ἀνθρώπων δὲ εἰ καὶ δόξαιμι βούλεσθαι ἐξαπατῆσαί τινα, πολλὰς πληγὰς οἶδα λαμβάνων
If I was to deceive one of humans, I know that I was lashed many times.
Here, the present participle stands for imperfect ind in oratio obliqua. But what about δόξαιμι? in all translations, it looks as if it referred to the past and my commentary says that this is an optative of indefinite frequency. What is this, an opt of past general condition?
Yes, this is a type of condition that Smyth, § 2340, calls a “past general condition”: εἰ + optative in the protasis, imperfect indicative (or equivalent) in the apodosis. As you are aware, the participle λαμβάνων “represents” an imperfect indicative.
- Past general conditions have, in the protasis, εἰ with the optative; in the apodosis, the imperfect indicative > or an equivalent. > [Emphasis added.] εἰ ταῦτα ποιοίης (ποιήσειας), σὲ ἐπῄνουν if ever you did this, I always praised you.
εἴ πού τι ὁρῴη βρωτόν, διεδίδου if ever he saw anything to eat anywhere, he always distributed it X. A. 4.5.8, ““εἰ δέ τις καὶ ἀντείποι, εὐθὺς . . . ἐτεθνήκει” but if any one even made an objection, he was promptly put to death” T. 8.66, εἰ μὲν ἐπίοιεν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, ὑπεχώρουν, εἰ δ᾽ ἀναχωροῖεν, ἐπέκειντο if the Athenians advanced, they retreated; if they retired, they fell upon them 7.79, ἐτίμα δ᾽ εἴ τι καλὸν πράττοιεν, παρίστατο δ᾽ εἴ τις συμφορὰ συμβαίνοι he honoured them if ever they performed some noble action, and stood by them in times of misfortune (lit. if any misfortune befell) X. Ag. 7.3.
a. The optative is here sometimes called the iterative optative. This mood has however no iterative force in itself, the idea of repetition being derived solely from the context. In Homer the iterative optative after εἰ (found only Ω 768) is an extension of the iterative optative in temporal clauses where this use originated.
You might want to read mwh"s posts in the thread above, captioned “Conditionals: a guide.” He cuts through the confusing terminology and classifications of Smyth and other conventional grammars, focusing separately on the different types of if-clauses and main clauses.
thanx for the suggestion.