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[*] 641. Two cases of πρίν γ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἄν (used like πρίν) with the subjunctive occur in the Odyssey. The first is especially instructive, ii. 373: ἀλλ᾽ ὄμοσον μὴ μητρὶ φίλῃ τάδε μυθήσασθαι, πρίν γ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἂν ἑνδεκάτη τε δυωδεκάτη τε γένηται, ἢ αὐτὴν ποθέσαι καὶ ἀφορμηθέντος ἀκοῦσαι, but swear not to tell this to my mother until the eleventh or twelfth day shall come, or (until) she shall miss me and hear of my departure. Here πρίν first introduces ὅτ᾽ ἂν γένηται and then the two infinitives, having the same prepositional force with both. But in iv. 746, where the same scene is described, we have ἐμεῦ δ᾽ ἕλετο μέγαν ὅρκον, μὴ πρὶν σοὶ ἐρέειν πρὶν δωδεκάτην γε γενέσθαι ἢ σ᾽ αὐτὴν ποθέσαι καὶ ἀφορμηθέντος ἀκοῦσαι, the simpler and more common πρὶν γενέσθαι taking the place of the unwieldy πρίν γ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἂν γένηται. The other case is iv. 475: οὐ πρὶν μοῖρα φίλους ἰδέειν, πρίν γ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἂν Αἰγύπτοιο ὕδωρ ἔλθῃς.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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