lītus

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.)