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Indicative in main clause without ἄν: neutral modality
studieniveau:
1
ἀλλ' ἔσθ' ὁ θάνατος λοῖσθος ἰατρὸς νόσων
‘Death is the ultimate physician for diseases.’ ( #)
The indicative without ἄν signals a finding, i.e. that the speaker represents the action as real or generally valid. Whether or not the event actually took place is of no importance.
Syntactic usage
In a main clause (or apodosis) accompanied by a conditional clause (or protasis) the force of the indicative is neutral: it does not explicitly state that the state of affairs actually takes place.
Example Sentences:
εἰ θεοί τι δρῶσιν αἰσχρόν, οὐκ εἰσὶν θεοί
If the gods do something disgraceful, they are not gods. [provisional translation] ֍