Absence of αν, Symp 198c

Greek Learning Greek
1

I don’t know how to account for the absence of αν in the apodosis of past unreal here: ἐπεὶ ἔγωγε ἐνθυμούμενος ὅτι αὐτὸς οὐχ οἷός τ᾽ ἔσομαι οὐδ᾽ ἐγγὺς τούτων οὐδὲν καλὸν εἰπεῖν, ὑπ᾽ αἰσχύνης ὀλίγου [198c] ἀποδρὰς ᾠχόμην, εἴ πῃ εἶχον.

2

αν in the apodosis, i.e. with ᾠχόμην, would mean “I would be all but running away,” but that wouldn’t make sense here. He’s saying he was all but running away. (Note ὀλίγου “all but,” “almost.”) It’s factual, not “unreal."

He is not, of course, sincere.