Assimilation in Conditional Relative Clauses.
[*] 558.
When a conditional relative clause
referring to the future depends on a subjunctive or optative
referring to the future, it regularly takes by assimilation the same
mood with its leading verb. The leading verb may be in a protasis or
apodosis, in another conditional relative clause, in an expression of a
wish, or in a final clause. E.g.
Ἐάν τινες οἳ ἂν δύνωνται τοῦτο ποιῶσι, καλῶς
ἕξει,
if any who shall be able do
this,
it will be well.
Εἴ τινες οἳ δύναιντο τοῦτο
ποιοῖεν, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι,
if any
who should be able should do this,
it
would be well.
Εἴθε πάντες οἳ δύναιντο
τοῦτο ποιοῖεν,
O that all who may
be able would do this. (Here the principle of assimilation
makes
οἳ δύναιντο after
an optative preferable to
οἳ ἂν
δύνωνται, which would express the same idea.)
Τεθναίην ὅτε μοι μηκέτι ταῦτα
μέλοι,
“may I die when these are no longer my delight.”
MIMN. i. 2.So in
Latin:
Si absurde canat is qui se
haberi velit musicum, turpior
sit. —
Sic
injurias fortunae quas ferre nequeas
defugiendo relinquas.
For examples
see 529 and 531.
[*] 559.
When a conditional relative clause depends on a past tense of
the indicative implying the non-fulfilment of a condition, it regularly
takes a past tense of the indicative by
assimilation. The leading verb may be in a protasis or
apodosis, in another conditional relative clause, in an expression of a
wish, or in a final clause. E.g.
Εἴ τινες οἳ ἐδύναντο τοῦτο ἔπραξαν, καλῶς ἂν
ἔσχεν,
if any who had been able had
done this,
it would have been well.
Εἴθε πάντες οἳ ἐδύναντο
τοῦτο ἔπραξαν,
O that all who had
been able had done this. So in Latin:
Nam si solos eos diceres miseros quibus moriendum
esset, neminem tu quidem eorum qui
viverent exciperes.
For examples
see 528.
[*] 560.
It will be seen that this principle of assimilation accounts
for the unreal indicative and the optative in conditional relative
sentences, which have been already explained by the analogy of the forms
of protasis. (
See
528 and 531.) In fact, wherever this assimilation occurs, the
relative clause stands as a protasis to its antecedent clause.
Occasionally this principle is disregarded, so that a subjunctive
depends on an optative
(178).
For the influence of assimilation in determining the mood of
a dependent sentence,
see
176.
[*] 561.
The indicative in the construction of 525, referring simply
to the present or past, cannot be affected by assimilation, as this
would change its time. E.g.
Ὑμεῖς
δ᾽ ἕλοισθε ὅ τι καὶ τῇ πόλει καὶ ἅπασι συνοίσειν ὑμῖν
μέλλει,
“and may you choose what is likely to benefit the
state and all of you.”
DEM. iii.
36.Compare this with
DEM. ix. 76,
ὅ τι δ᾽ ὑμῖν δόξειε (so
Σ originally),
τοῦτ̓, ὦ πάντες θεοὶ,
συνενέγκοι,
whatever you may
decide,
may this be for our good.
In
SOPH.
Ant. 373,
ὃς τάδ᾽
ἔρδει would belong here; but
ὃς τάδ᾽ ἔρδοι (Laur.), =
εἴ τις τάδ᾽ ἔρδοι, falls
under 558.
[*] 562.
The principle of 558 and 559 applies only to
conditional relative clauses. If the relative
refers to a definite antecedent, there can be no assimilation, and the
indicative or any other construction required by the sense is used. E.g.
Εἰ τῶν πολιτῶν οἷσι νῦν
πιστεύομεν, τούτοις ἀπιστήσαιμεν, οἷς δ᾽ οὐ χρώμεθα,
τούτοισι χρησαίμεσθ̓, ἴσως σωθεῖμεν ἄν.
AR. Ran. 1446.
Εἴθ᾽ ἦσθα δυνατὸς δρᾶν ὅσον
πρόθυμος εἶ,
“O that thou couldst do as much as thou art eager
to do.”
EUR. Her.
731. (With
ἦσθα for
εἶ the meaning would
be
as much as thou wert (or
mightest be)
eager to
do.）
[*] 563.
Conditional relative clauses depending on a subjunctive or
optative in a general supposition (
462;
532) are generally assimilated to the
subjunctive or optative; but sometimes they take the indicative
(534). E.g.
Οὐδ̓, ἐπειδὰν ὧν ἂν πρίηται
κύριος γένηται, τῷ προδότῃ συμβούλῳ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἔτι
χρῆται.
DEM. xviii. 47.See
PLAT. Rep. 508 C and
D (reading
ὧν ὁ ἥλιος καταλάμπει);
PLAT. Charm. 164B.
Ὁ δὲ τότε μάλιστα ἔχαιρεν,
ὁπότε τάχιστα τυχόντας ὧν δέοιντο ἀποπέμποι.
XEN. Ag. ix.
2.
Αἰτία μὲν γάρ
ἐστιν, ὅταν τις ψιλῷ χρησάμενος λόγῳ μὴ παράσχηται πίστιν
ὧν λέγει, ἔλεγχος δὲ, ὅταν ὧν ἂν εἴπῃ τις καὶ
τἀληθὲς ὁμοῦ δείξῃ.
DEM. xxii. 22. (Here
ὧν λέγει and
ὧν ἂν εἴπῃ are nearly equivalent.)
Ἐκάλει δὲ καὶ ἐτίμα
ὁπότε τινὰς ἴδοι τοιοῦτον ποιήσαντας ὃ πάντας ἐβούλετο
ποιεῖν.
XEN. Cyr. ii. 1, 30. (Here
βούλοιτο for
ἐβούλετο would correspond to
δέοιντο in
Ag. ix. 2,
above.)
