Arduus, ardua, arduum. Deriuatum nomen ab Ardeo, ardes. Harde: painful: high: difficult: stipe downe as rock sthard to get vp on: also feruent: conragious.Arduus mundus.Virg. Arduus æther. Ouid.Cedrus ardua.Ouid. Ardua ceruix equi. Virg.Cliuus arduus in valles. On. Arduus collis. Tac. Arduus ascensus.Cic.Harde to get vp.Difficili ascensu & arduo erat oppidum.Cic.Arduus aditus Liu.A harde accesse: difficult to get vnto.Per arduum scandere Horat. Ardua via. Cic. Arduum, Substantiuum: vt Ardua terrarum.Virg.High places: hilles harde to passe by.Ardua castellorum excindere. Tac. Ardua molimur.Ouid.We goe about thinges of great diffitultie. Res arduæ ac difficiles.Cic.Harde and difficulte matters: also aduersitie.Opus arduum.Cic.Of great difficultie.Ardui erat operis. Plin. It was harde to bring to passe. Ardua promissa. Claud Great and ample promises.Solum arduum opere. Plin A painfull ground to tsll.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
arduus, a, um, adj. [akin to *a*r*d*w, a)/rsw = to water, to cherish; a)ldai/nw = to make grow; a)ldh/eis = growing; alo, altus, q. v.; 1. ad-oleo, ad-olesco; related to arbor, arbutus as e)ruqro/s, Germ. roth, Engl. red, is related to ruber; Ardea was perh. so called from its lofty situation; cf. Arduenna], high, elevated, lofty, steep (syn.: altus, celsus, sublimis). I.Lit.: Pergama ardua, Enn. ap. Macr. S. 6, 2: aether, Ov. M. 1, 151: sidera, id. ib. 1, 730: cedrus, id. Am. 1, 14, 12: cervix equi, Hor. S. 1, 2, 89: et campo sese arduus infert (Turnus), Verg. A. 9, 53.—Also in prose in Gell.: supercilia, i. e.
proudly elevated
, Gell. 4, 1, 1: confragosus atque arduus clivis,
steep
, Varr. R. R. 1, 18, 4: ascensus, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 23: arduus ac difficilis ascensus, Liv. 25, 13: ardua et aspera et confragosa via, id. 44. 3: via alta atque ardua, Enn. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 16, 37: mons, Ov. M. 1, 316: Tmolus, id. ib. 11, 150 al.—Hence, subst.: arduum, i, n., asteep place, a steep: Ardua dum metuunt, amittunt vera viaï, Lucr. 1, 659: in ardua montis Ite, Ov. M. 8, 692: ardua terrarum, Verg. A. 5, 695: per arduum scandere, Hor. C. 2, 19, 21: in arduo, Tac. A. 2, 47: in arduis ponet nidum suum, Vulg. Job, 39, 27: ardua Alpium, Tac. H. 4, 70: castellorum, id. A. 11, 9: ingressi sunt ardua, Vulg. Jer. 4, 29. —II.Trop.A.That is difficult to reach or attain, difficult, laborious, hard, arduous: magnum opus omnino et arduum conamur, Cic. Or. 10, 33: rerum arduarum ac difficilium perpessio, id. Inv. 2, 54; so id. Leg. 1, 13: id arduum factu erat, Liv. 8, 16; Tac. A. 4, 4: victoria, Ov. M. 14, 453: virtus, Hor. C. 3, 24, 44: nil mortalibus arduum est, id. ib. 1, 3, 37.—Subst.: nec fuit in arduo societas, Tac. A. 12, 15.—B.Troublesome, unpleasant: in primis arduum videtur res gestas scribere, Sall. C. 3, 2, upon which Gellius remarks: Arduum Sallustius non pro difficili tantum, sed pro eo quoque ponit, quod Graeci xalepo\n appellant: quod est cum difficile tum molestum quoque et incommodum et intractabile, Gell. 4, 15: quam arduum onus, Tac. A. 1, 11.—C. Of fortune, difficult, adverse, inauspicious: aequam memento rebus in arduis Servare mentem,
in adversity
, Hor. C. 2, 3, 1.!*? Comp. arduior: iter longius arduiusque erat, Cato ap. Prisc. p. 600 P.—Sup. arduissimus: asperrimo atque arduissimo aditu, Cato ap. Prisc. p. 600 P.; cf.: assiduus, egregius, industrius, perpetuus, and Rudd. I. p. 180, n. 58.—Adv. not used.