văgus, a, um, adj. [root vagh-; Sanscr. vāhas; Gr. ὄχος, wagon; cf. veho], strolling about, rambling, roving, roaming, wandering, unfixed, unsettled, vagrant (freq. and class.; syn. errabundus).
- I. Lit.: cum vagus et exsul erraret, Cic. Clu. 62, 175: itaque vagus esse cogitabam, id. Att. 7, 11, 5: dum existimabam vagos nos fore, id. ib. 7, 26, 3: Gaetuli vagi, palantes, Sall. J. 18, 2; cf. id. ib. 19, 5: multitudo dispersa atque vaga, Cic. Rep. 1, 25, 40 (from Aug. Ep. 138, 10): quae circum vicinos vaga es, Plaut. Mil. 2, 5, 14: navita, Tib. 1, 3, 39: mercator, Hor. A. P. 117: Hercules, id. C. 3, 3, 9: scurra, id. Ep. 1, 15, 28: tibicen, id. A. P. 215: pecus, id. C. 3, 13, 12: aves, id. ib. 4, 4, 2: cornix, id. ib. 3, 27, 16: pisces, id. S. 2, 4, 77: vagi per silvas ritu ferarum, Quint. 8, 3, 81; cf. also: saepe vagos extra limina ferte pedes, Ov. A. A. 3, 418: refringit virgulta pede vago, Cat. 63, 84: ne bestiae quidem … facile patiuntur sese contineri motusque solutos et vagos a naturā sibi tributos requirunt, unrestrained, Cic. Fin. 5, 20, 56: peregrinationes, Sen. Tranq. 2, 13: errores, Ov. M. 4, 502: gressus, Mart. 2, 57, 1.
Of inanim. things: quae (sidera) autem vaga et mutabili erratione labuntur, Cic. Univ. 10; cf.: quae (stellae) errantes et quasi vagae nominarentur, id. Rep. 1, 14, 22: Aurorā exoriente vagi sub limina Solis, Cat. 64, 271: luna, Hor. S. 1, 8, 21: aequora, Tib. 2, 6, 3: flumina, Hor. C. 1, 34, 9: Tiberis, id. ib. 1, 2, 18: venti, id. ib. 3, 29, 24: fulmina, Ov. M. 1, 596: flamma, Hor. S. 1, 5, 73: crines, Ov. M. 2, 673: harena, flying, light, Hor. C. 1, 28, 23: domus (Scytharum), id. ib. 3, 24, 10: lumina noctis, Stat. Th. 3, 63: febres, sporadic, Cels. 3, 5: fel toto corpore, diffusing itself, Plin. 11, 37, 75, § 193.
- II. Trop., wandering, wavering, unsteady, inconstant, doubtful, uncertain, vague: (in oratione) solutum quiddam sit nec vagum tamen, capricious, Cic. Or. 23, 77: genus orationum, id. Brut. 31, 119; cf.: pars quaestionum vaga et libera et late patens, indefinite, vague, id. de Or. 2, 16, 67: nomen Ambrosiae et circa alias herbas fluctuatum, Plin. 27, 4, 11, § 28: de dis immortalibus habere non errantem et vagam, sed stabilem certamque sententiam, Cic. N. D. 2, 1, 2: vaga volubilisque fortuna, id. Mil. 26, 69: vaga popularisque supplicatio, irregular, i. e. celebrated as men chanced to meet, without legal appointment, Liv. 3, 63, 5: incertum diu et quasi vagum imperium, Suet. Vesp. 1: vagus adhuc Domitius, i. e. vacillating between the parties, Vell. 2, 76, 2: puellae, inconstant in love, Prop. 1, 5, 7: vagae moderator juventae, flighty, giddy, Mart. 2, 90, 1; Stat. S. 4, 6, 2: concubitu prohibere vago, i. e. promiscuous, Hor. A. P. 398; so Col. 12, 1, 2; Mart. 6, 21, 6.
Poet., with gen.: vagus animi, wandering in mind, Cat. 63, 4.—adv.: văgē, here and there, far and wide, dispersedly: vage effusi per agros palatique, etc., Liv. 26, 39, 22: res sparsae et vage disjectae, Auct. Her. 4, 2, 3: dispergere, id. ib. 4, 31, 42: dicere, Sen. Q. N. 2, 48, 2.