nĕ-fas — Lewis & Short
nĕ-fas, n.
I indecl., something contrary to divine law, sinful, unlawful, execrable, abominable, criminal; an impious or wicked deed, a sin, a crime (cf.: scelus, flagitium, peccatum).
I Lit.:
quicquid non licet, nefas putare debemus,Cic. Par. 3, 2. 25; cf.:
officia tua mihi nefas est oblivisci,id. Fam. 15, 21, 5:
Mercurius, quem Aegyptii nefas habent nominare,id. N. D. 3, 22, 56: nefas est dictu, miseram fuisse talem senectutem, id. Sen. 5, 13:
eum, cui nihil umquam nefas fuit,id. Mil. 27, 73:
quibus nefas est ... deserere patronos,Caes. B. G. 7, 40:
corpora viva nefas Stygiā vectare carinā,Verg. A. 6, 391:
fas atque nefas,right and wrong, id. G. 1, 505; Hor. Epod. 5, 87; cf. id. C. 1, 18, 10; Ov. M. 6, 585:
per omne fas ac nefas,in every way, Liv. 6, 14, 10:
nefas triste piare,Verg. A. 2, 184:
illa dolos dirumque nefas in pectore versat, Certa mori,id. ib. 4, 563:
lex maculosum edomuit nefas,i. e. adultery, Hor. C. 4, 5, 22:
in omne nefas se parare,Ov. M. 6, 613:
summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori,Juv. 8, 83:
belli,civil war, Luc. 2, 507; cf.:
fugiens civile nefas,id. 7, 432:
magnum nefas contrahere,Just. 24, 3:
facere nefas,Vulg. Deut. 22, 21:
operari,ib. Lev. 20, 13.—Poet., of a wicked person, a wretch, monster:
exstinxisse nefas tamen ... Laudabor (i. e. Helen, as the destroyer of Troy),Verg. A. 2, 585.—Also inserted as an interjection, O horrid! shocking! dreadful! quātenus, heu nefas! virtutem incolumem odimus, Hor. C. 3, 24, 30; cf.:
heu nefas, heu!id. ib. 4, 6, 17:
quosne, nefas! omnes infandā in morte reliqui?Verg. A. 10, 673:
sequiturque, nefas! Aegyptia conjux,id. ib. 8, 688:
Lavinia virgo Visa, nefas! longis comprendere crinibus ignem,O horrible! id. ib. 7, 73.—Esp.:
est nefas,it is forbidden, contrary to law, Varr. L. L. 6, 4. —
II Poet., transf.
A A horrible or monstrous thing:
Eumenides Stygiumque nefas,Luc. 6, 695; 1, 626:
infernum,id. 7, 170; Stat. Th. 6, 942.—
B Impossible: levius fit patientiā Quicquid corrigere est nefas, an impossibility (= a)qe/miton, a)du/naton), Hor. C. 1, 24, 20.