bēstia¹

1. Animal and animans are the animal as a living being, including man; animal, with reference to his nature, according to which he belongs to the class of living animals, in opp. to inanimus, like ζῶον; animans, with reference to his state, as still living and breathing,¹ in opp. to exanimus; bellua, bestia, and pecus, as irrational beings, in opp. to man, and bellua and pecus, with intellectual reference, as devoid of reason, in peculiar opp. to homo, Cic. N. D. ii. 11; bestia and fera, with moral reference, as wild, and hostile to man. 2. Bellua (from βλάξ) denotes, particularly, a great unwieldy animal, as the elephant, whale, principally sea-monsters; pecus, a domestic animal, particularly of the more stupid kinds, as a bullock, sheep, in opp. to the wild; bestia, a destructive animal, particularly those that are ravenous, as the tiger, wolf, etc., in opp. to birds, Justin, ii. 14, like θηρίον; fera (φῆρες), a wild animal of the wood, as the stag, wolf, tiger, in opp. to domestic animals. Curt. ix. 10. Indi maritimi ferarum pellibus tecti piscibus sole duratis, et majorum quoque belluarum, quos fluctus ejecit, carne vescuntur. And Tac. G. 17. (iv. 291.)

¹ Hence animalium cadavera, not animantium.