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[*] 506. A potential optative (with ἄν) in the protasis may express a present condition, and a potential indicative (with ἄν) a present or past condition. E.g. Εἰ μηδὲ δοῦλον ἀκρατῆ δεξαίμεθ᾽ ἂν, πῶς οὐκ ἄξιον αὐτόν γε φυλάξασθαι τοιοῦτον γενέσθαι; if we would not take even a slave who was intemperate, how can it be other than fitting to guard oneself against becoming so? XEN. Mem. i. 5, 3. Καὶ ἐγὼ, εἴπερ ἄλλῳ τῳ ἀνθρώπων πειθοίμην ἂν, καὶ σοὶ πείθομαι, and I, if I would trust any man, trust you. PLAT. Prot. 329B. Οὔτοι παντελῶς, οὐδ᾽ εἰ μὴ ποιήσαιτ᾽ ἂν τοῦτο ὡς ἔγωγέ φημι δεῖν, εὐκαταφρόνητόν ἐστιν, this (preparation) is not wholly to be despised, even if you would not do this as I say you ought. DEM. iv. 18.Notice the difference between this supposition that you would not do this if you could (i.e. οὐκ ἂν ποιήσαιτε τοῦτο) and the ordinary εἰ μὴ ποιήσαιτε τοῦτο, supposing you not to do this. Εἰ τοίνυν τοῦτο ἰσχυρὸν ἦν ἂν τούτῳ τεκμήριον, κἀμοὶ γενέσθω τεκμήριον, κ.τ.λ., if then this would have been a strong proof for him (sc. had he had it), so let it be also a proof for me, etc. DEM. xlix. 58. Εἰ μὴ διὰ τὸ τούτους βούλεσθαι σῶσαι, ἐξώλης ἀπολοίμην καὶ προώλης εἰ προσλαβών γ᾽ ἂν ἀργύριον πάνυ πολὺ μετὰ τούτων ἐπρές βευσα, had it not been for my wish to save these (captives), may I perish utterly and before my day if I would have gone on an embassy with these men even for very high pay. DEM. xix. 172. (Here the protasis to which the apodosis ἀπολοίμην refers is really the whole expression εἰ . . . ἐπρέσβευσα ἄν εἰ μὴ . . . σῶσαι, if I would have gone except to save these, ἐπρέσβευσα ἄν in the protasis being itself the apodosis to εἰ μὴ . . . σῶσαι.) In DEM. xviii. 101, καὶ τίς οὐκ ἂν ἀπέκτεινέ με δικαίως, εἴ τι τῶν ὑπαρχόντων τῇ πόλει καλῶν λόγῳ μόνον καταισχύνειν ἐπεχείρησ᾽ ἄν; —if we retain the final ἄν (strongly supported by Mss.), we must translate if (it is true that) I would (under any circumstances) have undertaken, etc., and not simply if I had undertaken (εἰ ἐπεχείρησα). (See 557.)
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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