Herbert Weir Smyth [
n.d.],
A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [
info] [
word count] [
Smyth].
2312
Unreal conditions with ἄν and the optative in apodosis (cp. cross2311) in Attic are rare and some are suspected. Either the common reading is at fault (X. M. 3.5.8), or we have a simple condition with a potential optative ( cross2300 e), as in And. 1.57, L. 6.39, I. 4.102. In εἰ μὲν τοίνυν τοῦτ' ἐπεχείρουν λέγειν . . . , οὐκ ἔσθ' ὅστις οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως ἐπιτι_μήσειέ μοι if now I were attempting to say this, there would be no one who would not censure me with good reason (D. 18.206) the implied conclusion is οὐκ ἂν ἦν ὅστις κτλ.
a. The optative in protasis and apodosis occur in E. Med. 568 (present unreal). Hdt. uses the potential optative occasionally (e.g. 7. cross214) where English uses a past expression.
Herbert Weir Smyth [
n.d.],
A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [
info] [
word count] [
Smyth].
