listen Copy link Outline I. To attend in order to hear1. ausculto, 12. audio, 43. aucŭpo, 1 (slily)II. To yield to1. ausculto, 1 (with dat.2. audio, 4 • listen: I. To attend in order to hear: 1. ausculto, 1: to l. at the door, ad fores a., Pl. Truc. 1, 2, 1: l. to me, mihi ausculta! Cic. R. Am. 36, 104. Also subausculto, to l. secretly, unobserved, id de Or. 2, 36, fin.: Pl. 2. audio, 4: v. to hear. 3. aucŭpo, 1 (slily): Pl. Most. 2, 2, 42 (sermonem a.). Phr. l. to the plot, accipe rationem doli [quam institui]! Pl.: l. kindly (to the play), adeste aequo animo, Ter. Andr. prol. 20: to l. most eagerly to any one's praises, avidissimis auribus laudes alicujus excipere, Plin. Ep. 4, 19, 3. II. To yield to: 1. ausculto, 1 (with dat.: colloq.): Ter. Ad. 5, 8, 12: Pl. 2. audio, 4: nor do I l. to Homer, when he says ..., nec Homerum audio, qui ait ..., Cic. Tusc. 1, 26, 65: I wish I had l.'d to your most friendly advice, vellem te audisse amicissime monentem, Cic. Att. 7, 1, 2. See also to hear (III.).
LISTEN Copy link • LISTENTo hearken, subauscultare aliquid; sermonem alicujus captare, aucupare, or sublegere (comedy): to listen at the door to a conversation, aure foribus admota sermonem captare (Ter., Phorm., 5, 6, 27, sqq.): he listened to all I said, subauscultando excepit voces meas et procul quid narrarem attendit (Cic., Or., 2, 36, 153): ☞ excipere sermonem alicujus does not mean “to listen,” but “to catch up anyone’s words.” See whether anyone is listening, circumspice, num quis est, qui sermonem nostrum aucupet, or ne quis nostro hinc sermoni auceps sit (comedy). To give attention, Vid: ATTEND.