Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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[*] 1931. Gnomic Aorist (γνώμη maxim, proverb).—The aorist may express a general truth. The aorist simply states a past occurrence and leaves the reader to draw the inference from a concrete case that what has occurred once is typical of what often occurs: παθὼν δέ τε νήπιος ἔγνω a fool learns by experience Hesiod, Works and Days, 218, ““κάλλος μὲν γὰρ ἢ χρόνος ἀνήλωσεν ἢ νόσος ἐμάρα_νε” for beauty is either wasted by time or withered by disease” I. 1.6.

a. The gnomic aorist often alternates with the present of general truth (1877): οὐ γὰρ ἡ πληγὴ παρέστησε τὴν ὀργήν, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ ἀτι_μία_: οὐδὲ τὸ τύπτεσθαι τοῖς ἐλευθέροις ἐστὶ δεινόν . . . ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐφ᾽ ὕβρει for it is not the blow that causes anger, but the disgrace; nor is it the beating that is terrible to freemen, but the insult D. 21.72. Cp. P. R. 566e.

b. The gnomic aorist is regarded as a primary tense (1858): ““οἱ τύραννοι πλούσιον ὃν ἂν βούλωνται παραχρῆμ᾽ ἐποίησαν” tyrants make rich in a moment whomever they wish” D. 20.15.