I.made of iron, iron.
I. Lit.: “Britanni utuntur aut aere aut taleis ferreis ... pro nummo,” Caes. B. G. 5, 12, 4: “vomer,” Lucr. 1, 314: “ensis,” id. 5, 1293: “furcae,” Varr. R. R. 1, 22, 3; for which absol.: “ferreae,” Cato, R. R. 10, 3: “clavi,” Caes. B. G. 3, 13, 4: “hami,” id. ib. 7, 73 fin.: “manus,” id. B. C. 1, 57, 2; 1, 58, 4; 2, 6, 2: “clathri,” Plin. 8, 7, 7, § 21: “fibula,” Quint. 6, 3, 58: “anulus,” id. 7, 6, 8; cf. Plin. 33, 1, 4, § 9; Suet. Aug. 100: “litterae imagunculae,” id. ib. 7: “Hercules,” an iron statue of Hercules, Plin. 34, 14, 40, § 141.—Poet.: hastati spargunt hastas, fit ferreus imber, Enn. ap. Macr. S. 6, 1 (Ann. v. 287 ed. Vahl.); “imitated: imber,” Verg. A. 12, 284; cf.: “seges telorum,” id. ib. 3, 45: “ager,” i. e. glistening with weapons, id. ib. 11, 601.—
B. Transf., like or pertaining to iron: “color,” iron-color, Plin. 37, 10, 61, § 170: “fabrica,” the art of working iron, id. 7, 56, 57, § 198.—
II. Trop.
A. Hard, unfeeling, hard-hearted, cruel: “qui virtutem duram et quasi ferream esse quandam volunt (opp. tenera atque tractabilis),” Cic. Lael. 13, 48; cf.: “quis tam fuit durus et ferreus, quis tam inhumanus, qui? etc.,” Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 46, § 121; and: “ferreus essem, si te non amarem,” id. Fam. 15, 21, 4: “ferus et ferreus,” id. Q. Fr. 1, 3, 3: “ferus et vere ferreus,” Tib. 1, 10, 2: “quis tam esset ferreus, qui, etc.,” Cic. Lael. 23, 87: “o te ferreum, qui illius periculis non moveris!” id. Att. 13, 30, 2: “illa (carmina) tamen numquam ferrea dixit Amo,” Prop. 2, 8, 12; Tib. 2, 3, 2; 3, 2, 2: “praecordia,” Ov. H. 12, 183: “bella,” id. ib. 13, 64: “sors vitae (with difficilis),” id. Tr. 5, 3, 28: “os ferreum,” shameless, impudent, Cic. Pis. 26, 63: ferrea tum vero proles exorta repente est, i. e. the iron age, Cic. poët. N. D. 2, 63, 159; cf. “saecula,” Tib. 2, 3, 35.—
B. With the idea of firmness, fixedness predominating, firm, fixed, rigid, unyielding, immovable: “(Cato) in parsimonia, in patientia laboris periculique, ferrei prope corporis animique,” Liv. 39, 40, 11: “vox,” Verg. G. 2, 44; id. A. 6, 626; cf.: scriptor (Atilius), Licin. poët. ap. Cic. Fin. 1, 2, 5: “jura,” Verg. G. 2, 501: olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget Somnus, ironsleep, i. e. death (a transl. of the Homeric χάλκεος ὕπνος), Verg. A. 10, 745; 12, 309: “decreta Sororum,” Ov. M. 15, 781.