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

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[*] 534. （Indicative.) The indicative is sometimes used instead of the subjunctive and optative in relative sentences of this class. (See 467.) Here one of the cases in which the event may occur is referred to as if it were the only one. This use of the indicative occurs especially after the indefinite relative ὅστις; as the idea of indefiniteness, which is usually expressed by the subjunctive or optative, is here sufficiently expressed by the relative itself. E.g.

Ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀίδαο πύλῃσιν Γίγνεται, ὃς πενίῃ εἴκων ἀπατήλια βάζει. Od. xiv. 156.

Compare this with Il. ix. 312, the first example under 532.

Ἐμοὶ γὰρ ὅστις πᾶσαν εὐθύνων πόλιν Μὴ τῶν ἀρίστων ἅπτεται βουλευμάτων, Ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ φόβου του γλῶσσαν ἐγκλείσας ἔχει, Κάκιστος εἶναι νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι δοκεῖ: Καὶ μείζον᾽ ὅστις ἀντὶ τῆς αὑτοῦ πάτρας Φίλον νομίζει, τοῦτον οὐδαμοῦ λέγω. SOPH. Ant. 178.

(Here we might have had ὃς ἂν . . . μὴ ἅπτηται, ἀλλ᾽ . . . ἔχῃ, and ὃς ἂν νομίζῃ, without any essential difference in meaning.)

Οἵτινες πρὸς τὰς ξυμφορὰς γνώμῃ μὲν ἥκιστα λυποῦνται, ἔργῳ δὲ μάλιστα ἀντέχουσιν, οὗτοι καὶ πόλεων καὶ ἰδιωτῶν κράτιστοί εἰσιν. THUC. ii. 64.So in the same chapter, ὅστις λαμβάνει. Ὅστις δ᾽ ἀφικνεῖτο τῶν παρὰ βασιλέως πρὸς αὐτὸν, πάντας οὕτω διατιθεὶς ἀπεπέμπετο, whoever came to him, he always sent away, etc. XEN. An. i. 1, 5. Ὅπου δὲ χιλὸς σπάνιος πάνυ εἴη, αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐδύνατο παρασκευάσασθαι, διαπέμπων ἐκέλευε τοὺς φίλους ἵπποις ἐμβάλλειν τοῦτον. Ib. i. 9, Ib. 27. (In the last two examples there is some Ms. authority for the more regular ἀφικνοῖτο and δύναιτο.)