con-volvo, volvi, vŏlūtum, 3, v. a., to roll together, roll up, roll round (first freq. in the post-Aug. per., esp. in Pliny the elder).
I Lit.: ignis semina convolvunt venti, Lucr. 6, 200 sq.: se sol, Cic. Div. 1, 23, 46: lubrica terga coluber, Verg. A. 2, 474 (in acc. with Hom. Il. 22, 95: δράκων ἑλισσόμενος): rapta turbines, Sen. Ep. 94, 67: se venae arborum, Plin. 16, 39, 76, § 198 al.—So in part. perf. : convoluti in semet dracones, Plin. 10, 72, 92, § 197: aër ignavo globo torpet, id. 2, 8, 6, § 33; 11, 37, 45, § 124 al.—Poet.: gentes mare, i. e. involved by inundating , Luc. 4, 623.—Medial: pennis convolvitur Ales, Cic. poët. N. D. 2, 44, 113.—
B Esp.
1 To fasten together, interweave, interlace : testudo convoluta omnibus rebus, quibus ignis jactus et lapides defendi possent, Caes. B. C. 2, 2: spartum convolutum osseis iligneisve conamentis, Plin. 19, 2, 7, § 27.—
2 Of a written book or roll of manuscript, to unroll and roll up , as one reads; hence, to look over : magnam partem (historiae), Sen. Contr. 5 (10), prooem. § 8.—
II Trop.: Gallograeciam quoque Syriatici belli ruina convolvit, involved , Flor. 2, 11, 1 (in Sen. Ep. 40, 2, the right read. is convellere).