I.a running (on foot, on a horse, chariot, ship, etc.), a course, way, march, passage, voyage, journey, etc. (very freq.).
I. Lit.
1. Of living beings: “ingressus, cursus, accubitio, etc.,” Cic. N. D. 1, 34, 94: “ibi cursu, luctando ... sese exercebant,” Plaut. Bacch. 3, 3, 24; cf. id. Most. 1, 2, 73, and Hor. A. P. 412: “quique pedum cursu valet, etc.,” Verg. A. 5, 67: “cursu superare canem,” Hor. Ep. 1, 18, 51: “milites cursu exanimati,” Caes. B. G. 2, 23: “huc magno cursu intenderunt,” at full speed, id. ib. 3, 19: “magno cursu concitatus,” id. B. C. 1, 70: “cursu incitatus,” id. ib. 1, 79; 3, 46; Auct. B. Alex. 20; cf.: “in cursu esse,” Cic. Att. 5, 16, 1; cf. II. fin. infra: “strictis gladiis cursu in hostem feruntur,” advance at a run, Liv. 9, 13, 2: “effuso cursu,” id. 2, 50, 6: “eo cursu proripere, ut, etc.,” id. 24, 26, 12; 31, 21, 6: “eo cursu, Auct. B. Alex 30: eodem cursu contendere,” right onward, Caes. B. C. 2, 35; cf. id. B. G. 6, 67: citato cursu. Just. 11, 15, 2: “cursus in Graeciam per tuam provinciam,” Cic. Att. 10, 4, 10: “quis umquam tam brevi tempore tot loca adire, tantos cursus conficere potuit?” id. Imp. Pomp. 12, 34: “(terrae) tuis non dicam cursibus, sed victoriis lustratae sunt,” id. ib. 2, 5: “agmen cursūs magis quam itineris modo ducit,” Curt. 5, 13, 5; 6, 1, 12; Just. 15, 3, 11; 11, 8, 2: “Miltiades cursum direxit, quo tendebat,” Nep. Milt. 1, 6; Vell. 2, 19, 4; 1, 4, 1: “Ulixi per mare,” Hor. C. 1, 6, 7: “iterare cursus relictos,” id. ib. 1, 34, 4: “Naxon, ait Liber, cursus advertite vestros,” Ov. M. 3, 636 et saep.; cf. B.: cursum per auras Derigere, Verg. A. 6, 194; so of flying, Ov. M. 2, 838; 4, 787 al.—
b. Cursum tenere (in a march or on shipboard), to hold one's course, to maintain a direct course: “equites cursum tenere atque insulam capere non potuerant,” Caes. B. G. 4, 26 fin.: “Dionysius cum secundissimo vento cursum teneret,” Cic. N. D. 3, 34, 83; Caes. B. G. 5, 8; cf. 2. b. —
2. Of inanimate objects: “solis cursus lunaeque meatus Expediam,” Lucr. 5, 77; cf. id. 5, 772 al.: “lunae,” id. 5, 629; cf. id. 5, 630: “stellarum,” Cic. Rep. 6, 17, 17: “neque clara suo percurrere fulmina cursu Perpetuo possint,” Lucr. 1, 1003: “si lacus emissus lapsu et cursu suo ad mare profluxisset,” Cic. Div. 1, 44, 100; so of the course or flow of a stream, Ov. M. 1, 282; 9, 18; Plin. 5, 24, 20, § 85: “longarum navium,” Caes. B. G. 5, 8; cf. Cic. Mur. 15, 33; id. Off. 3, 12, 50 al.: “Aquilonis et Austri,” Lucr. 5, 688; cf. id. 6, 302: “menstrui,” Plin. 11, 39, 94, § 230: “quadripertiti venarum,” id. 16, 39, 76, § 195 et saep.—
b. Cursum tenere, as supra, 1. b.: “tanta tempestas subito coorta est, ut nulla earum (navium) cursum tenere posset,” Caes. B. G. 4, 28.—
B. Meton.
1. Cursum exspectare, to wait for a fair wind (lit. for a passage), Cic. Att. 5, 8, 1.—
2. (Abstr. pro concr.) Cursus publici, in the time of the emperors, posts or relays divided into stations, for the speedy transmission of information upon state affairs, Cod. Just. 12, 51; Cod. Th. 8, 5; Inscr. Orell. 3181; 3329; cf.“. equi publici,” Amm. 14, 6, 16: “vehicula publica,” id. 21, 13, 7: “cursus vehicularius,” Capitol. Ant. P. 12, 3: “vehicularis,” Dig. 50, 4, 18, § 4: “cursus fiscalis,” Spart. Had. 7; v. Suet. Aug. 49.—
II. Trop. (freq. in Cic. and Quint.), a course, progress, direction, way: “qui cursus rerum, qui exitus futurus sit,” Cic. Fam. 4, 2, 3; cf. Tac. H. 4, 34; id. Agr. 39: “implicari aliquo certo genere cursuque vivendi,” Cic. Off. 1, 32, 117: “vitae brevis cursus, gloriae sempiternus,” id. Sest. 21, 47: “reliquus vitae cursus,” id. Phil. 2, 19, 47: “totius vitae cursum videre,” id. Off. 1, 4, 11: “omnem vitae suae cursum conficere,” id. Cael. 17, 39: “in omni vitae cursu optimum visum est, ut, etc.,” Macr. S. 1, 2, 3: “temporum,” Cic. Fam. 6, 5, 2: “tuorum honorum,” id. ib. 3, 11, 2; cf. Tac. H. 1, 48: “continuus proeliorum,” id. Agr. 27 al.: “cursus vocis per omnis sonos,” Cic. de Or. 3, 61, 227: “cursus verborum,” id. ib. 1, 35, 161; so of the motion or flow of discourse, etc., id. Part. Or. 15, 52; Quint. 8, prooem. § 27; “9, 4, 70: cursus hic et sonus rotundae volubilisque sententiae,” Gell. 11, 13, 4: “quem enim cursum industria mea tenere potuisset sine forensibus causis, etc.,” Cic. Phil. 8, 4, 11; cf. id. Or. 1, 4: “nos in eodem cursu fuimus a Sullā dictatore ad eosdem fere consules,” id. Brut. 96, 328; so, “esse in cursu,” to go on, continue, Ov. M. 13, 508; id. F. 6, 362.
