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[*] 620. (Omission of ἄν.) Ἄν is sometimes omitted after ἕως and the other particles meaning until (including πρίν), when they take the subjunctive. This is most frequent in tragic poetry, but it occurs sometimes with ἐς ὅ or ἐς οὗ in Herodotus, and with μέχρι and μέχρι (or ἄχρι) οὗ in Herodotus and Thucydides. E.g. “Ἕως τὸ χαίρειν καὶ τὸ λυπεῖσθαι μάθῃς.” SOPH. Aj. 555. “Ἀρήγετ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἐγὼ μεληθῶ.” Ib. 1183. So O. C. 77, Tr. 148, Ph. 764. Ἐς οὗ ἀποθάνωσι ἤ σφι παρευρεθῇ τι ἄδικον, μέχρι τούτου. HDT. iii. 31. Μηδένα ἐκβῆναι μέχρι πλοῦς γένηται, that nobody should leave the ship before she sailed. THUC. i. 137. Αὐτοὺς ἐς φυλακὴν διεκόμισαν, μέχρι οὗ Ἀθήναζε πεμφθῶσιν. Id. iv. 46; see iv. 16 and 41, and iii. 28 (quoted in 619). See also μέχρι δὲ τοῦτο ἴδωμεν, HDT. iv. 119, and ἄχρι οὗ τελευτήσῃ, Id. i. 117. The only case in Homer of this omission of κέ or ἄν is the doubtful one, ἔχει κότον ὄφρα τελέσσῃ, Il. i. 82, where ὄφρα may perhaps be final. (See 468.) For πρίν without ἄν with the subjunctive, even in Attic prose, see 648.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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