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753. 1. Of the three common verbs signifying to say, φημί is regularly followed by the infinitive in indirect discourse, εἶπον by ὅτι or ὡς and the indicative or optative, while λέγω allows either construction. The active voice of λέγω, however, generally has ὅτι or ὡς.

2. Exceptional cases of ὅτι or ὡς after φημί are very rare and strange: one occurs in LYS. vii. 19, ὅς φησιν ὡς ἐγὼ μὲν παρειστήκειν οἱ δ᾽ οἰκέται ἐξέτεμνον τὰ πρέμνα. See also XEN. Hell. vi. 3, 7 , and PLAT. Gorg. 487 D (where a clause with ὅτι precedes φῄς).

3. Cases of εἶπον with the infinitive of indirect discourse are less rare, but always exceptional. See Il. xxiv. 113, Il. xviii. 9, quoted in 683; HDT. ii. 30; THUC. vii. 35; PLAT. Gorg. 473 A, εἶπον τὸ ἀδικεῖν τοῦ ἀδικεῖσθαι κάκιον εἶναι. A remarkable case of οὐ μή with the infinitive after εἶπε occurs in EUR. Phoen. 1590 (quoted in 296). Εἶπον and the active voice of λέγω take the infinitive chiefly as verbs of commanding (747).

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