This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Chapter IV
Section III: Subjunctive, like the Future Indicative, in
Independent Sentences.—Interrogative Subjunctive.
Peculiar Forms of Conditional Sentences: Substitution and
Ellipsis in Protasis.—Protasis without a Verb.
Homeric and other Poetic Peculiarities in Conditional
Relative Sentences: Subjunctive without
κέ
or
ἄν
.
Temporal Particles signifying Until and Before.:
ἕως
,
ὄφρα, εἰς ὅ
or
εἰσόκε, ἔστε, ἄχρι, μέχρι
, until.
[*] 292. 1. When the future indicative is used in the sense of the interrogative subjunctive (68), it may be negatived by μή; as πῶς οὖν μήτε ψεύσομαι φανερῶς; how then shall I escape telling an open lie? (where there is some MS. authority for ψεύσωμαι), DEM. xix. 320 (see Shilleto's note). 2. A similar use of μή is found with the potential optative (with ἄν) in questions, if the idea of prevention is involved in it; as τί οὖν οὐ σκοποῦμεν πῶς ἂν αὐτῶν μὴ διαμαρτάνοιμεν; why then do we not consider how we can avoid mistaking them? (the direct question here would differ little from πῶς μὴ διαμαρτάνωμεν; ). XEN. Mem. iii. 1, 10. So πῶς ἄν τις μὴ θυμῷ λέγοι περὶ θεῶν; “ how can one help being excited when he speaks of Gods?” Leg. 887C. Sometimes such an optative with μή is in a second clause, preceded by a positive question, so that the harshness of μὴ ἄν with the optative is avoided; as τί ἂν λέγοντες εἰκὸς ἢ αὐτοὶ ἀποκνοῖμεν ἢ πρὸς τοὺς ἐκεῖ ξυμ: μάχους σκηπτόμενοι μὴ βοηθοῖμεν; i.e. what good ground can we give for holding back ourselves, or what decent excuse can we make to our allies there for withholding our aid from them? THUC. vi. 18.So τίνα ἂν τρόπον ἐγὼ μέγα δυναίμην καὶ μηδείς με ἀδικοῖ; “ in what way can I have great power and prevent any one from doing me wrong?” PLAT. Gorg. 510D. See also ISOC. v. 8, ISOC. xv. 6.In DEM. xxi. 35, πότερα μὴ δῷ διὰ τοῦτο δίκην ἢ μείζω δοίη δικαίως; shall he escape punishment for this, or would he rather deserve a still greater penalty?—δοίη is used as if οὐκ ἂν δοίη had preceded (Schaefer inserts κἄν). In PLAT. Phaed. 106 D is the singular expression, σχολῇ γὰρ ἄν τι ἄλλο φθορὰν μὴ δέχοιτο, εἴ γε τὸ ἀθάνατον ἀίδιον ὂν φθορὰν δέξεται, for hardly can anything else escape from admitting destruction if the immortal, which is eternal, is to admit it. This differs from the preceding interrogative examples merely in the substitution of σχολῇ, hardly, for πῶς or τίνα τρόπον.
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