[*] 450. Omission of a)/n with the optative.—the pure optative as a potential. The pure optative (optative without “ἄν”） is sometimes used in the early language as a potential, the negative being “οὐ”. The instances cited, however, are not all free from doubt, and outside of these early examples all pure optatives used as potentials are more or less open to suspicion. Sometimes “ἄν” has been dropped by haplography, sometimes there has been a confusion with other words, an “αὖ” (“ΑΥ”) or a “δή” (“ΔΗ”), sometimes the “ἄν” is to be understood from a preceding passage, or anticipated from a succeeding passage, sometimes euphony may have prompted the omission,1 although the Greeks generally are not very sensitive to the cacophony of recurrent sounds,2 or the ear may have been cheated, sometimes the syntax of the editors may have been at fault, and the optative being equivalent to an imperative may be considered as an equivalent to the optative with “ἄν”.3 Many passages once freely cited have been corrected by editors, sometimes unnecessarily, and the tendency is decidedly towards the norm. Similar is the case of the omitted “κεν” (“κε”), and there are not a few passages in which the presence of a “γε” suggests a restoration of the regular modal construction. DIN.1.66: “τίσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἕκαστος ὑμῶν τὴν πατρῴαν ἑστίαν οἴκαδ᾽ ἀπελθὼν ἰδεῖν τολμήσειεν” (“τολμήσει” Blass, Bk. Turr.); 1.91: “εἰ μὲν οὖν ἔτι δεῖ τὴν πόλιν τῆς Δημοσθένους πονηρίας καὶ ἀτυχίας ἀπολαύειν . . ., στερκτέον εἴη” [(“ἂν”) “εἴη” Bl.; “εἴη” del. Fr. Bait.] “τοῖς συμβαίνουσιν”. 2.3: “πονηρίαν γὰρ ἀρχομένην μὲν κωλῦσαι τάχα” (“τάχ᾽ ἂν” mal. Bk. Dobr., rec. Turr. Bl.) “τις κολάζων δυνηθείη”. 3.19: “μετὰ δὲ δωροδοκίας καὶ προδοσίας καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων τούτοις κακῶν . . . οὐδεμία” (“οὐδεμἴ ἂν” Bk. Dobr. Turr. Bl.) “πόλις σωθείη”. LYCURG.50: “οὐκ” (“ἂν” Bekker) “αἰσχυνθείην εἰπὼν στέφανον τῆς πατρίδος εἶναι τὰς ἐκείνων ψυχάς”. 144: “καὶ τίς ἀναμνησθεὶς” (“ἂν ἀναμνησθεὶς” Scheibe) . . . “σώσειε” . . .; ISAE. 9.5: “οὐδ᾽” (“οὔτ᾽” Bekk.) “αὐτὸς” (“ἂν αὐτὸς” Scheibe) “ἔξαρνος γένοιτο μεμαρτύρηταί τε ὑμῖν”. 11.38: “ἐγὼ γὰρ” (“ἐγὼ γὰρ ἂν” Sch.) “ὦ ἄνδρες πάντων ὁμολογήσαιμι εἶναι κάκιστος”. LYS. 5.5: “οὐκέτι σκέψονται ὅ τι ἀγαθὸν （“ἂν ἀγαθὸν” σξη.᾿ εἰργασμένοι τοὺς δεσπότας ἐλεύθεροι γένοιντο” . 11.7: “ἐγὼ οὖν δεξαίμην ῾λεγ. “δεξαίμην ἂν”） πάσας ἀποβεβληκέναι ἢ τοιαύτην γνώμην περὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχειν” . 19.35: “ὁμολογήσειαν” (“ὁμολογήσειαν ἄν” Sch.). ANTIPHON, 1.10: “εἰ δὲ ἄπαρνοι γίγνοιντο . . ., <ἡ βάσανος> ἀναγκάζοι” (“ἀναγκάζει” codd., “ἀναγκάζοι” Bl. ex em. Steph. ; leg. “ἂν ἀναγκάζοι”) “τὰ γεγονότα κατηγορεῖν”. 1.25: “καὶ γὰρ δικαιότερον . . . καὶ πρὸς θεῶν καὶ πρὸς ἀνθρώπων γίγνοιτο” (“γίγνοιτο <ἂν>” Blass) “ὑμῖν”. 5.64: “ἐκείνου γὰρ ἄριστα” (“ἄριστ᾽ ἂν” Hi. Bl.) “πύθοιντο”. PLATO, Parmen. 145A-B: “καὶ ἀρχὴν δή, ὡς ἔοικε, καὶ τελευτὴν καὶ μέσον ἔχοι ἂν τὸ ἕν. Ἔχοι” (“ἄν” to be supplied from the preceding). 