Of the word ΕΙ engraven over the gate of Apollo's temple at Delphi (5)

For the syllable EI (if) is, as the Delphians conceive

it, and as Nicander the priest (who was then present) also said, a conveyance and form of prayer to the God, and has the leading place in the questions of those who at every turn use it, asking if they shall overcome, if they shall marry, if it is convenient to go to sea, if to till the ground, if to travel. And the wise God, bidding adieu to the logicians, who think nothing at all can be made of this particle EI and any clause following it, understands and admits all interrogations annexed to it, as real things. Now, because it is proper for us to consult him as a prophet, and common to pray to him as a God, they suppose that this word has no less a precatory than an interrogatory power. For every one who prays or wishes says, εἰ γὰρ ὤφελον, O if I were, c. And Archilochus has also this expression:

If I might be so happy as to touch

My Neobule’s hand.

And they say that the second syllable in the word εἴθε is redundant like θήν in this of Sophron, Ἅμα τέκνων θὴν δευομένα, desiring also children; and in this of Homer, Ὡς θὴν καὶ σὸν ἐγὼ λύσω μένος, as I will also foil thy strength; but in the word EI there is sufficiently declared an optative power.