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For it is, as the Delphians assume, - and on this occasion Nicander, the priest, spoke for them and said, the figure and form of the consultation of the god, and it holds the first place in every question of those who consult the oracle and inquire if they shall be victorious, if they shall marry, if it is to their advantage to sail the sea, if to take to farming, if to go abroad. Cf. the long list of questions thus introduced in Hunt and Edgar, Select Papyri (in the L.C.L.), i. pp. 436-438 (nos. 193-195). But the god in his wisdom bade a long farewell to the logicians who think that nothing real comes out of the particle if combined with what the consultant thinks proper to undertake, for the god conceives of all the inquiries subjoined to this as real things and welcomes them as such. And since to inquire from him as from a prophet is our individual prerogative, but to pray to him as to a god is common to all, they think that the particle contains an optative force no less than an interrogative. If only I could, is the regular expression of a wish, and ArchilochusBergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 402, Archilochus, no. 71; or Edmonds, Elegy and Iambus (L.C.L.), ii. p. 134. says, If to me it might be granted Neobulê’s hand to touch. And in using if only they assert that the second word is added unnecessarily, like Sophron’sKaibel, Comic. Graec. Frag. p. 160, Sophron, no. 36. surely: Surely in want of children as well. This is found also in Homer Il. xvii. 29. Since I surely shall break your might but, as they assert, the optative force is adequately indicated by the if.
