dĭăpŏrēsis

dŭbĭtātĭo, ōnis, f. [dubito].

A wavering in opinion or judgment; a being uncertain, a doubting; uncertainty, doubt.

Prop.

In gen. (freq. and good prose).

Absol.:

nec tibi sollicitudinem ex dubitatione mea, nec spem ex affirmatione, afferre volui,

Cic. Fam. 9, 17 fin.:

cum res non conjecturā, sed oculis ac manibus teneretur, neque in causa ulla dubitatio posset esse,

id. Cluent. 7, 20:

in ea obscuritate ac dubitatione omnium,

id. ib. 27:

quod quamquam dubitationem non habet, tamen rationes afferendas puto, etc.,

id. Fin. 5, 10; cf. id. Agr. 1, 4, 11; Quint. 4, 3, 6:

dubitationem afferre,

Cic. Off. 1, 41, 147; cf. id. ib. 3, 4, 18:

eo sibi minus dubitationis dari, quod, etc.,

Caes. B. G. 1, 14, 1:

ad tollendam dubitationem sola non sufficiunt,

Quint. 5, 9, 8; cf. id. 5, 13, 51; Cic. Att. 12, 6 fin. al. So in Cicero a few times: sine ulla dubitatione, without any doubt, i. e. per litoten, most certainly (an emphatic sine dubio, v. dubius, I. B. 2. b. e), Cic. Tusc. 3, 3, 5; id. Balb. 13, 31; id. Verr. 2, 4, 18, § 39; id. Cat. 4, 3, 5;

so too, sine dubitatione,

Col. 3, 6, 2 (but far more freq. in signif. II., v. infra).—

With gen.: omnem dubitationem adventus legionum expellere, Caes. B. G. 5, 48 fin.; cf.

juris (i. e. dubitatio, penes quem esset jus),

Cic. Caecin. 4, 9:

generum,

id. de Or. 2, 31, 134:

hujus utilitatis,

Quint. 1, 10, 28.—

With de:

illa Socratica, de omnibus rebus,

Cic. Ac. 1, 4, 17; Auct. B. Afr. 26.—

With rel. or interrog. clause:

si quando dubitatio accidit, quale sit id, etc.,

Cic. Off. 3, 4, 18; id. Cluent. 28, 76; id. Fam. 15, 21:

alterum potest habere dubitationem, adhibendumne fuerit hoc genus... an, etc.,

id. Off. 3, 2, 9; id. Fam. 3, 5, 3; Quint. 11, 2, 44.—

With quin:

cum hic locus nihil habeat dubitationis, quin, etc.,

Cic. Off. 2, 5, 17; cf. id. N. D. 2, 63, 158.—

With a subject acc. and inf.:

hoc a rustico factum extra dubitationem est,

Quint. 7, 1, 48.—

Esp., as a fig. of speech, i. q. Gr. diaporêsis, i. e. hesitation, embarrassment of the speaker, because unable to do justice to the greatness of his theme (e. g. Cic. Rosc. Am. 11; id. de Or. 3, 56, § 214), Auct. Her. 4, 29, 40; cf. Ernest. Lex. Technol. Lat. p. 136.—

Meton. (dubito, I. B.), a doubt, question, considering:

indigna dubitatio homine!

Cic. Lael. 19, 67; so,

ad rem publicam adeundi,

id. Rep. 1, 7, 12.—

A wavering, hesitating in coming to a conclusion; hesitancy, irresolution, delay:

aestuabat dubitatione, versabat se in utramque partem non solum mente, verum etiam corpore,

Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 30; cf.:

qui timor! quae dubitatio! quanta haesitatio tractusque verborum!

id. de Or. 2, 50:

inter dubitationem et moras senati,

Sall. J. 30, 3; cf. id. ib. 62, 9:

aluit dubitatione bellum,

Tac. A. 3, 41 fin. et saep.:

(Caesar) nulla interposita dubitatione legiones ex castris educit,

without any hesitation, promptly, Caes. B. G. 7, 40, 1;

in this signif. very freq. in Cicero: sine ulla dubitatione,

Cic. Cluent. 28, 75; id. Verr. 2, 3, 12; id. Pis. 3; 21 fin.; id. N. D. 1, 1; id. de Or. 2, 28, 122; id. Fam. 1, 5, b. 2. et saep.; cf.:

absque ulla dubitatione,

Vulg. Ruth, 3, 13;

less freq. merely sine dubitatione,

without hesitation, unhesitatingly, Cic. Agr. 2, 9, 23; id. N. D. 3, 34, 84; id. Ac. 2, 29, 94; id. Top. 15 fin.; id. Att. 11, 16, 3; so Cic. Fil. Fam. 16, 21; Auct. B. Alex. 63, 2; Vulg. Act. 10, 29.