THE MODAL INFINITIVE. 
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under the absolute infinitive. I have put these examples here, despite their 
doubtfulness, primarily to show how the predicative infinitive of necessity 
passes over to the absolute infinitive. With the examples of to metanne above 
given, compare those that I have given under the Infinitive of Necessity with 
beon, Chapter VII. Perhaps Met. 21.42 (bonne wile he secgan bset bsere 
sunnan sie beorhtnes biostro beorna gehwylcum to metanne wib bset micle leoht 
godes selmihtiges) belongs under the absolute use rather than under necessity. 
Possibly we have the absolute use of the infinitive in the Metres of Boethius 
6.7: forbsem hiora birhtu ne bib auht to gesettanne wib bsere sunnan leoht; if 
not, we have an infinitive of necessity on the road to becoming an absolute 
infinitive. 
In the following, the infinitive, though predicative and therefore given in 
Chapter VII, reminds one of our modern idiom, 1 so to speak:* Bede 88.23: bses 
be swa to cwe&enne sy = 62.1: ut ita dixerim. 
We have an infinitive loosely connected with the rest of the sentence in 
the following from the Lceceboc: 1.26 a * b : Lsecedomas gif men yrne blod of nebbe; 
eft blodsetena, ge on to bindanne ge on eare, to donne ge horse ge menn; 57.3: 
Wib wlsettan j to hcetanne magan. But the idea of purpose is evident, and I 
put these examples in the present chapter only because of the looseness of the 
connection with the rest of the sentence, or, better, because of the elliptical 
nature of the sentence. To the same purport is the following from Dr. Shearin, 1 
l. c ., p. 23: “ The following infinitives are used absolutely, yet implying a pur¬ 
pose relation to a main verb to be supplied, whose grammatical subject will be 
logically the subject of the phrase; e. g., Lch. ii, 188.19: To rymanne 1 bone 
cealdan magan . . . (sc. 1 genim ; ); id. 304.9: gealdor on to singanne.” 
E. THE CONDITIONAL INFINITIVE. 
In the Martyrology 54.11 (Des biscop is swibe mihtig on frecnum wisum 
gescyldnesse to biddanne), Dr. Herzfeld, the editor, translates the infinitive as 
if it were used to denote a condition: “ This bishop is very powerful, if asked 
for protection in dangerous condition.” To me, however, the infinitive seems 
to specify the respect wherein the bishop was powerful, viz., ‘ in praying for 
protection/ and to belong in Chapter XL 
F. THE MODAL INFINITIVE. 
As stated in Chapter V, some consider that the infinitive in the com . . . 
fleogan construction denotes manner. But I have there tried to show why it 
seems better to me to consider that the infinitive is predicative in use rather 
than modal. 
Possible, but not probable, examples of the inflected infinitive used to 
denote manner are found in the Prose Psalms, 34.13 (quoted under gebiegan) 
and Boeth. 138.2 (quoted under Sreatian) in the section on the consecutive use 
of the infinitive. See gemedemian in the same section. 
In Orosius 188.10, 11 (sum his folc sende gind bset lond to bcernanne j to 
hangenne = 189.7: vastatione circumjacentium locorum Flaminium in bellum 
1 To rymanne should read to wyrmanne: see Cockayne, l. c., II, 188.22; and Lace. 57.9. In the former of 
these two passages, the infinitive is probably absolute; but, in the latter, the infinitive seems to me to modify 
the noun, gealdor. See Lace. 93.22. 
