμπρήσαντες τὸ οἴκημα, εἴτε τι ἄλλο χρήσωνται (Thuc. 2, 4). -- Κατανοῶν ὁ Κῦρος, ὡς εὖ μὲν αὐτῷ εἶχον τὰ σώματα οἱ στρατιῶται πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι πόνους φέρειν, εὖ δὲ τὰς ψυχὰς πρὸς τὸ καταφρονεῖν τῶν πολεμίων, ἐπεθύμει τι ἤδη πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους πράττειν (Xen. Cyr. 3, 3, 9, = εὖ ἔχουσιν).
[1]: So always after a hypothetical imperfect or aorist (with ἄν, or in the sentence with εἰ).
REM. 1. Now and then the indicative and optative alternate, and are coupled together: Προκλῆς καὶ Γλοῦς ἔλεγον, ὅτι Κῦρος μὲν τέθνηκεν, Ἀριαῖος δὲ πεφευγὼς ἐν τῷ σταθμῷ εἴη μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων βαρβάρων (Xen. An. 2, 1, 3). Περὶ τῶν σκευῶν (concerning the tackling) ἠρώτων Πολυκλῆ, πότερον παραλήψεται παρ’ ἐμοῦ ἢ ἴδια σκεύη ἔχων ἥκοι ἐπὶ τὴν ναῦν (Dem. 50, 33). Ἔγνω Φρύνιχος, ὅτι ἔσοιτο περὶ τῆς τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου καθόδου λόγος καὶ ὅτι Ἀθηναῖοι ἐνδέξονται αὐτήν (Thuc. 8, 50). [2]
[2]: Τότε δῆλον ἐγένετο, οὗ ἕνεκα οἱ Θρᾷκες τὰς ἀλωπεκίδας ἐπὶ ταῖς κεφαλαῖς φοροῦσιν (Xen. An. 7, 4, 4. Statement in the præteritum of a relation existing in the present time).
REM. 2. In this use of the indicative, the special notation of the præsens, præteritum, or futurum in præterito consequently falls away, except where the imperfect is put for the present of the oratio recta. The beginner must especially notice how the aor. is retained from the oratio recta where we expect the plusquamperf.: Ἔγνων, ὅτι Πρωταγόρας οὐκ ἤρεσεν αὐτὸς αὑτῷ ταῖς ἀποκρίσεσι ταῖς ἔμπροσθεν (Pl. Prot. 335). Ἐπήρου με, εἴ τί μοι ὁ διδάσκαλος ὑγιείας πέρι ἔλεξεν καὶ ῥώμης (Xen. Cyr. 1, 6, 12).
REM. 3. A hypothetical indicative with ἄν (or an imperf. without ἄν, put hypothetically) never passes into the optative when the verb of the principal sentence becomes a præteritum, because this would obscure the sense: Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀπεκρίνατο, ὅτι οὔτ’ ἂν αὐτὸς Σερίφιος ὢν ὀνομαστὸς ἐγένετο οὔτ’ ἐκεῖνος, Ἀθηναῖος (viz. ὤν. Pl. Rep. 1, 330). Διονύσιος ἔλεγεν, ὅτι δυστυχεστάτην ἐκείνην εἴη μὲν στρατείαν ἐστρατευμένοι, κρεῖττον δ’ ἦν (would have been) αὐτῷ τότε (viz. ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ) ἀποθανεῖν ἢ οἴκαδ’ ἐλθόντι τοιαύτῃ τύχῃ χρῆσθαι (Lys. 10, 25).
REM. 4. To an object-sentence with ὅτι or ὡς in the optative, or in the indicative instead of the optative, a continuation may be added in the optative by οὖν, or ὥστε (so that --, with indic. in oratio recta; see Infinitive, § 166): Ἀποκρίνεται Ποσείδιππος ὁ κυβερνήτης, ὅτι τριήραρχός τε ἐγὼ τῆς νεὼς εἴην καὶ τὸν μισθὸν παρ’ ἐμοῦ λαμβάνοι· πλεύσοιτο οὖν, οἱ ἐγὼ κελεύω, εἰς Θάσον (Dem. 50, 50). Ἀφικνοῦνταί τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες, ὅτι ὁ πατήρ μου ἀφεῖται (was set at liberty) καὶ Σατύρῳ οὕτως μεταμέλει τῶν πεπραγμένων, ὥστε πίστεις τὰς μεγίστας δεδωκὼς εἴη (Isocr. Trap. 11). A continuation of the reported speech or opinion, with γάρ, also stands after an optative in the optative, after an indicative either in the optative or in the indicative: Ἤκουον ἔγωγε, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἑκάστοτε Γοργίου πολλάκις, ὡς ἡ τοῦ πείθειν (τέχνη) πολὺ διαφέροι πασῶν τεχνῶν· πάντα γὰρ ὑφ’ αὑτῇ δοῦλα δι’ ἑκόντων (with people's consent) ἀλλ’ οὐ διὰ βίας ποιοῖτο (Pl. Phil. 58). Ἤδειν, ὅτι Πολυκλῆς παραλαβὼν τὴν ναῦν κακῶς ἤμελλε τριηραρχήσειν· οὔτε γὰρ τοῖς ἐπιβάταις οὔτε τῇ ὑπηρεσίᾳ χρήσοιτο· οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῷ παραμενεῖ (Dem. 50, 44).
§ 131
a) The optative stands in sentences of intention (final sentences) with ἵνα, ὡς, ὅπως (poet. ὄφρα), and in object-sentences with ὅπως and μή after a principal verb of past time (in aorist, imperf., plusquamperf., or historical present). (After a present or future, the subjunctive is put, or in certain cases the indic. fut., § 122, 123.) Μένων ὁ Θετταλὸς δῆλος ἦν ἐπιθυμῶν μὲν πλουτεῖν ἰσχυρῶς, ἐπιθυμῶν δ’ ἄρχειν, ὅπως πλείω λαμβάνοι, ἐπιθυμῶν δὲ τιμᾶσθαι, ἵνα πλείω κερδαίνοι· φίλος τ’ ἐβούλετο εἶναι τοῖς μέγιστα δυναμένοις, ἵνα ἀδικῶν μὴ διδοίη δίκην (Xen. An. 2, 6, 21). Κῦρος φίλων ὤετο δεῖσθαι, ὡς συνεργοὺς ἔχοι (Xen. An. 1, 9, 21). -- Ἐπεμελεῖτο Κῦρος, ὅπως μήποτε ἀνίδρωτοι οἱ στρατιῶται ἐπὶ τὸ ἄριστον καὶ τὸ δεῖπνον εἰσίοιεν (Xen. Cyr. 2, 1, 29). Κλέαρχος ἀπεκρίνατο Κύρῳ, ὅτι αὐτῷ μέλοι, ὅπως καλῶς ἔχοι (Xen. An. 1, 8, 13). Ἔδεισαν οἱ Ἕλληνες, μὴ οἱ Πέρσαι προςαγάγοιεν πρὸς τὸ κέρας (Xen. An. 1, 10, 9). Φίλιππος ἐν φόβῳ καὶ πολλῇ ἀγωνίᾳ ἦν, μὴ ἐκφύγοι τὰ πράγματα αὐτόν (Dem. 18, 33). Ἔδεισαν οἱ Κερασούντιοι, μὴ λύσσα τις ὥσπερ κυσὶν ἡμῖν ἐμπεπτώκοι (Xen. An. 5, 7, 26. Δέδοικα, μὴ -- ἐμπέπτωκε, § 124). Εἰ μὴ ᾔδησθα σαφῶς τό τε ὅσιον καὶ τὸ ἀνόσιον, τοὺς θεοὺς ἂν ἔδεισας παρακινδυνεύειν, μὴ οὐκ ὀρθῶς ποιήσοις ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς θητὸς ἄνδρα πρεσβύτην πατέρα διωκάθων φόνου (Pl. Euthyphr. 15). (After a wish in the optative: Θυμὸν γένοιτο χειρὶ πληρῶσαί ποτε, ἵν’ αἱ Μυκῆναι γνοῖεν, ὅτι χἠ Σκῦρος ἀνδρῶν ἀλκίμων μήτηρ ἔφυ, Soph. Phil. 324.)
