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Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].

2185

Assimilation to the Indicative.—The subordinate clause takes a past tense of the indicative in dependence on a past tense of the indicative (or its equivalent) denoting unreality.

a. Conditional relative clauses: εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν μοι χρήματα, ἐτι_μησάμην ἂν χρημάτων ὅσα ἔμελλον ἐκτείσειν for if I had money, I should have assessed my penalty at the full sum that I was likely to pay P. A. 38b, εἰ . . . κατεμαρτύρουν ἃ μὴ σαφῶς ᾔδη ἀκοῇ δὲ ἠπιστάμην, δεινὰ ἂν ἔφη πάσχειν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ if I brought in as evidence against him matters which I did not know certainly but had learned by hearsay, he would have said that he was suffering a grave injustice at my hands Ant. 5.74.

b. Temporal clauses: οὐκ ἂν ἐπαυόμην . . ., ἕως ἀπεπειρά_θην τῆς σοφία_ς ταυτησί_ I would not have ceased until I had made trial of this wisdom P. Crat. 396c, ἐχρῆν . . . μὴ πρότερον περὶ τῶν ὁμολογουμένων συμβουλεύειν, πρὶν πρὶν περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξαν they ought not to have given advice concerning the matters of common agreement before they instructed us on the matters in dispute I. 4.19.

c. Final clauses: here the principal clause is an unfulfilled wish, an unfulfilled apodosis, or a question with οὐ; and the indicative in the final clause denotes that the purpose was not or cannot be attained, and cannot be reached by the will of the speaker. Thus, εἰ γὰρ ὤφελον οἷοί τε εἶναι οἱ πολλοὶ τὰ μέγιστα

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κακὰ ἐργάζεσθαι, ἵνα οἷοί τε ἦσαν καὶ ἀγαθὰ τὰ μέγιστα would that the many were able to work the greatest evil in order that they might be able (as they are not) to work also the greatest good P. Cr. 44d, ἐβουλόμην ἂν Σίμωνα τὴν αὐτὴν γνώμην ἐμοὶ ἔχειν ἵνα . . . ῥᾳδίως ἔγνωτε τὰ δίκαια I should have liked Simon to be of the same opinion as myself in order that you might easily have rendered a just verdict L. 3.21, ἔδει τὰ ἐνέχυρα τότε λαβεῖν, ὡς μηδ' ει' ἐβούλετο ἐδύνατο ἐξαπατᾶν I ought to have taken security at the time in order that he could not have deceived us even if he wished X. A. 7.6.23, τί δῆτ' οὐκ ἔρρι_ψ' ἐμαυτὸν τῆσδ' ἀπὸ πέτρα_ς, ὅπως τῶν πάντων πόνων ἀπηλλάγην; why indeed did I not hurl myself from this rock, that I might have been freed from all these toils? A. Pr. 747.

N. 1.—In this (post-Homeric) construction, ἵνα is the regular conjunction in prose; ὡς and ὅπως are rare. ἄν is very rarely added and is suspected (Is. 11.6, P. L. 959e).

N. 2.—Assimilation does not take place when the final clause is the essential thing and sets forth a real future purpose of the agent of the leading verb, or does not show whether or not the purpose was realized. This occurs especially after ἵνα = eo consilio ut, rarely after ὅπως (X. A. 7.6.16); after ὡς only in poetry and Xenophon. The subjunctive or optative is used when the purpose of the agent, and not the non-fulfilment of the action, is emphasized. Thus, καίτοι χρῆν σε . . . ἢ τοῦτον μὴ γράφειν ἢ ἐκεῖνον λύ_ειν, οὐχ, ἵν' ὃ βούλει σὺ γένηται, πάντα τὰ πρά_γματα συνταράξαι you ought either not to have proposed this law or to have repealed the other; not to have thrown everything into confusion to accomplish your desire D. 24.44.

d. Causal clauses (rarely, as D. 50.67). Modal assimilation never takes place in indirect questions or in clauses dependent on a verb of fearing.

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Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].