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[*] 502. （d) The optative in protasis sometimes depends on the present of a verb of obligation, propriety, or possibility with an infinitive, the two forming an expression that is nearly equivalent in sense to an optative with ἄν. E.g. Εἰ γὰρ εἴησαν δύο τινὲς ἐναντίοι νόμοι, οὐκ ἀμφοτέροις ἔνι δήπου ψηφίσασθαι, for if there should be two laws opposed to each other, you could not surely vote for both. DEM. xxiv. 35.This is analogous to the apodosis formed by ἔδει, χρῆν, ἐνῆν, etc., with the infinitive (415). There, for example, ἐνῆν αὐτῷ ἐλθεῖν, he could have gone, is nearly equivalent to ἦλθεν ἄν, and here ἔνεστιν αὐτῷ ἐλθεῖν, he could go, is nearly equivalent to ἔλθοι ἄν. This use of the optative is more common in the corresponding relative conditional sentences (555).
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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