William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb

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[*] 533. The gnomic aorist and the other gnomic and iterative tenses (154-164) can be used in the antecedent clause of these general propositions. The gnomic aorist, as usual, is a primary tense, and is followed by the subjunctive (171). E.g.

• “Ὅς κε θεοῖς ἐπιπείθηται, μάλα τ᾽ ἔκλυον αὐτοῦ” “whoever obeys the Gods, to him they are ready to listen （ἔκλυον is aoristic).” Il. i. 218.
• “Ὅταν τις ὥσπερ οὗτος ἰσχύσῃ, ἡ πρώτη πρόφασις ἅπαντα ἀνεχαίτισε καὶ διέλυσεν” DEM. ii. 9.
• “Ὁπότε προσβλέψειέ τινας τῶν ἐν ταῖς τάξεσι, εἶπεν ἂν, ὦ ἄνδρες, κ.τ.λ., ι.ε. ηε υσεδ το σαψ, ετξ.” XEN. Cyr. vii. 1, 10.
• “Οὔτ᾽ ἄλλοτε πώποτε πρὸς χάριν εἱλόμην λέγειν, ὅ τι ἂν μὴ καὶ συνοίσειν πεπεισμένος ὦ,” “I have never on other occasions preferred to say anything to please which I have not been convinced would also be for your advantage.” DEM. iv. 51. (Here εἱλόμην has a sense approaching that of the gnomic aorist, and is followed by a subjunctive. See 156.)

Homeric examples of relatives with κέ or ἄν and the subjunctive in general conditions are here included with the others, because this construction is fixed in the Homeric usage. In the greater number of general relative conditions which have the subjunctive, however, Homer uses the relative without κέ or ἄν, as he prefers the simple εἰ in the corresponding conditional sentences (468). See examples in 538.