Χαίρετε!
I am working on reading a passage from Dr. Mastronarde Unit 34. I am having confusion over a couple parts and will start just with the first one for now. The passage reads,
τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ Κροίσου [“Croesus”] χρωμένοις ἀπεκρίνατο ὁ θεὸς ὧδε· “ἀνάγκη
τῷ Κροίσῳ τὸν Ἅλυν [“Halys”] ποταμὸν διαβάντι καταλύειν [“destroy”]
μεγάλην ἀρχήν.” καὶ ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Κροῖσος κρατήσειν αὐτὸς τῶν πολεμίων
ᾤετο, οὐ καλῶς ὑπολαβών. καὶ οὐ φοβούμενος μὴ ἁμαρτάνοι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ γνώμῃ
πιστεύων, ἐστρατεύσατο ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας [“Persians”] ἵνα τούτους νικήσας
ἁπάσης τῆς Ἀσίας [“Asia”] ἄρχοι. ἀλλ’ ἄλλως συνέβη· ἡττήθησαν τε γὰρ οἱ
Λυδοὶ [“Lydians”] καὶ ἑάλωσαν ὅ τε Κροῖσος καὶ ἡ γυνὴ καὶ τὰ παιδία. ἁλοὺς
δὲ τάδε πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἔφη· “εἴθε μήποτε διέβην τὸν Ἅλυν. καὶ νῦν τί πάθωμεν;
δουλεύωμεν τοῖς Πέρσαις; οὐ δεινὸν τοῖς δυστυχέσιν ἀποθανεῖν, ἀλλ’ εἴθε μὴ οἱ
Πέρσαι τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτέμοιεν [ἀπο + τέμνω, “cut off”].”
I placed in bold the first part that is bothering me, “καὶ οὐ φοβούμενος μὴ ἁμαρτάνοι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ γνώμῃ πιστεύων, . . .”
The rule I am using for this is,
“Object Clauses with Verbs of Fearing.
a. Clauses denoting a fear about a future event, or about a present event the occurrence
of which is unascertained, contain the subjunctive in primary sequence and
the optative or subjunctive in secondary sequence. Such clauses are introduced by
μή when positive and by μὴ οὐ when negative.
Primary sequence: subjunctive mandatory
φοβούμεθα μὴ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἡμῖν ἐπιθῆται.
We are afraid that the king may attack us.
φοβούμεθα μὴ οἱ σύμμαχοι οὐκ ἔλθωσιν εἰς καιρόν.
We fear that the allies may not come in time.
Secondary sequence: optative optional
ἐφοβοῦντο μὴ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπιθῆται.
Or ἐφοβοῦντο μὴ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπιθεῖτο [optative].
They were afraid that the king might attack”
Shouldn’t the passage I am having trouble with start with a μὴ οὐ instead of just an οὐ? Since it is in primary sequence, shouldn’t the sentence have a subjunctive instead of an optative?
Maybe I am using the wrong rule?
Confused.