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2327. Homeric Constructions.—a. εἰ alone without κέ or ἄν with the subjunctive with no appreciable difference from εἴ κε (ἄν): εἴ περ γάρ σε κατακτάνῃ, οὔ σ᾽ . . . κλαύσομαι for if he slay thee, I shall not bewail thee X 86. This construction occurs in lyric and dramatic poetry, and in Hdt., as δυστάλαινα τἄ_ρ᾽ ἐγώ, εἴ σου στερηθῶ wretched indeed shall I be, if I am deprived of thee S. O. C. 1443. In Attic prose it is very rare and suspected (T. 6.21).

b. Subjunctive with κέ in both protasis and apodosis (the anticipatory subjunctive, 1810): εἰ δέ κε μὴ δώῃσιν, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι and if he do not give her up, then will I seize her myself A 324.

c. εἴ (αἴ) κε with the future in protasis (rare): σοὶ . . . ὄνειδος ἔσσεται, εἴ κ᾽ Ἀχιλῆος . . . ἑταῖρον . . . κύνες ἑλκήσουσιν it will be a reproach unto thee, if the dogs drag the companion of Achilles P 557. Some read here the subjunctive.

American Book Company, 1920.

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