NoDictionaries   Text notes for  
... pauci bona libertatis in cassum disserere, plures bellum pavescere,...

"vainly," "foolishly"--use of prep. and adj. as adverb; in Book I, cf. in incertum et ambiguum, in deterius, in occulto, in speciem. This adverbial usage of a prep. and adj. imitates Greek, especially Thucydides.