10 
THE SUBJECTIVE INFINITIVE. 
ful seems to me the infinitive in the clause introduced by a relative pronoun 
(8cet or 3e), as in Wcerf. 303.1 (eac obre wisan hi rehton to ecan baes wundres 
be baere ylcan byrgene, baet us is nu lang to asecganne = 365 B 1 : miraculi, quae 
nunc narrare longum aestimo) and in Solil. 39.9 (for baes Singes lufum be be 
rihtre ys to lufianne Sonne Saet = 0). Less doubtful, too, seems to me the infini¬ 
tive in clauses in which the demonstrative pronoun, dcet or &is, comes, not at 
the beginning, but at the middle, of its clause, as in Oros. 74.7 (Swa ungeliefedlic 
is aenigum menn Saet to gesecgenne, hu etc. = 75.8: utrumque pene incredibile 
apud mortales erat). The different interpretation of the infinitive occurring in 
the several pronominal clauses above described accounts for many of the diver¬ 
gences in my statistics of the inflected infinitive as subject from those of Drs. 
Wiilfing, Farrar, K. Kohler, and Riggert: with me the two former consider the 
infinitive in such pronominal clauses sometimes subjective and sometimes ad¬ 
verbial; while the two latter apparently consider it adverbial only. Besides 
this, however, Dr. Riggert puts under the adverbial use (with adjectives) the 
infinitive in sentences like the following, in which the infinitive seems to me 
clearly subjective: Ps. 83.10: Betere is micle to gebidanne anne daeg mid be 
bonne obera on beodstefnum busend msela = quia melior est dies una in atriis 
tuis super millia; Gu. 1039: nis me earfe&e to ge&olianne beodnes willan; Beow. 
2445: Swa bid geomorlic gomelum ceorle to gebidanne; Ps. 117.8 a> b : God is on 
dryhten georne to Senceanne, bonne on mannan wese mod to treowianne = bonum 
est confidere in Domino quam confidere in homine; Ps. 117.9 a> b : God ys on 
dryhten georne to hyhtanne, bonne on ealdormen ahwaer to treowianne = bonum 
est sperare in Domino quam sperare in principibus; Rid. 40.22: Long is to sec - 
ganne hu etc.; Chr. 597: geceosan mot . . . swa lif swa deab, swa him leofre 
bi& to gefremmanne; El. 607: De synt tu gearu, swa lif swa deab, swa be leofre 
biS to geceosanne. Indeed, Dr. Riggert 1 finds only three examples of the in¬ 
flected infinitive as the subject of an active verb in all Anglo-Saxon poetry; 
one of these is Beow. 2093 (To lang ys to reccenne, hu etc.), which does not differ 
essentially from Rid. 40.22 quoted above, though in the latter, we are told, the 
infinitive modifies the adjective. 
Typical examples are: — 
abreotan, weary: 
Oros. 42.13: Eac me sceal aSreotan . . . ymb ealra Troiana gewin to asec - 
genne = 43.12: Tcedet etiam . . . referre certamina. 
behofian, behoove: 
Solil. 27.12: iElces licuman aeagan behofacf breora binga on hym silfum to 
habbcene (sic!) = Ergo animae tribus quibusdam rebus opus est ut oculos habeat 
quibus jam bene uti possit, ut aspiciat, ut videat. 
beon, be, without an adjective: — 
Mat. 20.23: to sittanne on mine swibran healfe, obbe on wynstran, nys me 
inc to syllenne, ac bam be hyt fram minum Faeder gegearwod ys = sedere 
autem ad dexteram meam vel sinistram non est meum dare vobis, sed quibus 
paratum est a Patre meo. 
beon, be, in predicative combination with: — 
(1) Adjectives of Ease and Difficulty, etc.: 
earfob(e) [-feb(e)], difficult: 
1 L. c., p. 68. 
