a question about PLA Sophist. 244a

[medea]

δῆλον γὰρ ὡς ὑμεῖς μὲν ταῦτα πάλαι γιγνώσκετε, ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸ τοῦ μὲν ᾠόμεθα, νῦν δ᾽ ἠπορήκαμεν.

Long time no see~~~

We can find the analyse here http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... 99.01.0171
but the fonction of the word "tou" here in this phrase is still obscure for me. Would u help me to work out～

[NateD26]

LSJ has τὸ πρὸ τοῦ (variant reading τούτου) from Thuc. 2.15 [3] which is literally translated as ere/before this,
and is also sometimes written as one word προτοῦ.
I guess this may be the earlier demonstrative force of the article, but I hope others would elaborate.

[modus.irrealis]

I guess this may be the earlier demonstrative force of the article, but I hope others would elaborate.

That's also Smyth's explanation as well in § 1117, and I think that pretty much sums it up.

[medea]

I guess this may be the earlier demonstrative force of the article

Thanks a lot. It's enough for me right now.

I hope I could go a little bit futher, being armed by historical linguistics after retirement