Entrusting

An active verb followed by an accusative of the direct object (a thing) and an oblique case of a person, retains, when transferred to the passive, the accusative of the direct object, while the indirect object becomes the nominative subject of the passive. Cp. I have been willed a large estate.

a. With verbs signifying to enjoin, entrust: οἱ Βοιωτοὶ ταῦτα ἐπεσταλμένοι ἀνεχώρουν the Boeotians having received these instructions withdrew T. 5.37 (pass. of ἐπιστέλλειν ταῦτα τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς), ἄλλο τι μεῖζον ἐπιταχθήσεσθε you will have some greater command laid upon you 1. 140 (pass. of ἐπιτάττειν ἄλλο τι μεῖζον ῡ̔μῖν). Both accusatives are internal; and so, in οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐπιτετραμμένοι τὴν φυλακήν those of the Athenians who had been entrusted with the watch T. 1.126, φυλακήν is equivalent to an internal accusative. The nominative of the thing and the dative of the person sometimes occur (Ἴωνες, τοῖσι ἐπετέτραπτο ἡ φυλακή the Ionians to whom the guard had been entrusted Hdt. 7.10). The dative is common when an inf. is used with the pass. verb: ἐπετέτακτο τοῖς σκευοφόροις ἰέναι the baggage-carriers had been commanded to go X. C. 6.3.3.

b. With other verbs: ἀποτμηθέντες τᾱ̀ς κεφαλᾱ́ς having been decapitated (had their heads cut off) X. A. 2.6.1 (pass. of ἀποτέμνειν τᾱ̀ς κεφαλᾱ́ς τισι or τινων).

The infinitive of purpose is used in prose especially after verbs meaning to give, entrust, choose, appoint, take, receive. Verbs signifying to send, go, come usually take the future active participle (2065); but T. 6.50 has δέκα τῶν νεῶν προύπεμψαν ἐς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα πλεῦσαι they sent ahead ten ships to sail into the great harbour; and in poetry the infinitive often denotes purpose after these verbs, and after εἶναι in Homer (Λ 20) and Hdt. (5. 25).