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[*] 447. （Future Indicative in Protasis.） The future indicative with εἰ is often used in the protasis to express a future condition. This is a still stronger form of expression than the subjunctive, though it sometimes alternates with it in the same sentence. Both, however, correspond to the English if I shall do this, if I do this, etc. The future, as an emphatic form, is especially common when the condition contains a strong appeal to the feelings or a threat or warning.1 It is thus a favourite construction with the tragedians. E.g. Εἰ γὰρ Ἀχιλλεὺς οἶος ἐπὶ Τρώεσσι μαχεῖται, οὐδὲ μίνυνθ᾽ ἕξουσι ποδώκεα Πηλεΐωνα, if Achilles shall fight alone against the Trojans, not even a little while will they keep back the swift son of Peleus. Il. xx. 26. Εἰ δὲ σύ γ᾽ ἐς πόλεμον πωλήσεαι, ἦ τέ σ᾽ ὀίω ῥιγήσειν πόλεμόν γε, καὶ εἴ χ᾽ ἑτέρωθι πύθηαι, if you shall mingle in the battle, verily do I believe you will shudder at the very name of battle, even if you hear it elsewhere (away from the war). Il. v. 350. Εἰ δέ μοι οὐ τίσουσι βοῶν ἐπιεικἔ ἀμοιβὴν, δύσομαι εἰς Ἀίδαο καὶ ἐν νεκύεσσι φαείνω, but if they do not pay me a proper requital for my cattle, I (the Sun) will descend to Hades and shine among the dead. Od. xii. 382. Εἰ δὲ πρὸς τούτοισι ἔτι τελευτήσει τὸν βίον εὖ, οὗτος ἐκεῖνος τὸν σὺ ζητεῖς ὄλβιος κεκλῆσθαι ἄξιός ἐστι, and if besides he shall still end his life well, he is that happy man you are seeking. HDT. i. 32. Ἀλλ᾽ εἴ σε μάρψει ψῆφος, ἄλλ᾽ ἐρεῖς τάχα, but if the judgment shall lay hold of you, you will soon tell another story. AESCH. Eum. 597. See AESCH. Prom. 311, Sept. 196, Suppl. 472, Sept. 474, Sept. 924, Cho. 683. Εἰ ταῦτα λέξεις, ἐχθαρεῖ μὲν ἐξ ἐμοῦ. SOPH. Ant. 93.See Ant. 229, Ant. 324, O. T. 843, 846, O. C. 628, Ph. 75, El. 465, El. 834, El. 1004. Εἰ τῷδ᾽ ἀρκέσεις, κακὸς φανεῖ, if you did this man, you will appear base. EUR. Hec. 1233. “Μὴ ζῴην, εἰ μὴ φάσγανον σπάσω” Id. Or. 1147. See Id. Hec. 802, Id. Or. 157, Id. Or. 272, Id. Or. 1212, Id. Med. 346, Id. Med. 352, Id. Med. 381. Εἰ μὴ καθέξεις γλῶσσαν, ἔσται σοι κακά. Aeg. EUR. Fr. 5. Εἰ δὲ μὴ τοῦτ᾽ ἐπιδείξει, πῶς χρὴ ταύτῃ τῇ προκλήσει προσέχειν ὑμᾶς τὸν νοῦν. DEM. xxvii. 52. Εἰ δ᾽ ὑμεῖς ἄλλο τι γνώσεσθε, ὃ μὴ γένοιτο, τίνα οἴεσθε αὐτὴν ψυχὴν ἕξειν; but if you shall give any other judgment, etc. Id. xxviii. 21. (Referring to the same thing, Id. xxvii. 67, Demosthenes had said ἐὰν γὰρ ἀποφύγῃ με οὗτος, ὃ μὴ γένοιτο, τὴν ἐπωβελίαν ὀφλήσω.) Ὴν ἐθέλωμεν ἀποθνῄσκειν ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαίων, εὐδοκιμήσομεν: εἰ δὲ φοβησόμεθα τοὺς κινδύνους, εἰς πολλὰς ταραχὰς καταστήσομεν ἡμᾶς αὐτούς. ISOC. vi. 107.Here what is feared is expressed by the emphatic future as a warning, while the alternative that is preferred has the subjunctive. See also DEM. xviii. 176, where εἰ προαιρήσομεθ᾽ ἡμεῖς, εἴ τι δύσκολον πέπρακται Θηβαίοις πρὸς ἡμᾶς, τούτου μεμνῆσθαι, if we shall prefer to remember every unpleasant thing the Thebans have ever done to us, is vividly stated by the future, as this is the course which the orator specially fears and wishes to warn the people against; while he puts his own proposition into the milder subjunctive form, ἢν μέντοι πεισθῆτ᾽ ἐμοὶ καὶ πρὸς τῷ σκοπεῖν ἀλλὰ μὴ φιλονεικεῖν γένησθε. See also ISOC. xv. 130.In other cases it is difficult to detect any distinction, as in DEM. xxvii. 67 and xxviii. 21 (above), and in HDT. i. 71; cf. Il. i. 135 and 137.
1 In “minatory and monitory conditions”: see Gildersleeve in Trans. of Assoc. Phil. for 1876, p. 13. This article contains an enumeration of all the cases of ἐάν with the subjunctive in future conditions and of εἰ with the future indicative in the three tragedians. It appears that in Aeschylus there are 22 cases of the future and only 8 of the subjunctive; in Sophocles 67 futures and 55 subjunctives; in Euripides 131 futures and 177 subjunctives. If we omit the futures which are equivalent to μέλλω with an infinitive, for which the subjunctive could not be substituted (see 407), we have in Aeschylus 15 futures in future conditions and 8 subjunctives; in Sophocles 46 and 55; in Euripides 98 and 177. In Attic prose Thucydides and Lysias have the largest proportion of futures; but in prose, as in Aristophanes, the subjunctives always preponderate.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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