OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 101 



the argument proves too mucli. Indirect quotations and questions 

 therefore afford us more proof that the Optative is a secondary form of 

 the Subjunctive, than that it is a secondary form of the Indicative. 



Two tenses of the Indicative, the Imperfect and Pluperfect, have no 

 corresponding tenses in the Optative, so that these are regularly re- 

 tained in the Indicative in indirect discourse ; thus emtv on ifiaxovro 

 means, he said that they had been fighting, i. e. he said iiiaxovro. A rare 

 exception to the last principle shows conclusively the propriety of the 

 names commonly given to the tenses of the Optative. The want of a 

 tense in the Optative to represent the Imperfect Indicative in examples 

 like the last was naturally felt as a defect ; and in the Infinitive and the 

 Participle this want was supplied by using the Present in a new sense to 

 represent the Imperfect, the peculiar use being always denoted by some- 

 thing in the context. In a few instances we find the Present Optative 

 used in the same way to supply the want of an Imperfect, the context 

 making it clear that the tense is not used in its ordinary sense. Such 

 an instance is found in Dem. in Onet. I, 869, 12 ; aireKpivavTo on ovbiis 



fiapTvs irapeir], KOfxl^oLTO 8e Xap^avav Kad' onoaovovv 8eotro "Ac^ojSoj Trap' 

 avTwv, they replied that no witness had heen present, hut that Aphobus had 

 received the money from them, taking it in such sums as he happened 

 to want. Here Traptl-q represents Tniprjv, and Kopi^oiro represents eKopl- 

 ^fTo, which would ordinarily be retained in such a sentence. Other in- 

 stances may be found in Xen. Hell. VII, 1, 38 (quoted by Madvig, 

 Synt. § 130) ; and in Xen. Hell. I, 7, 5. If now the name of Imper- 

 fect be given to the Present Optative in its ordinary use, when it rep- 

 resents a Present of the direct discourse, and is merely translated by an 

 Imperfect to suit the English idiom, Avhat shall we call this true Imper- 

 fect Optative, which really represents an Imperfect Indicative, and 

 stands where an Imperfect Indicative is the regular form ? 



"We see then that the Optative was used in the whole class of con- 

 structions known as oratio ohliqua, or indirect discourse, as the correla- 

 tive not merely of the Subjunctive, but also of the Indicative, and that 

 it possessed the power of expressing in an oblique form every tense of 

 both those moods in a manner of which the Latin presents hardly a 

 trace. In fact, this use of the Greek Optative presents one of the most 

 striking examples of the versatility and flexibility of the language, and 

 of its wonderful adaptation to the expression of the nicest shades of 

 thought of which the human mind is capable. This single use of the 

 mood seems sufficient in itself to prevent any one who has any appre- 



