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[*] 468. In Homer the subjunctive appears in protasis in general suppositions (462) only nineteen times, and the optative only once. Here the subjunctive generally (in fourteen cases) has the simple εἰ (without κέ or ἄν). E.g. Εἴ περ γάρ τε χόλον γε καὶ αὐτῆμαρ καταπέψῃ, ἀλλά γε καὶ μετόπισθεν ἔχει κότον, ὄφρα τελέσσῃ, for even if he swallows his wrath for the day, still he keeps his anger hereafter, until he accomplishes its object. Il. i. 81. Τῶν οὔ τι μετατρέπομ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀλεγίζω, εἴ τ᾽ ἐπὶ δεξἴ ἴωσι, εἴ τ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερά, I do not heed them nor care for them, whether they go to the right or to the left. Il. xii. 238.So Il. iv. 262, Il. x. 225, Il. xi. 116, Il. xvi. 263, Il. xxi. 576, Il. xxii. 191 (the last four in similes); Od. i. 167, Od. vii. 204, Od. xii. 96, Od. xiv. 373, Od. xvi. 98 (= 116). Ἤν ποτε δασμὸς ἵκηται, σοὶ τὸ γέρας πολὺ μεῖζον, if ever a division comes, your prize is always much greater. Il. i. 166.So Od. xi. 159, ἢν μή τις ἔχῃ. Besides these two cases of ἤν, Homer has two of εἴ κε, Il. xi. 391, Il. xii. 302; and one of εἴ περ ἄν, Il. iii. 25 (five in all). The single case of εἰ with the optative in a past general condition in Homer is Il. xxiv. 768: ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τίς με καὶ ἄλλος ἐνίπτοι, ἀλλὰ σὺ τόν γε κατέρυκες, but if any other upbraided me, you (always) restrained him.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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