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253. The imperative is sometimes used by the dramatists after οἶσθ᾽ and similar interrogative expressions, the imperative being really the verb of the relative clause.1 The difficulty of translating such expressions is similar to that of translating relatives and interrogatives with participles. E.g. Ἀλλ᾽ οἶσθ᾽ δρᾶσον; τῷ σκέλει θένε τὴν πέτραν, “but do you know what you must do?—strike the rock with your leg!” AR. Av. 54. Οἶσθ᾽ μοι σύμπραξον; “ do you know what you must do for me?” EUR. Her. 451. Οἶσθά νυν μοι γενέσθω; δεσμὰ τοῖς ξένοισι πρόσθες, do you know what must be done for me?—put bonds on the strangers. Id. IT 1203. Οἶσθ᾽ ὡς ποίησον; do you know how you must act? SOPH. O.T. 543. (Compare EUR. Cyc. 131,οἶσθ᾽ οὖν δράσεις; do you know what you are to do?

The English may use a relative with the imperative, as in which do at your peril. See HDT. i. 89, κάτισον φυλάκους, οἳ λεγόντων ὡς ἀναγκαίως ἔχει. So SOPH. O.C. 473.

A peculiar interrogative imperative is found in μὴ ἐξέστω; “ is it not to be allowed?” PLAT. Polit. 295E ; and ἐπανερωτὦ εἰ κείσθω, I ask whether it is to stand, Leg. 800E. (See 291.)

1 See Postgate in Transactions of the Cambridge Philological Society, III. 1, pp. 50-55.

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    • William Watson Goodwin, Commentary on Demosthenes: On the Crown, 173
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