REM. Ὅπως with the optative in a sentence of intention or an object-sentence rarely retains the ἄν (oftenest so in Herodot.): Προεθυμέετο Λοξίας ὅκως ἂν κατὰ τοὺς παῖδας τοῦ Κροίσου γένοιτο τὸ Σαρδίων πάθος (Hdt. 1, 91). Οἱ Συρακούσιοι τὰς πρῴρας κατεβύρσωσαν, ὅπως ἂν ἀπολισθάνοι ἡ χεὶρ ἐπιβαλλομένη (Thuc. 7, 65).
b) Often, however, after a præteritum, the sentence of intention or an object-sentence with ὅπως or μή, is put in the subjunctive (indic. fut.) as after a present, the sentence being so put as not to mark that it forms part of a representation belonging to the past (cf. § 130, b): Ἐπίτηδές σε οὐκ ἤγειρον, ἵνα ὡς ἥδιστα διάγῃς (Pl. Crit. 43). Ἀριστεύς, ἀποτειχισθείσης Ποτιδαίας, ξυνεβούλευε πλὴν πεντακοσίων τοῖς ἄλλοις (with the rest of the soldiers) ἐκπλεῦσαι, ὅπως ἐπὶ πλέον ὁ σῖτος ἀντίσχῃ (Thuc. 1, 65). Ἀβροκόμας τὰ πλοῖα κατέκαυσεν, ἵνα μὴ Κῦρος διαβῇ (Xen. An. 1, 4, 18). -- Περδίκκας ἔπρασσεν, ὅπως πόλεμος γένηται Ἀθηναίοις πρὸς Πελοποννησίους (Thuc. 1, 57). Αἰσχίνης τὸ καθ’ αὑτόν, ὅπως ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἡ πόλις ἔσται, παρεσκεύασεν (Dem. 19, 250). Οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς ξυμμάχους ἐδεδίεσαν σφῶν, μὴ ἀποστῶσιν (Thuc. 5, 14). Κῦρος δῆλος ἦν πᾶσιν ὅτι ὑπερεφοβεῖτο, μή οἱ ὁ πάππος ἀποθάνῃ (Xen. Cyr. 1, 4, 2). Εἰ μὴ ξυνῄδειν Σωκράτει τε καὶ Ἀγάθωνι δεινοῖς οὖσι περὶ τὰ ἐρωτικά, πάνυ ἂν ἐφοβούμην, μὴ ἀπορήσωσι λόγων διὰ τὸ πολλὰ ἤδη εἰρῆσθαι (Pl. Conv. 193). [1]
[1]: So for the most part after a hypothetical imperfect or aorist.
REM. 1. Occasionally the optative and subjunctive alternate and are coupled together: Τιμόθεος δανείζεται (hist. præs.) χιλίας δραχμὰς παρ’ Ἀντιφάνους, ἵνα διαδιδοίη τοῖς Βοιωτίοις τριηράρχοις καὶ παραμένωσιν ἕως ἂν αὐτῷ ἡ κρίσις γένηται (Dem. 49, 14). Παρανίσχον (likewise lifted up) καὶ οἱ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως Πλαταιῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους φρυκτοὺς πολλοὺς πρότερον παρεσκευασμένους (plusquamperf.) ἐπ’ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ὅπως ἀσαφῆ τὰ σημεῖα τῆς φρυκτωρίας τοῖς πολεμίοις ᾖ καὶ μὴ βοηθοῖεν (Thuc. 3, 22).
REM. 2. Some writers, as Thucyd., use the subjunctive (indic. fut.) oftener than others.
REM. 3. In stating why something that has not happened, ought to have taken place, or was to be wished, ἵνα (ὡς, ὅπως) with the indic. imperfect or aorist is put after a præteritum: Εἰ γὰρ ὤφελον οἷοί τε εἶναι οἱ πολλοὶ τὰ μέγιστα κακὰ ἐξεργάζεσθαι, ἵνα οἷοί τ’ ἦσαν αὖ καὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ τὰ μέγιστα (ἐξεργάζεσθαι, Pl. Crit. 44). Καὶ μὴν ἄξιόν γ’ ἦν ἀκοῦσαι. Τί δέ; ἦν δ’ ἐγώ. (How so?) Ἵν’ ἤκουσας (= that you might have heard [2]) ἀνδρῶν διαλεγομένων, οἳ νῦν σοφώτατοί εἰσι τῶν περὶ τοὺς τοιούτους λόγους (Pl. Euthyd. 304; of those who have to do with --; who occupy themselves with --).
[2]: [Properly (where =) in which case you heard (for conditional, would have heard).]
REM. 4. (to § 130 and 131). When to an object-sentence or sentence of intention dependent on a præteritum, another such sentence is attached and made dependent on it, the latter, as a general rule, also takes the optative, but may also take the indicative or subjunctive: Κῦρος προςκαλῶν τοὺς φίλους ἐσπουδαιολογεῖτο, ὡς δηλοίη, οὓς τιμᾷ (Xen. An. 1, 9, 28). Τὸν σοφιστὴν εἴπομεν, ὅτι ἀποροῖμεν, εἰς ὁπότερον τοῖν δυοῖν εἰδοῖν θήσομεν (Pl. Soph. 264; we should put); but when the first passes into the indic. or subjunctive, the latter is also treated as after a present: Οὐ τούτου ἕνεκα ἠρχόμεθα διαλεγόμενοι, ἵνα εὕρωμεν, τί ποτ’ οὐκ ἔστ’ ἐπιστήμη, ἀλλὰ τί ἔστιν (Pl. Theæt. 186).
§ 132
a) In dependent sentences with relatives or conjunctions which are accessory to an object-sentence, or sentence of intention, or infinitive clause, or single infinitive, and are put as forming part of the object (the thing said to be spoken, thought, perceived, &c.), or of the thing intended, and which in the oratio recta would stand in the indicative of the present, future, or perfect, or in the subjunctive (with ἄν after the relative or conjunction), the optative is used (without ἄν), when the principal verb on which the ὅτι, ὅπως, &c., depends is a præteritum, and so the following verb would regularly be in the optative by § 130 and § 131 [1]. Ἤδει Κῦρος, ὅτι, εἴ τι μάχης δεήσοι, ἐκ τῶν φίλων αὐτῷ καὶ παραστάτας καὶ ἐπιστάτας ληπτέον εἴη (Xen. Cyr. 8, 1, 10 = Εἴ τι μ. δεήσει, λήψομαι). Θηραμένης εἶπεν, ὅτι οὐδὲν αὐτῷ μέλοι τοῦ ὑμετέρου θορύβου, ἐπειδὴ πολλοὺς μὲν Ἀθηναίων εἰδείη τοὺς τὰ ὅμοια πράττοντας αὑτῷ, δοκοῦντα δὲ Λυσάνδρῳ καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις λέγοι (Lys. 12, 74 = Οὐδέν μοι μέλει --, ἐπειδὴ -- οἶδα δοκοῦντα δὲ -- λέγω). Ἀναξίβιος ἀπεκρίνατο, ὅτι βουλεύσοιτο περὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, ὅ, τι δύναιτο ἀγαθόν (Xen. An. 7, 1, 35 = βουλεύσομαι, ὅ, τι ἂν δύνωμαι ἀγαθόν).
