[53] ἐεδνώσαιτο. See on Od. 1.277. Here the meaning probably is not ‘to dower’ his daughter, which is a modern usage, but ‘to accept gifts of wooing for his daughter.’ See note 5 in Butcher and Lang (Appendix), where the meaning is given ‘to make terms about the marriage;’ as in Il.13. 381“ὄφρα . . συνώμεθα . . ἀμφὶ γάμῳ”. So Cobet, Miscell. Crit. 244 ‘“paciscitur pater quibus donis sponsalibus acceptis daturus sit filiam.”’ The optat. “ἐεδνώσαιτο” follows here after a virtual present in the principal clause, because the clause bears a negative meaning, so that the occasion is necessarily imaginary. Monro, H. G. § 306.
