Monographs

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

2757

There are two cases in which οὐ μή is not used in conjunction, but where each negative has its own verb.

a. A positive command in the future indicative (second person) may be joined by ἀλλά or δέ to a prohibition introduced by οὐ μή. Thus, οὐ μὴ λαλήσεις ἀλλ' ἀκολουθήσεις ἐμοί don't prattle but follow me Ar. Nub. 505, οὐ μὴ δυσμενὴς ἔσει τοῖς φίλοις, παύσει δὲ θυ_μοῦ do not be angry with thy friends, but cease thy wrath E. Med. 1151. (In E. Bacch. 343 δέ with the future is followed by μηδέ with the future.) In such sentences the force of οὐ continues into the ἀλλά or δέ clause. Such sentences are generally printed as questions.

b. A positive command with οὐ and the future indicative (second person) may be followed by the future in a prohibition introduced by μηδέ or καὶ μή. Here the clause with οὐ has the form of a question expecting the answer yes, while the whole sentence has the form of a question expecting the answer no. Thus, οὐ σῖγ' ἀνέξει μηδὲ δειλία_ν ἀρεῖ; wilt thou not keep silence and not win for thyself the reputation of cowardice? ( = keep silence and do not get the reputation of being a coward) S. Aj. 75, οὐκοῦν καλεῖς αὐτὸν καὶ μὴ ἀφήσεις; will you not call him and (will you not) send him away? ( = call him and don't send him away) P. S. 175a. Here οὐ is to be taken also with the following clause. Some scholars make the question in the second clause independent of οὐ.

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