2089. An indeterminate subjunctive protasis is rarely thrown into the
past, the present and perfect becoming respectively imperfect and
pluperfect. In this case the form is the same as that of a protasis of
action non-occurrent (2091), and the conversion occurs only when it is
evident from the context that past action is supposed, which may or may
not have occurred: as,
#cūr igitur et Camillus dolēret, sī haec post trecentōs et quīnquāgintā
ferē annōs ēventūra putāret, et ego doleam, sī ad decem mīlia annōrum
gentem aliquam urbe nostrā potītūram putem?# _TD._ 1, 90, _why then
would Camillus have fretted, if he thought this would occur after a
lapse of some three hundred and fifty years, and why should I fret, if I
think that some nation may seize Rome some ten thousand years hence?_
#erat sōla illa nāvis cōnstrāta; quae sī in praedōnum pugnā versārētur,
urbis īnstar habēre inter illōs pīrāticōs myoparōnēs vidērētur#, _V._ 5,
89, _this was the only vessel with a deck; and supposing she figured in
the engagement with the corsairs, she would have loomed up like a town,
surrounded by those pirate cock-boats_. #Sardus habēbat ille Tigellius
hoc; Caesar sī peteret nōn quicquam prōficeret#, H. _S._ 1, 3, 4,
_Tigellius the Sardian had this way; supposing Caesar asked him, naught
had he availed_.