To cut: to tut off, or asunder. In fruftra secare. Virg. Infinitè secari arque diuidi. Cic. Capillos secare. Martial. Hirsuti vepres secat corpora. Virgil. The raughe brambles rent their bodies. Crinem secare. Virg. To teare or rent. Culta pinguia secat fluuius. Virg. Herbas secare. Virg. Marmora secanda. Hor. Membra alicuius fecare. Ouid. To cut ones limmes. Pabulum secare. Cæsar. To mowe grasse to make haye for beastes. Glacies secat teneras plantas. Virg. Terga secare verbere intorto. Tibul. Ille viam secat ad naues. Virg. He leadeth the may towarde the shipues. Aequora vltima secare fuga, Vir. Acthera pennis secare. Virg. To flie in the aire. Ventos secare. Virg. To cleaue or parte the windes in flying. Spem secare. Virg. To be in hope: to haue a certaine hope. Magnæ lites secantur bono viro iudice. Hor. Are decided or determined.

I. Lit.

A. In gen.: leges duodecim tabularum, si plures forent, quibus rens esset judicatus, secare, si vellent, atque partiri corpus addicti sibi hominis permiserunt, Gell. 20, 1, 48 sq.; cf.: et judicatos in partes secari a creditoribus leges erant, Tert. Apol. 4: cape cultrum, seca Digitum vel aurem, Plaut. Merc. 2, 2, 38 sq.: omne animal secari ac dividi potest, nullum est eorum individuum, Cic. N. D. 3, 12, 29: pabulum secari non posse, be cut, mown, Caes. B. G. 7, 14; so, sectae herbae, Hor. S. 2, 4, 67: gallinam, to cut to pieces, Juv. 5, 124: placenta, Mart. 3, 77, 3: alicui collum gladio suā dexterā, Q. Cic. Petit. Cons. 3, 10: palatum, to divide, Cels. 8, 1: tergora in frusta, Verg. A. 1, 212: dona auro gravia sectoque elephanto, i. e. of carved, wrought ivory (an imitation of the Homeric pristo\s e)le/fas, Od. 18, 196), Verg. A. 3, 464: marmora, Hor. C. 2, 18, 17: sectis nitebat marmoribus, Luc. 10, 114; so absol.: nec ideo ferrum secandi vim non perdidit, Sen. Ben. 5, 5, 1: prave sectus unguis, Hor. Ep. 1, 104: secti lapides, Vulg. Exod. 20, 25. —

B. In partic.

1. Med. t. t., to cut surgically; to operate on; to cut off or out, amputate, excise, etc.: in corpore si quid ejusmodi est, quod reliquo corpori noceat, id uri secarique patimur, Cic. Phil. 8, 5, 15; cf.: saevitia secandi, Plin. 29, 1, 6, 13; so, membra, id. 26, 11, 69, 112: vomicam, Plaut. Pers. 2, 5, 13: varices Mario, Cic. Tusc. 2, 15, 35 (for which, exciditur, Cels. 7, 31); cf. of the same: C. Marius cum secaretur, ut supra dixi, principio vetuit se alligari; nec quisquam ante Marium solutus dicitur esse sectus, was cut, operated upon, Cic. Tusc. 2, 22, 53: servum, Just. Inst. 4, 3, 6.—

2. To cut, castrate (very rare): puer avari sectus arte mangonis, Mart. 9, 7, 4; so, sectus Gallus (corresp. to eviratus), id. 5, 41, 3.—

C. Transf. (mostly poet. and in post-Aug. prose).

1. To scratch, tear, wound, hurt, injure (cf. caedo, II.): ambo (postes) ab infimo tarmes secat, the worms are gnawing them, they are wormeaten, Plaut. Most. 3, 2, 140: luctantis acuto ne secer ungui, lest I should be torn, Hor. Ep. 1, 19, 47; cf.: rigido sectas invenit ungue genas, Ov. F. 6, 148: teneras plantas tibi (glacies), Verg. E. 10, 49: corpora vepres, id. G. 3, 444: crura (sentes), Ov. M. 1, 509: pete ferro Corpus et intorto verbere terga seca, cut, lacerate, Tib. 1, 9, 22; so, sectus flagellis, Hor. Epod. 4, 11: loris, Mart. 10, 5, 14 al.: si quem podagra secat, gnaws, torments, Cat. 71, 2; imitated by Martial: podagra cheragraque secatur Gaius, Mart. 9, 92, 9.—

2. Like the Gr. te/mnein, and our to cut, i. e.,

a. To divide, cleave, separate (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): quos (populos) secans interluit Allia, Verg. A. 7, 717: medios Aethiopas (Nilus), Plin. 5, 9, 10, 53: medios agros (Tiberis), Plin. Ep. 5, 6, 12: medium agmen (Turnus), Verg. A. 10, 440: agrum (limes), Plin. 18, 34, 77, 331: caelum (zonae), Ov. M. 1, 46: sectus orbis, Hor. C. 3, 27, 75; cf.: in longas orbem qui secuere vias, Ov. Am. 2, 16, 16.—

b. With the idea of motion, to cut through, i. e. to run, sail, fly, swim, go, etc., through: delphinum similes, qui per maria umida nando Carpathium Libycumque secant, cut through, cleave, Verg. A.5, 595: aequor, id. ib. 5, 218: pontum, id. ib. 9, 103: aequor Puppe, Ov. M. 11, 479: fretum puppe, id. ib. 7, 1; cf.: vada nota (amnis), id. ib. 1, 370: ales avis ... geminis secat aëra pennis, Cic. Arat. 48: aethera pennis (avis), Verg. G. 1, 406; 1, 409: auras (cornus), id. A. 12, 268: ventos (Cyllenia proles), ib. ib. 4, 257: sub nubibus arcum (Iris), id. ib. 9, 15 et saep.— Secare viam (vias), the Gr. te/mnein o(do/n, to take one's way, to travel a road: ille viam secat ad naves, Verg. A. 6, 899: hinc velut diversae secari coeperunt viae, Quint. 3, 1, 14.—

II. Trop. (acc. to I. C. 1. and 2.).

A. To cut up, lash in speaking, i.e. to censure, satirize: secuit Lucilius Urbem, Pers. 1, 114.—

B. To divide (not freq. till after the Aug. per.): cum causas in plura genera secuerunt, Cic. de Or. 2, 27, 117: haec in plures partes, Quint. 8, 6, 13; cf.: scrupulose in partes sectā divisionis diligentiā, id. 4, 5, 6: quae natura singularia sunt secant (corresp. to divido), id. 4, 5, 25: sectae ad tenuitatem suam vires (just before: distinguendo. dividendo), id. 12, 2, 13.—Hence, in Hor., like dirimo (II.), of disputes, to cut off, i.e. to decide them: quo multae magnaeque secantur judice lites, Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 42: magnas res, to cure (as it were, by a light operation), id. S. 1, 10, 15.—And once in Verg.: secare spem (the figure borrowed from the phrases secare mare, auras, viam): quae cuique est fortuna hodie, quam quisque secat spem, whatever hope each follows, i. e. indulges in, entertains, Verg. A. 10, 107 (secat, sequitur, tenet, habet; ut: Ille viam secat ad naves, id. ib. 6, 899: unde et sectas dicimus, habitus animorum et instituta philosophiae circa disciplinam, Serv.).