sempiternus

1. Continuum means that which hangs together without break or chasm; perpetuum, that which arrives at an end, without breaking off before. Suet Cæs. 76. Continuos consulatus, perpetuam dictaturam. 2. Perpetuus, sempiternus, and æternus, denote continued duration; but perpetuus, relatively, with reference to a definite end, that of life for example; sempiternus and æternus, absolutely, with reference to the end of time in general; sempiternus means, like ἀΐδιος, the everlasting, what lasts as long as time itself, and keeps pace with time; æternum (from ætas) like αἰώνιον, the eternal, that which outlasts all time, and will be measured by ages, for Tempus est pars quædam æternitatis. The sublime thought of that which is without beginning and end, lies only in æternus, not in sempiternus, for the latter word rather suggests the long duration between beginning and end, without noting that eternity has neither beginning nor end. Sempiternus involves the mathematical, æternus the metaphysical notion of eternity. Cic. Orat. ii. 40, 169. Barbarorum est in diem vivere; nostra consilia sempiternum tempus spectare debent; compare with Fin. i. 6, 17. Motum atomorum nullo a principio, sed æterno tempore intelligi convenire. (i. 1.)