[1]: [These rules have been defended by Madvig in a separate publication, where he lays them down thus: a) In the oratio obliqua, clauses dependent on an historical tense pass into the optative; but not, if in the oratio recta they would have the imperfect or aorist of the indicative; for then these forms of the verb are retained; b) except in clauses with ὅτι (= because; therein that --, in that [he &c.]), in which even these tenses pass into the optative.
a) Thus whilst the sentences δώσω ἃ δυνήσομαι or ἃ ἂν εὕρω, δίδωμ’ ἃ ἔχω, πέμψω ὅταν δυνηθῶ become regularly ἔλεγεν ὅτι δώσοι (ἔφη δώσειν) ἃ δυνήσοιτο, ἃ εὕροι· ἔφη διδόναι ἃ ἔχοι, πέμψειν ὅτε δυνηθείη, but may also, from the freedom of Greek construction, be expressed thus: ἔλεγεν ὅτι δώσει ἃ δυνήσεται, ἃ ἂν εὕρῃ· ἔφη πέμψειν, ὅταν δυνηθῇ· on the other hand the sentence ἔδωκα ἃ εἶχον can appear in no other form than ἔλεγεν, ὅτι δοίη (ἔδωκεν) ἃ εἶχεν: and so, ὅτε ἔπεμψα τὸν ἄγγελον, οὔπω ταῦτα ᾔδειν, becomes ἔλεγεν, ὅτι ταῦτα οὔπω ᾔδη (εἰδείη), ὅτ’ ἔπεμψε τὸν ἄγγελον: or, ἔφη, ὅτ’ ἔπεμψε τὸν ἄγγελον, οὔπω ταῦτα εἰδέναι.
b) He has convinced himself, he says, of the limitation expressed in b, since the publication of his Syntax, from a comparison of the two following passages, to which at present he cannot add a third. Xen. Hell. vii. 1, 34: εἶχε γὰρ λέγειν (Πελοπίδας) ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τοῦτο πολεμήσειαν αὐτοῖς (τοῖς Θηβαίοις), ὅτι οὐκ ἐθελήσαιεν μετ’ Ἀγησιλάου ἐλθεῖν ἐπ’ αὐτὸν (τὸν βασιλέα) οὐδὲ θῦσαι ἐάσειαν αὐτὸν ἐν Αὐλίδι τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι. The other passage is Herod. ii. 121, 5: ἀπηγήσασθαι αὐτόν (φασίν), ὡς ἀνοσιώτατον μὲν εἴη εἰργασμένος, ὅτι [in our edd. ὅτε, which would be against the rule, but Madvig has no hesitation in reading ὅτι] τοῦ ἀδελφεοῦ ἀποτάμοι (= in [having cut] cutting off --) τὴν κεφαλήν, σοφώτατον δέ, ὅτι τοὺς φυλάκους καταμεθύσας καταλύσειε τοῦ ἀδελφεοῦ κρεμάμενον τὸν νέκυν.]
[§ 132] Κλέανδρος εἶπεν, ὅτι Δέξιππον οὐκ ἐπαινοίη, εἰ ταῦτα πεποιηκὼς εἴη (Xen. An. 6, 4, 25. Οὐκ ἐπαινῶ, εἰ -- πεποίηκεν). Ἐσκόπει Μενεκλῆς, ὅπως μὴ ἔσοιτο ἄπαις ἀλλ’ ἔσοιτο αὐτῷ ὅςτις ζῶντά τε γηροτροφήσοι καὶ τελευτήσαντα θάψοι (Isæ. 2, 10. Σκοπῶ, ὅπως ἔσται ὅςτις γηροτροφήσει -- θάψει). Οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐςβάντες ἐς τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν Ἑλωρίνην ἐπορεύοντο, ὅπως, ἐπειδὴ γένοιντο παρὰ τῷ ποταμῷ τῷ Κακυπάρει, παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἴοιεν ἄνω διὰ μεσογείας (Thuc. 7, 80 = ὅπως, ἐπειδὰν -- γενώμεθα, ἴωμεν). Οἱ Πλαταιῆς ἀσαφῆ τὰ σημεῖα τοῖς πολεμίοις ποιεῖν ἐμηχανῶντο, ὅπως μὴ βοηθοῖεν, πρὶν σφῶν οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ ἐξιόντες διαφύγοιεν (Thuc. 3, 22 = μηχανώμεθα, ὅπως μὴ -- βοηθῶσι, πρὶν ἂν -- διαφύγωσιν). Γεωμετρίαν Σωκράτης μέχρι τούτου ἔφη δεῖν μανθάνειν, ἕως ἱκανός τις γένοιτο, εἴποτε δεήσειε, γῆν μέτρῳ ὀρθῶς ἢ παραλαβεῖν ἢ παραδοῦναι ἢ διανεῖμαι (Xen. Mem. 4, 7, 2; = δεῖ, ἕως ἂν γένηται, εἴποτε δεήσει, --). Τισσαφέρνης ὤμοσεν Ἀγησιλάῳ, εἰ σπείσαιτο, ἕως ἔλθοιεν, οὓς πέμψειε πρὸς βασιλέα ἀγγέλους, διαπράξεσθαι αὐτῷ, ἀφεθῆναι αὐτονόμους τὰς ἐν Ἀσίᾳ πόλεις Ἑλληνίδας (Xen. Ages. 1, 10. Ἐὰν σπείσῃ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθωσιν, οὓς πέμψω --, διαπράξομαι).
REM. 1. If, on the other hand, the accessory sentence in the oratio recta would stand in the aor. or imperf. indic., this is retained in the oratio obliqua, because the optative would not express the proper relation of time. We even find, not unfrequently, the aorist indicative, where the oratio recta would have the perfect indicative (and where, consequently, the optative might stand in the oratio obliqua); cf. § 112, R. 1. Οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἔλεγον, μὴ ἐπηγγέλθαι πω ἐς Λακεδαίμονα τὰς σπονδάς, ὅτε ἐςέπεμψαν τοὺς ὁπλίτας ἐς Λέπρεον (Thuc. 5, 49). Ἠρόμην, εἴ τινες εἶεν μάρτυρες, ὧν ἐναντίον ἀπέδοσαν (Dem. 30, 19. Ἆρά τινες μάρτυρές εἰσιν, ἀπέδοτε;). Ἤκουσα, ὅτι Περικλῆς πολλὰς ἐπίσταιτο ἐπῳδάς, ἃς ἐπᾴδων τῇ πόλει ἐποίει αὐτὴν φιλεῖν αὑτόν (Xen. Mem. 4, 7, 2). Λέγουσί τινες Θεμιστοκλέα ἑκούσιον φαρμάκῳ ἀποθανεῖν, ἀδύνατον νομίσαντα εἶναι ἐπιτελέσαι βασιλεῖ ἃ ὑπέσχετο (Thuc. 1, 138. Ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ἐπ. ἃ ὑπέσχημαι).
