dīvortĭum (‡ divertium, Inscr. Orell. 4859), ii, n. [diverto], a separation.
- I. In gen.: ubi illud quod volo habebo ab illo, facile invenio, quomodo divortium et discordiam inter nos parem, Plaut. Truc. 2, 4, 66 sq. (with a play on II. 1 infra): neutrubi habebo stabile stabulum, siquid divorti fuat, id. Aul. 2, 2, 56.
- II. Esp.
- 1. A divorce, dissolution of marriage (by consent; opp. repudium, compulsory divorce by either party; cf. Dig. 24, 2, 2, § 1); orig. used only of the wife: uxori sit reddunda dos divortio, Plaut. Stich. 2, 1, 48; Cic. de Or. 3, 40; id. Clu. 5, 14; Plaut. Mil. 4, 4, 31; Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 7; but afterwards in gen., Cic. Att. 12, 52, 2: et Lentulum cum Metella certe fecisse divortium, id. ib. 13, 7, 1; id. Phil. 2, 28, 69; id. de Or. 1, 40, 183; id. Top. 4, 19; id. Clu. 67; Quint. 7, 4, 11; Suet. Caes. 6 et saep.
- 2. Concr., a point of separation, place where a road divides, a fork in a road, Verg. A. 9, 379; cf. itinerum, Liv. 44, 2, 7: artissimo inter Europam Asiamque divortio Byzantium posuere Graeci, Tac. A. 12, 63.
So, aquarum, i. e. a summit whence the streams run different ways, a water-shed, Cic. Att. 5, 20, 3; id. Fam. 2, 10, 2; Liv. 38, 45, 3.
- III. Trop.
- 1. Ex communi sapientium jugo sunt doctrinarum facta divortia, etc., divisions, varieties, Cic. de Or. 3, 19, 69.
- 2. Veris et hiemis, the time at which winter ends and spring begins, Col. 4, 27, 1.
- 3. Alta divortia riparum, lofty opposite banks, Amm. 15, 4, 3.
- 4. Tanto rerum divortio, opposition, inconsistency, Ap. de Mundo, p. 66, 9: anima nullum init cum sua unitate divortium, Macr. Somn. Scip. 1, 6, 9.