Imperative and Subjunctive in Prohibitions.
[*] 259.
In prohibitions, in the second and third persons, the
present imperative or the
aorist subjunctive is used with
μή and its compounds. The distinction of
tense here is solely the ordinary distinction between the present and
aorist
(87), and has
no reference to the moods. E.g.
Μὴ
ποίει τοῦτο,
do not do this
(habitually), or
do not go on doing
this (or
stop doing this);
μὴ ποιήσῃς τοῦτο,
(simply)
do not do this.
“
Ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ,
ἵνα εἴδομεν ἄμφω”
Il. i.
363.
“
Ἀτρείδη, μὴ ψεύδε᾽
ἐπιστάμενος σάφα εἰπεῖν”
Il. iv.
404.
“
Ἀργεῖοι, μή πώ τι μεθίετε
θούριδος ἀλκῆς”
Il. iv.
234.
“
Εἰπέ μοι εἰρομένῳ
νημερτέα, μηδ᾽ ἐπικεύσῃς”
Od. xv.
263.
“
Ἤδη νῦν σῷ παιδὶ ἔπος
φάο, μηδ᾽ ἐπίκευθε”
(compare the last example).
Od. xvi.
168.
“
Τῷ νῦν μή μοι μᾶλλον ἐν
ἄλγεσι θυμὸν ὀρίνῃς”
Il. xxiv.
568.
See
Il.
xxiv. 778.
“
Μὴ δή με ἕλωρ Δαναοῖσιν
ἐάσῃς κεῖσθαι”
Il. v.
684.
“
Κλῦθι μηδὲ μεγήρῃς”
Od. iii.
55.
“
Μή πως ἀνδράσι δυσμενέεσσιν
ἕλωρ καὶ κύρμα γένησθε,”
“do not become prey and spoil to hostile men.”
Il. v.
487.
“
Μή ποτε ἀπὸ πᾶσαν
ὀλέσσῃς ἀγλαΐην”
Od. xix.
81.
“
Ὑμεῖς δὲ τῇ γῇ τῇδε
μὴ βαρὺν κότον σκήψησθε, μὴ θυμοῦσθε, μηδ᾽ ἀκαρπίαν
τεύξητε”
AESCH. Eum.
800.
“
Ὃν μήτ᾽ ὀκνεῖτε, μήτ᾽
ἀφῆτ᾽ ἔπος κακόν”
SOPH. O.C.
731.
Μὴ θῆσθε νόμον μηδένα, ἀλλὰ
τοὺς βλάπτοντας ὑμᾶς λύσατε.
DEM. iii. 10. (Here
θέσθε would not be allowed;
but
λύσατε, an affirmative
command, is regular.)
Μὴ κατὰ
τοὺς νόμους δικάσητε: μὴ βοηθήσητε τῷ πεπονθότι δεινά: μὴ
εὐορκεῖτε.
Id. xxi. 211.
“
Μὴ πρίῃ, παῖ, δᾷδα”
AR. Nub.
614.
Καὶ μηδεὶς ὑπολάβῃ με
βούλεσθαι λαθεῖν.
Isoc. v. 93.
Καὶ μηδεὶς οἰέσθω μ᾽
ἀγνοεῖν.
Id.
iv. 73.
[*] 260.
The
third person of the aorist
imperative is sometimes used with
μή in prohibitions; but the
second person with
μή is very rare and only poetic. E.g.
“
Μηδ᾽ ἡ βία σε μηδαμῶς
νικησάτω”
SOPH. Aj.
1334.
“
Μηδέ σοι μελησάτω”
AESCH. Prom.
332
; so
1002.
Καὶ μηδεὶς ὑμῶν
προσδοκησάτω ἄλλως.
PLAT. Ap. 17 C.
“
Τῷ μή μοι πατέρας ποθ᾽
ὁμοίῃ ἔνθεο τιμῇ”
Il. iv.
410
; see
Od.
xxiv. 248.
“
Μή πω καταδύσεο μῶλον
Ἄρηος”
Il. xviii.
134.
Μὴ ψεῦσον, ὦ Ζεῦ, μή μ᾽
ἕλῃς ἄνευ δορός in SOPH. Peleus, Frag. 450, is
parodied in
AR. Thes.
870,
“
μὴ ψεῦσον, ὦ Ζεῦ, τῆς
ἐπιούσης ἐλπίδος”
.
