Verbal infinitive › uncertain case
πρίν WITH THE INFINITIVE
πρίν takes the infinitive in Attic especially when the principal clause is affirmative. The infinitive must be used, even with negative clauses, when πρίν must mean only before (and not until).
a. The infinitive is obligatory in Attic when the action of the πρίν clause does not take place or is not to take place (cp. ὥστε μή with the infinitive).
b. The infinitive takes the accusative when its subject is different from that of the principal clause.
c. The usual tense is the aorist, the tense of negation (2439) and of the simple occurrence of the action. Less frequent is the present (chiefly in Xenophon), of action continuing, repeated, or attempted (before undertaking to, before proceeding to). The perfect, of action completed with permanent result, is rare.
οἱ καὶ πρὶν ἐμὲ εἰπεῖν ὁτιοῦν εἰδότες
who know even before I say anything at all 18.50, σύνιστε μὲν καὶ πρὶν ἐμὲ λέγειν
you know as well as I do even before I proceed to set forth in detail the matter of my speech 1.116, ἀπετράποντο ἐς τὴν πόλιν πρὶν ὑπερβαίνειν they turned back to the city before they attempted to scale the wall 3.24.
When the principal clause is affirmative, πρίν before regularly takes the infinitive.
ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον ἀναβαίνει Χειρίσοφος πρίν τινας αἰσθέσθαι τῶν πολεμίων
Chirisophus ascended the height before any of the enemy perceived him A. 4.1.7, πρὶν καταλῦσαι τὸ στράτευμα πρὸς ᾱ̓́ριστον βασιλεὺς ἐφάνη before the army halted for breakfast, the king appeared 1. 10. 19, πέμψᾱς, πρὶν ἐν Τεγέᾳ αὐτὸς εἶναι, πρὸς τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν ξένων, ἐκέλευε κτλ. lit. before he himself arrived at Tegea, sending to the commander of the mercenaries, he gave orders, etc. H. 5.4.37 (αὐτός, by attraction to the subject of πέμψᾱς).
When the main clause is negative, πρίν sometimes takes the infinitive in Attic, and generally means before, rarely until. When before and after are contrasted, until is out of place, and the πρίν clause often precedes.
a. In reference to present or past time: πρὶν ὡς ?̓́αφοβον ἐλθεῖν μίαν ἡμέρᾱν οὐκ ἐχήρευσεν
before she came to Aphobus she was not a widow a single day 30.33, πρὶν μὲν τοῦτο πρᾶξαι Λεωκράτην ἄδηλον ἦν ὁποῖοί τινες ἐτύγχανον, νῦν δέ κτλ. before Leocrates did this, it was uncertain what sort of men they were; but now, etc. Lyc. 135, πρὶν ἀνάγεσθαί με εἰς τὴν Αἶνον . . . οὐδεὶς ᾐτιᾱ́σατό με
before I proceeded to set sail for Aenus no one accused me 5.25.
b. In reference to action unfulfilled: οὓς (λόγους) εἴ τις ἐπέδειξεν αὐτοῖς πρὶν ἐμὲ διαλεχθῆναι περὶ αὐτῶν, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐκ ἂν . . . δυσκόλως πρὸς σὲ διετέθησαν
and if any one had shown these words to them before I discussed them, it is inevitable that they would have been discontented with you 12.250.
c. In reference to future time: οὐχ οἷόν τ᾽ ἐστὶν αἰσθέσθαι πρὶν κακῶς τινας παθεῖν ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν
it is not possible to perceive this before some suffer injury at their hands 20.14, καί μοι μὴ θορυβήσῃ μηδεὶς πρὶν ἀκοῦσαι
and let no one raise a disturbance before he hears 5.15 (cp. ὅπως μὴ θορυβήσει μηδεὶς πρὶν ἂν ἅπαντα εἴπω D. 13, 14).
N.—With verbs of fearing, the positive being the thing dreaded; as δέδοικα μὴ πρὶν πόνοις ὑπερβάλῃ με γῆρας πρὶν σᾱ̀ν χαρίεσσαν προσιδεῖν ὥρᾱν I fear lest old age overcome me with its troubles before I live to behold thy gracious beauty E. fr. 453.
d. Infinitive instead of the optative after a leading verb in a secondary tense: ῑ̔κέτευον μηδαμῶς ἀποτρέπεσθαι πρὶν ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων χώρᾱν
they entreated them by no means to turn aside until they should invade the territory of the Lacedaemonians H. 6.5.23 (here the optative might stand in indirect discourse to represent the subjunctive with ἄν), οὔτ᾽ αὐτός ποτε πρὶν ἱδρῶσαι δεῖπνον ᾑρεῖτο neither was he ever accustomed to take his supper until he got into a sweat by exercise C. 8.1.38 (for ἱδρώσειε, see 2451).
e. Infinitive after an optative with ἄν in a principal clause: εἴ τίς τινα μηχανὴν ἔχοι πρὸς τοῦτο . . ., οὐκ ἄν ποτε λέγων ἀπείποι τὸ τοιοῦτον πρὶν ἐπὶ τέλος ἐλθεῖν; if ever any lawgiver should have any plan for this, would he ever be weary of discussing such a scheme until he reached the end? L. 769e. Here the subjunctive with ἄν is permitted.
The lyric poets and Herodotus use πρίν with the infinitive as it is used in Attic prose and poetry. Homer has the infinitive after affirmative or negative clauses alike (before and until), and often where a finite verb would be used in Attic; as ναῖε δὲ Πήδαιον πρὶν ἐλθεῖν υἷας Ἀχαιῶν he dwelt in Pedaeon before the sons of the Achaeans came N 172, οὔ μ᾽ ἀποτρέψεις πρὶν χαλκῷ μαχέσασθαι ( = Attic ἂν μαχέσῃ) thou shalt not dissuade me until thou hast fought with the spear Υ 257; often in correspondence with the adverbial πρίν, as οὐδέ τις ἔτλη πρὶν πιέειν, πρὶν λεῖψαι nor durst any man (sooner) drink before he had offered a libation H 480.
ἢ πρίν than before, with a past tense suppressed after ἤ, occurs first in Xenophon (C. 5. 2. 36, 7. 5. 77).
πρότερον ἤ, πρόσθεν ἤ, πρὶν ἤ, πάρος
πρότερον ἤ sooner than, before is used especially in Herodotus and Thucydides. (a) With the indicative: οὐ πρότερον ἐνέδοσαν ἢ αὐτοὶ ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς . . . ἐσφάλησαν
they did not succumb before they were overthrown by themselves 2.65. (b) With the infinitive: τᾱ̀ς δ᾽ ἄλλᾱς πόλεις ἔφη ἀδικεῖν, αἳ ἐς Ἀθηναίους πρότερον ἢ ἀποστῆναι ἀνήλουν he said the other States were wrong, which, before they revolted, used to pay money into the treasury of the Athenians 8.45. (c) With the subjunctive (without ἄν) rarely ( 7.63). Chiefly in Hdt.
So πρόσθεν ἤ sooner than, before: ἀπεκρῑ́νατο . . . ὅτι πρόσθεν ἂν ἀποθάνοιεν ἢ τὰ ὅπλα παραδοίησαν he answered that they would die before (sooner than that) they would surrender their arms A. 2.1.10. ὕστερον ἤ later than takes, by analogy, the infinitive once in Thuc. (6. 4).
πάρος before in Homer takes the infinitive (Z 348).
In the index: Infinitive · Temporal clauses · Indicative mood · Subjunctive mood · Aorist tense · Perfect tense · Present tense