) king. 3. Whoever was chosen king made the blessed gods a thank-offering, which consisted of something out of his own possessions (227, a). 4. Gordius did not offer to the gods merely the yoke of his wagon, but the whole wagon. 5. A knot of rope was tied between the yoke and the pole. 6. People soon began to say, "If any one soever can untie that knot, he will become ruler of Asia." 7. If any other men tried to untie that rope, they failed. 8. Alexander, though (
tamen
), had scarcely arrived when he drew (out) his sword from the scabbard, and cut the knot. 9. If you will take-a-seat, I will tell you about the two mischievous monks, returning to the monastery. 10. Both were breathing with difficulty, and stopped to rest. 11. Having noticed a donkey near by, they untied it. 12. One led the long-eared dumb animal away, while the other tied himself in its own place. 13. The credulous (192) peasant believed everything which was told (54) him, even that the monk had formerly had the form of an ass.
LESSON LII.
THE CONDITIONAL MOOD.
241. That indication of the speaker's frame of mind which is given by the form of the verb is called the mood of the verb. All verbs given so far have been in the indicative mood, which represents an act or state as a reality or fact, or in the infinitive mood, which expresses the verbal idea in a general way, resembling that of a substantive. The conditional mood does not indicate whether or not the act or state mentioned is a fact, but merely expresses the speaker's idea of its likelihood or certainty, or is used in an assumption or conclusion dealing with suppositions, not with actual facts. The ending of the conditional mood is -us. The conjugation of vidi in the aoristic tense of the conditional mood is as follows:
mi vidus, I should see.
vi vidus, you would see.
li (ŝi, ĝi) vidus, he (she, it) would see.
ni vidus, we should see.
vi vidus, you would see.
ili vidus, they would see.
COMPOUND TENSES OF THE CONDITIONAL MOOD.
242. In addition to the aoristic tense, the conditional mood has three active and three passive compound tenses, formed by combining the participles with the aoristic tense of esti in the conditional mood. A synopsis of vidi in these compound tenses is as follows:
| Active Voice. | ||
| Present: | mi estus vidanta, | I should be seeing. |
| Past: | mi estus vidinta, | I should have seen. |
| Future: | mi estus vidonta, | I should be about to see. |
| Passive Voice. | ||
| Present: | mi estus vidata, | I should be seen. |
| Past: | mi estus vidita, | I should have been seen. |
| Future: | mi estus vidota, | I should be about to be seen. |