(b.) Apodosis in the Perfect Indicative.
nōn potuit reperīre, sī ipsī sōlī quaerendās darēs, lepidiōrēs duās, Pl. MG. 803, if you assigned the search to Sol himself, he couldn’t have found two jollier girls. quō modo pultāre potuī sī nōn tangerem? Pl. Most. 462, how could I have knocked, if I hadn’t touched the door? licitumst, sī vellēs, Pl. Tri. 566, you might have been, if you’d wished. sī meum imperium exsequī voluissēs, interemptam oportuit, T. Hau. 634, if you had been willing to follow my commands, she should have been dispatched. cōnsul esse quī potuī, nisi eum vītae cursum tenuissem ā pueritiā? RP. 1, 10, how could I have been consul unless from boyhood I had taken that line in life? sī eum captīvitās in urbem pertrāxisset, Caesarem ipsum audīre potuit, Ta. D. 17, if captivity had carried him to the city, he could have heard Caesar himself. Antōnī gladiōs potuit contemnere, sī sīc omnia dīxisset, J. 10, 123, Antonius’ swords he might have scorned, if all things he had worded so. sī ūnum diem morātī essētis, moriendum omnibus fuit, L. 2, 38, 5, if you had staid one day, you must all have died.
[2104.] (2.) Other verbs also sometimes have a past indicative apodosis, usually an imperfect or pluperfect, to denote an action very near to actual performance, which is interrupted by the action of the protasis.
Naturally such a protasis generally contains an actual or a virtual negative; but positive protases are found here and there, chiefly in late writers.
(a.) Apodosis in the Perfect Indicative.
paene in foveam dēcidī, nī hīc adessēs, Pl. Per. 594, I had almost fallen into a snare, unless you were here. nec vēnī, nisi fāta locum sēdemque dedissent, V. 11, 112, nor had I come, unless the fates a place and seat had given. pōns sublicius iter paene hostibus dedit, nī ūnus vir fuisset Horātius Cocles, L. 2, 10, 2, the pile-bridge all but gave a path to the enemy, had it not been for one heroic soul, Horatius Cocles.
(b.) Apodosis in the Imperfect Indicative.
quīn lābēbar longius, nisi mē retinuissem, Leg. 1, 52, why, I was going to drift on still further, if I had not checked myself. sī per L. Metellum licitum esset, mātrēs illōrum veniēbant, V. 5, 129, if Metellus had not prevented, the mothers of those people were just coming; here the protasis may be held to contain a virtual negative; so in the last example on this page. castra excindere parābant, nī Mūciānus sextam legiōnem opposuisset, Ta. H. 3, 46, they were preparing to destroy the camp, had not Mucianus checked them with the sixth legion. sī dēstināta prōvēnissent, rēgnō imminēbat, Ta. H. 4, 18, had his schemes succeeded, he was close upon the throne.