obsequium

Parere, obedire and dicto audientem esse, denote obedience as an obligation, and a state of duty and subjection; parere, in a lower relation, as that of a servant to his master, a subject to his sovereign, in opp. to imperare, Cic. Fam. ix. 25; obedire, obœdire, in a freer relation, as that of an inferior to his superior, of a citizen to the law and magistrate; dicto audientem esse, in a relation of the greatest subordination, as that of a soldier to his general, as to obey orders; whereas obsequi, obsecundare, obtemperare, and morigerari, as an act of free will. The obsequens and obsecundans obey from love and complaisance, showing their readiness to obey; the morigerans and obtemperans, from persuasion, esteem, or fear, evincing their conformity to another’s will. Hirt. B. Afr. 51. Jubæ barbaro potius obedientem fuisse quam nuntio Scipionis obtemperasse. Cic. Cæc. 18. Man. 16. Tac. H. ii. 14. Parata non arma modo sed obsequium et parendi amor; that is, readiness to obey, from respect and love to the general, and from taking a pleasure in obedience, from a feeling that without order and subordination their cause could not be upheld. Cic. Orat. 71. Dum tibi roganti voluerim obsequi; comp. with Fam. ix. 25. Obtemperare cogito præceptis tuis. (v. 271.)