[*] 502. The Gerund expresses an action of the verb in the form of a verbal noun. As a noun the gerund is itself governed by other words; as a verb it may take an object in the proper case:—
- “ars bene disserendī et vēra ac falsa dīiūdicandī ” (De Or. 2.157) , the art of discoursing well, and distinguishing the true and the false.
[*] Note.--The Nominative of the gerund is supplied by the Infinitive. Thus in the example above, the verbal nouns discoursing and distinguishing, if used in the nominative, would be expressed by the infinitives disserere and dīiūdicāre.
The Gerund is the neuter of the gerundive used impersonally, but retaining the verbal idea sufficiently to govern an object. It may therefore be regarded as a noun (cf. mātūrātō opus est , § 497. a) with a verbal force (cf. istanc tāctiō , p. 240, footnote).