previous next
līber , ĕra, ĕrum (old form, loebesum et loebertatem antiqui dicebant liberum et libertatem. Ita Graeci λοιβὴν et λείβειν, Paul. ex Fest. p. 121 Müll.; cf. 2. Liber), adj. Gr. root λιφ-, λίπτω, to desire; cf. Sanscr. lub-dhas, desirous; Lat. libet, libido,
I.that acts according to his own will and pleasure, is his own master; free, unrestricted, unrestrained, unimpeded, unshackled; independent, frank, open, bold (opp. servus, servilis).
I. In gen.; constr. absol., with ab, the abl., and poet. also with gen.
(α). Absol.: “dictum est ab eruditissimis viris, nisi sapientem liberum esse neminem. Quid est enim libertas? Potestas vivendi ut velis,Cic. Par. 5, 1, 33: “an ille mihi liber, cui mulier imperat, cui leges imponit, praescribit, jubet, vetat? etc.,id. ib. 5, 2, 36: “ad scribendi licentiam liber,id. N. D. 1, 44, 123: “agri immunes ac liberi,Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 69, § 166: “integro animo ac libero causam defendere,unprejudiced, unbiased, id. Sull. 31, 86: “liberi ad causas solutique veniebant,not under obligations, not bribed, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 78 § 192; cf.: “libera lingua,Plaut. Cist. 1, 2, 9: “cor liberum,id. Ep. 1, 2, 43: “vocem liberam mittere adversus aliquem,Liv. 35, 32, 6: “libera verba animi proferre,Juv. 4, 90: judicium audientium relinquere integrum ac liberum, Cic. Div. 2, 72, 150: “aliquid respuere ingenuo liberoque fastidio,id. Brut. 67, 236: “libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio,id. Fin. 1, 10, 33: “tibi uni vexatio direptioque sociorum impunita fuit ac libera,id. Cat. 1, 7, 18: “pars quaestionum vaga et libera et late patens,id. de Or. 2, 16, 67: “liberum arbitrium eis populo Romano permittente,Liv. 31, 11 fin.; cf. id. 37, 1, 5: “mandata,full powers, unlimited authority, id. 37, 56; 38, 8: “fenus,unlimited, id. 35, 7: custodia, free custody (i. e. confinement to a house or to a town), id. 24, 45; Vell. 1, 11, 1; “v. custodia, II.: legatio, v. legatio: suffragia,the right of voting freely, Juv. 8, 211: “locus,free from intruders, undisturbed, secure, Plaut. Poen. 1, 1, 49; 3, 2, 25; id. Cas. 3, 2, 4: aedes, a free house, free dwelling (assigned to the use of ambassadors of friendly nations during their stay in Rome), Liv. 30, 17 fin.; 35, 23; 42, 6: “lectulus,” i. e. not shared with a wife, Cic. Att. 14, 13, 5: toga (poet. for virilis toga), a man's (prop. of one who is his own master), Ov. F. 3, 771: “vestis,id. ib. 3, 777: “libera omnia sibi servare,to reserve to one's self full liberty, Plin. Ep. 1, 5.—Comp.: “hoc liberiores et solutiores sumus, quod, etc.,Cic. Ac. 2, 3, 8: “est finitimus oratori poëta, numeris astrictior paulo, verborum licentia liberior,id. de Or. 1, 16, 70: “liberiores litterae,id. Att. 1, 13, 1: “amicitia remissior esse debet et liberior et dulcior,freer, more unrestrained, more cheerful, id. Lael. 18 fin.: “paulo liberior sententia,Quint. 4, 2, 121: “liberior in utramque partem disputatio,id. 7, 2, 14: “fusiores liberioresque numeri,id. 9, 4, 130: “officia liberiora plenioraque,id. 6, 1, 9: “(flumina) campo recepta Liberioris aquae,freer, less impeded, Ov. M. 1, 41; cf.: “(Tiberinus) campo liberiore natat,freer, opener, id. F. 4, 292: “liberiore frui caelo,freer, opener, id. M. 15, 301.—Sup.: “liberrimum hominum genus, comici veteres tradunt, etc.,the frankest, most free-spoken, Quint. 12, 2, 22; cf.: “liberrime Lolli,most frank, most ingenuous, Hor. Ep. 1, 18, 1: “indignatio,id. Epod. 4, 10.—
(δ). With gen. (poet.): “liber laborum,Hor. A. P. 212: “fati gens Lydia,Verg. A. 10, 154: “curarum,Luc. 4, 384. —Comp.: “liberior campi,having a wider space, Stat. S. 4, 2, 24.—(ε) Liberum est, with subject-clause: “quam (opinionem) sequi magis probantibus liberum est,it is free, permitted, allowable, Quint. 6, 3, 112; Plin. Ep. 1, 8: “dies eligere certos liberum erat,Plin. 30, 2, 6, § 16.—So in abl. absol.: “libero, quid firmaret mutaretve,Tac. A. 3, 60.
