Centesimus Sexagesimus Sextus: July 22, 2009: Ocior
Theme for the remainder of the month: Alphabet Soup
ocior, ocioris (adj)
Definition: swifter, quicker
Sententia: Vergil's Aeneid, Book 5 l. 318-19
Primus abit longeque ante omnia corpora Nisus
emicat, et ventis et fulminis ocior alis;
Nisus first goes and darts forth far before all the bodies, swifter than both the wind and the wings of lightening.
Book 5 is primarily about the funereal games in Sicily of Anchises, Aeneas' father, who died a year earlier. In that intervening time, Aeneas has gone to Carthage, and is now on his way back to Italy. This particular selection describes the beginning of a footrace, in which Nisus is ahead at first, but then falters later on because he slips and falls.
"Ocior" is an adjective born in the comparative form. It is found on the AP syllabus in the Aeneid book 4, and off-syllabus in books 5, 8, 9, 10, and 12. It is also used by Ovid in book 1 of his Metamorphoses in the Daphne and Apollo story. It comes from similar roots as Greek "ωκύς" ("okus") meaning "swift."
NB: Bold and underline == macron