ἄν cannot go with μηνίουσιν. since the partic. does not represent an apodosis, as “ἂν φέρων” does in 761 (n.). On the other hand, ἄν does not here give any conditional force to ἦν, which is a simple statement of fact. Rather τάχ᾽ ἄν is here felt as one word,=“"perhaps."” “"It was dear to the gods,—perhaps because they were wroth."” The origin of this usage was an ellipse: “θεοῖς ἦν φίλον, τάχα” (“δ̓”) “ἂν” (“φίλον εἴη”) “μηνίουσιν”, “"and perhaps (it would be dear) because they were wroth"”: where the supplied “εἴη” expresses a conjecture about a past fact, as in Her. 1.2 “εἴησαν δ᾽ ἂν οὗτοι Κρῆτες”. Cp. O. T. 523 “ἀλλ᾽ ἦλθε μὲν δὴ τοῦτο τοὔνειδος τάχ᾽ ἂν ι ὀργῇ βιασθέν”, “"this reproach came under stress, perchance, of anger."” See Appendix.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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