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

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[*] 707. （Οὐχ ὅπως, οὐχ ὅτι, etc.) Οὐχ ὅπως or (rarely) μὴ ὅπως, and οὐχ ὅτι or μὴ ὅτι, by the ellipsis of a verb of saying, often mean I do not speak of or not to speak of. Ἀλλά, ἀλλὰ καί, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδέ, or ἀλλὰ μηδέ usually follows in a clause which expresses a strong antithesis. After οὐχ the implied verb of saying would be an indicative, after μή it would be an imperative or subjunctive; but, like most elliptical idioms, this is often used where the ellipsis cannot be precisely supplied. What is men tioned in the former clause as not to be spoken of may be understood to be either affirmed or negatived by the expression, according to the context; so that the force of οὐχ ὅπως may sometimes be conveniently given by not only, sometimes by so far from (not only not). E.g. Οὐχ ὅπως τὰ σκεύη ἀπέδοσθε, ἀλλὰ καὶ αἱ θύραι ἀφηρπάσθησαν, not to speak of your selling the furniture (i.e. not only did you sell the furniture, but), even the doors were carried off. LYS. xix. 31. (With λέγω supplied with οὐχ ὅπως we have I do not speak of your selling the furniture; but this would be awkward, and probably no precise verb was thought of.) Εἰ κατώρθωσεν ἐκεῖνος, οὐχ ὅτι τῶν ὄντων ἂν ἀπεστερήμην, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἔζην, if he had succeeded, not to speak of being deprived of my property, (not only should I have been deprived of my property, but) I should not even be alive. DEM. xxiv. 7. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἄξια μὴ ὅτι δυοῖν ταλάντοιν προσόδου, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ εἴκοσι μνῶν, it is not sufficient to represent an income even of twenty minas, not to speak of two talents. Id. xxxvi. 39. Τῶνδε οὐχ ὅπως κωλυταὶ γενήσεσθε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀρχῆς δύναμιν προσλαβεῖν περιόψεσθε, not to speak of (so far from) your becoming a hindrance to them, you will even permit them to add to their power from your own dominions. THUC. i. 35. Μὴ ὅπως ὀρχεῖσθαι ἐν ῥυθμῷ, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὀρθοῦσθαι ἐδύνασθε, not to speak of dancing in time, you could not even stand erect. XEN. Cyr. i. 3, 10. Τοὺς Θηβαίους ἡγεῖτο ἐάσειν ὅπως βούλεται πράττειν ἑαυτὸν, καὶ οὐχ ὅπως ἀντιπράξειν καὶ διακωλύσειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συστρατεύσειν, he thought the Thebans would let him do as he pleased, and—not to speak of opposing and hindering him—would even join forces with him. DEM. vi. 9. (Here no definite verb can be supplied.) Ἐδίδασκον τὸν δῆμον ὡς οὐχ ὅπως τιμωρήσαιντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπαινέσαιεν τὸν Σφοδρίαν, that, so far from having punished S. , they had even praised him (οὐχ ὅπως with an optative after ὡς in indirect discourse). XEN. Hell. v. 4, 34.