# prius igitur quam



## Xiahou

Hi,

   Et ille defungi proelio festinat. *Prius igitur quam *alter-nec procul aberat-consequi posset, et alterum Curiatium conficit. 

   What does the bold part mean? Especially for the word "quam" here?

   Could someone elaborate on this a little bit? Thanks in advance.


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## Scholiast

Greetings again!

This is from Livy's account of the legendary (rather than historical) battle between the forces of the Roman king Tullius Hostilius and the Curiatii of Alba Longa (1.24ff.). Not one of most elegant passages of Livy's prose, especially because of the confusion over _alter...alterum_, which here are not referring to persons on the same side.

The Horatii were triplet brothers who vowed to take on the Curiatii as champions, to spare the rest of the army. There's a famous painting (in the Louvre, I think) by Jacques David of the Horatii swearing to fight to the death.

Grammatically, _prius_ is a comparative ('Sooner'/earlier') which requires 'than...' (which is the function of _quam_): so 'He too hastened to death in battle. Sooner then *than* the other ([i.e. his brother] even though he was not far away) could follow him up, he slew one of the [two] Curiatii'.

Σ


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## Xiahou

Scholiast said:


> Greetings again!
> 
> This is from Livy's account of the legendary (rather than historical) battle between the forces of the Roman king Tullius Hostilius and the Curiatii of Alba Longa (1.24ff.). Not one of most elegant passages of Livy's prose, especially because of the confusion over _alter...alterum_, which here are not referring to persons on the same side.
> 
> The Horatii were triplet brothers who vowed to take on the Curiatii as champions, to spare the rest of the army. There's a famous painting (in the Louvre, I think) by Jacques David of the Horatii swearing to fight to the death.
> 
> Grammatically, _prius_ is a comparative ('Sooner'/earlier') which requires 'than...' (which is the function of _quam_): so 'He too hastened to death in battle. Sooner then *than* the other ([i.e. his brother] even though he was not far away) could follow him up, he slew one of the [two] Curiatii'.
> 
> Σ


 
I see it now. Thank you very much for the explanation as well as the background information. I originally thought "prius" was an adverb here meaning "previously"...


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## Scholiast

Greetings once more

I ought perhaps to have added:

_priusquam_ is a conjunction, but by a rhetorical figure known as _tmesis_ ('cutting') can be split between the co-ordinated clauses. This sentence is an excellent example.

I hope that makes sense and is helpful.

Σ


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## Xiahou

Scholiast said:


> Greetings once more
> 
> I ought perhaps to have added:
> 
> _priusquam_ is a conjunction, but by a rhetorical figure known as _tmesis_ ('cutting') can be split between the co-ordinated clauses. This sentence is an excellent example.
> 
> I hope that makes sense and is helpful.
> 
> Σ



Thanks for introducing this rhetorical device. Acutally I've never thought that "priusquam" could be used in such a manner.


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## Scholiast

Greetings again, Yahou and everyone else

_ante-quam_ can also be used in the same way, though it is rarer, probably because on its own _prius_ is more obviously in its own right a comparative adverb, declined in regular fashion from the comparative adjective _prior_.

Σ


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