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[*] 323. Sometimes the optative is properly used after a leading verb which implies a reference to the past as well as the present. E.g. Τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον ὁ νόμος, ἵνα μηδὲ πεισθῆναι μηδ᾽ ἐξαπατηθῆναι γένοιτ᾽ ἐπὶ τῷ δήμῳ. DEM. xxii. 11. (Here ἔχει implies also the past existence of the law; the idea being, the law was made as it is, so that it might not be possible, etc.) So DEM. xxiv. 145, DEM. 147.In DEM. iii. 34 ἵνα τοῦθ᾽ ὑπάρχοι depends on a past verb of saying to be mentally supplied. In AR. Ran. 23, τοῦτον δ᾽ ὀχῶ, ἵνα μὴ ταλαιπωροῖτο μηδ̓ ἄχθος φέροι, I am letting him ride, that he might not be distressed, etc., the meaning of ὀχῶ goes back to the time when Dionysus first let the slave mount the ass.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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