I.a wasting away, melting, dwindling, consumption corruption, putrefaction; a wasting disease, consumption, decline; plague, pestilence.
I. Lit. (class.; “syn. lues): aegritudo (habet) tabem, cruciatum, afflictationem, foeditatem,” Cic. Tusc. 3, 13, 27: “fames lenta nos consumit tabe,” Plin. 2, 63, 63, § 156: “atrox hiems seu parum provisi commeatus et orta ex utroque tabes,” Tac. A. 12, 50: “orta per Aegyptum,” id. H. 5, 3: “per tabem tot annorum omnibus consumptis,” Liv. 40, 29, 5: “cadaveris,” Suet. Vit. 10; Luc. 2, 166; 7, 809: “corpora ... seu tabe vetustas Abstulerit,” Ov. M. 15, 156: “multorum tabe mensum mortuum,” Liv. 3, 24, 4: “arborum,” Plin. 17, 24, 37, § 225: “soli,” barrenness, id. 8, 21, 33, § 79: “tanta vis morbi, uti tabes, plerosque civium animos invaserat,” like a consuming fever, Sall. C. 36, 5; cf.: “tanta vis avaritiae, velut tabes, invaserat, etc.,” id. J. 32, 4; id. Fragm. ap. Fest. p. 359; Liv. 2, 23, 6; cf. id. 7, 22, 5.—Trop.: “tabes crescentis fenoris,” Liv. 7, 38, 7: “infecit ea tabes legionum quoque motas jam mentes,” Tac. H. 1, 26; 5, 3: “oculorum,” id. ib. 4, 81; Ov. M. 2, 807: “quos durus amor crudeli tabe peredit,” Verg. A. 6, 442; Cels. 3, 22. —
II. Transf., concr., the moisture of a melting or decaying substance, corruption (rare, and perh. not ante-Aug.): “tabes liquentis nivis,” Liv. 21, 36, 6; cf. Sen. Q. N. 4, 2; so, “sanguinis,” Liv. 30, 34, 10: “funesta veneni,” Ov. M. 3, 49: “tinctaque mortiferā tabe sagitta madet,” poison, id. P. 3, 1, 26: “pituitae,” Plin. 7, 16, 15, § 70: “putri arboris,” id. 15, 19, 21, § 80: “cujus aceti asperitas visque in tabem margaritas resolvit,” id. 9, 35, 58, § 120.
