William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb

---

[*] 29. Εἶμι as Future. The present εἶμι, I am going, and its compounds, have a future sense. Εἶμι thus became a future of ἔρχομαι, the future ἐλεύσομαι not being in good use in Attic prose. E.g.

• “Σεῦ ὕστερος εἶμ᾽ ὑπὸ γαῖαν,” “I shall go.” Il. xviii. 333.
• “Εἶμι πάλιν ἐπ᾽ ἐκεῖνα,” “I shall recur to that.” PLAT. Phaed. 100B .
• “Ὦ φίλ̓, ἐγὼ μὲν ἄπειμι, σύας καὶ κεῖνα φυλάξων.” Hom. Od. xvii. 593.
• “Ἀλλ᾽ εἴσειμι, σοῦ δ᾽ οὐ φροντιῶ,” “but I'll go in and not mind you.” AR. Nub. 125.
• “Εἰ δ᾽ οὗτοι ἀπίασιν, ἡμεῖς μόνοι μενοῦμεν,” “but if they (shall) depart, we alone shall remain.” XEN. Cyr. iv. 5, 24

In Homer εἶμι is used also as a present; as “οἷος δ᾽ ἀστὴρ εἶσι μετ᾽ ἀστράσι,” Il. xxii. 317. So ii. 87, Il. xi. 415; Od. iv. 401; and often in similes. This is doubtful in Attic; as in “πρόσειμι δῶμα καὶ βρέτας τὸ σόν,” AESCH. Eum. 242 , where πρόσειμι may be πρός + εἰμί. See Krüger and Classen on ἐπίασιν, THUC. iv. 61.