1. erro — Lewis & Short
erro, āvi, ātum, 1, v. n. and
I a. [root er-, to go; desiderative forms, e)/rxomai (e)rsk-); and Lat. (ers-o) erro, to seek to reach; hence, to wander; cf. Germ. irren; Engl. err, etc., v. Georg Curtius Gr. Etym. p. 546 sq.].
I Neutr.
A In gen.
1 Prop., to wander, to wander or stray about, to wander up and down, to rove (freq. and class.; cf.
vagor, palor): propter te errans patria careo,Ter. Heaut. 2, 3, 16; cf.:
cum vagus et exsul erraret,Cic. Clu. 62, 175:
ignari hominumque locorumque Erramus vento huc et vastis fluctibus acti,Verg. A. 1, 333; cf. id. ib. 1, 32; 3, 200; Ov. M. 3, 175; id. F. 2, 335 et saep.:
circum villulas nostras,Cic. Att. 8, 9, 3:
pios per lucos,Hor. C. 3, 4, 7:
inter audaces lupus errat agnos,id. ib. 3, 18, 13; cf.
of beasts,id. S. 1, 8, 35; id. Epod. 2, 12; Verg. E. 1, 9; 2, 21; 6, 40; id. G. 4, 11 et saep.—Pass. impers.:
male tum Libyae solis erratur in agris,Verg. G. 3, 249.—Prov.:
in media luce errare,Sen. Ben. 5, 6, 3.—
b Transf., of inanimate things:
(stellae) quae errantes et quasi vagae nominantur,Cic. Rep. 1, 14;
so of the planets,id. N. D. 2, 20; 3, 20; id. Tusc. 1, 25, 62; Plin. 2, 6, 4, § 12; Vulg. Jud. 13; cf.
of the motion of the stars in gen.,Hor. Ep. 1, 12, 17:
Cocytus errans flumine languido,id. C. 2, 14, 18; cf. Verg. G. 3, 14:
errantesque per altum Cyaneae,Val. Fl. 4, 561:
hic lintres errare videres,Ov. F. 2, 391:
vidi ad frontem sparsos errare capillos,i. e. flying about, Prop. 2, 1, 7; cf. id. 2, 22, 9:
errantia lumina,i. e. moving fitfully about, Prop. 3, 14, 27 (4, 13, 27 M.); cf. Stat. Th. 10, 150:
pulmonibus errat Ignis edax,i. e. spreads, runs about, Ov. M. 9, 201 et saep.—
2 Trop., to wander, stray at random: ne vagari et errare cogatur oratio, Cic. de Or., 48, 209; cf.: erraus et vaga sententia (opp. stabilis certaque), id. N. D. 2, 1, 2:
eo fit, ut errem et vager latius,id. Ac. 2, 20, 66:
ut ingredi libere, non ut licenter videatur errare,id. Or. 23, 77:
errans opinio (opp. stabilis conscientia),id. Fin. 2, 22, 71:
dubiis affectibus errat,Ov. M. 8, 473:
ne tuus erret honos,be in doubt, uncertain, id. F. 1, 468; cf. id. ib. 3, 543.— Poet., with a rel.-clause:
erro, quam insistas viam,I am uncertain, in doubt, Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 197; cf.:
inter recens et vetus sacramentum,i. e. to hesitate, vacillate, Tac. H. 4, 58.—
B In partic., to miss the right way, to lose one's self, go astray (in the literal sense rarely, but in the trop. freq. and class.).
1 Lit.: homo qui erranti comiter monstrat viam, Enn. ap. Cic. Off. 1, 16, 51:
errare viā,Verg. A. 2, 739:
maledictus qui errare facit caecum in itinere,Vulg. Deut. 27, 18.—
2 Trop., to wander from the truth, to err, mistake:
avius errat Saepe animus,Lucr. 3, 463; cf. id. 2, 740:
totā erras viā,Ter. Eun. 2, 2, 14; cf.:
in eo non tu quidem totà re, sed temporibus errasti,Cic. Phil. 2, 9 fin.:
longe,Ter. Ad. 1, 1, 40; cf.
procul,Sall. J. 85, 38 Kritz. N. cr.:
errant probe,Plaut. Am. 3, 3, 20:
vehementer,Cic. Ac. 2, 32, 103:
valde,id. de Or. 2, 19, 83 et saep.:
errare malo cum Platone quam cum istis vera sentire,Cic. Tusc. 1, 17, 39; cf. id. Balb. 28, 64:
erras, si id credis,Ter. Heaut. 1, 1, 53; so with si, id. Hec. 4, 4, 60; Caes. B. G. 5, 41, 5; 7, 29, 2 et saep.:
de nostris verbis errat,Ter. Heaut. 2, 3, 22:
in aliqua re,Quint. 6, 3, 112; 10, 2, 21; 11, 1, 81 al.:
in alteram partem,id. 10, 1, 26; cf.:
in alienos fetus,Liv. 31, 12, 8.—Less freq. with acc. of a neutr. pronoun:
mone, quaeso, si quid erro,Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 30; so with quid, Ter. And. 3, 2, 18; Quint. 2, 5, 16; 2, 3, 11; 2, 6, 6:
hoc,Ter. Phorm. 5, 3, 21.—Poet. also with the acc. of a noun:
errabant tempora,i. e. in chronology, Ov. F. 3, 155.— Pass. impers.:
si fuit errandum,Ov. H. 7, 109:
si nihil esset erratum,Quint. 6, 5, 7:
si erratur in nomine,Cic. Fin. 4, 20 fin.; cf.:
tutius circa priores erratur,Quint. 2, 5, 26:
uno verbo esse erratum,id. 7, 3, 17. —Sometimes, in a palliative manner, of moral error, to err through mistake:
pariter te errantem et illum sceleratissimum persequi,Sall. J. 102, 5; cf. id. ib. 104, 4. —Hence,
b errātum, i, n., an error, mistake, fault:
illud de Flavio et fastis, si secus est, commune erratum est,Cic. Att. 6, 1, 18; cf. id. ib. 13, 44 fin.:
cujus errato nulla venia, recte facto exigua laus proponitur,id. Agr. 2, 2, 5; id. Fam. 5, 20, 8:
nullum ob totius vitae non dicam vitium, sed erratum,id. Clu. 48; cf. id. Lig. 1; id. Sull. 23; and in plur., id. Fam. 16, 21, 2; Sall. J. 102, 10; Ov. Pont. 2, 3, 66.—
II Act. in Aug. poets (only in part. perf.), to wander over or through:
immensum est erratas dicere terras,Ov. F. 4, 573:
ager,id. ib. 3, 655:
orbis,Val. Fl. 4, 447:
litora,Verg. A. 3, 690.