II. In partic.
A. Free, in a social point of view, not a slave (opp. servus; “also to ingenuus): neque vendendam censes quae libera est,Ter. Ad. 2, 1, 40; cf. id. ib. v. 28: “dis habeo gratiam quom aliquot affuerunt liberae, because slaves were not permitted to testify,id. And. 4, 4, 32; opp. ingenuus, free-born: “quid ea? ingenuan' an festucā facta e servā liberast?Plaut. Mil. 1, 1, 14: “in jure civili, qui est matre liberā, liber est,Cic. N. D. 3, 18, 45; id. Caecin. 36, 96: “si neque censu, neque vindictā, nec testamento liber factus est (servus), non est liber,id. Top. 2, 10: “quae (assentatio) non modo amico, sed ne libero quidem digna est,of a freeman, id. Lael. 24, 89; Quint. 11, 1, 43: “liberorum hominum alii ingenui sunt, alii libertini,Gai. Inst. 1, 10; cf. sqq.: ex ancilla et libero jure gentium servus nascitur, id. ib. 1, 82; cf. § 85; Paul. Sent. 2, 24, 1 sqq.—
B. Free, in a political point of view; “said both of a people not under monarchical rule and of one not in subjection to another people,Cic. Rep. 1, 32, 48; cf.: “ut ex nimia potentia principum oritur interitus principum, sic hunc nimis liberum populum libertas ipsa servitute afficit,id. ib. 1, 44, 68: “liber populus,id. ib. 3, 34, 46: “(Demaratus) vir liber ac fortis,democratic, republican, fond of liberty, id. ib. 2, 19, 34: “civitates liberae atque immunes,free from service, Liv. 37, 55: “provinciae civitatesque liberae,Suet. Vesp. 8: “libera ac foederata oppida,id. Calig. 3: “Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit,Juv. 8, 244.—
hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
hide References (86 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (86):
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 14.13.5
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 15.16
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 1.13.1
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 1.13.2
    • Cicero, Against Catiline, 1.7.18
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.2.191
    • Cicero, On the Agrarian Law, 1.9.27
    • Cicero, For Plancius, 13.33
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.2.166
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.2.176
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.3.177
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.4.23
    • Cicero, For Aulus Caecina, 36.96
    • Cicero, For Sulla, 31.86
    • Cicero, For Marcus Caelius, 18.42
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 7, 34
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1.41
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15.301
    • Plautus, Amphitruo, 1.prol
    • Plautus, Casina, 3.2
    • Plautus, Cistellaria, 1.2
    • Plautus, Poenulus, 1.1
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 10.154
    • Vergil, Georgics, 1.127
    • Suetonius, Caligula, 3
    • Suetonius, Divus Vespasianus, 8
    • Horace, Satires, 1.4.103
    • Horace, Ars Poetica, 212
    • Tacitus, Annales, 3.60
    • Plautus, Epidicus, 1.2
    • Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 1.1
    • Cicero, On Oratory, 1.16
    • Cicero, On Oratory, 2.16
    • Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio, 4
    • Lucan, Civil War, 4.384
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 30.16
    • Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, 1.5
    • Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, 1.8
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 30, 17
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 35, 23
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 37, 56
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 37, 1.5
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 24, 45
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 31, 11
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 35, 32.6
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 35, 7
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 37, 55
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 2, 36
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 42, 6
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 38, 8
    • Cicero, De Republica, 1.32
    • Cicero, De Republica, 4.4
    • Cicero, De Divinatione, 2.48
    • Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, 1.10
    • Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, 1.15
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 1.44
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 2.21
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 3.18
    • Cicero, De Amicitia, 13
    • Cicero, De Amicitia, 24
    • Cicero, De Amicitia, 18
    • Cicero, De Divinatione, 2.72
    • Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum, 5
    • Cicero, De Officiis, 1.20
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 4, 2.121
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 5, 11.37
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 6, 1.43
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 6, 1.9
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 6, 3.112
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 7, 2.14
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 9, 4.130
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 1.43
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.92
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.97
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 11.7
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 1.21
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 2.22
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 2.35
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 1.4
    • Ovid, Ex Ponto, 1.6
    • Statius, Silvae, 4.2
    • Cicero, Brutus, 67.236
    • Cicero, Orator, 23.77
    • Cicero, Topica, 2.10
    • Ovid, Fasti, 3
    • Ovid, Fasti, 4
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: