William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb

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[*] 371. （Indirect Discourse with ὡς, or ὅπως.) In curious contrast with the preceding construction with ὅπως μή for μή (370) is that by which verbs of fearing sometimes take the construction of ordinary indirect discourse. Here ὡς and even ὅπως, that, may introduce the object of the fear, thus taking the place of μή in the common construction. This apparently occurs only when the leading verb is negatived. E.g. Μὴ δείσῃς ποθ᾽ ὡς γέλωτι τοὐμὸν φαιδρὸν ὄψεται κάρα, do not fear that she will ever see my face joyful (=μὴ ἴδῃ). SOPH. El. 1309: so 1426. Ἀνδρὸς μὴ φοβοῦ ὡς ἀπορήσεις ἀξίου, “do not fear that you will be at a loss.” XEN. Cyr. v. 2, 12. (Here the direct discourse would be ἀπορήσω, I shall be at a loss.) Μὴ δείσητε ὡς οὐχ ἡδέως καθευδήσετε, “do not fear that you will not sleep sweetly.” Id. Cyr. vi. 2, Id. Cyr. 30. (Here μὴ οὐχ would be the ordinary expression.) Οὐ τοῦτο δέδοικα, ὡς ἐὰν ἀκροᾶσθε αὐτῶν ἀποψηφιεῖσθε, I have no fear of this, that you will acquit them if you hear them. LYS. xxvii. 9. Μὴ τρέσῃς ὅπως σέ τις ἀποσπάσει βίᾳ, “that any one shall tear you away by force.” EUR. Her. 248. Μὴ φοβεῦ μήτε ἐμὲ, ὥς σεο πειρώμενος λέγω λόγον τόνδε, μήτε γυναῖκα τὴν ἐμὴν, μή τί τοι ἐξ αὐτῆς γένηται βλάβος, do not fear either that I am saying this to try you (ὡς λέγω), or lest any harm shall come (μὴ γένηται). HDT. i. 9. (Here the two constructions after φοβεῦ make the principle especially clear.)

In all these cases μή or ὅπως μή would be regular, and exactly equivalent to ὡς and ὅπως here. In the same way, we say in English he fears lest this may happen and he fears that this may happen in the same sense. In Greek we might have μὴ τρέσῃς ὅπως μή σέ τις ἀποσπάσει (370) in the same sense as μὴ τρέσῃς ὅπως σέ τις ἀποσπάσει (above).