[13] κατοικτίρων οἰκτίρω, not οἰκτείρω, is the spelling attested by Attic inscriptions of circ. 550-350 B.C.: see Meisterhans, Grammatik der Attischen Inschriften, p. 89. μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων. An infinitive or participle, which for any reason would regularly take μή, usually takes μὴ οὐ if the principal verb of the sentence is negative. Here, δυσάλγητος = οὐκ εὐάλγητος: Dem. 19.123 “（πόλεις） χαλεπαὶ λαβεῖν ... μὴ οὐ χρόνῳ καὶ πολιορκίᾳ”（sc. λαμβάνοντι,） where χαλεπαί = οὐ ῥᾴδιαι: “cities not easy to take, unless by a protracted siege.” The participial clause, μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων, is equivalent to a protasis, εἰ μὴ κατοικτίροιμι. Prof. Kennedy holds that the protasis is εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι understood, and that μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων is epexegetic of it: —“Yes（γάρ） I should be unfeeling, if I did not wish （to help you）: that is, if I refused to pity such a supplication as this.” But the double negative μὴ οὐ could not be explained by a negative in the protasis （εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι）: it implies a negative in the apodosis （δυσάλγητος ἂν εἴην）. Since, then, the resolution into οὐκ εὐάλγητος ἂν εἴην is necessary, nothing seems to be gained by supposing a suppressed protasis, εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι.
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Professional Data Entry.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
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.