I.of laurel, laurel-.
I. Adj.: “vectes laurei,” Cato, R. R. 31: “folia,” id. ib. 76: “corona,” Liv. 23, 11: “in nitidā laurea serta comā,” Ov. Tr. 2, 172: “oleum,” laurel-oil, Plin. 20, 13, 51, § 137: “ramus,” id. 15, 30, 40, § 136: “ramulus,” Suet. Caes. 81: “pira,” i. e. that smell like laurel, Col. 12, 10: “cerasa,” grafted on laurel, Plin. 15, 25, 30, § 104: “nemus,” Mart. 10, 92, 11.—
II. Subst.: laurĕa , ae, f.
A. (Sc. arbor.) The laurel-tree: “laurea in puppi navis longae enata,” Liv. 32, 1: “tum spissa ramis laurea fervidos Excludet ictus,” Hor. C. 2, 15, 9: “factis modo laurea ramis annuit,” Ov. M. 1, 566: “ex Pannonia,” Plin. Pan. 8, 3.—
B. (Sc. corona.) A laurel crown or garland, laurel branch, as the ornament of Apollo, of poets, of ancestral images, of generals enjoying a triumph, and of letters containing news of a victory: “te precor, o vates, assit tua laurea nobis,” Ov. R. Am. 75: “laureā donandus Apollinari,” Hor. C. 4, 2, 9: “cedant arma togae, concedat laurea linguae, Cic. poët. Off. 1, 22, 77: quam lauream cum tua laudatione conferam,” id. Fam. 15, 6, 1. Sometimes victorious generals, instead of a triumphal procession, contented themselves with carrying a laurel branch to the Capitol: “de Cattis Dacisque duplicem triumphum egit: de Sarmatis lauream modo Capitolino Jovi retulit,” Suet. Dom. 6: “urbem praetextatus et laurea coronatus intravit,” id. Tib. 17; id. Ner. 13; Plin. Pan. 8: “thyrsus enim vobis, gestata est laurea nobis,” Ov. P. 2, 5, 67: “bellorum laureas victori tradens,” Just. 14, 4, 17.—
2. Trop., a victory, triumph: “primus in toga triumphum linguaeque lauream merite,” Plin. 7, 30, 31, § 117; cf.: “parite laudem et lauream,” Plaut. Cist. 1, 3, 53.
