U4 On the UTlLlTr of defining 



The- definition given by Servius of humidus, feems to have 

 been very properly rejected by Ausonius Popma, whofe re- 

 marks " de differentiis verborum," are often both ingenious 

 and folid. " Humidum," fays Servius, •* quod extrinfecus 

 " habet aliquid huraoris * ;" to which Popma refufes to alTent, 

 " Cui non adfentior. Humidum enim proprie eit quod in pro- 

 " fundo continet humiditatem, ut terra f." 



Humidus is transferred from the fubjecT: to which, from its 

 etymology, it appears to have been originally applied, to others 

 that ftrongly refemble it. Thus, Virgil fpeaks of the " humida 

 " nox," and means by it that dampnefs which prevails in the air, 

 next the furface of the earth, from the conftant falling of the 

 dew in the courfe of the night. It is transferred by Ovid to 

 the clouds, and by Vitruvius to thofe winds which ordinarily 

 produce rain. 



cadi« Eurus et humida furgunt 



Nubila f. 



" Aufter et reliqui (venti) qui a folis curfu funt humidiffimi §." 

 In both thofe applications of the word, there is a reference 



to a fupply of the wafte, and of courfe to the long continuance 



of the fall expected. 



Humidus is occafionally applied to bodies impregnated with 



moifture, which they receive from others that generated it. 



Cicero fpeaks thus of a bed bedewed with tears, " Qui 



" jacet in leclo humido, 



Ejulatu, queftu, gemitu, fremitibus, 

 Refonando, multum flebiles voces refert **. 



* In Virg. Ec. 10. 20. § Vitruv. 8.21. 



f Lib. 2. 133. ** Cic. Tufc. 9. 2. 33. 



% Virg. iEn. 3. 198. 



The 



