Conditionals embedded in a result clause

Greek Learning Greek
1

Hey guys, any advice on how to translate a sentence like this into greek?:

‘The men are so brave that, were they not unarmed, they would be enough to capture the city.’

As I understand it, result clauses require either an indicative (for a real action) or an infinitive (for an implied result) to follow the ὥστε. But the apodosis of a present counterfactual conditional requires an ἄν with the imperfect.

So should It be

Present + ὥστε + ( εἰ + imperfect → infinitive )

Or more properly

Present + ὥστε + ( εἰ + imperfect → imperfect + ἄν )?

Apologies if this question is a bit convoluted ~ i’m not 100% what to do in this case. Also, are things anymore flexible if I’m composing this in Greek tragic iambic trimeters? ty for any replies


EDIT: a better question might be if the conditional were a future-less-vivid (εἰ + optative → optative + ἄν). So, in the case of,

‘The men are so brave that, were they not unarmed, they might be enough to capture the city’.

would it be more appropriate to render the apodosis as an optative with ἄν or in the usual indicative or in the infinitive? Or is that Greek cannot do this sort of construction?

2

Why not use αν with the infinitive?

οι ανδρες ουτω ανδρειοι ωστε μη αοπλοι/γυμνοι οντες ικανοι αν ειναι την πολιν ελειν.

Or . . . ωστε ει μη αοπλοι/γυμνοι ησαν . . .

See Smyth 2270. The infinitive doesn’t “represent” a potential optative, as in Smyth’s examples, but in indirect discourse, αν + present infinitive can stand for the apodosis of a present contrary to fact condition. See Smyth 1846a.