quaestio, onis, f. [quaero], a seeking. I. In general (Plautin.): cave, fuas mi in quaestione, lest you suffer yourself to be to seek, lest I have to look after you, T. Maccius Plautus, Persa 1, 1, 52; tibi ne in quaestione essemus, idem, Captivi 2, 2, 3; idem, Pseudolus 2, 2, 68. --II. in particular, an inquiry, investigation, a questioning, question, subject of inquiry : quaestio est appetitio cognitiones, quaestionisque finis inventio, M. Tullius Cicero, Academicae Quaestiones 2, 8, 26; 2, 36, 115 : quae veri simillima (sententia sit), magna quaestio est, idem, Tusculanae Disputationes 1, 11, 23; idem, De Finibus 2, 11, 34: rem in disceptationem quaestionemque vocare, to investigate, idem, De Oratore 3, 32, 129: res in quaestione versatur, is under investigation, idem, Oratio pro Cluentio 58, 159: de moribus ultima fiet quaestio, D. Junius Juvenalis 3, 141 : res in quaestionem venit, comes under investigation, M. T. Quintilianus 5, 14, 16: modo aliquam quaestionem poėticam ei proponeret, Cornelius Nepos, Atticus 20, 2; cf. M. Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum 7, 19 fin. ; L. Annaeus Seneca, De Beneficiis 5, 8, 6; idem, Epistulae 48, 1; C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Tiberius 56: quaestionem institutere, to institute an investigation, M. T. Quintilianus 7, 1, 6: quaestionem solvere, L. Annaeus Seneca, Epistulae 48, 11; M. T. Quintilianus 5, 10, 26. --2. A public judicial investigation, examination by torture, a criminal inquiry, inquisition; the crime is usually constructed with de: cum praetor quaestionem inter sicarios exercuisset, instituted a trial for assassination, M. Tullius Cicero, De Finibus 2, 16, 54: verberibus ac tormentis quaestionem habuit pecuniae publicae, idem, Orationes Philippicae 11, 2, 5: quaestionem mortis paternae de servis paternis habere, idem, 28, 78: quaestionem fugitare, idem, ibid 28, 78: servos in quaestionem polliceri, idem, ibid 28, 77: quaestionem ferre in aliquem, to appoint, institute, make a motion for, idem, De Oratore 1, 53, 227: habere ex aliquo, Liv. 33, 28: facere alicui, against any one, Digesta 34, 3, 20: quaestionem de furto constituere, M. Tullius Cicero, Oratio pro Cluentio 64, 181: quaestionem instituere de morte alicujus, idem, ibid 64, 181: quaestionem de morte viri habere, idem, ibid 65, 182; 63, 176: quaestionem habere de servis in caput, filii, idem, ibid 63, 176: ad quaestionem abripi, to examination by torture, idem, ibid 33, 89: alicui servum in quaestionem ferre, idem, ibid 64, 181: postulare servum in quaestionem, idem, ibid 64, 181: quaestiones sererius exercere, Titus Livius 9, 34: quaestioni praeesse, to conduct a trial as judge, M. Tullius Cicero, Oration pro Quinto Roscio Amerino 4, 11: quaestiones perpetuae, the inquisitions concerning certain crimes (repetundarum, majestatis, de falso, de sicariis, de injuriis, etc.), conducted annually, after 605 A.U.C., by a standing commission, and presided over by the praetor, M. Tullius Cicero, Brutus sive de Claris Oratoribus 27, 106: judex quaestionis, the director of the criminal court under the presidency of the praetor, idem, Oratio pro Cluentio 54, 148, 33, 89; idem, Brutus sive de Claris Oratoribus 76, 264: quaestiones extraordinariae, trials out of the common course, held under a special commission, Titus Livius 39, 14; so, quaestio nova, M. Tullius Cicero, Oratio pro Milone 5, 13: A QUAESTIOIBVS, an attendant in examinations, a torturor, inquisitor, Inscr. Grut. 545, 6 ; 560, 1 --B. Transfered 1. The court, the judges : dimittere eo tempore quaestionem, M. Tullius Cicero, Actio in Verrem 2, 2, 30, § 75: totam quaestionem a severitate ad clementium transtulit, Valerius maximus 8, 1, 6. --2. The subject of investigation, the matter, case, question : perdifficilis et perobscura quaestio est de natura deorum, M. Tullius Cicero, De Deorum Naturā 1, 1, 1: dividere totam de dis immortalibus quaestionem in partis quattuor, idem, ibid 2, 1, 3: quaestion proposita, M. T. Quintilianus 9, 2, 39. --b, in particular, in rhetoric (a) The rhetorical subject of debate : quaestionum duo sunt genera: alterum infinitum, alterum definitum. Definitum est, quod [Greek word] Graeci, nos causam: infinitum, quod [Greek word] illi appellant, nos propositum possumus nominare, M. Tullius Cicero, Topica 21, 79. --(b) The main point in a disputed matter, the issue in a cause : quaestio est quae ex conflictione causarum gignitur controversia, hoc modo: Non jure fecisti: jure feci. Causarum autem haec est conflictio, in qua constitutio constat ; ex ea igitur nascitur controversia, quam quaestionem dicimus, hoc modo : jurene fecerit, M. Tullius Cicero, De Inventione Rhetorica 1, 13, 18; cf. idem, ibid 1, 6, 8. -- (c) A question, a disputed point, quaestio est, it is doubtful, may be disputed : sapientia efficit sapientis sola per se : beatos efficiat necne sola per se quaestio est, M. Tullius Cicero, Topica 15, 60; idem, Tusculanae Disputationes 4, 13, 29; idem, De Inventione Rhetorica 2, 20, 60: quaestio est, an, etc., M. T. Quintilianus 7, 3, 22; cf.: nulla quaestio est, Aurelius Augustinus, Retractationes 1, 19, 6; cf. also: in quaestione est, C. Plinius Secundus 11, 17,18, § 57; 10, 22, 27, § 52: quaestiones est immensae, idem 7, 28, 29, § 101; 28, 2, 3, § 10.