gerō

1. Ferre means, like φέρειν, to carry any thing portable from one place to another; portare and bajulare, like βαστάζειν, to carry a load; portare (from πορίζειν), for one’s self, or for others; bajulare, as a porter. In Cæs. B. G. i. 16. Ædui frumentum . . . . conferri, comportari, adesse dicere; conferre refers to the delivery and the contribution from several subjects to the authorities of the place; comportare, the delivery of these contributions by the authorities of the place to Cæsar. 2. Ferre, portare, and bajulare, express only an exterior relation, that of the carrier to his load, whereas gerere (ἀγείρειν) gestare, like φόρειν, an interior relation, that of the possessor to his property. As, then, bellum ferre means only either inferre bellum or tolerare, so bellum gerere has a synonymous meaning with habere, and is applicable only to the whole people, or to their sovereign, who resolved upon the war, and is in a state of war; but not to the army fighting, nor to the commander who is commissioned to conduct the war. Bellum geret populus Romanus, administrat consul, capessit miles. (i. 150.)

1. Agere (ἄγειν) has an effect that exists in time only, like to do; facere, an effect that exists in space also, as to make. The acta are past as soon as the agens ceases, and remain invisible in the memory; the facta cannot properly be said to exist till the faciens ceases. Quintil. ii. 18. The agens is supposed to be in a state of activity of some kind; the faciens in a state of productive activity. 2. Agere means ‘to do’ something for one’s own interest; gerere (ἀγείρειν), for the interest of another, to execute a commission. Cic. Verr. i. 38. Quæ etiamsi voluntate Dolabellæ fiebant, per istum tamen omnia gerebantur. 3. Opus is the result of facere, as the work, ἔργον; factum is the result of agere, as the transaction; res gestæ are deeds [e.g. in war], πράξεις; acta are only political enactments. Cic. Att. xiv. 17. Multa de facto ac de re gesta; the former by the exertions of Amatius, the latter by his own wise and spirited animadversions through Dolabella. 4. Age, agedum, is an earnest exhortation, as ‘On, on!’ I nunc is an ironical exhortation, as ‘Go to!’ 5. Agere means to be active, and in the midst of business; degere, to live somewhere in a state of rest, in voluntary or involuntary inactivity. Tac. Ann. xv. 74. Deum honor principi non ante habetur, quam agere inter homines desierit, compared with iv. 54. Certus procul urbe degere. (v. 327.)