ambĭtĭo, ōnis, f. [ambio], a going round.
I In the time of the republic, t. t. (v. ambio, II. B.), the going about of candidates for office in Rome , and the soliciting of individual citizens for their vote , a canvassing , suing for office (by just and lawful means; while ambitus denotes unlawful means, as bribery, threats, etc.): quid de nostris ambitionibus loquar? Cic. Tusc. 2, 26, 62: mea me ambitio ab omni illā cogitatione abstrahebat, id. Sull. 4: cum ambitionis nostrae tempora postulabant, id. Planc. 18, 45: si infinitus forensium rerum labor et ambitionis occupatio decursu honorum etiam aetatis flexu constitisset, id. de Or. 1, 1, 1: hic magistratus a populo summā ambitione contenditur, id. Verr. 2, 2, 53, 131: tanta exarsit ambitio, ut primores civitatis prensarent homines, Liv. 3, 35, 1 et saep.—
II. A. In gen., a striving for one's favor or good-will; an excessive desire to please , flattery , adulation : ambitione labi, Cic. Brut. 69, 244: sive aliquā suspitione sive ambitione adducti, id. Clu. 28, 76: in Scipione ambitio major, vita tristior, id. Off. 1, 30, 108 Heus., Beier, and Gernh.: Dionysius Platonem magnā ambitione Syracusas perduxit, in an ostentatious manner , for the purpose of securing his favor, Nep. Dion, 2, 2 Br. and Dähn.: ambitio (i.e. studium Fabiis placendi) obstabat, Liv. 5, 36: ambitione relegatā, without flattery , Hor. S. 1, 10, 84: ambitionem scriptoris facile averseris, obtrectatio et livor pronis auribus accipiuntur, Tac. H. 1, 1: nullo officii aut ambitionis genere omisso, i.e. nullis blanditiis, Suet. Oth. 4: coronas quam parcissime et sine ambitione tribuit, id. Aug. 25 et saep.—Hence, also partiality : jus sibi per ambitionem dictum non esse, Liv. 3, 47.—
B With the predom. idea of the purpose or end, a desire for honor , popularity , power , display , etc.; in bon. part., ambition; in mal. part., vanity. —So in Lucr. of the ambitious efforts of men: Angustum per iter luctantes ambitionis, struggling to press through the narrow way of ambition , Lucr. 5, 1132: me ambitio quaedam ad honorum studium duxit, Cic. Att. 1, 17: Miserrima omnino est ambitio honorumque contentio, id. Off. 1, 25: a quo incepto studioque me ambitio mala detinuerat, Sall. C. 4, 2: aut ab avaritiā aut miserā ambitione laborat, Hor. S. 1, 4, 26: Vitā solutorum miserā ambitione gravique, id. ib. 1, 6, 129; so id. ib. 2, 3, 78; 2, 6, 18: inanis, id. Ep. 2, 2, 207: levis, Ov. F. 1, 103 al.: licet ipsa vitium sit ambitio, tamen frequenter causa virtutum est, Quint. 1, 2, 22: perversa, id. 10, 7, 20: funerum nulla ambitio, no display , pomp , Tac. G. 27.—
C Great exertion : cum admitti magnā ambitione aegre obtinuisset, Just. 1, 3.—
D That which surrounds (v. ambio, 2.; postclass. for ambitus): vimineos alveos circumdant ambitione tergorum bubulorum, with a wrapping of cowhide , Sol. 22: fuliginem ambitio extimae cutis cohibet, id. 35: ita assedimus, ut me ex tribus medium lateris ambitione protegerent, Min. Oct. 4.