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

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[*] 333. In Attic Greek the secondary tenses of the indicative are used in final clauses with ἵνα, sometimes with ὅπως or ὡς, to denote that the purpose is dependent upon some unaccomplished action or unfulfilled condition, and therefore is not or was not attained.

The tenses of the indicative differ here as in conditional sentences, the imperfect (the most frequent tense) referring to present time or to continued or repeated action in past time, the aorist and pluperfect to past time (410). Thus ἵνα τοῦτο ἔπραττεν means in order that he might be doing this (but he is not doing it), or that he might have been doing this (but he was not); ἵνα τοῦτο ἔπραξεν means that he might have done this (but he did not); ἵνα τοῦτο ἐπεπράχει means that he might have done this (but he has not). E.g. Οὐκ ἂν ἐσχόμην, ἵν᾽ ἦ τυφλός τε καὶ κλύων μηδέν, in that case I should not have forborne (to destroy my hearing), so that I might (now) be both blind and devoid of hearing (implying that really he is not so). SOPH. O.T. 1387. Φεῦ, φεῦ, τὸ μὴ τὰ πράγματ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ἔχειν φωνὴν, ἵν̓ ἦσαν μηδὲν οἱ δεινοὶ λόγοι, Alas! alas! that the facts have no voice for men, so that words of eloquence might be as nothing. EUR. Fr.(EUR. Hipp.) 442. Ἐβουλόμην μὲν ἕτερον ἂν τῶν ἠθάδων λέγειν τὰ βέλτισθ᾽, ἵν᾽ ἐκαθήμην ἥσυχος. AR. Eccl. 151. Ἐχρῆν εἰσκαλέσαντας μάρτυρας πολλοὺς παρασημήνασθαι κελεῦσαι τὰς διαθήκας, AR. Eccl. i ῞ν̓, εἴ τι ἐγίγνετο ἀμφισβητήσιμον, ἦν εἰς τὰ γράμματα ταῦτ̓ ἐπανελθεῖν. DEM. xxviii. 5. (This implies that they did not have the will thus sealed, so that it is not now possible to refer to it in case of dispute.) Ἐξῄτησεν ἄν με τὸν παῖδα, ἵν̓ εἰ μὴ παρεδίδουν μηδὲν δίκαιον λέγειν ἐδόκουν. DEM. xxix. 17. Ἐχρῆν αὐτοὺς τὴν προ- τέραν ζήτησιν ζητεῖν, ἵνα ἀπηλλάγμεθα τούτου τοῦ δημαγωγοῦ, they ought to have made the previous investigation, in order that we might have been already freed from this demagogue (but we have not been freed from him). DIN. i. 10. See LYS. i. 40 and 42; ISOC. ix. 5, ISOC. xviii. 51. Ἀλλὰ σὲ ἐχρῆν ἡμῖν συγχωρεῖν, ἵνα συνουσία ἐγίγνετο, but you ought to give way to us, that our conversation might not be interrupted (as it is). PLAT. Prot. 335 C.

“Τί δῆτ᾽ οὐκ ἔρριψ᾽ ἐμαυτὴν τῆσδ᾽ ἀπὸ πέτρας, ὅπως τῶν πάντων πόνων ἀπηλλάγην;” “why did I not throw myself from this rock, that I might have been freed from all my toils?” AESCH. Prom. 747 : so AESCH. Cho. 195.See SOPH. El. 1134. Οὐκοῦν ἐχρῆν σε Πηγάσου ξεῦξαι πτερὸν, ὅπως ἐφαίνου τοῖς θεοῖς τραγικώτερος; Pac. 135.

Τί μ᾽ οὐ λαβὼν ἔκτεινας εὐθὺς, ὡς ἔδειξα μήποτε ἐμαυτὸν ἀνθρώποισιν ἔνθεν ἦ γεγώς; that I might never have shown, as I have done. SOPH. O.T. 1391. “Εἰ γάρ μ᾽ ὑπὸ γῆν ἧκεν, ὡς μήτε θεὸς μήτε τις ἄλλος τοῖσδ᾽ ἐπεγήθει,” “would that he had sent me under the earth, so that neither any God nor any one else should be rejoicing at these things (as they are).” AESCH. Prom. 152. Ἔδει τὰ ἐνέχυρα τότε λαβεῖν, ὡς μηδ᾽ εἰ ἐβούλετο ἐδύνατο ἐξαπατᾶν. XEN. An. vii. 6, 23 (the only case in Xenophon).