A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

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200 INFINITIVE. [234.
of limitation, comes to be in sense the Subject or Object
of the
principal Clause, can be traced in sentences of various forms :
(1) With a personal Subject; e.g. in
II. 5- 75O Trjs eTTtreYpaTmu /aeyas ovpavbs Ov^vfjuros re
rjfjicv avcLKXlvai TTVKLVOV vetyos rjb' e-jnOelvai
the meaning ' to them is entrusted the opening and shutting of
the thick cloud of heaven/ is expressed by saying 'to them
heaven is entrusted for opening and shutting the cloud/ So
II. T. 107 aid TOI TO, KCIK' eort petrt fjiavTtvta-Oai.
4. 345 ^vOa tA' oTrraAe'a Kpe'a e'Sjueyai.
Meaning you love to prophesy tvils (to eat roast flesh, fyc.).
(2) The Impersonal form (apyaAeW ecm) only differs from the
other in the vagueness of the Subject, which makes it easier for
the Infinitive to become the Subject in sense, while it is still
grammatically a word limiting the vague unexpressed Subject.
The use of a Neuter Pronoun as Subject (e.g. TO ye
the thing is good, to listen] may be regarded as a link
between the personal and impersonal forms of expression
:
cp.
161 (note),
also 258.
(3) Similarly an Infinitive following the Object of a Verb may
become the logical Object ;
as
II. 4. 347 ?? juteVere Tpwas cr\tov eA0e/meF ; do ye wait for the
Trojans for their coming on ? i. e. for the coming on of the
Trojans.
14. 342 r/ Hp?7, jurjre Oe&v TO ye ei'8i0i //,?jre
nv &vbp&v ctyeo-0ai
do not fear any one of gods or of men for their being about to
see, i. e. that any one will see : cp. Od. 22. 39, 40.
A further development of this use leads, as we shall see, to the
'
Accusative with the Infinitive/
(4) Again, the Infinitive sometimes takes the place of a vague
unexpressed Object.
Thus ote ror/o-oi means knows (enough)
to
perceive: the full construction being such as we have in II. 2. 213
09 p eVea (j)p(rlv i](Tiv a/coo^a re TroAAa re fjbL . . ept^juez^at who
knew (had
a store of) words wherewith to wrangle. So too 8i6co^t
with an Infinitive is originally construed as Od. 8. 44 rw yap pa
0eo9 Trept bG)Kv CLOIOTJV T^pifftP
: II. II. 2O TOV Trore ot Kivvprjs Sw/ce
^tivrjiov tlvai ;
thence it comes to mean ' to give (such
a state of
things) that some event shall happen/ i. e. to grant the happening ;
as 86? rtVacrflai grant that I may punish. In such a passage as II.
3. 3^2 Tov ^^s aiTO(j)OL^Lvov bvvai KrA. we may take TOV with 5os
or as an Ace. with the Inf. bvvai.
A Neuter Pronoun, too, may serve as a vague Object, explained
by an Infinitive; e.g. II. 5. 6656 TO JJL^V
ov rts eTr
crar' . .
ttpv