REM. 2. Sometimes the optative stands even in a sentence dependent on an object-sentence or sentence of intention (one with ὅτι, ὅπως, &c.), which has itself not taken the optative: Ἐδήλωσε Κῦρος, ὅτι ἕτοιμός ἐστι μάχεσθαι, εἴ τις ἐξέρχοιτο (Xen. Cyr. 4, 1, 1). Ἐφοβεῖτο Θεμιστοκλῆς, μὴ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι σφᾶς, ὁπότε σαφῶς ἀκούσειαν τὰ περὶ τὸ τεῖχος, οὐκέτι ἀφῶσιν (Thuc. 1, 91). Usually, however, in this case the indicative or subjunctive is used.
b) Often in such sentences the same form is retained as they would have in oratio recta (cf. § 130, b, and § 131, b). But instead of the indic. present sometimes the imperfect is put (in the same tense with the governing verb; cf. § 130, b): Προὔλεγον, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὅτι πάντα μᾶλλον ποιήσοις ἢ ἀποκρινοῖο, εἴ τίς τί σε ἐρωτᾷ (Pl. Rep. 1, 337). Ἔλεγον οἱ ἄγγελοι, ὅτι ἥκοιεν ἡγεμόνας ἔχοντες, οἳ αὐτούς, ἐὰν αἱ σπονδαὶ γένωνται, ἄξουσιν, ἔνθεν ἕξουσι τὰ ἐπιτήδεια (Xen. An. 2, 3, 6. Regularly, οἳ, εἰ γένοιντο, ἄξοιεν, ἔνθεν ἕξοιεν --). Κῦρος ἐπηρώτα τὸν Τιγράνην, ποῖα εἴη τῶν ὀρέων, ὁπόθεν οἱ Χαλδαῖοι καταθέοντες λῃίζονται (Xen. Cyr. 3, 2, 1). Ποτιδαιᾶται ἦλθον ἐς Λακεδαίμονα μετὰ Κορινθίων, ὅπως ἑτοιμάσαιντο τιμωρίαν (= βοήθειαν), ἢν δέῃ (Thuc. 1, 58 = εἰ δεήσοι). Οἱ στρατιῶται κατασχίσειν τὰς πύλας ἔφασαν, εἰ μὴ ἑκόντες οἱ ἔνδον ἀνοίξουσιν (Xen. An. 7, 1, 16). Οἱ Πλαταιῆς τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἔλεγον τὰ ἔξω τῆς πόλεως μὴ ἀδικεῖν· εἰ δὲ μή, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔφασαν αὐτῶν τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀποκτενεῖν, οὓς ἔχουσι ζῶντας (Thuc. 2, 5). Παρήγγειλαν οἱ στρατηγοί, ἐπειδὴ δειπνήσειαν, συσκευασαμένους πάντας ἀναπαύεσθαι καὶ ἕπεσθαι, ἡνίκ’ ἄν τις παραγγείλῃ (Xen. An. 3, 5, 18; observe the alteration of the two forms). Οἱ στρατιῶται οὐκ ἔφασαν ἰέναι, ἐὰν μή τις χρήματα διδῷ. Ὁ δὲ Κῦρος ὑπέσχετο ἀνδρὶ ἑκάστῳ δώσειν πέντε ἀργυρίου μνᾶς, ἐπὰν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἥκωσιν (Xen. An. 1, 4, 12 and 13). Κλέαρχος ἔφη χρῆναι, οἳ ἂν ἐξελεγχθῶσι διαβάλλοντες (those who should be convicted of circulating calumnious reports), ὡς προδότας ὄντας τιμωρηθῆναι (Xen. An. 2, 5, 27). Φίλιππος, εἰ τοῦτο τῶν παρ’ ἑαυτοῦ πεμπομένων ἱερομνημόνων εἰςηγοῖτό τις, ὑπόψεσθαι τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐνόμιζε καὶ τοὺς Θηβαίους καὶ τοὺς Θετταλούς, ἢν δ’ Ἀθηναῖος ἢ ὁ τοῦτο ποιῶν, εὐπόρως λήσειν (Dem. 18, 148). -- Κῦρος ὑπέσχετο τοῖς Μιλησίοις φυγάσιν, εἰ καλῶς καταπράξειεν, ἐφ’ ἃ ἐστρατεύετο, μὴ πρόσθεν παύσεσθαι, πρὶν αὐτοὺς καταγάγοι οἴκαδε (Xen. An. 1, 2, 2 = ἢν καταπράξω, ἐφ’ ἃ στρατεύομαι, οὐ παύσομαι, πρὶν ἂν καταγάγω). Μέγα τὸ δέος ἐγένετο, μὴ οἱ Πελοποννήσιοι, εἰ καὶ μὴ διενοοῦντο μένειν, πορθῶσιν ἅμα προςπίπτοντες τὰς πόλεις (Thuc. 3, 33).
REM. It is a rare anomaly, when an accessory sentence passes into the optative, and yet ἄν with the relative or conjunction is retained: Οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐχ ἡγεῖτο δίκην με λήψεσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἐπιτρόπων, ἐπειδὰν τάχιστα ἀνὴρ εἶναι δοκιμασθείην (Dem. 30, 6 = ἐπειδὰν δοκιμασθῶ or ἐπειδὴ δοκιμασθείην). (Soph. Trach. 687.)
c) The same rule and exception hold for accessory sentences dependent on a participle which has the force of an object-sentence (see Participles, § 177, b. 178): Ἡ αἰτία πρόδηλος ἦν ἐπ’ ἐκείνους ἥξουσα, εἴ τι πάθοι Χαρίδημος (Dem. 23, 12 = πρόδηλον ἦν, ὅτι -- ἥξοι). -- Τοῦτο πρόδηλον ἦν ἐσόμενον, εἰ μὴ ὑμεῖς κωλύσετε (Æsch. 3, 90).
d) Likewise the optative stands in dependent sentences which are so immediately attached to a leading sentence whose verb is a præteritum, that they form part of the thought of the person mentioned in the leading sentence (of something then present, or future, or so past as to be still present in its results -- the perfect), especially with εἰ, with ὅτι (because, for that), with ἕως, μέχρι οὗ (until -- could) [1], and with relatives: Οἱ μὲν εὔχοντο, Ξενίαν καὶ Πασίωνα ὡς δολίους ὄντας ληφθῆναι, οἱ δὲ ὤκτειρον, εἰ ἁλώσοιντο (Xen. An. 1, 4, 7; felt compassion at the thought --). Οὐκ ἦν τοῦ πρὸς ὑμᾶς πολέμου πέρας οὐδ’ ἀπαλλαγὴ Φιλίππῳ, εἰ μὴ Θηβαίους καὶ Θετταλοὺς ἐχθροὺς ποιήσειε τῇ πόλει (Dem. 18, 145; Philip had, saw no means of ending --). Οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι Περικλέα ἐκάκιζον, ὅτι, στρατηγὸς ὤν, οὐκ ἐπεξάγοι ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους (Thuc. 2, 21). Δερκυλλίδας καὶ Τισσαφέρνης σπονδὰς ἀλλήλοις ἐποιήσαντο, ἕως ἀπαγγελθείη τὰ λεχθέντα ἐς Λακεδαίμονα καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλέα (Xen. Hell. 3, 2, 20). Ἄνδρα οὐδέν’ ἔντοπον ἑώρων, ὅςτις ἀρκέσειεν (Soph. Phil. 280; from whom I could expect help). Ἱπποκράτης, ὁπότε καιρὸς εἴη, ἔμελλε στρατεύειν ἐς τοὺς Βοιωτούς (Thuc. 1, 77; intended, when it should be the fit time). But sometimes here also, especially with εἰ and in relative sentences, that form (present, future, or perfect indicative) is retained, in which the person mentioned would himself express the thought: Ἐμακάρισα τὸν Εὔηνον, εἰ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔχει ταύτην τὴν τέχνην (Pl. Apol. 20). Τῷ μηδὲν ἑαυτῷ συνειδότι δεινὸν εἰςῄει (it seemed hard), εἰ πονηρῶν ἔργων δόξει κοινωνεῖν τῷ σιωπῆσαι (Dem. 19, 33). -- (For the indicative present sometimes the imperfect is found: Ἐμαυτὸν ἀπωλοφυράμην, ὅςτις τοῦτο μὲν (on the one hand), ἐν ᾧ ἐδόκει ὁ δῆμος κακοῦσθαι, ἐγὼ ἀντὶ τούτου (therefore) κακὰ εἶχον, τοῦτο δέ, ἐπειδὴ ἐφαίνετο εὖ ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ πεπονθώς, πάλιν αὖ καὶ διὰ τοῦτ’ ἐγὼ ἀπολοίμην, Andoc. 2, 16.)
