călămĭtas, ātis, f. [cf. in columis].
I Lit., loss , injury , damage , mischief , harm : sed ecca ipsa egreditur, nostri fundi calamitas ( Ter. Eun. 79). Proprie calamitatem rustici grandinem dicunt, Don.; cf. the same on Ter. Heaut. 395: robigo genus est vitii, quo culmi pereunt, quod a rusticanis calamitas dicitur, Serv ad Verg. G. 1, 151: postquam calamitas plures annos arvas calvitur, Pac. ap. Non. p. 192, 30; Plaut. Cas. 5, 2, 34; id. Capt. 4, 3, 4: non ut legatus populi Romani, sed ut quaedam calamitas pervadere videretur, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 17, § 44 (cf. calamitosus, I A.): in calamitate fructuum, in the failure , id. ib. 2, 3, 98, § 227: gregem afficere magnā calamitate, Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 27.—
II Trop.
A In gen., loss , misfortune , mishap , injury , calamity , disaster , ruin , adversity (freq. in class. prose and in iambic verse; excluded from hexameters by the measure): quanta, Plaut. Poen. 4, 2, 101: ita eam oppressit calamitas, Ter. Hec. 30: nova, Cic. Agr. 2, 3, 8: videbam, perniciem meam cum magnā calamitate rei publicae esse conjunctam, id. Cat. 1, 5, 11: aliis cau-sam calamitatis attribuere, id. Verr. 2, 5, 41, § 106: calamitatem capere, id. Div. 1, 16: in calamitate esse, distress , Sall. C. 44, 5: calamitates perferre, Caes. B. G. 3, 19: tolerare, Cic. Att. 3, 14, 2: ferre, Nep. Timo l. 4, 1; cf.: calamitates ferre, id. Ham. 1, 3: calamitate prohibere aliquem, Cic. Imp. Pomp. 7, 18: ignominiam et calamitatem in domum referre, id. Off. 1, 39, 138; Phaedr. 1, 3 fin. ; cf. id. 3, prol. 40: calamitates publicae, Suet. Calig. 31; Col. 1, 3, 7.—
B In the histt. esp., the misfortunes of war , disaster , defeat : magnam inde calamitatem pulsos accepisse; quibus proeliis calamitatibusque fractos, etc., Caes. B. G. 1, 31: magna clades atque calamitas rempublicam oppressisset, Sall. C. 39, 4: accipere, Nep. Con. 1, 3: accidit illa calamitas apud Leuctra, id. Ages. 6, 1: calamitates belli ferre, id. Hann. 1, 3: calamitatem inferre alicui, Caes. B. G. 1, 12.—Hence opp. to victoria, Suet. Caes. 60.—
III Transf.: hostium adversus calamitates contendere, against the prostrate enemy , Just. 11, 12, 13.