Independent Subjunctive with μή Implying Fear (Homeric).
[*] 261.
In the following Homeric examples the independent subjunctive
with
μή expresses
apprehension, coupled with a desire to avert the object of fear, both
ideas being inherent in the construction. The third person is the most
common here.
“
Μὴ δὴ νῆας ἕλωσι καὶ
οὐκέτι φευκτὰ πέλωνται,”
“may they not (as I fear they may) seize the
ships and make it no longer possible to escape.”
Il. xvi.
128.
“
Μὴ δή μοι τελέσωσι θεοὶ
κακὰ κήδεα θυμῷ,”
“may the Gods not bring to pass (as I fear
they may) bitter woes for my soul.”
Il. xviii.
8.
“
Μή τι χολωσάμενος ῥέξῃ
κακὸν υἷας Ἀχαιῶν,”
“may he not (as I fear he may) in his wrath do
anything to harm the sons of the Achaeans.”
Il. ii.
195.
“
Ὤ μοι ἐγὼ, μή τίς μοι
ὑφαίνῃσιν δόλον αὖτε ἀθανάτων”
Od. v.
356.
“
Μή πώς μ᾽ ἐκβαίνοντα βάλῃ
λίθακι προτὶ πέτρῃ κῦμα μέγ᾽ ἁρπάξαν, μελέη δέ μοι
ἔσσεται ὁρμή,”
“I fear that some great wave may dash me
against a solid rock, and my effort will (then) be in vain”
(the expression
of fear being merged in an assertion).
Od. v.
415.
See also
Il. xxi. 563;
Od. v. 467,
Od. xvii. 24,
Od. xxii. 213.
“
Τῶν εἴ κεν πάντων
ἀντήσομεν, μὴ πολύπικρα καὶ αἰνὰ βίας ἀποτίσεαι
ἐλθών, ”
“I fear you may punish their violence only to
our bitter grief (and may you not do this).”
Od. xvi.
255.
“
Μή τι κακὸν ῥέξωσι καὶ
ἡμέας ἐξελάσωσιν, ἄλλων δ᾽ ἀφικώμεθα γαῖαν,”
“may they not (as I fear) do us some harm and
drive us out, and may we not come to some land of others.”
Od. xvi.
381.
“
Μή μιν ἐγὼ μὲν ἵκωμαι
ἰὼν, ὁ δέ μ᾽ οὐκ ἐλεήσει,”
“I fear I may approach him as I come, while he
will not pity me.”
Il. xxii.
122
(see
Od.
v. 415, above).
“
Μή τοι κατὰ πάντα φάγωσιν
κτήματα δασσάμενοι, σὺ δὲ τηϋσίην ὁδὸν ἔλθῃς”
Od. xv.
12.
The present subjunctive occurs in
Od. xv. 19,
“
μή τι φέρηται”
, and in
xvi. 87,
“
μή μιν κερτομέωσιν”
. See also
πέλωνται
in
Il. xvi.
128, above. (
See
258.)
In these examples sometimes the fear itself, and sometimes
the desire to avert its object, is more prominent.
[*] 262.
(a) By prefixing
δείδω or
φοβοῦμαι
to any of the subjunctives with
μή in 261, we get the full construction with verbs of fearing;
as
δείδω μὴ νῆας ἕλωσι,
I fear they may seize the ships, in
which
μὴ ἕλωσι represents
an original construction which at first followed
δείδω paratactically—
I fear: may they not seize the ships—
and afterwards became welded with it as a dependent clause. So if
δείδω were removed from
a sentence like
δείδω μή τι
πάθῃσιν,
Il. xi. 470, we should have an independent
clause like those quoted above. See
μὴ δαμάσσῃ and
δείδω μὴ γένωμαι,
Od. v. 467 and
473.
