[2220.] The present infinitive is sometimes used with meminī, recordor, memoriā teneō, and with some analogous expressions, such as accēpimus, fertur, &c., to represent merely the occurrence of action really completed, without indicating its completion: as,
meminī ad mē tē scrībere, D. 38, I remember your writing to me. meministis fierī senātūs cōnsultum, Mur. 51, you remember a decree of the senate being passed. sed ego īdem recordor longē omnibus anteferre Dēmosthenem, O. 23, and yet I remember putting Demosthenes far above everybody else. hanc accēpimus agrōs et nemora peragrāre, HR. 24, we have heard of this goddess’s scouring fields and groves. Q. Maximum accēpimus facile cēlāre, tacēre, Off. 1, 108, we have heard of Fabius’s ready cleverness in keeping dark and holding his tongue. But the perfect is used when the action is to be distinctly marked as completed: as, meministis mē ita distribuisse causam, RA. 122, you remember that I arranged the case thus. Sometimes present and perfect are united: as, Helenē capere arma fertur, nec frātrēs ērubuisse deōs, Prop. 3, 14, 19 (4, 13, 19), Helen is said to fly to arms, and not to have blushed in presence of her brother gods. Here capere relates to the same completed action as the more exact ērubuisse.
[2221.] With verbs of saying, used in the narrower sense of promising, the present infinitive sometimes stands for the future ([2236]): as,
crās māne argentum mihī̆ mīles dare sē dīxit, T. Ph. 531, the soldier spoke of paying me the money early in the morning. mē a͡ibat accersere, Pl. Ps. 1118, he said he’d fetch me ([2186]). quae imperārentur facere dīxērunt, 2, 32, 3, they agreed to do what was commanded.
[2222.] The present infinitive dependent on a past tense of dēbeō, oportet, possum, often requires the English perfect infinitive in translation: as, quid enim facere poterāmus? Pis. 13, for what else could we have done? See, however, 1495. For the infinitive perfect, see [2230].
[The Perfect Tense.]
[2223.] (1.) The perfect active infinitive sometimes serves as a complement of dēbeō, volō, possum, &c. ([2168]): as,
tametsī statim vīcisse dēbeō, tamen dē meō iūre dēcēdam, RA. 73, though I am entitled to come off victorious at once, yet I will waive my right; compare vīcī, I am victorious, 1608. nīl vetitum fēcisse volet, J. 14, 185, nothing forbidden will he wish to have done; compare fēcī, I am guilty. unde illa potuit didicisse? Div. 2, 51, from what source could he have all that information acquired? bellum quod possumus ante hiemem perfēcisse, L. 37, 19, 5, the war which we can have ended up before winter.
[2224.] (2.) In prohibitions, the perfect active infinitive often serves as a complement of nōlō or volō ([2168]).