I.that departs from its race or kind, degenerate, not genuine (mostly poet. and in post-Aug. prose; esp. freq. in Plin. and Tac.; not in Quint. and Suet.).
I. Lit.: “Neoptolemum,” Verg. A. 2, 549; cf. “proles,” Luc. 8, 693; Tac. A. 12, 62: “dignitate formae haud degener,” id. ib. 12, 51: “hi (Galli) jam degeneres sunt, mixti, et Gallograeci vere, quod appellantur,” Liv. 38, 17, 9; 38, 49, 4: “canum degeneres,” Plin. 11, 50, 111, § 265: “aquila,” id. 10, 3, 3, § 8: “herbae,” id. 17, 5, 3, § 33: “adamantes,” id. 37, 4, 15, § 58.—
(β).
With gen.: “patrii non degener oris,” Ov. Pont. 3, 5, 7; so, “sanguinis,” Stat. Th. 9, 619: “patriae artis,” Ov. M. 11, 314: “altae virtutis patrum,” Sil. 10, 68; Plin. 5, 8, 8, § 44.—
II. Transf., mentally or morally degenerate, ignoble, base: “Muttinem sibi modum facere, degenerem Afrum!” Liv. 25, 40, 12: “Artabanum materna origine Arsacidem, cetera degenerem,” Tac. A. 6, 42; cf.: “vitā non degener,” id. ib. 4, 61: “non degener ad pericula,” id. ib. 1, 40: “degeneres animos timor arguit,” Verg. A. 4, 13: “animi,” Luc. 6, 417: “metus,” id. 3, 149: “questus,” Val. Fl. 1, 164: “preces,” Tac. A. 12, 36 fin.: “projectus,” id. H. 3, 65 fin.: “insidiae,” id. A. 11, 19 et saep.—Of language: “bilingues, paulatim a domestico externo sermone degeneres,” Curt. 7, 5, 29.—Poet.: “toga (for togati),” Luc. 1, 365.—With abl. ( = indignus): “degener haud Gracchis consul,” Sil. 4, 5, 17: “tantoduce,” Ambros. de Jacob. 2, 11, 45.
