perdŭellĭo, ōnis, f. [perduellis].
I Hostile conduct against one's country , treason , whether consisting of an attempt against the state, its institutions, and chief ruler, or of union with a foreign enemy, desertion, etc. (class.): qui perduellionis reus est, hostili animo adversus rempublicam vel principem animatus est, Dig. 48, 4, 11; Cic. Pis. 2, 4: (Clodius) actionem perduellionis intenderat (for causing the execution of the Catilinarians who were Roman citizens), id. Mil. 14, 36: perduellionis judicium, id. Rab. Perd. 3, 10: tum Sempronius, perduellionis se judicare Cn. Fulvio dixit, that he accused Fulvius of high-treason (for allowing himself to be defeated), Liv. 26, 3: duumviros, qui Horatio perduellionem judicent, secundum legem facio (for killing his sister, which was regarded as a usurpation of the prerogative of punishment, and hence as a crime against the state), Liv. 1, 26: diem perduellionis alicui dicere, Suet. Caes. 12; cf. Liv. 43, 16; Val. Max. 6, 5, 3.—*
II Transf., concr., a ( foreign ) enemy of one's country , a public enemy; for the usual hostis (censured as a bombastic expression), Auct. Her. 4, 10, 15; cf. Amm. 21, 16, 10.