com-mĭsĕror, ātus, 1,
I v. a. dep. , to commiserate , pity , to bewail (class. but rare); aliquem or aliquid : aliquem, Att. ap. Non. p. 445, 11: fortunam Graeciae, Nep. Ages. 5, 2: in commiserandā re, Auct. Her. 4, 55, 69: interitum fratris, Gell. 1, 5, 6.— *
B Transf., of inan. objects: leo gemitus edens et murmura dolorem cruciatumque vulneris commiserantia, making it known by complaints , Gell. 5, 14, 19.—
II In rhetoric, absol. , of an orator, to excite compassion (cf. commiseratio): quid cum commiserari, conqueri coeperit, Cic. Div. in Caecil. 14, 46: cum commiserandum sit, * Quint. 11, 3, 58.