1. of persons, acting of one's own will, of oneself, “αὐ. δέ οἱ ἦλθε” Il.2.408; “αὐ. φοιτῶσι Νοῦσοι” Hes.Op.103; “αὐ. ἥκω” Ar.Pl.1190, cf. Th.6.91, D.S.2.25, etc.
2. of inanimate things, self-acting, spontaneous, of the gates of Olympus, “αὐτόμαται δὲ πύλαι μύκον οὐρανοῦ” Il.5.749; of the tripods of Hephaistos, which ran of themselves, “ὄφρα οἱ αὐτόματοι . . δυσαίατ᾽ ἀγῶνα” 18.376, cf. Pl.Com.188; “ὅπλα . . αὐ. φανῆναι ἔξω προκείμενα τοῦ νηοῦ” Hdt.8.37; “τὰ αὐ.” marionettes, Arist.GA734b10, Hero Aut. passim: generally, spontaneous, “βίος” Pl.Plt.271e; “ἔπαινος” Epicur. Sent.Vat.64.
3. of natural agencies, “ὁ ποταμὸς αὐ. ἐπελθών” of itself, Hdt.2.14; of plants, growing of themselves, “αὐ. ἐκ τῆς γῆς γίνεται” Id.3.100; “αὐ. φύεσθαι” Id.2.94, Thphr.Fr.171.11; “κύτισος αὐ. ἔρχεται” Cratin.98.8: metaph., “αὐτόματα πάντ᾽ ἀγαθὰ . . ποριζεται” Ar. Ach.976, cf. Cratin.160; of philosophers, “αὐ. ἀναφύονται” Pl.Tht. 180c.
4. of events, happening of themselves, without external agency, “αὐ. δεσμὰ διελύθη” E.Ba.447; αὐ. θάνατος natural death, D. 18.205; “κόποι αὐ.” not to be accounted for externally, Hp.Aph.2.5; “ἀπό τινος αἰτίας αὐτομάτης” Pl.Sph.265c; without visible cause, accidental, opp. ἀπὸ πείρης, Hdt.7.9.γ́.
II. αὐτόματον, τό, accident, “τὸ αὐ. αἰτιᾶσθαι” Lys.6.25; “σε ταὐ. ἀποσέσωκε” Men.Epit.568; “διὰ τὸ αὐ.” Arist.Ph.195b33; “τὸ αὐ. ἀγαπῶντες” Id.Ath.8.5; τῷ αὐ., opp. τέχνῃ, Id.Metaph.1070a7: most freq. in the form ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτομάτου or “ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου, ἀποθανέειν ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐ.” Hdt.2.66, cf. Th.2.77, Pl. Ap.38c, al., Arist.Po.1452a5, al., Men.Pk.31; “ἐκ τοῦ αὐ.” X.An.1.3.13; τὸ Αὐ. personified, Ath.Mitt.35.458 (Pergam.); “ταὐτόματόν ἐστιν ὡς ἔοικέ που θεός” Men.291.
III. Adv. -τως, = ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου, v.l. in Hdt.2.180, Hp.Fract.43, Arist.PA640a27, al., Theoc.21.27; of itself, “κοχλίας αὐ. βαδίζων” Plb.12.13.11:—also αὐτοματεί or -τί (q.v.).
