Historical tenses

Primary and Secondary Tenses.—There are two classes of tenses in the indicative: (1) Primary (or Principal) tenses, the present and perfect expressing present time, the future and future perfect expressing future time; (2) Secondary (or Historical) tenses, the imperfect, pluperfect, and aorist expressing past time. The secondary tenses have an augment (428) prefixed.

Historical Present.—In lively or dramatic narration the present may be used to represent a past action as going on at the moment of speaking or writing. This use does not occur in Homer.

ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς φεύγει ἐς Κέρκῡραν . . . διακομίζεται ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον Themistocles fled (flees) to Corcyra . . . was (is) transported to the mainland T. 1.136.

a. The historical present may represent either the descriptive imperfect or the narrative aorist.

b. The historical present may be coördinated with past tenses, which may precede or follow it: ἅμα δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ πόλει προσέκειτο καὶ αἱρεῖ at daybreak he assaulted the town and took it T. 7.29, οὕτω δὴ ἀπογράφονται πάντες ἀνέλαβόν τε τὰ ὅπλα accordingly they all enrolled themselves and took the arms X. C. 2.1.19.

c. The historical present is less frequent in subordinate clauses (T. 2.91. 3).