A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

313-] CLAUSES WITH El. 285
312.] Optative with el Wish. The Conditional Protasis,
when used without an Apodosis, becomes a form of expressing
!! ^5' 569 'AzmA.ox' ov
5
TLS o-eto aAAos '
uewrepos1
OVT TTOCrlv Od(T(T(JL>V OVT* aA-KiJUOJ 0)9 (TV
et TLVOL TTOV Tpcocov td\iJLVos avbpa
So II. 10. in., 1 6. 559., 24. 74. More frequently a wish is introduced
by el ydp or at yap, as in
at yap, Ze re Trarep KOL *A0r]vair] KOL "AiroXXov, KT\.
Such a wish is sometimes used as a form of asseveration, as
II. 1 8. 464 at yap \*.iv Oavdroio bvcrrj^os a>8e bvvaijJLrjv
v6cr(f)LV aTTOKpv\lfaL, ore jutti^ {Jiopos alvbs LK.GLVOI,
a>$ ol
Ti>\a KaXa TrapeVa-erat
i. e. fair arms shall be his as surely as I wish I could save him
from death : so II. 8. 538, Od. 9. 523 and : ironically
Od. 21. 402 at yap 8r) TOO-CTOVTOV ovr/a-ios avTidoriV,
O)J OVTOS TTOT
TOVTO bvVT)(TTaL tVTOLVVG'aa'Ocil.
Here also we must place the wishes expressed by
eifle or ai6e,
which have generally the character of hopeless regret : as et0' o>s
^o>ot/xt KrA. It may be noted that in the Odyssey wish is not
expressed by el except in the combinations ct ydp and cl'Oe.
A wish is often followed by a Clause expressing an expected
consequence of its fulfilment as
;
II. 2. 3/1 at yap, Ze re -rrarep . .
rep Ke rax' rffjivcreie Tro'Ais Dptajuoto avaKTos*
Od. 7. 331 Zeu Trarep, at^' ocra etTre re/\evr^a-ete^ airavra
'A\KLVOOS' TOV fJiCV
KV eTTt tibo)pOV CLpOVpCLV
avfizvrov K\tos etr/.
So we should probably punctuate
II. 13. 485 et yap o/^AtKirj ye y^voi^Oa r(58 J
em
at\l/d
Kv TJ