Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

ambĭtĭo, ōnis, f. [ambio], a going round.

  1. I. In the time of the republic, t. t. (v. ambio, II. B.), the going about of candidates for office in Rome, and the soliciting of individual citizens for their vote, a canvassing, suing for office (by just and lawful means; while ambitus denotes unlawful means, as bribery, threats, etc.): quid de nostris ambitionibus loquar? Cic. Tusc. 2, 26, 62: mea me ambitio ab omni illā cogitatione abstrahebat, id. Sull. 4: cum ambitionis nostrae tempora postulabant, id. Planc. 18, 45: si infinitus forensium rerum labor et ambitionis occupatio decursu honorum etiam aetatis flexu constitisset, id. de Or. 1, 1, 1: hic magistratus a populo summā ambitione contenditur, id. Verr. 2, 53, 131: tanta exarsit ambitio, ut primores civitatis prensarent homines, Liv. 3, 35, 1 et saep.
  2. II.
    1. A. In gen., a striving for one’s favor or good-will; an excessive desire to please, flattery, adulation: ambitione labi, Cic. Brut. 69, 244: sive aliquā suspitione sive ambitione adducti, id. Clu. 28, 76: in Scipione ambitio major, vita tristior, id. Off. 1, 30, 108 Heus., Beier, and Gernh.: Dionysius Platonem magnā ambitione Syracusas perduxit, in an ostentatious manner, for the purpose of securing his favor, Nep. Dion, 2, 2 Br. and Dähn.: ambitio (i.e. studium Fabiis placendi) obstabat, Liv. 5, 36: ambitione relegatā, without flattery, Hor. S. 1, 10, 84: ambitionem scriptoris facile averseris, obtrectatio et livor pronis auribus accipiuntur, Tac. H. 1, 1: nullo officii aut ambitionis genere omisso, i.e. nullis blanditiis, Suet. Oth. 4: coronas quam parcissime et sine ambitione tribuit, id. Aug. 25 et saep.
      Hence, also partiality: jus sibi per ambitionem dictum non esse, Liv. 3, 47.
    2. B. With the predom. idea of the purpose or end, a desire for honor, popularity, power, display, etc.; in bon. part., ambition; in mal. part., vanity.
      So in Lucr. of the ambitious efforts of men: Angustum per iter luctantes ambitionis, struggling to press through the narrow way of ambition, Lucr. 5, 1132: me ambitio quaedam ad honorum studium duxit, Cic. Att. 1, 17: Miserrima omnino est ambitio honorumque contentio, id. Off. 1, 25: a quo incepto studioque me ambitio mala detinuerat, Sall. C. 4, 2: aut ab avaritiā aut miserā ambitione laborat, Hor. S. 1, 4, 26: Vitā solutorum miserā ambitione gravique, id. ib. 1, 6, 129; so id. ib. 2, 3, 78; 2, 6, 18: inanis, id. Ep. 2, 2, 207: levis, Ov. F. 1, 103 al.: licet ipsa vitium sit ambitio, tamen frequenter causa virtutum est, Quint. 1, 2, 22: perversa, id. 10, 7, 20: funerum nulla ambitio, no display, pomp, Tac. G. 27.
    3. C. Great exertion: cum admitti magnā ambitione aegre obtinuisset, Just. 1, 3.
    4. D. That which surrounds (v. ambio, 2.; postclass. for ambitus): vimineos alveos circumdant ambitione tergorum bubulorum, with a wrapping of cowhide, Sol. 22: fuliginem ambitio extimae cutis cohibet, id. 35: ita assedimus, ut me ex tribus medium lateris ambitione protegerent, Min. Oct. 4.