I.a scanned long, Lucr. 3, 502), āvi, ātum, 1, v. n. cf. Sanscr. vak-, to roll; vank-, to shake, to sway to and fro; to waddle, stagger, reel, totter, waver, vacillate (class.; a favorite word with Cic.; cf.: nuto, titubo).
I. Lit., of drunken persons: quosdam ex vino vacillantes, quosdam hesternā potatione oscitantes, Cic. Fragm. ap. Quint. 8, 3, 66: “videre quosdam ex vino vacillantis,” Quint. 11, 3, 165: “praepediuntur crure vacillanti,” Lucr. 3, 479; cf. Ruhnk. ad Rutil. Lup. 2, 7, p. 164 Frotsch.: “in utramque partem toto corpore vacillans,” Cic. Brut. 60, 216: “arbor ventis pulsa vacillans aestuat,” Lucr. 5, 1096; so, “ambusta,” id. 1, 806: “vacillant omnia tecta,” id. 6, 575: “sub pedibus tellus cum tota vacillat,” id. 5, 1236: “accepi tuam epistulam vacillantibus litterulis,” Cic. Fam. 16, 15, 2.—
II. Trop., to waver, hesitate, stagger, be untrustworthy, to vacillate: “tota res vacillat et claudicat,” Cic. N. D. 1, 38, 107: “Erotem ad ista expedienda factum mihi videbar reliquisse, cujus non sine magnā culpā vacillarunt,” have fallen into confusion, id. Att. 14, 18, 2: “justitia vacillat vel jacet potius,” id. Off. 3, 33, 118: “stabilitas amicitiae vacillat,” id. Fin. 1, 20, 66: “legio vacillans,” wavering in fidelity, id. Phil. 3, 12, 31: γεροντικώτερον est memoriola vacillare, id. Att. 12, 1, 2: “partim sumptibus in vetere aere alieno vacillant,” are staggering beneath a load of old debts, id. Cat. 2, 10, 21: “aegrotat fama vacillans,” Lucr. 4, 1124: “gentes vacillantes,” Vell. 2, 130, 3: “cum animus paulum vacillavit,” Sen. Ep. 114, 22: “testes, qui adversus fidem testationis suae vacillant, audiendi non sunt,” Dig. 22, 5, 2: “cujus (testis) ita anceps fides vacillat,” ib. 48, 10, 27.