(b) In like manner, by prefixing other verbs than those of
fearing to such clauses, the original negative final clause with
μή is developed; as
μαχούμεθα μὴ νῆας ἕλωσι,
we will fight that they
may not seize the ships. Again, if the
leading clause were removed from a sentence like
αὐτοῦ μίμν᾽ ἐπὶ πύργῳ, μὴ παῖδ᾽ ὀρφανικὸν
θήῃς χήρην τε γυναῖκα,
remain
here on the tower,
lest you make your
child an orphan and your wife a widow,
Il. vi. 431,
there would remain
μή . . .
θήῃς,
do not make, or
may you not make, in the originally
independent form, like the clauses with
μή in 261. (
See 307.)
[*] 263.
（
Μὴ οὐ,
with the Subjunctive.) The clause with
μή expressing desire to
avert an object of fear, in its original simple form as well as in the
developed final construction, may refer to a negative object, and
express fear that something
may not happen.
Here
μὴ οὐ is used with
the subjunctive, like
ne
non in Latin.
Thus
μὴ νῆας
ἕλωσι being
may they not seize the
ships,
μὴ οὐ νῆας
ἕλωσι would be
may they not fail to seize
the ships, implying fear that they
may
not seize them. Homer has one case of
μὴ οὐ after a verb of fearing:
δείδω μὴ οὔ τίς τοι ὑπόσχηται
τόδε ἔργον,
Il. x. 39.He has several cases of
μὴ οὐ in final clauses and
one in an object clause
(354).
Il. i. 28,
μή νύ τοι
οὐ χραίσμῃ σκῆπτρον καὶ στέμμα θεοῖο, is often cited
as a case of independent
μὴ
οὐ, meaning
beware lest the staff and
fillet of the God shall prove of no avail to you. So
Delbrück (I. p. 119), who nevertheless quotes
Il. i. 565,
ἀλλ᾽ ἀκέουσα κάθησο ἐμῷ
δ᾽ ἐπιπείθεο μύθῳ, μή νύ τοι οὐ χραίσμωσιν ὅσοι θεοί
εἰσ᾽ ἐν Ὀλύμπῳ, as containing a dependent final
clause. In the two other cases of
μὴ οὐ with the subjunctive in Homer,
Il. xv. 164
(an object clause, see 354), and xxiv. 569 (final), the dependence of
the clause with
μὴ οὐ is
even more obvious; and in
Il. xxiv. 584 we have in
μὴ οὐκ ἐρύσαιτο the decisive proof that
this clause is felt to be dependent in the change from the subjunctive
to the optative after a past tense. It is therefore more than doubtful
whether
μὴ οὐ χραίσμῃ in
Il. i.
28 is not dependent on
μή σε
κιχείω in vs. 26. Plato in paraphrasing this passage (
Rep. 393E）
takes the clause as final and dependent (see 132). But, whether we have
a case of independent
μὴ
οὐ with the subjunctive in Homer or not, there can be no doubt
that this is the original form from which came the dependent final
clause with
μὴ οὐ.
[*] 264.
After Homer we have the independent clause with
μή in Aeschylus,
Ag. 134 and
341; in Euripides we have independent
μή in
Alc. 315 (
μὴ σοὺς διαφθείρῃ γάμους),
Orest. 776 (
μὴ λάβωσί σ᾽ ἄσμενοι),
H. F. 1399
(
αἷμα μὴ σοῖς ἐξομόρξωμαι
πέπλοις), and
μὴ
οὐ in
Tro.
982 (
μὴ οὐ πείσῃς
σοφούς), besides Rhes. 115 (
μὴ οὐ μόλῃς). Aristophanes,
Eccl.
795, has a doubtful
μὴ οὐ
λάβῃς (Heindorf and Meineke, for MSS.
λάβοις). Besides these few cases, we have
in Plato three of
μή with
the subjunctive implying apprehension in the Homeric sense
(261):
Euthyd.
272C (
μὴ οὖν τις
ὀνειδίσῃ),
Symp. 193B (
μή μοι ὑπολάβῃ),
Leg. 861E
(
μή τις οἴηται).
Euripides and Herodotus are the first after Homer to use
μὴ οὐ in
dependent clauses of fear
(306).
