["Was left free"] meaning was loosed.
[Josephus] says [this] about Samuel the prophet.[1]
But a)nei=to [in another sense] means he/she/it was dedicated.
"Since Narses, the general of Italy, combined sense with great deeds in all things, and his strength joined with prudence, and he dedicated himself altogether to what was better, in such a way that he did not divert from order, and straightway he passed through the stream with the current."[2]