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654. In other cases of πρότερον with the finite moods or the infinitive, there is no meaning of until, and merely connects two verbs as when it follows μᾶλλον. E.g. Ἐκέλευε τὸν ἄγγελον ἀπαγγέλλειν ὅτι πρότερον ἥξοι αὐτὸς βουλήσεται, he bade the messenger announce that he should come sooner than he wanted him (the direct form being ἥξω πρότερον βουλήσει). HDT. i. 127. Πολὺ πλεῖον πλῆθος περιεστήκει βουλομένων προσιέναι, καὶ πολὺ πρότερον οἱ φίλοι παρῆσαν, i.e. much sooner than his friends arrived. XEN. Cyr. vii. 5, 41. Πρότερον ἄν τίς μοι δοκεῖ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ εὑρεῖν δανειζόμενος λαβεῖν (i.e. πρότερον εὕροι ἂν λάβοι). Id. Mem. ii. 7, Id. Mem. 2: see i. 2, Id. Mem. 17.Πρότερον ἐπεθύμησαν τὸν τρόπον ἔγνωσαν.PLAT. Phaedr. 232E. Compare μᾶλλον ζῆν, XEN. Mem. iv. 4, 4.

So with πρόσθεν , which is not used like πρίν; as “πρόσθεν σὺ ἐφαίνου, τοῦτ᾽ ἐκηρύχθηSOPH. O.T. 736. See also XEN. An. ii. 1, 10 , ἀπεκρίνετο ὅτι πρόσθεν ἂν ἀποθάνοιεν τὰ ὅπλα παραδοίησαν, they answered, that they would die before they would give up their arms.

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