[1]: [This mode of expression is usually met with only with reference to what is present or future, as compared with the time of the principal action, except in two cases. (1) One of these is again (cf. note on p. 113) that of clauses introduced by ὅτι. And since here no change or ambiguity is possible, I assert, without hesitation, though I have not any example at hand, that as Thucyd. 2, 21 says Περικλέα ἐκάκιζον, ὅτι, οὐκ ἐπεξάγοι ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, so he might have said ὅτι οὐκ ἐξαγάγοι, in the sense of because he had not led them out.
(2) Then an additional thought, referred to the person spoken of, may be attached, by means of a relative pronoun, to a single definite notion; and in this added thought, that which would have stood in the aorist of the indicative, if there were no intimation of its being the thought of another, may be expressed by the aorist of the optative, because here, in the case of a principal verb in the present, no ὃς ἄν with aorist of the subjunctive is conceivable, and therefore no confounding with an aorist of the optative, as representing an ὃς ἄν c. aor. subj., can take place. The only instance I can at present produce is Soph. Œd. Tyr. 1246: μνήμην παλαιῶν σπερμάτων ἔχουσ’, ὑφ’ ὧν θάνοι μὲν αὐτός· τὴν δὲ τίκτουσαν λίποι Τοῖς οἷσιν αὐτοῦ δύστεκνον παιδουργίαν. Madvig, p. 17.]
REM. 1. On dependent sentences with a hypothetical imperfect or aorist indicative, see § 117 a. R. 2.
REM. 2. If the leading sentence contains a wish in the optative, a sentence dependent on this also takes the optative: Ὄλοιο μήπω, πρὶν μάθοιμ’, εἰ καὶ πάλιν γνώμην μετοίσεις (Soph. Phil. 961). [1]
[1]: Occasionally the optative is put, irregularly, in sentences dependent on an infinitive in general reflexions: Τοῦ αὐτὸν λέγειν, ἃ μὴ σαφῶς εἰδείη, φείδεσθαι δεῖ (Xen. Cyr. 1, 6, 19; what one does not himself know). Εἰκῇ κράτιστον ζῆν, ὅπως δύναιτό τις (Soph. Œd. R. 979).
§ 133
The optative (present or aorist) stands after conjunctions of time (without ἄν), relative words (without ἄν), and εἰ (if, i.e. as often as), in connexion with a leading sentence whose verb is a præteritum, when the thing denoted is, not what took place in a certain individual case, or with a certain individual person or thing, but what recurred and was repeated so often as a case befell, or a person or thing of a certain kind occurred [opt. of indefinite frequency]. (Ὁπότε ἀφίκοιτο, when he came, if he did come, whenever he came; ὅτε ἀφίκετο, when he came; ὅταν ἀφίκηται, when he comes: Ὅσους εἶδον, so many as I saw on the whole; ὅσους ἴδοιμι, so many as I saw from time to time, so often as I saw any.) Κῦρος, παρελαύνων τὸν ἵππον εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν ἥσυχος, κατεθεᾶτο τὰς τάξεις· καὶ οὓς μὲν ἴδοι εὐτάκτως καὶ σιωπῇ ἰόντας, προςελαύνων αὐτοῖς, τίνες τε εἶεν, ἤρετο καί, ἐπεὶ πύθοιτο, ἐπῄνει· εἰ δέ τινας θορυβουμένους αἴσθοιτο, τὸ αἴτιον τούτου σκοπῶν κατασβεννύναι τὴν ταραχὴν ἐπειρᾶτο (Xen. Cyr. 5, 3, 55). Σόλων ἐν ἅπασιν, οἷς ἐτίθει, νόμοις περὶ τῆς πολιτείας μᾶλλον ἐσπούδαζεν ἢ περὶ τοῦ πράγματος αὐτοῦ, οὗ τιθείη τὸν νόμον (Dem. 22, 30; about which, whatever it was --). Οἱ ὄνοι, ἐπεί τις διώκοι, προδραμόντες ἂν εἱστήκεσαν· καὶ πάλιν, ἐπεὶ πλησιάζοι ὁ ἵππος, ταὐτὸν ἐποίουν (Xen. An. 1, 5, 2. Of ἄν, see § 117 b, R. 3; εἱστήκεσαν counts as an imperfect). Περιεμένομεν ἑκάστοτε, ἕως ἀνοιχθείη τὸ δεσμωτήριον (Pl. Phæd. 59). (Ὁπότε ἔλθοιεν, οὗ αὐλίζεσθαι δέοι, φύλακας καθίστασαν, with the relative sentence necessary to the completion of the notion likewise in the optative.)
§ 134
The Tenses of the Optative.
a) In object-sentences with ὅτι and ὡς, and in dependent interrogative sentences, which in their independent form would have the indicative, the tenses of the optative correspond entirely with the same tenses of the indicative (so that the aorist is a præteritum), yet so that the present at the same time comprises the imperfect, and the perfect the pluperfect. In connexion, therefore, with the same leading verb in the præteritum on which the optative sentence depends, the present acquires the sense of the præsens or imperfectum in præterito, the aorist and the perfect that of the præteritum in præterito (but with the same distinction which appears in the oratio recta between the aorist and the perfect), and the future that of the futurum in præterito. See the examples in § 130, a. (But in a dependent question which in the oratio recta or after a present might have the subjunctive, the aorist has not the signification of a præteritum: Οἱ Ἐπιδάμνιοι τὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς θεὸν ἐπήροντο, εἰ παραδοῖεν Κορινθίοις τὴν πόλιν (Thuc. 1, 25 = παραδῶμεν ἢ παραδώσομεν). Xen. An. 7, 4, 10; Mem. 4, 2, 10 (σκοπῶν ὅ, τι ἀποκρίναιτο); and Herod. 5, 67, ἐχρηστηριάζετο εἰ ἐκβάλοι (where even Dobree, with Werfer, would read ἐκβάλλῃ).
