previous next

205.Present.) The present infinitive, which represents also the imperfect (119), when used with ἄν, may be equivalent either to the imperfect indicative with ἄν or to the present optative with ἄν. It can represent no other form, as no other form of these tenses has ἄν joined with the verb in a finite mood. E.g. Φησὶν αὐτοὺς ἐλευθέρους ἂν εἶναι, εἰ τοῦτο ἔπραξαν, he says that they would (now) be freeif they had done this (εἶναι ἄν representing ἦσαν ἄν). Φησὶν αὐτοὺς ἐλευθέρους ἂν εἶναι, εἰ τοῦτο πράξειαν, he says that they would (hereafterbe freeif they should do this (εἶναι ἄν representing εἴησαν ἄν). Οἴεσθε γὰρ τὸν πατέρα οὐκ ἂν φυλάττειν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν λαμβάνειν τῶν ξύλων; do you think he would not have taken care and have received the pay for the timber? DEM. xlix. 35. (Here the direct discourse would be ἐφύλαττεν ἂν καὶ ἐλάμβανεν.) Μαρτυρίῳ ἐχρῶντο, μὴ ἂν τούς γε ἰσοψήφους ἄκοντας, εἰ μή τι ἠδίκουν οἷς ἐπῄεσαν, ξυστρατεύειν, they used us as an argument, that people who had an equal vote with themselves (like uswould not be serving with them against their will, unless those whom they attacked were guilty of some wrong. THUC. iii. 11. Οἶμαι γὰρ ἂν οὐκ ἀχαρίστως μοι ἔχειν, for I think it would not be a thankless labour (οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι). XEN. An. ii. 3, 18.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: