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[*] 628. An infinitive with πρίν sometimes depends on a negative clause, where a finite mood might be allowed, because the temporal relation is still so prominent as to determine the construction. This may happen when the clause with πρίν precedes, so that the dependence which until expresses is obscured by the position. E.g. Ὅπως μὴ πρότερον νὺξ ἔσται πρὶν πυθέσθαι ἅπαντας, i.e. lest night should come before they had heard them all. AND. i. 43. Πρὶν τὴν ναυμαχίαν νικῆσαι ἡμᾶς, γῆ οὐκ ἦν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ χωρίδιον μικρόν, before we gained the naval victory, he had only a little piece of land (the argument tries to prove that he died poor). LYS. xix. 28. Καί μοι μὴ θορυβήσῃ μηδεὶς πρὶν ἀκοῦσαι, and let no one interrupt me before he hears (where πρὶν ἂν ἀκούσῃ, until he hears, would suggest the wrong idea). DEM. v. 15. Πρὶν δὲ ταῦτα πρᾶξαι, μὴ σκοπεῖτε τίς εἰπὼν τὰ βέλτιστα ἀπολέσθαι βουλήσεται (where the irony of the question would make until absurd). Id. iii. 12: so 13. Πρὶν μὲν γὰρ τοῦτο πρᾶξαι Λεωκράτην ἄδηλον ἦν ὁποῖοί τινες ὄντες ἐτύγχανον: νῦν δὲ πᾶσι φανερόν (where the temporal relation in πρὶν μέν and νῦν δέ is the only important one). LYCURG. 135. See also AESCH. Sept. 1048, Ag. 1067; SOPH. Aj. 1419; XEN. Cyr. iv. 3, 10.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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