148 E: “οὕτω μὲν δὴ ἅπτοιτ᾽ ἂν τὸ ἓν αὑτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων. Ἅπτοιτο” (id.). Phaedo, 87 B-C: “ἐμοὶ γὰρ δοκεῖ ὁμοίως λέγεσθαι ταῦτα, ὥσπερ ἄν τις . . . λέγοι . . . τεκμήριον δὲ παρέχοιτο . . . καὶ . . . ἀνερωτῴη . . . ἀποκριναμένου δέ τινος . . . οἴοιτο”. (One “ἄν” suffices for four optatives in a very long sentence.) Rpb. 382 D: “πότερον διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τὰ παλαιὰ ἀφομοιῶν ἂν ψεύδοιτο; Γελοῖον μέντ᾽ ἂν εἴη, ἔφη. Ποιητὴς μὲν ἄρα ψευδὴς ἐν θεῷ οὐκ ἔνι. Οὔ μοι δοκεῖ. Ἀλλὰ δεδιὼς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ψεύδοιτο” (“ἄν” to be supplied from “ψεύδοιτο” above); Riv. 135 C; “καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τέκτονα μὲν ἂν πρίαιο πέντε ἢ ἓξ μνῶν ἄκρον, ἀρχιτέκτονα δὲ οὐδ᾽ ἂν μυρίων δραχμῶν: ὀλίγοι γε μὴν καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησι γίγνοιντο” (“ἄν” to be supplied from preceding). XEN. An. 4.6.13: “δοκοῦμεν δ᾽ ἄν μοι ταύτῃ προσποιούμενοι προσβαλεῖν ἐρημοτέρῳ ἂν τῷ ἄλλῳ ὄρει χρῆσθαι. μένοιεν” (“ἄν” to be supplied from above) “γὰρ αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον ἀθρόοι οἱ πολέμιοι”. Cyr. 2.4.17: “πέμψαιμι ἄν σοι ἱκανοὺς ἱππέας καὶ πεζοὺς . . . οὓς σὺ λαβὼν εὐθὺς ἀνίοις καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ . . . πειρῴμην μὴ πρόσω ὑμῶν εἶναι”. 5.1.23: “καὶ φοβοίμην ἂν αὐτοὺς καὶ αἰσχυνοίμην ἀπολιπὼν ταῦτα εἰκῇ ἀπελθεῖν”. AR. Eq. 1057: “ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἂν μαχέσαιτο: χέσαιτο γάρ, εἰ μαχέσαιτο”. EUR. Alc. 52: “ἔστ᾽ οὖν ὅπως Ἄλκηστις ἐς γῆρας μόλοι”; SOPH. Ant. 604-5: “τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀνδρῶν ὑπερβασία κατάσχοι” (450, footnote 1); O. C. 1172: “καὶ τίς ποτ᾽ ἐστίν, ὅν γ̓ ἐγὼ ψέξαιμί τι;” AESCHYL. Ag. 620: “οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως λέξαιμι τὰ ψευδῆ καλά”. 1049: “πείθοἰ ἄν, εἰ πείθοἱ: ἀπειθοίης δ᾽ ἴσως”. Cho. 172: “οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις πλὴν ἑνὸς κείραιτό νιν”. 595: “ἀλλ᾽ ὑπέρτολμον ἀνδρὸς φρόνημα τίς λέγοι” (450, footnote 1);
. PIND. O. 3.45: “οὔ νιν διώξω: κεινὸς εἴην” (450, footnote 3). P. 10.21-2: “θεὸς εἴη” | “ἀπήμων κέαρ” (ibid.). 11.50: “θεόθεν ἐραίμαν καλῶν” (“ἐραίμαν” is not potential). N. 5.20: “ὑποσκάπτοι” is not potential. THEOGN. 125 (450, footnote 1). 1187-90: “οὔτις ἄποινα διδοὺς θάνατον φύγοι” (“ἄν” to be supplied from what follows) “οὐδὲ βαρεῖαν” | “δυστυχίην, εἰ μὴ μοῖρ᾽ ἐπὶ τέρμα βάλοι”. | “οὐδ᾽ ἂν δυσφροσύνας” . . . | “θνητὸς ἀνὴρ δώροις βουλόμενος προφύγοι”. HOM. Od. 3.231: “ῥεῖα θεός γ᾽ ἐθέλων καὶ τηλὀθεν ἄνδρα σαώσαι”. 319: “ἔλποιτό γε” (“κε” Nauck, Cauer). 7.314: “οἶκον δέ τ᾽” (“δέ κ̓” cod. Marcianus, Cauer) “ἐγὼ καὶ κτήματα δοίην”. 14.122-3: “οὔ τις κεῖνον ἀνὴρ ἀλαλημένος ἐλθὼν” | “ἀγγέλλων πείσειε γυναῖκά τε καὶ φίλον υἱόν”. Il. 4.318-9: “μάλα μέν τοι” (“libri plurimi et optimi, “κεν” duo, “γε” unus,” Cauer) “ἐγὼν ἐθέλοιμι καὶ αὐτὸς” | “ὣς ἔμεν”. 5.303: “ὃ οὐ δύο γ̓” (libri fere omnes; “κ̓” Heyne, Naber, Cauer) “ἄνδρε φέροιεν”. 10.246-7: “τούτου γε σπομένοιο καὶ ἐκ πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο” | “ἄμφω νοστήσαιμεν”. 556-7: “ῥεῖα θεὀς γ᾽ ἐθέλων καὶ ἀμείνονας, ἠέ περ οἵδε”, | “ἵππους δωρήσαιτ”（“ο”). 15.45: “αὐτάρ τοι καὶ κείνῳ ἐγὼ παραμυθησαίμην”. 197-8: “θυγατέρεσσιν γάρ τε καὶ υἱάσι βέλτερον εἴη” | “ἐκπάγλοις ἐπέεσσιν ἐνισσέμεν”. 19.321: “οὐ μὲν γάρ τι κακώτερον ἄλλο πάθοιμι”. 20.286: “ὃ οὐ δύο γ̓” (“δύο κ̓” Cauer) “ἄνδρε φέροιεν” (= 5.303).
