I.to make soft or tender, to soften by steeping, to soak, steep, macerate (not in Cic. or Cæs.).
I. Lit.: “brassicam in aquam,” Cato, R. R. 156, 5: “salsamenta,” Ter. Ad. 3, 3, 27: “in piscina lupinum,” Col. 1, 6, 21: “semen lacte,” id. 11, 3, 51: “(ramos genistae) marinā aquā,” Plin. 24, 9, 40, § 66: “(siliginem) novem diebus maceratum ... subigunt,” id. 18, 11, 27, § 106: “grana (cacaliae) in oleo,” id. 25, 11, 85, § 135: “intestina piscium sale,” id. 31, 7, 43, § 93: “podagrici crura macerantes,” Vitr. 18, 3.—
II. Transf., to weaken in body or mind, to waste away, enervate.
A. Of the body: “multos iste morbus homines macerat,” Plaut. Capt. 3, 4, 22; Liv. 26, 13: “quam lentis macerer ignibus,” Hor. C. 1, 13, 8; cf.: “Macedo siti maceratus,” Curt. 5, 13, 24: “pars exercitus ad utilitatem nostram macerata perductaque ad exitiabilem famem,” Vell. 2, 112, 4: “Fabius sic maceravit Hannibalem, ut, etc.,” i. e. Hannibal's army, Flor. 2, 6, 28: “muscus crura vitium situ et veterno macerat,” Col. 4, 22, 6: “cor solum viscerum vitiis non maceratur,” Plin. 11, 37, 69, § 182.—
B. Of the mind, to fret, vex, torment, distress, torture, pain (syn.: “crucio, torqueo): egemet me concoquo et macero et defatigo,” fret myself, Plaut. Trin. 2, 1, 2: “quor me excrucio? quor me macero? quor meam senectutem sollicito?” Ter. And. 5, 3, 15; cf. id. Eun. 1, 2, 107: “noli te macerare,” id. And. 4, 2, 2: “cura satis me lacrumis maceravi,” Plaut. Capt. 5, 1, 8: “hoc me facinus miserum macerat,” id. Mil. 3, 1, 21: infelix sollicitudo persequitur nec oratorem macerat et coquit, * Quint. 12, 10, 77: “quae vos macerent desiderio,” Liv. 5, 54, 3; 26, 13, 8.—Poet., with a causal object-clause: “consimili ratione ab eodem saepe timore macerat invidia, ante oculos illum esse potentem,” Lucr. 3, 75.— Mid., to vex, torment one's self: “maceror interdum, quod sim tibi causa dolendi,” Ov. H. 2, 125: unum hoc maceror et doleo tibi deesse, Terenti, C. Caes. ap. Suet. Vit. Ter. fin.: ex desiderio magis magisque maceror, Afran. ap. Charis. p. 182 P.
