• amnis,
is,
m. (
fem.,
Plaut. Merc. 5, 2, 18; Naev. and Att.
ap. Non. 191, 33;
Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 9;
cf. Prisc. pp. 652 and 658 P.; Rudd. I. p. 26, n. 37; Schneid. Gram. 2, 98;
abl. regularly amne;
but freq. amni in the poets, Verg. G. 1, 203;
3, 447;
Hor. S. 1, 10, 62;
Col. R. R. 10, 136;
also in prose, Liv. 21, 5;
21, 27 al.;
cf. Prisc. p. 766; Rhem. Pal. 1374 P.; Rudd. I. p. 85, n. 85) [
qs. for apnis from Sanscr. ap = water;
n. plur. āpas. Van.; v. aqua],
orig.,
any broad and deep-flowing,
rapid water; a stream,
torrent,
river (hence,
esp. in the poets, sometimes for
a rapidly-flowing stream or
a torrent rushing down from a mountain = torrens; sometimes for
a large river,
opp. fluvius (a common river); sometimes also for
the ocean as flowing round the land; it most nearly corresponds with our
stream; in prose not often used before the histt. of the Aug.
per.; in Cic. only in Aratus and in his more elevated prose; never in his Epistt.).
- I. Lit.: acervos altā in amni, Att., Trag. Rel. p. 178 Rib.: apud abundantem antiquam amnem et rapidas undas Inachi, Att. ap. Non. 192, 4 (Trag. Rel. p. 175 Rib.): Sic quasi amnis celeris rapit, sed tamen inflexu flectitur, Naev. Trag. Rel. p. 12 Rib.; Plaut. Poen. 3, 3, 15: molibus incurrit validis cum viribus amnis, Lucr. 1, 288 (v. the whole magnificent description, 1, 282- 290): Nilus unicus in terris, Aegypti totius amnis, id. 6, 714: ruunt de montibus amnes, Verg. A. 4, 164: amnes magnitudinis vastae, Sen. Q. N. 3, 19.—Also in distinction from the sea: cum pontus et amnes cuncti invicem commeant, Sen. Q. N. 4, 2.—On the contr. of the ocean, acc. to the Gr. Ὠκεανὸς ποταμός (Hom. Od. 11, 639): Oceani amnis, the ocean-stream, Verg. G. 4, 233: quā fluitantibus undis Solis anhelantes abluit amnis equos, Tib. 2, 5, 60: Nox Mundum caeruleo laverat amne rotas, id. 3, 4, 18 al.—
- II. Transf.
- A. Poet., of the constellation Eridanus: Eridanum cernes funestum magnis cum viribus amnem, Cic. Arat. 145 (as a transl. of the Gr. λείψανον Ἠριδανοῖο, πολυκλαύστου ποταμοῖο, Arat. Phaenom. 360): Scorpios exoriens cum clarus fugerit amnis, Germanic. Arat. 648; cf. id. ib. 362. —
- B. Also poet. and in post-class. prose, any thing flowing, liquid, Verg. A. 12, 417; 7, 465: amnis musti, Pall. 11, 14, 18.—
- C. Of a writer, whose eloquence is thus compared to a flowing stream (v. flumen, II. B. and fluo, II. 2. B. 1.): alter (Herodotus) sine ullis salebris quasi sedatus amnis (i. e. a noiseless stream flowing on in majestic size and fulness) fluit; alter (Thucydides) incitatior fertur, Cic. Or. 12, 39.—
- D. Like flumen, as abstr., a current, stream: secundo amni, down or with the stream, Verg. G. 3, 447: adverso amne, up the stream, Curt. 10, 1 al.