§502. Gerund

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.

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).