REM. As in the indicative the aorist stands now and then where we should expect the perfect (§ 112, R. 1), so also in the optative: Οἱ Πλαταιῆς κήρυκα ἐξέπεμψαν παρὰ τοὺς Θηβαίους, ὅτι τὰ πεποιημένα οὐχ ὁσίως δράσειαν (Thuc. 2, 5; almost = δεδράκατε).
b) In the sentences treated of in § 133 (optative of the thing repeated [indefinite frequency]), the present optative corresponds with the imperfect indicative, and denotes the action in the dependent sentence to be contemporaneous with that in the leading sentence; the aorist with the aorist indicative after conjunctions of time (§ 114, c), and therefore denotes the action of the protasis as a single act recurring each time before the action of the apodosis; often, however, the difference is very slight: Ὁπότε οἱ τότε βασιλεύοντες αὐτὸν μὲν Εὐαγόραν ὁρῷεν, ἐξεπλήττοντο καὶ ἐφοβοῦντο περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὁπότε δὲ εἰς τοὺς τρόπους ἀποβλέψαιεν, σφόδρα ἐπίστευον (Isocr. Evag. 24).
c) In all other sentences the present and perfect of the optative answer to the present or perfect of the indicative or subjunctive, the future optative to the future indicative (therefore never in sentences of intention after ἵνα or ὡς). The aorist answers to the aorist subjunctive, therefore loses the sense of a præteritum, and differs from the present only as giving prominence to the consideration of the action as transient and occupying a single point of time, usually with more express reference to the future. (Cf. § 128.) Μένων ἐπεθύμει ἄρχειν, ὅπως πλείω λαμβάνοι (Xen. An. 2, 6, 21; to get more, in general or for ever). Ἔδεισαν οἱ Ἕλληνες, μὴ οἱ Πέρσαι προςαγάγοιεν πρὸς τὸ κέρας (Xen. An. 1, 10, 9). Ἤδει Κῦρος, ὅτι, εἴ τι μάχης ποτὲ δεήσοι, ἐκ τῶν φίλων αὐτῷ καὶ παραστάτας καὶ ἐπιστάτας ληπτέον εἴη (Xen. Cyr. 8, 1, 10). Ἔδεισαν οἱ Κερασούντιοι, μὴ λύσσα τις ὥσπερ κυσὶν ἡμῖν ἐμπεπτώκοι (Xen. An. 5, 7, 26). See further examples in § 131 and 132.
REM. 1. As in certain sorts of sentences the distinction between future indic. and aor. subjunctive is but small (with ὅπως in an object-sentence, εἰ δώσω and ἐὰν δῶ), so in the same sorts of sentences the distinction is also but small in the optative between the future and the aorist. It should be remarked, however, that in object-sentences in the optative with ὅπως, the aor. is much more frequent than the future. (Both tenses in connexion: Τὸν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον ἔζων ὑπὸ πολλῆς ἐπιμελείας ὅπως ὡς ἐλάχιστα μὲν ὀψοίμην, ἐλάχιστα δ’ ἀκουσοίμην, ἐλάχιστα δ’ ἐροίμην, Xen. Œcon. 7, 5.) Even more rare than in such sentences is the optat. future in sentences of intention with ὅπως or μή. (Ἀγαμέμνων ἠγρίαινεν ἐντελλόμενος Χρύσῃ νῦν τε ἀπιέναι καὶ αὖθις μὴ ἐλθεῖν, μὴ αὐτῷ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ στέμματα οὐκ ἐπαρκέσοι, Pl. Rep. 3, 393.) In conditional sentences in the oratio obliqua after a præteritum, εἰ with the aorist rather denotes the action as a condition going before (εἰ δοίην, si dedissem = ἐὰν δῶ, si dedero), the future, on the contrary, denotes it merely as going on at the same time (εἰ δώσοιμι, si darem = εἰ δώσω, si dabo); sometimes, however, the future (occasionally even the present) is put where the aorist might stand: Ἐνόμιζε Πασίων εἰ μὲν ἐν Ἀθήναις μένειν ἐπιχειροίην (immediately, where I already was), ἐκδοθήσεσθαί μ’ ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως Σατύρῳ, εἰ δ’ ἄλλοσέ ποι τραποίμην, οὐδὲν μελήσειν αὐτῷ (τῷ Πασίωνι) τῶν ἐμῶν λόγων, εἰ δ’ εἰςπλευσοίμην εἰς τὸν Πόντον, ἀποθανεῖσθαί με μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑπὸ Σατύρου (Isocr. Trap. 9). Ὁ ἡγεμὼν ἔφη εἶναι ἄκρον, ὃ εἰ μή τις (one) προκαταλήψοιτο, ἀδύνατον ἔσεσθαι παρελθεῖν (Xen. An. 4, 1, 25). In relative sentences ὃς δώσοι and ὃς δοίη differ, as ὃς δώσει and ὃς ἂν δῷ. Therefore, Ἔλεγεν ἄξειν αὐτούς, ἔνθα λήψοιντο τὰ ἐπιτήδεια, and εἰπόν τινες, ὅτι εἴη Παγκλέωνι ἀδελφός, ὅςτις ἐξαιρήσοιτο αὐτὸν εἰς ἐλευθερίαν (Lys. 23, 9), because representing ἄξω, ἔνθα λήψεσθε, and ἔστιν ἀδελφός, ὅςτις ἐξαιρήσεται. But ἔφη παραμενεῖν, ἕως ἔλθοιεν οὓς πέμψειεν = οὓς ἂν πέμψῃς (§ 132, a, last example).
REM. 2. [In fact the future of the optative is formed and used for the sole purpose (to which it is most strictly confined) of representing the future indicative in the oratio obliqua after a præteritum. Hence it appears
(1) in clauses with ὅτι, ὡς, and independent questions;
(2) in conjunctional and relative accessory sentences of the oratio obliqua after a præteritum; and also in such accessory clauses as are immediately attached to a principal sentence (in præterito) of the oratio recta [1], whilst they themselves, as orat. obliqua, form a member of the thought attributed to the person spoken of: οἱ μὲν (κ.τ.λ.) ... οἱ δὲ ὤκτειρον, εἰ ἁλώσοιντο (= felt compassion for them at the thought --).
(3) in sentences with ὅπως (= how, that [not after ὅπως, as final particle, = ut, cf. (5)], inasmuch as here the future of the indicative may follow a present. Here, however, it does not occur often (usually the aorist): τούτους, ὅπως ὡς βέλτιστοι ἔσοιντο, αὐτὸς ἐσκόπει (Xen.).
(4) Very seldom with μή (without ὅπως) after verba timendi. I have only remarked Pl. Euthyphr. 15, D; and Xen. Hellen. vi. 4, 27.
(5) In final sentences after ὅπως (ὅπως μή), the fut. of the optative must be looked upon as doubtful. (Madvig.)]
[1]: Printed obliqua in Schneidewin.
§ 135
Optative with ἄν, and in conditional sentences in the oratio recta.
