24 
THE SUBJECTIVE INFINITIVE. 
Solil. 65.10 and in Mlf. Horn. I. 448* 3 . In the remaining examples the inflected 
infinitive is in close proximity to anhagian. 
To sum up the matter: verbs and verbal phrases that govern a dative (or 
occasionally a genitive) normally have the inflected infinitive as subject, es¬ 
pecially if the infinitive is near its principal verb. But occasionally even with 
these verbs we have an uninflected infinitive as subject, the lack of inflection 
being due partly to remoteness of the infinitive from the finite verb, whether 
the infinitive occurs singly or in a series; partly to the appearance of the accu¬ 
sative with an infinitive in the Latin original; and partly to the analogical 
influence of the verbs that naturally take an uninflected infinitive as subject. 
Other verbs than these habitually take the uninflected infinitive as subject; 
but here, too, the analogical influence is at times strongly at work, beon, for 
instance, having as subject the inflected infinitive out of analogy to beon plus a 
dative-governing adjective. Still other disturbing factors are diversity of 
meaning in the principal verb, as in fremman, gebyrian, geweorSan, geSyncan; 
and double regimen of the principal verb, as in aliefan, fremman , and lystan. 
With the passive verbs the differentiation between the tw r o infinitives seems 
to rest upon the same principle as with the active verbs. As before, the inflected 
infinitive occurs dominantly with the datival verbs: aliefan , and Sencan or 
Syncan plus an adjective or adverb. In the few instances in which the unin¬ 
flected infinitive occurs as subject of these verbs, the infinitive is appreciably 
removed from the principal verb. When the inflected infinitive is used, in 
nearly all cases the infinitive is in close proximity to, usually in juxtaposition 
with, the chief verb, the exceptions to the last statement, with aliefan, being 
Bl. Horn. 137.15 and Mat. 12.12, 19.3, in which several words intervene be¬ 
tween infinitive and verb; and Wulf. 227.12 b , 13, and 285.13, in which we 
have the second and third infinitives of a series inflected as well as the first. 
The passive verb seems, therefore, to project its influence, in the case of aliefan, 
somewhat further than does the active. 
The inflected infinitive after Icefan {Boeth. 42.9) may be final rather than 
subjective; in either case the inflection is doubtless due to the presence of a 
gerund in the Latin original. 
That in Late West-Saxon the inflected infinitive is found with forgiefan 
{&lf. L. S. XXIX. 134 a> b ) and ( ge)sellan {Mat. 13.11) is not surprising. 
That both infinitives are found as subject with bebeodan may be due to the 
double regimen of this verb, which governs a dative of the person and an accusa¬ 
tive of the thing, and, as we shall see in the next chapter, has as object each 
infinitive. But each of these inflected infinitives may be considered final; and 
one {Bede 206.16) was doubtless suggested by the gerundive of the Latin 
original. 
This theory that the inflected infinitive as subject in Anglo-Saxon is 
largely due to attraction, seems to me supported, if not confirmed, by what 
happened to the infinitive in New Testament Greek. In his Syntax of the 
Moods and Tenses in New Testament Greek, Professor E. D. Burton devotes 
§§ 404-405 to “The Infinitive with rov as Subject or Object.” Here we 
read: “The Infinitive with rov is used even as the subject of a finite 
verb or as the object of transitive verbs which regularly take a direct 
