acta¹

1. Ripa (ῥιπή, ἐρείπω,) is the bank of a river, like ὄχθη; whereas litus, ora, acta, the shores of the sea. Mela. lii. 9. Oras ad Eurum sequentibus nihil memorabile occurrit; vasta omnia vastis præcisa montibus ripæ potius sunt quam litora: and iii. 3, 4. i. 2, 2. Vitruv. ii. 9, 14. Circa ripam fluminis Padi et litora maris Adriatici. Colum. i. 5. Ovid, Met. i. 42. 2. Litus denotes the shore only as the line which separates the land from the sea, as the strand, like ἠϊών and ῥηγμίν; whereas ora and acta, as the space and tract of land that borders on the sea, as the coast, like ἀκτή and αἰγιαλός; ora (ὤα, οὖρος,) only in geographical reference to the adjacent land, in opp. to the inland country; but acta (ἀκτή) with the accessory notion of being distinguishable by the senses, inasmuch as the coast affords striking views and a pleasant residence. Liv. xxiv. 8. Classem paravimus ut Africæ oram popularemur, ut tuta nobis Italiæ litora essent. Plin. Ep. v. 6, 2. Gravis et pestilens ora Tuscorum, quæ per litus extenditur. Hence litoris ora, that is, ora per litus extensa, Virg. G. ii. 44. Tac. Ann. ii. 78. Appul. Met. iv. p. 92. Avian. Fab. xx. 10.—And Prudent. adv. Symm. iv. 136. Invenit expositum secreti in litoris acta. Cic. Fam. ix. 6. Ea tractes quorum et usus et delectatio est omnibus illis actis et voluptatibus anteponenda. Acta is a foreign word of Greek extraction, which Tacitus (Hist. iii. 76.) expresses by the circumlocution amœna litorum. (iii. 207.)

1. Agere (ἄγειν) has an effect that exists in time only, like to do; facere, an effect that exists in space also, as to make. The acta are past as soon as the agens ceases, and remain invisible in the memory; the facta cannot properly be said to exist till the faciens ceases. Quintil. ii. 18. The agens is supposed to be in a state of activity of some kind; the faciens in a state of productive activity. 2. Agere means ‘to do’ something for one’s own interest; gerere (ἀγείρειν), for the interest of another, to execute a commission. Cic. Verr. i. 38. Quæ etiamsi voluntate Dolabellæ fiebant, per istum tamen omnia gerebantur. 3. Opus is the result of facere, as the work, ἔργον; factum is the result of agere, as the transaction; res gestæ are deeds [e.g. in war], πράξεις; acta are only political enactments. Cic. Att. xiv. 17. Multa de facto ac de re gesta; the former by the exertions of Amatius, the latter by his own wise and spirited animadversions through Dolabella. 4. Age, agedum, is an earnest exhortation, as ‘On, on!’ I nunc is an ironical exhortation, as ‘Go to!’ 5. Agere means to be active, and in the midst of business; degere, to live somewhere in a state of rest, in voluntary or involuntary inactivity. Tac. Ann. xv. 74. Deum honor principi non ante habetur, quam agere inter homines desierit, compared with iv. 54. Certus procul urbe degere. (v. 327.)