I.to fight against a person or thing, to attack, assail (class.; esp. in the transf. and trop. signif.; cf.: invado, opprimo, aggredior, adorior).
I. Lit., in the milit. sphere: “terga hostium,” Liv. 3, 70, 4: “Syracusae a cive impugnatae sunt (for which, shortly after, oppugnari),” Just. 22, 2. — Absol.: nostri redintegratis viribus acrius impugnare coeperunt, * Caes. B. G. 3, 26, 4; Just. 38, 4.—
II. Transf., beyond the milit. sphere, to attack, assail, oppose, impugn: “qui (Scaurus) tametsi a principio acerrime regem (Jugurtham) impugnaverat, tamen, etc.,” Sall. J. 29, 2: “cujus vel praecipua opera Bibulum impugnaverat,” Suet. Caes. 21; Cic. Fam. 3, 12, 1: “veneficiis et devotionibus impugnari,” Suet. Calig. 3: “saepe quae in aliis litibus impugnarunt actores causarum, eadem in aliis defendunt,” Quint. 2, 17, 40: “filii caput palam,” id. 11, 1, 62: dignitatem alicujus, Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. 439, 3; Hirt. B. G. 8, 53, 1: “sententiam,” Tac. H. 4, 8: “meritum et fidem,” Ov. M. 5, 151: “finitionem alterius,” Quint. 7, 3, 22: “nostra,” Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 89; Quint. 4, 1, 14. —Absol.: “cum illis id tempus impugnandi detur,” Cic. Quint. 2, 8.
