Strange use of infinitive in Caesar's Gallic Wars

Latin Learning Latin
1

Just started reading Caesar’s Gallic Wars, I have come across a strange use of the infinitive of the verb ‘flagitare’:

Interim cotidie Caesar Haeduos frumentum, quod essent publice polliciti, > flagitare> .

The translation for this sentence on Perseus is:

Meanwhile, Caesar kept daily importuning the Aedui for the corn which they had promised in the name of their state

Why is ‘Flagitare’ in an infinitive instead of a past tense: i.e. flagitavit or flagitabat?

Also, seeing as ‘Haeduos’ is clearly accusative, in what form is ‘frumentum’? meaning “for the corn”. Is it also accusative? If so why? Does flagitare take a accustaive for both the thing being demanded and from whom it is being demanded? I have not seen a sentence before that has two nouns in accusative from that both act as an object of a single verb.

2

A&G §463. Infinitivum historicum pro indicativo imperfecto stat (nominativo casu est subjectum) // Historical infinitive stands for the imperfect indicative (subject in nominative).

A&G §396 (non minùs §391 et numera sequentia). Two accusatives with verbs. // Duo accusativa cum verbis.

3

A quick turn of Perseus turns up that Cicero thinks so too:

Operarum illa concursatio nocturna non a te ipso instituta me frumentum flagitabat?

–On his house 6.14

This construction is called double accusative. (Docere is an other verb that also uses this construction.)

The infinitive is historical infinitive: in theory, it makes it more exciting to read.