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[52] δικαίῳ, ‘proper.’ As “δίκη” represents the common custom or usage obtaining among men, “δίκαιος” is one who observes this “ὃς περίοιδε δίκας ἰδὲ φρόνιν ἄλλων” infra 244; = who knows how men commonly act and think. Compare the words of Telemachus, Od.18. 228“αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ θυμῷ νοέω καὶ οἶδα ἕκαστα”,

“ἐσθλά τε καὶ τὰ χέρεια”. Here again the connection is closely drawn between knowledge and propriety by the expression “πεπνυμένῳ ἀνδρὶ δικαίῳ”, with which we may compare the complaint against the suitors, Od.2. 282, that they are “οὔ τι νοήμονες οὐδὲ δίκαιοι”. See farther, Od.13. 209; 3.133. The same thought underlies the phrase “ψεῦδος δ᾽ οὐκ ἐρέει, μάλα γὰρ πεπνυμένος ἐστί”, supra 20.

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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