specula, ae, f. id.. A high place from which to look out, a look-out, watch-tower: specula, de quo prospicimus, Varr. L. L. 6, § 82 Mull.: praedonum adventum significabat ignis e speculā sublatus, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 35, § 93: dat signum speculā ab altā, Verg. A. 3, 239; Luc. 6, 279: tamquam ex aliquā speculā prospexi tempestatem futuram, Cic. Fam. 4, 3, 1; id. Phil. 7, 7, 19; Col. 7, 3 fin. al.

—Plur., Liv. 29, 23' specularum significationem Sinon invenit, Plin. 7, 56, 57, § 202; Stat. Th. 6, 547; App. de Mundo, p. 69, 40.

—* Trop., a watchtower: stetit Caesar in illā amicitiae speculā, Plin. Pan. 86, 4.

— In gen. In speculis esse, to be on the watch or lookout: nunc homines in speculis sunt, observant, quemadmodum sese unusquisque vestrum gerat, Cic. Verr. 1, 16, 46; cf. id. Deiot. 8, 22: in speculis omnis Abydos erat, Ov. H. (17), 18, 12: in speculis atque insidiis relicti, Cic. Mur. 37, 79: diem unum in speculis fuit, Liv. 34, 26: gentis paratas pendere in speculis, Claud. B. Get. 569.

— Poet., like σκοπιά, a high place, height, eminence: in speculis summoque in vertice montis Planities ignota jacet, Verg. A. 11, 526; so of the summits of mountains, id. E. 8, 59; id. A. 10, 454; of the high walls of a city, id. ib. 11, 877; 4, 586.