A.acquired skill, method, in medicine, Hp.Loc.Hom.41.
II. clever device, ingenious contrivance, Pi.O.13.17 (pl.); “ς. μηχανᾶσθαι” Hdt.3.85; ς. καὶ μηχαναί ib.152; “ἀριθμὸν ἔξοχον σοφισμάτων” A.Pr.459; οὐκ ἔχω ς. ὅτῳ . . πημονῆς ἀπαλλαγῶ ib.470; μὴ . . κἀκχέω τὸ πᾶν ς. S.Ph.14; τὸ Θεσσαλὸν ς. a trick in fighting, v. Θεσσαλός; πολλαῖσι μορφαῖς οἱ θεοὶ σοφισμάτων σφάλλουσιν ἡμᾶς E.Fr.972; τέχναι . . καὶ ς. Ar.Pl.160; “τὸ γὰρ ς. δημοτικόν” Id.Nu.205; “πρὸς μὲν Σωκράτη . . τὸ ς. μοι οὐδέν” Pl. Smp.214a; “τὸ ς. τὸ τοῦ δρεπάνου” Id.La.183d.
2. in less good sense, sly trick, artifice, “δίκην δοῦναι ς. κακῶν” E.Ba.489, cf. Hec.258; ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς ταὐτὰ παρόντα ς. Th.6.77, cf. D.35.2; stage-trick, claptrap, Ar.Ra.17, 872, 1104; of tricks in government, Arist.Pol.1297a35, 1308a2; in cookery, X.Hier.1.23 (pl.).
3. captious argument, quibble, sophism, Pl.R.496a, D.25.18, Epicur.Nat.28.9, etc.; περὶ σοφισμάτων, title of work by Chrysippus; “ς. τῆς ῥητορικῆς” Longin.17.2; opp. a true logical argument (φιλοσόφημα, ἐπιχείρημα), Arist.Top.162a16:— Ar. calls a person σόφισμ᾽ ὅλον, Av.431, cf.Ath.1.11b.
