Aristotle › Greek Lexicon › ἐπιεικής

ἐπιεικής

epieikes

fitting, meet, suitable

Appears 133 times across Aristotle's works.

Frequency by work

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Dictionary (LSJ)

ἐπιεικής, ές, A. fitting, meet, suitable, τύμβον οὐ μάλα πολλὸν . . , ἀλλʼ ἐπιεικέα τοῖον not very large but meet in size, Il. 23.246; τείσουσι βοῶν ἐπιεικέʼ ἀμοιβήν a fair recompense for them, Od. 12.382.—Elsewh. Hom. has only the neut. ἐπιεικές, either in the phrase ὡς ἐπιεικές as is meet, Il. 19.147, 23.537, Od. 8.389: or c.inf., ὅν κʼ ἐπιεικὲς ἀκουέμεν whom it may be meet for you to hear, Il. 1.547; ὅπλα . . οἷʼ ἐπιεικὲς ἔργʼ ἔμεν ἀθανάτων such as is meet they should be, 19.21, cf. 23.50, Od. 2.207. II. after Hom., 1. of statements, rights, etc., a. reasonable, specious, ἡ δὲ τρίτη τῶν ὁδῶν πολλὸν ἐπιεικεστάτη ἐοῦσα μάλιστα ἔψευσται Hdt. 2.22; ἐ. πρόφασις Th. 3.9; λόγος Pl. Ti. 67d; ἐπιεικῆ λέγειν Id. Ap. 34d; ἐ. ὁδός a tolerable road, Plu. Crass. 22. b. opp. δίκαιος, fair, equitable, not according to the letter of the law, ἐπανόρθωμα νομίμου δικαίου Arist. EN 1137b11, cf. Rh. 1374a26; τῶν δικαίων τὰ ἐπιεικέστερα προτιθεῖσι Hdt. 3.53; οὔτε τοὐπ. οὔτε τὴν χάριν οἶδεν, μόνην δʼ ἔστερξε τὴν ἁπλῶς δίκην S. Fr. 770, cf. E. Fr. 645; συγχωρεῖν τἀπιεικῆ τινι Ar. Nu. 1438; ἐπιεικέστερον ἢ δικαιότερον Antipho 2.2.13; ἐ. ὁμολογία Th. 3.4; γνώμη Ar. V. 1027; τὸ ἐ. καὶ σύγγνωμον Pl. Lg. 757e; πρὸς τὸ ἐ., = ἐπιεικῶς 3, Th. 4.19. 2. of persons, able, capable, παῖς τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἐ., ἄφωνος δέ Hdt. 1.85; οἱ ἐπιεικέστατοι τῶν τριηράρχων X. HG 1.1.30; τίνες . . τῶν νέων ἐπίδοξοι γενέσθαι ἐ. may be expected to turn out well, Pl. Tht. 143d, cf. Lg. 957a; τοὺς ἐ. καὶ τοῦ δήμου καὶ τῶν εὐπόρων Arist. Ath. 26.1. b. in moral sense, reasonable, fair, good, ἐ. τὴν ψυχήν, φύσει, Pl. Smp. 210b, R. 538c: abs., Th. 8.93, Isoc. 1.48, Ep.Jac. 3.17, etc.; ἐ. ἄνδρες, opp. μοχθηροί, Arist. Po. 1452b34; ἐ. περὶ τὰ συμβόλαια D. 34.30; τοὐπιεικές fairness, goodness, S. OC 1127. c. with social or political connotation, the upper or educated classes, λέγω ἀντικεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐ. τῷ πλήθει Arist. Pol. 1308b27, cf. Ath. 28.1. III. Adv. -κῶς, Ion. -κέως, fairly, tolerably, moderately, ἐγγλύσσει ἐ. Hdt. 2.92; ἐ. δάκνειν, παρρησίαν ἄγειν, Phld. Lib.pp.13,45 O.; ἐ. ἔχειν to be pretty well, Hp. Coac. 368; ἐ. ἐξεπίστασθαι Ar. V. 1249; ἔστι τὸ χωρίον ἐ. ἰσχυρόν Hell.Oxy. 13.5; ἐ. ἀναίσθητον Arist. GC 319b20; ἐ. πλατύ Id. HA 495b27, cf. 497a23; οἱ πυρετοὶ ἐς τεταρταῖον ἐ. μεθίστανται about the fourth day, Hp. Coac. 140, cf. Alex. 281; ἐ. τὸ τρίτον μέρος pretty nearly, about, Plb. 6.26.8; ἐ. οἷοί τε ἦσαν κατέχειν were fairly well able . . , Pl. Phd. 117c; ἐ. μὲν . . perhaps, Id. Grg. 493c. 2. probably, reasonably, Id. R. 431e, etc.: Sup. -έστατα, γενέσθαι most suitably, Id. Lg. 753b. 3. with moderation, mildly, kindly, οὐκ ἐ. ἐντυγχάνων οὐδὲ πρᾴως Plu. Pyrrh. 23; ἐ. ἔχειν πρός τινα Isoc. 15.4: Comp. -έστερον, διακείμενοι Id. 8.61. 4. generally, usually, Plu. Pel. 18, Jul. Mis. 348c, Lib. Or. 11.19, al.

Key passages & sense analysis (Bonitz)

Index Aristotelicus. Hermann Bonitz's sense-by-sense analysis of ἐπιεικής — with the passages he singles out as decisive for each meaning — will appear here. That curated, interpretive selection is the layer LSJ and a raw concordance don't provide. Digitisation in progress; this entry is not yet available.
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