William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb

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[*] 634. （Prose.) In Attic prose and in Herodotus, πρίν, until, referring to a definite past action, regularly takes the indicative after negative sentences or those implying a negative, very rarely after affirmative sentences. E.g. Οὔτι κω συμβολὴν ἐποιέετο πρίν γε δὴ αὐτοῦ πρυτανηίη ἐγένετο, “he did not yet make an attack until his own day of command came.” HDT. vi. 110.So vi. 79, HDT. vii. 239, HDT. ix. 22; all with πρίν γε δή. Τούτου τοῦ ἔπεος λόγον οὐδένα ἐποιεῦντο πρὶν δὴ ἐπετελέσθη. Id. i. 13.For πρὶν ἤ in Herodotus see 651; and for πρότερον ἤ in Herodotus and Thucydides, see 653.

Οὐ πρότερον ἐπαύσαντο ἐν ὀργῇ ἔχοντες αὐτὸν, πρὶν ἐζημίωσαν χρήμασιν, “they did not cease to regard him with wrath until they fined him.” THUC. ii. 65. Οὐδ᾽ ἠξίωσαν νεώτερόν τι ποιεῖν ἐς αὐτὸν, πρίν γε δὴ αὐτοῖς ἀνὴρ Ἀργίλιος μηνυτὴς γίγνεται, i.e. until he becomes, etc. Id. i. 132. Οὔτε τότε ἰέναι ἤθελε, πρὶν ἡ γυνὴ αὐτὸν ἔπεισε. XEN. An. i. 2, 26. Οὐ πρότερον ἠθέλησεν ἀπελθεῖν, πρὶν αὐτὸν ἐξήλασαν βίᾳ. LYS. iii. 7. Μεσσηνίους πολιορκοῦντες οὐ πρότερον ἐπαύσαντο, πρὶν ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῆς χώρας. ISOC. xii. 91. (Isocrates has the formula οὐ πρότερον ἐπαύσαντο πρίν with the indicative nine times.) Οὐκ ἦν ἐν Θήβαις ἀσφαλὲς, πρὶν τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἀπέδωκε καὶ τοὺς Φωκέας ἀνεῖλεν. DEM. viii. 65. “Πάλιν τοῦτο τέμνων οὐκ ἐπανῆκε, πρὶν ἐφευρὼν σκαιόν τιν᾽ ἔρωτα ἐλοιδόρησε μάλ᾽ ἐν δίκῃ.” PLAT. Phaedr. 266A. (This is the only case in Plato; but he has three indicatives in unfulfilled conditions. See 637.)