Accusative v. Dative

Hello:

Another spot I am having trouble is placing something in the accusative or dative case:
Unit 9, Part III, #7: Because of their wealth the rich are permitted to flee difficult tasks.

I wrote:
δια τον πλουτον εξεστι τους πλουσιους χαλεπα εργα πεθειν.

But the answer book placed “rich” in the dative:
δια τον πλουτον εξεστι τοις πλουσιοις χαλεπα εργα πεθειν.

I cannot figure out when to use accusative and when to use dative.

Lukas

With ἔξεστι, the person(s) permitted to do the action in the infinitive go into the dative.

And shouldn’t it be φυγεῖν (or φεύγειν if you haven’t had aorist yet).

Oops. I used the wrong verb.

Thank you for clarifying. I was not able to determine from the book that I needed to use date with εξεστι. I may have read the section wrong.

Lukas