I.v. intens. a. [id.], to look down upon any thing from a height (perh. not ante-Aug.).
I. Prop.: “ex alto terras,” Ov. M. 4, 624; so, “terras,” Verg. A. 1, 396: “humum,” Ov. M. 2, 710: “aquas,” id. ib. 15, 699: “flammas,” Verg. A. 10, 409: “procul palantes animos,” Ov. M. 15, 151 al.—
B. Of a high place, to overlook or command: “et quos maliferae despectant moenia Abellae,” Verg. A. 7, 740; cf.: “spectacula Tarpeium prope despectantia culmen,” Calp. Ecl. 7, 24 (but in Liv. 36, 25, 3, the true reading is spectat).—
II. Trop., to look down upon, to despise (used by Tac.): “liberos infra,” Tac. A. 2, 43: “ne ut victi et ignavi despectarentur,” id. H. 2, 30.
