I.want of art or skill, unskilfulness, ignorance.
I. Lit. (rare but class.): animi (spectantur), quemadmodum affecti sint, virtutibus, vitiis; “artibus, inertiis,” Cic. Part. 10, 35; Petr. 135, 6. —
II. Transf., in gen., inactivity, idleness, laziness (very freq.): inertia atque torpedo, Cato ap. Gell. 11, 2, 6: “id largiamur inertiae nostrae,” Cic. de Or. 1, 15, 68: “castigare segnitiem hominum atque inertiam,” id. ib. 1, 41, 185: “laboris,” aversion to labor, id. Rosc. Com. 8, 24: “operis,” Liv. 33, 45, 7 al.— “In an oxymoron: strenua,” Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 28; cf. “inquieta,” Sen. Tranq. 12, 2.