a) With ἄν the present and the aorist stand in the optative (now and then also the perfect as denoting the now existing result, besides the perfects which are present in signification) to express a possible contingency, which will be actual under a certain condition, which it is admitted does not at present hold, but is easy to be conceived as occurring, and which for the moment one chooses to assume and presuppose. The condition is expressed by εἰ, with the optative of the present or aorist. The apodosis here approximates sometimes to a simply conditional apodosis in the indic. future, sometimes to a hypothetical apodosis in the imperf. indic. with ἄν, so that the thing put as contingent is more opposed to the actual state of the case, yet with a certain reference to what is still possible or probable; sometimes this form is merely a more delicate mode of expression instead of the imperf. with ἄν. The aorist differs from the present only in the way explained above (§ 134, c) [2]. Ὅσον αἱ μοναρχίαι πρὸς τὸ πρᾶξαί τι τῶν δεόντων διαφέρουσι τῶν ὀλιγαρχιῶν καὶ τῶν δημοκρατιῶν, οὕτως ἂν κάλλιστα θεωρήσαιμεν, εἰ τὰς μεγίστας τῶν πράξεων παρ’ ἀλλήλας τιθέντες ἐξετάζειν ἐπιχειρήσαιμεν (Isocr. Nic. 17; we might perhaps best see, if --; and therefore we will do so). Εἰ ἀμελῆσαι δόξαιμεν Γαδάτα, τοῦτος τοσαῦτα ἡμᾶς ὠφεληκότος, ποίοις λόγοις ἄλλους πείθοιμεν ἂν χαρίζεσθαί τι ἡμῖν; (Xen. Cyr. 5, 3, 33. And therefore we will avoid this appearance). Χρὴ ὑμᾶς, ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι, τοιαῦτα φρονεῖν περὶ τῶν ἀτυχούντων δήμων, οἷάπερ ἂν τοὺς ἄλλους ἀξιώσαιτε φρονεῖν περὶ ὑμῶν, εἴ ποθ’, ὃ μὴ γένοιτο, τοιοῦτό τι συμβαίη (Dem. 15, 21; as you might look for from them, if we imagine that --). Ἐπιλήσμων ἂν εἴην, ὦ Ἀγάθων, εἰ, ἰδὼν τὴν σὴν ἀνδρείαν, βλέψαντος ἐναντία τοσούτῳ θεάτρῳ νῦν οἰηθείην σε θορυβήσεσθαι ἕνεκα ἡμῶν, ὀλίγων ἀνθρώπων (Pl. Conv. 194. I must be forgetful, if I were to think --). Εἰ, ἐπὶ πῦρ ἐλθόντος σου καὶ μὴ ὄντος παρ’ ἐμοί, ἄλλοσε ἡγησάμην, ὁπόθεν σοι εἴη λαβεῖν, οὐκ ἂν ἐμέμφου μοι. Καὶ εἰ, βουλομένου μουσικὴν μαθεῖν σου παρ’ ἐμοῦ, δείξαιμί σοι πολὺ δεινοτέρους ἐμοῦ περὶ μουσικὴν καί σοι χάριν ἂν εἰδότας, εἰ ἐθέλοις παρ’ αὐτῶν μανθάνειν, τί ἂν ἔτι μοι μέμφοιο; Οὕτως οὖν καὶ περὶ τῆς οἰκονομικῆς ποιήσω (Xen. Œcon. 2, 15).
[2]: Not to be confounded with the optative after εἰ in oratio obliqua after a præteritum (§ 131, 132) and the optat. of recurring acts (§ 133).
b) The condition, instead of being expressed in a sentence of its own, may be intimated by a single word, or by the context: Ἐκ τῶν ἐμπορίων τῆς Χερρονήσου, ἃ τότ’ ἂν κλεισθείη (which then, i.e. in case Kersobleptes should conquer the Chersonese), πλέον ἢ τριακόσια τάλαντά ἐσθ’ ἡ πρόςοδος (Dem. 23, 110).
c) The protasis retains its form, when the apodosis passes into the infinitive or the participle: Ἐλπίζω, εἰ τὴν πρὸς ἐμὲ ὁδὸν τράποιο, σφόδρ’ ἄν σε τῶν καλῶν καὶ σεμνῶν ἐργάτην ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι (Xen. Mem. 2, 1, 27 = σφόδρ’ ἂν ἀγαθὸς ἐργάτης γένοιο). See Infinitive and Participle with ἄν.
REM. 1. As this form of hypothetical declaration differs but little from a simply conditional statement which refers to the future, it sometimes happens that both forms are combined:
a) The condition is expressed absolutely in the present or fut. indicative, or in the subjunctive with ἐάν, but the apodosis nevertheless stands in the optative with ἄν as something possible and conceivable: Οὐ δεινὰ ἂν ἐγὼ πάθοιμι, εἰ μὴ ἐξέσται μοι ἀπιέναι καὶ μὴ ἀκούειν σου; (Pl. Gorg. 461.) Πολλὴ ἄν τις εὐδαιμονία εἴη περὶ τοὺς νέους, εἰ εἷς μὲν μόνος αὐτοὺς διαφθείρει, οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι ὠφελοῦσιν (Pl. Apol. 25). Ἢν φθάσωμεν, πρὶν τοὺς πολεμίους συλλεγῆναι, ἀναβάντες, ἀμαχεὶ λάβοιμεν ἂν τὸ ἄκρον (Xen. Cyr. 3, 2, 5). The apodosis sometimes expresses, not a direct consequence of the condition, but something which even then is only possible, so that the optative with ἄν is purely potential, as in the following §: Εἰ ἐθέλετε σκέψασθαι παρ’ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς, τί δοῦλον ἢ ἐλεύθερον εἶναι διαφέρει, τοῦτο μέγιστον ἂν εὕροιτε, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν δούλοις τὸ σῶμα τῶν ἀδικημάτων πάντων ὑπεύθυνόν ἐστι (is answerable for, must atone for, § 63, d), τοῖς δ’ ἐλευθέροις ὕστατον τοῦτο προςήκει κολάζειν (Dem. 24, 167).
b) The apodosis is put in the indicative, as simply conditional, while the protasis is marked by the optative as an assumed possibility. Often the former is, properly considered, an unconditional and general assertion, and the optative with εἰ only assigns a possible case in which the assertion will apply: Τίνα εὑρήσομεν τῶν τοῖς Τρωικοῖς χρόνοις γενομένων, εἰ τοὺς μύθους ἀφέντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν σκοποῖμεν, τοιαῦτα διαπεπραγμένον οἷα Εὐαγόραν; (Isocr. Evag. 66.) Εἰ ἐθέλοις τρεῖς τοιούτους ἀνθρώπους ἐν μέρει ἀνερωτᾶν, τίς τούτων τῶν βίων ἥδιστος, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστος μάλιστα ἐγκωμιάσεται (Pl. Rep. 9, 581). -- Ἐπισκοπῶ, ὦ ξένε, εἴ τι συμβαίνοι γίγνεσθαι, πῶς κεῖται τὰ ἐν τῇ νηί (Xen. Œcon. 8, 15; if any thing; in case of any thing happening). Ἔστιν οἰκονομίαν ἐπισταμένῳ, καὶ εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς τύχοι χρήματα ἔχων, τὸν ἄλλου οἶκον οἰκονομοῦντα μισθοφορεῖν (Xen. Œcon. 1, 4; even if he himself should possess no property). (So likewise where the apodosis becomes infinitive: Ἡγοῦμαι, εἰ καὶ μηδενὸς ἄλλου μνησθείην ἀλλ’ ἐνταῦθα καταλείποιμι τὸν λόγον, ῥᾴδιον ἐκ τούτων εἶναι γνῶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ Εὐαγόρου, Isocr. Evag. 33. I take it to be easy, even if I should mention nothing more --.) [1]
[1]: Οἱ ἵπποι τοῖς Πέρσαις νυκτὸς ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ πεποδισμένοι εἰσί, τοῦ μὴ φεύγειν ἕνεκα, εἰ λυθείησαν (Xen. An. 3, 4, 35; that they might not run away, if by chance they should get loose).
REM. 2. Other quite occasional and isolated deviations from the regular form of hypothetical statements rest upon an inaccuracy in the expression. One εἰ with one indicative and one optative, when a judgment is pronounced on the connexion between a past fact and a possible action which has not yet occurred (Δεινὰ ἂν εἴην εἰργασμένος, εἰ τότε μὲν ἔμενον, νῦν δὲ τὴν τάξιν λίποιμι), see Connexion of Sentences with μὲν -- δέ, § 189, a.
REM. 3. Εἰ with the optative is used in sentences of comparison, which denote something merely thought, but yet possible: Οἱ τοιοῦτοι ὅμοιον ἐμοὶ δοκοῦσι πεπονθέναι, οἷον εἴ τις εὖ σπείρων καὶ εὖ φυτεύων, ὁπότε καρποῦσθαι ταῦτα δέοι, ἐῴη τὸν καρπὸν ἀσυγκόμιστον εἰς τὴν γῆν πάλιν καταρρεῖν (Xen. Cyr. 1, 5, 10). (A direct opposition to reality is expressed by the imperf. indicative: Οὐδέν τι διάφορον πάσχει ἢ εἰ μόνος ἐστρατεύετο, Xen. Cyr. 5, 4, 20.)
§ 136
Without any definite condition either expressed or implied in the context, the optative with ἄν (present, aorist, sometimes perfect) is very frequently used to denote something as what is conceivable, and, under certain circumstances, could and might easily occur, or to which some person might be inclined; in general, as the form of a modest expression of opinion on the present or the future. (Optativus potentialis, dubitativus. The aorist, of that which is single and transient.) Ὥρα ἂν ἡμῖν συσκευάζεσθαι εἴη (Xen. Cyr. 3, 1, 41). Ἴσως ἂν οὖν τις ἐπιτιμήσειεν τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ὅτι τὰς μὲν πράξεις ἐπαινῶ, τὰς δ’ αἰτίας οὐ φράζω (Isocr. Areop. 36). Ταῦθ’ ὡς οὐ παρὰ τὸν νόμον ἐστίν, οὔτ’ ἂν Ἀνδροτίων ἔχοι λέγειν οὔθ’ ὑμεῖς πεισθείητε ἄν (Dem. 22, 17). Ἡδέως ἂν ἔγωγ’ ἐροίμην Λεπτίνην, τίς αὕτη ἡ ἀτέλειά (exemption from taxes) ἐστιν (Dem. 20, 129). (Βουλοίμην ἄν, velim.) Ἆρ’ οὖν ἐθελήσαις ἄν, ὦ Γοργία, ὥσπερ νῦν διαλεγόμεθα, διατελέσαι τὸ μὲν ἐρωτῶν, τὸ δ’ ἀποκρινόμενος; (Pl. Gorg. 449. Should you feel inclined? should you mind [doing it]? modest request.) Ἆρα ἐθελήσειεν ἂν Γοργίας ἡμῖν διαλεχθῆναι; (Pl. Gorg. 447.) Ποῖ οὖν, ἔφην ἐγώ, τραποίμεθ’ ἂν ἔτι; (Pl. Euthyd. 290. Whither then should we [can we, are we to] turn ourselves? cf. § 121.) Πῶς ἂν ὀλοίμην; (Eur. Med. 97, expressing, virtually, a wish.) Χωροῖς ἂν εἴσω (Soph. Phil. 674. Thou mightest go in; [you may go in] approximating to the imperative). Λέληθέ σε, ὅτι καὶ οἱ ῥαψῳδοὶ πάντες ἐπίστανται τὰ Ὁμήρου ἔπη; Καὶ πῶς ἄν, ἔφη, λελήθοι, ἀκροώμενόν γε αὐτῶν ὀλίγου ἀν’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν; (Xen. Conv. 3, 6.)
§ 137
The potential optative with ἄν stands, not only in principal sentences but also in accessory sentences, which admit of such a conception and mode of expression, especially in declarative object-sentences with ὅτι or ὡς, in dependent interrogative sentences which would have the same form in the oratio recta (without reference to the time of the principal verb), and in relative sentences (with pronoun or relative particles): Ἀπεκρίνατο Κλεάνωρ, ὅτι πρόσθεν ἂν ἀποθάνοιεν ἢ τὰ ὅπλα παραδοῖεν (Xen. An. 2, 1, 10 = Πρόσθεν ἂν ἀποθάνοιμεν ἢ παραδοῖμεν). Ἐννοεῖτε (imperat.), ὅτι ἧττον ἂν στάσις εἴη ἑνὸς ἄρχοντος (Xen. An. 5, 9, 29). Ἐσκόπουν, τίν’ ἂν τρόπον ἡσυχίαν ἔχειν Ἀθηνόδωρος ἀναγκασθείη (Dem. 23, 11). Ἠρώτων οἱ πρέσβεις τοὺς στρατηγούς, εἰ δοῖεν ἂν τούτων τὰ πιστά (Xen. An. 4, 8, 7 = Ἆρ’ ἂν δοίητε --;). Οὐκ οἶδ’, ὅ, τι ἄν τις χρήσαιτο στρατιώταις οὕτως ἀθύμως ἔχουσιν (Xen. An. 3, 1, 40). Χρὴ τοὺς μέγα φρονοῦντας μὴ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἃ καὶ τῶν τυχόντων ἄν τις καταπράξειεν (Isocr. Phil. 41). Εἴπατέ μοι, εἴ τινα ἐγὼ νῦν τῶν ἐμῶν ἀποστέλλοιμι πρὸς τὸν Ἰνδόν, συμπέμψαιτε ἄν μοι τῶν ὑμετέρων οἵτινες αὐτῷ τὴν ὁδὸν ἡγοῖντο ἄν; (Xen. Cyr. 3, 2, 28; who could show him the way.) Ἄφοβος τὴν οὐσίαν μοι οὕτως διῴκηκεν ὡς οὐδ’ ἂν οἱ ἔχθιστοι διοικήσειαν (Dem. 27, 48). Μανία τὸν Μειδίαν ἠσπάζετο, ὥσπερ ἂν γυνὴ γάμβρον ἀσπάζοιτο (Xen. Hell. 3, 1, 14). Ὁ Ἀρμένιος τὰ βασίλεια οἰκοδομεῖν ἤρχετο ὡς ἂν ἱκανὰ ἀπομάχεσθαι εἴη (Xen. Cyr. 3, 1, 1; in such wise as they might be; i.e. so that --). Ὑμεῖς, ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι, ὡς μὲν ἂν εἴποιτε δικαίους λόγους, ἄμεινον Φιλίππου παρεσκεύασθε, ὡς δὲ κωλύσαιτ’ ἂν ἐκεῖνον πράττειν, ἃ βούλεται, παντελῶς ἀργῶς ἔχετε (Dem. 6, 4. You are prepared for this, how you might be able; i.e. to be able. So ὡς frequently with the potential optative, and an accessory signification of a purpose or aim). Διάφορόν τι ποιεῖς, εἰ τοὺς τοῖς νόμοις πειθομένους φαυλίζεις, ὅτι καταλυθεῖεν ἂν οἱ νόμοι, ἢ εἰ ... ψέγοις (Xen. Mem. 4, 4, 14; because the laws might possibly be annulled). (Potential optative in a conditional sentence: Ἀλλὰ μήν, εἴ γε μηδὲ δοῦλον ἀκρατῆ δεξαίμεθ’ ἄν, πῶς οὐκ ἄξιον αὐτόν γε φυλάξασθαι τοιοῦτον γενέσθαι; Xen. Mem. 1, 5, 3: if we should not even receive. Cf. § 117 b. R. 1.) [1]
[1]: Εἰ δοκοίην, ὅπου δυναίμην, ἄκυρον ποιεῖν τὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἀξίωμα, ἐννοῶ, μὴ λίαν ἂν ταχὺ σωφρονισθείην (Xen. An. 5, 9, 28; I fear I should but too soon be brought to my senses, for Indic. Fut., § 124 a. R. 1; ἐννοῶ μή being inserted without influencing the hypothetical form of the sentence).