Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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[*] 2444. (I) πρίν takes the subjunctive with ἄν to denote a future action anticipated by the subject of the leading verb. The principal clause is negative, and contains any verb referring to the future except the simple optative.

““οὐ πρότερον κακῶν παύσονται αἱ πόλεις πρὶν ἂν ἐν αὐταῖς οἱ φιλόσοφοι ἄρξωσιν” States will not cease from evil until philosophers become rulers in them” P. R. 487e, μὴ ἀπέλθητε πρὶν ἂν ἀκούσητε do not go away until you hear (shall have heard) X. A. 5.7.12, οὐ χρή μ᾽ ἐνθένδε ἀπελθεῖν πρὶν ἂν δῶ δίκην I must not depart hence until I have suffered punishment 5. 7. 5, ““μηδένα φίλον ποιοῦ πρὶν ἂν ἐξετάσῃς πῶς κέχρηται τοῖς πρότερον φίλοις” make no one your friend until you have inquired how he has treated his former friends” I. 1.24, μή ποτ᾽ ἐπαινήσῃς πρὶν ἂν εἰδῇς ἄνδρα σαφηνέως never praise a man until you have come to know him well Theognis 963. Observe that the last two examples contain a general truth.

a. The aorist subjunctive is usual (the tense of negation, 2439, and of action prior to that of the principal clause); much less common is the present subjunctive (usually of contemporaneous, overlapping action) as X. C. 2.2.8 (2446).

b. Homer does not use κέ or ἄν in this construction since πρίν is here adverbial and its clause is simply coördinated. But Hom. has πρίν γ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἄν. The subjunctive without ἄν occurs occasionally as an archaism in Hdt. and the dramatic poets. In Attic prose especially in Thuc. (e.g. 6. 10, 29, 38); but ἄν is often inserted by editors.

c. The leading verb is rarely the optative with ἄν (as a form of future expression): οὐκ ἂν ἀπέλθοιμι πρὶν παντάπα_σιν ἡ ἀγορὰ_ λυθῇ (cp. b) I will not go away until the market is entirely over X. O. 12.1.