Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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[*] 1781. An unattainable wish may also be expressed by ὤφελον (ought) with the present or aorist infinitive: ὤφελε Κῦρος ζῆν would that Cyrus were (now) alive (Cyrus ought to be alive) X. A. 2.1.4 (1775). The negative is μή: ““μήποτ᾽ ὤφελον λιπεῖν τὴν Σκῦρον” would that I had never left Scyros” S. Ph. 969. εἴθε or εἰ γάρ (poet. αἴθε, ὡς) may be used before ὤφελον: εἰ γὰρ ὤφελον οἷοί τε εἶναι οἱ πολλοὶ κακὰ ἐργάζεσθαι would that the multitude were able to do evil Pl. Cr. 44 d.