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629. The infinitive sometimes follows πρίν after negative sentences where we might have the optative, which for some reason was not common after πρίν. E.g. Οὐκ ἂν μεθεῖτο πρὶν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν κλύειν, he would not give it up until he should hear (before hearing) what he desired. SOPH. Tr. 197. (We might have πρὶν κλύοι: cf. SOPH. Tr. 2, οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν, πρὶν ἂν θάνῃ τις, where πρὶν θάνοι might have been used.) So AESCH. Supp. 772. Οὐδ᾽ ἂν διαβουλεύσασθαι ἔτι ἔφη, πρὶν τρὶς ἐννέα ἡμέρας μεῖναι, until he should wait, etc. THUC. vii. 50. Ἱκέτευον μηδαμῶς ἀποτρέπεσθαι, πρὶν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν χώραν, until they should invade the country. XEN. Hell. vi. 5, 23. Οὔτε αὐτός ποτε πρὶν ἱδρῶσαι δεῖπνον ᾑρεῖτο. Id. Cyr. viii. 1, Id. Cyr. 38. (Here πρὶν ἱδρώσειε in the generic sense would be the natural expression; but it is doubtful whether this construction was ever used with πρίν. For Id. An. iv. 5, Id. An. 30, see 646.)

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