1. It is a principle in Greek, as in other languages, that a
certain relation must hold between the verbs of dependent
clauses and those of the independent clauses on which they are based.
2. In Latin the sequence is one of tenses, primary tenses depending
on primary tenses and secondary tenses on secondary tenses. But in
Greek the tenses of the dependent modes do not, in general, express
distinctions of time. G. M. T. 785, 20.
3. In Greek the subjunctive in dependent clauses is treated (usually)
as though it were a primary mode: the optative as though it were a
secondary mode. E. g.:
τοῦτο πράττει ἵνα καλῶς ἔχη
τοῦτο ἔπραττε ἵνα καλῶς ἔχοι
But in the Greek of the New Testament. (B. M. T. 174, 259, 344) and in
Latin (Hale and Buck's Latin Grammar, 459) there is not optative in use,
and the above distinction in modes no longer exits. Bt. 517, 2; Gl. 662;
Gn. 448, 1249, 1267; H.A. 876. The trend of sequence is from the primary
tenses of the indicative through subjunctive and optative in that order
to the past tenses of the indicative. See under VII.