Institutio Oratoria

In a satire again we read,

1. nostrum istud vivere triste aspxei,

Pers. i. 9. [*](I look at our dreary way of living.)

where the infinitive is used as a noun: for the poet by nostrum vivere means nostram vitam. We also at times use the verb for the participle, as in the phrase,

1. magnum dat ferre talentum,

Aen. v. 248. [*](He gives him a great talent-weight to carry.)

where ferre is used for ferendum, or the participle may be used for the verb, as in the phrase volo datum (I wish to give).

At times, again, there may be some doubt as to the precise error which a figure resembles. Take, for example, the phrase

1. virtus est vitium fugere,

Hor. Ep. I. i. 41. [*]('Tis a virtue to shun vice.)

where the writer has either changed the parts of speech (making his phrase a variant for virtus est fuga vitiorum ), or the cases (in which case it will be a variant for virtutis est vitium fugere); but whichever be the case, the figure is far more vigorous than either. At times figures are joined, as in Sthenelus sciens pugnae, [*]( Hor. Od. I. xv. 24. Sthenelus skilled in fight. ) which is substituted for Sthenelus scilus pugnandi. Tenses too are interchangeable.