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

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[*] 528. When a relative clause expresses a present or past condition, implying that it is not or was not fulfilled (like a protasis of the form 410), the verb is in a past tense of the indicative.

The antecedent clause generally has a past tense of the indicative with ἄν; but it may have a past tense of the indicative in an unreal condition, in an unaccomplished wish, or in a final clause. E.g. Ἃ μὴ ἐβούλετο δοῦναι, οὐκ ἂν ἔδωκεν, he would not have given what he had not wished to give (i.e. εἴ τινα μὴ ἐβούλετο δοῦναι, οὐκ ἂν ἔδωκεν). Ὁπότερον τούτων ἐποίησεν, οὐδενὸς ἂν ἧττον Ἀθηναίων πλούσιοι ἦσαν, whichever of these he had done (he did neither), they would be as rich as any of the Athenians. LYS. xxxii. 23. Οὔτε γὰρ ἂν αὐτοὶ ἐπεχειροῦμεν πράττειν ἃ μὴ ἠπιστάμεθα, οὔτε τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπετρέπομεν ὧν ἤρχομεν ἄλλο τι πράττειν ἢ ὅ τι πράττοντες ὀρθῶς ἔμελλον πράξειν: τοῦτο δ᾽ ἦν ἂν οὗ ἐπιστήμην εἶχον, for (if that were so) we should not be undertaking (as we are) to do things which we did not understand, nor should we permit any others whom we were ruling to do anything else than what they were likely to do properly; and this would be whatever they had knowledge of. PLAT. Charm. 171E. (Here ἃ μὴ ἠπιστάμεθα=εἴ τινα μὴ ἠπιστάμεθα, if there were any things which we did not know,—ὧν ἤρχομεν=εἴ τινων ἤρχομεν,—ὅ τι ἔμελλον=εἴ τι ἔμελλον,—and οὗ ἐπιστήμην εἶχον=εἴ τινος εἶχον. E. Itis implied that none of the cases here supposed ever actually arose. Ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἄλλων τινῶν τεττάρων, εἰ ἕν τι ἐζητοῦμεν αὐτῶν ἐν ὁτῳοῦν, ὁπότε πρῶτον ἐκεῖνο ἔγνωμεν, ἱκανῶς ἂν εἶχεν ἡμῖν, εἰ δὲ τὰ τρία πρότερον ἐγνωρίσαμεν, αὐτῷ ἂν τούτῳ ἐγνώριστο τὸ ζητούμενον. PLAT. Rep. 428A. (Here the antithesis of ὁπότε πρῶτον ἐκεῖνο ἔγνωμεν, in (whatever) case we had recognised this first, and εἰ τὰ τρία πρότερον ἐγνωρίσαμεν, if we had recognised the three sooner, makes the force of the relative especially clear.) Ἐβασάνιζον ἂν μέχρι οὗ αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει, they would have questioned them (under torture） so long as they pleased. DEM. liii. 25. Εἰ δὲ οἴκοι εἶχον ἕκαστοι τὰς δίκας, τούτους ἂν ἀπώλλυσαν οἵτινες φίλοι μάλιστα ἦσαν Ἀθηναίων τῷ δήμῳ, if each had their trials at home, they would ruin any who were especially friendly, etc. Ath. i. 16. (Here οἵτινες ἦσαν,=εἴ τινες ἦσαν, forms a second protasis to the apodosis ἀπώλλυσαν ἄν. See 511.) Καὶ ὁπηνίκα ἐφαίνετο ταῦτα πεποιηκὼς, ὡμολογεῖτ᾽ ἂν ἡ κατηγορία τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ, and if he ever appeared to have done this, his form of accusation would agree with his acts. DEM. xviii. 14.

Εἰ ξένος ἐτύγχανον ὢν, ξυνεγιγνώσκετε δήπου ἄν μοι εἰ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ φωνῇ τε καὶ τῷ τρόπῳ ἔλεγον ἐν οἷσπερ ἐτεθράμμην, if I happened to be a foreigner, you would surely pardon me, if I were (now) addressing you in both the language and the manner in which I had been brought up. PLAT. Ap. 17D. Ὡς δὴ ἐγώ γ᾽ ὄφελον μάκαρός νύ τευ ἔμμεναι υἱὸς ἀνέρος, ὃν κτεάτεσσιν ἑοῖς ἔπι γῆρας ἔτετμεν, O that I were the son of some fortunate man, whom old age had found upon his own estate (i.e. if old age had found any such man, would that I had been his son). Hom. Od. i. 217.So Hom. Il. vi. 348 and 351.

So when the relative sentence depends on a past indicative in a final clause (333); as in DEM. xxiii. 48, ταῦτά γε δήπου προσῆκε γράψαι, ἵνα ὅτῳ ποτὲ τοὔργον ἐπράχθη, τούτῳ τὰ ἐκ τῶν νόμων ὑπῆρχε δίκαια, he ought to have written it in this way, in order that any one by whom the deed had been done might have his rights according to the laws. (This implies that the law was not so written, so that the case supposed in ὅτῳ ἐπράχθη never arose.) So DEM. liii. 24, ἵν᾽ ἀκούσαντες ἐκ τούτων ἐψηφίσασθε ὁποῖόν τι ὑμῖν ἐδόκει, that you might have voted whatever seemed good to you.

All examples of this form fall equally well under the general rule for assimilation (559).