Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

1. Indicative and Optative after ὅτι or ὡς

““λέγει δ᾽ ὡς ὑβριστής εἰμι” he says that I am an insolent person” L. 24.15 ( = ὑβριστὴς εἶ), ““ἀλλ᾽ ἐννοεῖν χρὴ τοῦτο μέν, γυναῖχ᾽ ὅτι ἔφυ_μεν” but we must remember on the one hand that we were born women” S. Ant. 61, ““οἶδ᾽ ὅτι οὐδ᾽ ἂν τοῦτό μοι ἐμέμφου” I know that you would not blame me even for this” X. O. 2.15, ““ἀπεκρί_νατο ὅτι οὐδὲν ἂν τούτων εἴποι” he replied that he would say nothing of this” X. A. 5.6.37 ( = ἂν εἴποιμι).

[*] 2615. After secondary tenses, an indicative without ἄν usually becomes optative, but may be retained unchanged. An indicative with ἄν and an optative with ἄν are retained.

a. Optative for Indicative.—““ἔγνωσαν ὅτι κενὸς ὁ φόβος εἴη” they recognized that their fear was groundless” X. A. 2.2.21 ( = ἐστί), ““ἔλεξαν ὅτι πέμψειε σφᾶς ὁ Ἰνδῶν βασιλεύς” they said that the king of the Indians had sent them” X. C. 2.4.7 ( = ἔπεμψεν ἡμᾶς), ““ἠγγέλθη ὅτι ἡττημένοι εἶεν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι . . . καὶ Πείσανδρος τεθναίη” it was reported that the Lacedaemonians had been defeated and that Peisander was dead” X. H. 4.3.10 ( = ἡττημένοι εἰσι and τέθνηκε).

N.—The first example of the optative in indirect discourse is later than Homer (Hymn to Aphrodite 214). Aeschylus has four cases. See 2624 c.

b. Direct Form Retained.—““διῆλθε λόγος ὅτι διώκει αὐτοὺς Κῦρος” a report spread that Cyrus was pursuing them” X. A. 1.4.7, ““ἀποκρι_νάμενοι ὅτι πέμψουσι πρέσβεις, εὐθὺς ἀπήλλαξαν” they withdrew immediately on answering that they would send envoys” T. 1.90 ( = πέμψομεν). See also 2623, 2625.