Lexitechnia

Today’s dictionary work, for acies (Cicero, Ad Atticum 10.7):

Mea causa autem alia est, quod beneficio vinctus ingratus esse non possum, nec tamen in acie [me] sed Melitæ aut alio in loco simili [oppidulo] futurum puto.

My case, though, is different, because I’m bound by a favor and can’t be ungrateful, but nevertheless I’m not planning on being on the front lines, but in Malta or in some other place like it.

Right, so acies in this sense is usually glossed as “line of battle”, which in 1913ese (aside from the nautical sense it still seems to have) means “the position of troops drawn up in their usual order without any determined maneuver” — which, I suppose, is not the same as “the front line(s)” sensu stricto. Ah well.  Despite the literal meaning of acies being “edge” (as of a blade), an acies in battle wasn’t necessarily a single line; it was often at least three ranks.

For venter meus (Plautus, Captivi 4.2):

Non ĕgo | nunc păra|sītus | sūm sed | rēgum | rēx re|gālĭ|or,
tāntus | vēntri | cōmme|ātus | me(o) ădest | īn por|tū cĭ|bus.

And I’m no freeloader now, but a pretty kingly king of kings, and my provisions are in the harbor; there’s so much food there for my stomach.

Trochaic septenarius. I’m finding it may make more sense (or at least be less confusing) only to mark those lengths that are assured by the meter.

The comparative regalior “kinglier” is not a usual form, apparently; this line of Plautus is, I think, its most popular occurrence. It seems pretty clear that the word was chosen for comic effect, and it would have been nice to keep ‘kinglier’, but I wasn’t sure of a construction in English that could accommodate it.