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[*] 749. When a noun and a verb (especially ἐστί) form an expression which is equivalent to any of the verbs above mentioned (747), they may take the infinitive. Some other expressions with a similar force may have the infinitive. E.g. Ἀνάγκη ἐστὶ πάντας ἀπελθεῖν. Κίνδυνος ἦν αὐτῷ παθεῖν τι. Ὄκνος ἐστί μοι τοῦτο ποιῆσαι. Φόβος ἐστὶν αὐτῷ ἐλθεῖν. Οὐ μάντις εἰμὶ τἀφανῆ γνῶναι, I am not enough of a prophet to decide, etc. EUR. Hipp. 346. (Here ability is implied in μάντις εἰμί.) Ἅμαξα ἐν αὐταῖς ἦν, κώλυμα οὖσα (τὰς πύλας） προσθεῖναι, a wagon, which prevented them from shutting the gates. THUC. iv. 67.So ἐπεγένετο δὲ ἄλλοις τε ἄλλοθι κωλύματα μὴ αὐξηθῆναι, “obstacles to their increase.” Id. i. 16. (See 815, Id. 1.) Τοῖς στρατιώταις ὁρμὴ ἐνέπεσε ἐκτειχίσαι τὸ χωρίον. Id. iv. 4. Τὸ ἀσφαλὲς καὶ μενειν καὶ ἀπελθεῖν αἱ νῆες παρέξουσιν, “safety both to remain and to depart.” Id. vi. 18. Ἔχοντα τιθασεύεσθαι φύσιν, capable by nature of being tamed (=πεφυκότα τιθασεύεσθαι). PLAT. Polit. 264A. Τίς μηχανὴ μὴ οὐχὶ πάντα καταναλωθῆναι εἰς τὸ τεθνάναι; i.e. how can it be effected that all things shall not be destroyed in death? Plat. Phaed. 72D. (See 815, 2) Δέδοικα μὴ πολλὰ καὶ χαλεπὰ εἰς ἀνάγκην ἔλθωμεν ποιεῖν, “lest we may come to the necessity of doing.” DEM. i. 15. Ὥρα ἀπιέναι, it is time to go away (like χρὴ ἀπιέναι, we must go away). PLAT. Ap. 42A. Ἐλπίδας ἔχει τοῦτο ποιῆσαι (=ἐλπίζει τοῦτο ποιῆσαι), he hopes to do this. But ἐλπὶς τοῦ ἑλεῖν, THUC. ii. 56(798). Οἱ δὲ ζῶντες αἴτιοι θανεῖν, “and the living are those who caused them to die.” SOPH. Ant. 1173.We might also have αἴτιοι τοῦ τούτους θανεῖν or αἴτιοι τὸ τούτους θανεῖν. (See 101.) So in phrases like πολλοῦ (or μικροῦ) δέω ποιεῖν τι, I want much (or little) of doing anything; παρὰ μικρὸν ἦλθον ποιεῖν τι, they came within a little of doing anything; where the idea of ability, inability, or sufficiency appears: so in THUC. vii. 70, βραχὺ γὰρ ἀπέλιπον διακόσιαι γενέσθαι. So ἐμποδὼν τούτῳ ἐστὶν ἐλθεῖν (=κωλύει τοῦτον ἐλθεῖν), it prevents him from going; where τοῦ ἐλθεῖν may be used (807). The infinitive depending on a noun is generally an adnominal genitive with the article τοῦ. See the examples above, and 798.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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