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[31] The optative εἴποι is changed in the corresponding line (infra 43) to the subjunctive. The shade of difference may be thus explained. In the present passage there is an uncertainty not only whether such tidings have reached the man who has summoned the assembly, but also whether he would communicate them.

Where Telemachus quotes the words again, he implies that he should make such a communication, if he was in possession of the tidings; and this distinct intention on his part is marked by the change of mood.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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