previous next
praestō (old collat. form praestū , acc. to Curtius Valerianus in Cassiod. p. 2289 P.: qui praestu sunt, Inscr. Carina Via Appia, 1, p. 217. In later time as adj.: prae-stus , a, um:
I.“bonorum officio praestus fui,” Inscr. Grut. 669, 4), adv. dat. from praestus, a sup. form from prae, so that praesto esse alicui = to be or stand in the foremost place for or as respects one, at hand, ready, present, here; usually with esse (very freq. and class.).
I. Lit.: “ni tua propitia pax foret praesto,” Plaut. Trin. 4, 1, 18: sed ubi est frater? Chaer. Praesto adest, Ter. Eun. 5, 8, 20; id. Heaut. 1, 1, 120; so Att. Tr. 498: “quod adest praesto in primis placet,” Lucr. 5, 1412; Lact. 3, 7, 10: “sacrificiis omnibus praesto adesse,” id. 2, 16, 10; “more freq., praesto esse: ibi mihi praesto fuit L. Lucilius,” Cic. Fam. 3, 5, 1: “togulae lictoribus ad portam praesto fuerunt,” id. Pis. 23, 55: “tibi nulla fuit clementia praesto?” hadst thou no compassion? Cat. 64, 137: praesto esse, to arrive, appear: “hirundines aestivo tempore praesto sunt,” Auct. Her. 4, 48, 61.—Without esse (poet.): “era, eccum praesto militem,” Plaut. Mil. 4, 6, 1: “ipsum adeo praesto video,” Ter. And. 2, 5, 4; Stat. Th. 6, 643.—
II. In partic: praesto esse or adire
A. To be at hand, to attend or wait upon, to serve, aid: “ero meo ut omnibus locis sine praesto,” Plaut. Men. 5, 6, 26: “jus civile didicit, praesto multis fuit,” Cic. Mur. 9, 19: “praesto esse clientem tuum?” id. Att. 10, 8, 3: “saluti tuae praesto esse, praesto esse virtutes ut ancillulas,” id. Fin. 2, 21, 69; id. Fam. 4, 14, 4: “ut ad omnia, quae tui velint, ita assim praesto, ut, etc.,” id. ib. 4, 8, 1; id. Att. 4, 12, 1 fin.; “also with videor,” id. ib. 4, 12, 1 fin.—With adire: “pauper erit praesto semper tibi, pauper adibit primus,” will be at hand, at your service, Tib. 1, 5, 61.—
B. With esse, to present one's self in a hostile manner, to resist, oppose: “si quis mihi praesto fuerit cum armatis hominibus,” Cic. Caecin. 30, 87: “quaestores cum fascibus mihi praesto fuerunt,” Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 4, § 11.
A Latin Dictionary. Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by. Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and. Charles Short, LL.D. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1879.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
hide References (14 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (14):
    • Cicero, Letters to his Friends, 3.5.1
    • Cicero, Letters to his Friends, 4.14.4
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 10.8.3
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 4.12.1
    • Cicero, For Aulus Caecina, 30.87
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.2.11
    • Cicero, For Lucius Murena, 9.19
    • Cicero, Against Piso, 23.55
    • Plautus, Trinummus, 4.1
    • Plautus, Menaechmi, 5.6
    • Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 4.6
    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 5.1412
    • Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, 2.21
    • Statius, Thebias, 6
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: