Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

a. Optative for Indicative.—““ἔγνωσαν ὅτι κενὸς ὁ φόβος εἴη” they recognized that their fear was groundless” X. A. 2.2.21 ( = ἐστί), ““ἔλεξαν ὅτι πέμψειε σφᾶς ὁ Ἰνδῶν βασιλεύς” they said that the king of the Indians had sent them” X. C. 2.4.7 ( = ἔπεμψεν ἡμᾶς), ““ἠγγέλθη ὅτι ἡττημένοι εἶεν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι . . . καὶ Πείσανδρος τεθναίη” it was reported that the Lacedaemonians had been defeated and that Peisander was dead” X. H. 4.3.10 ( = ἡττημένοι εἰσι and τέθνηκε).

N.—The first example of the optative in indirect discourse is later than Homer (Hymn to Aphrodite 214). Aeschylus has four cases. See 2624 c.

b. Direct Form Retained.—““διῆλθε λόγος ὅτι διώκει αὐτοὺς Κῦρος” a report spread that Cyrus was pursuing them” X. A. 1.4.7, ““ἀποκρι_νάμενοι ὅτι πέμψουσι πρέσβεις, εὐθὺς ἀπήλλαξαν” they withdrew immediately on answering that they would send envoys” T. 1.90 ( = πέμψομεν). See also 2623, 2625.