Page:The New Latin Primer (Postgate).djvu/180

166 (sometimes an Abl.) of the Gerund is retained if the construction is made clearer thereby.

The Gerund, if in the Genitive itself, has, very rarely, its object in the Genitive. In Cic. Phil. V. 3, all the possible constructions are found: ăgĭtŭr vitrum M. Antōniō făcultās dētŭr caedis faciendae bŏnōrum, ăgrōrum sŭīs lătrōnĭbus condōnandi, pŏpŭlum Rōmanum servĭtūtĕ opprĭmendi, etc. the question is whether Marcus Antonius should be given the opportunity of making a massacre of the respectable classes, of presenting lands to his brigands, of crushing the Roman people into slavery, etc. The Gerund of Intransitive Verbs and the Gerundive of Transitive Verbs are used in the Nominative to express Obligation. In indirect construction the Nom. becomes Acc.

In old Latin the Gerund of Transitive Verbs is sometimes used with the Ace.: poenās in mortĕ tĭmendum est we must fear punishment in (after) death. This is not to be imitated. § 361. The Subject of the Action of the Gerund or Gerundive is sometimes put in the Abl with ăb instead of the Dat. If vōbīs had been used, it might also have meant the citizens must consult your interests.

§ 362. The Gerundive is often used as an attribute of what must be done or (in Negative and Quasi-Negative expressions) of what may be done.

§ 363. Only Transitive Verbs which take a Direct Acc.