vacillo

văcillo ( a scanned long, Lucr. 3, 502), āvi, ātum, 1, v. n. [cf. Sanscr. vak-, to roll; vank-, to shake], to sway to and fro; to waddle, stagger, reel, totter, waver, vacillate (class.; a favorite word with Cic.; cf.: nuto, titubo).

I.

Lit., of drunken persons: quosdam ex vino vacillantes, quosdam hesternā potatione oscitantes, Cic. Fragm. ap. Quint. 8, 3, 66:

videre quosdam ex vino vacillantis,

Quint. 11, 3, 165:

praepediuntur crure vacillanti,

Lucr. 3, 479; cf. Ruhnk. ad Rutil. Lup. 2, 7, p. 164 Frotsch.:

in utramque partem toto corpore vacillans,

Cic. Brut. 60, 216:

arbor ventis pulsa vacillans aestuat,

Lucr. 5, 1096; so,

ambusta,

id. 1, 806:

vacillant omnia tecta,

id. 6, 575:

sub pedibus tellus cum tota vacillat,

id. 5, 1236:

accepi tuam epistulam vacillantibus litterulis,

Cic. Fam. 16, 15, 2.—

II.

Trop., to waver, hesitate, stagger, be untrustworthy, to vacillate:

tota res vacillat et claudicat,

Cic. N. D. 1, 38, 107:

Erotem ad ista expedienda factum mihi videbar reliquisse, cujus non sine magnā culpā vacillarunt,

have fallen into confusion, id. Att. 14, 18, 2:

justitia vacillat vel jacet potius,

id. Off. 3, 33, 118:

stabilitas amicitiae vacillat,

id. Fin. 1, 20, 66:

legio vacillans,

wavering in fidelity, id. Phil. 3, 12, 31: gerontikôteron est memoriola vacillare, id. Att. 12, 1, 2:

partim sumptibus in vetere aere alieno vacillant,

are staggering beneath a load of old debts, id. Cat. 2, 10, 21:

aegrotat fama vacillans,

Lucr. 4, 1124:

gentes vacillantes,

Vell. 2, 130, 3:

cum animus paulum vacillavit,

Sen. Ep. 114, 22:

testes, qui adversus fidem testationis suae vacillant, audiendi non sunt,

Dig. 22, 5, 2:

cujus (testis) ita anceps fides vacillat,

ib. 48, 10, 27.