A.“ἀρχέμεναι” Il.20.154: impf. ἦρχον ib.2.378, etc.; Dor. “ἆρχον” Pi.O.10(11).51: fut. “ἄρξω” Od.4.667, A.Pr.940, Th.1.144: aor. ἦρξα, Ep. “ἄρξα” Od.14.230, etc.: pf. “ἦρχα” CIG3487.14 (Thyatira), Decr. ap. Plu.2.851f:—Med., Od.8.90, etc.; non-thematic part. “ἄρχμενος” Call.Aet.3.1.56, al.: impf., Il.9.93, Hdt.5.28: fut. ἄρξομαι (in med. sense, v. infr.) Il.9.97, E.IA442, X.Cyr.8.8.2; Dor. “ἀρξεῦμαι” Theoc.7.95: aor. “ἠρξάμην” Od.23.310, etc.:—Pass., pf. ἦργμαι only in med. sense, v. infr. 1.2: aor. “ἤρχθην, ἀρχθῆναι” Th.6.18, Arist.Pol.1277b13, v. infr.11.4:—to be first,
I. in Time, begin, make a beginning, Act. and Med. (in Hom. the Act. is more freq., in Att. Prose the Med., esp. where personal action is emphasized), “πολέμου ἄρχειν” to be the aggressor, Th.1.53; π. ἄρχεσθαι to begin one's operations, X.HG6.3.6; ἄρχειν τοῦ λόγου to open a conversation, Id.An.1.6.6; ἄρχεσθαι τοῦ λόγου to begin one's speech, ib.3.2.7. Constr.:
1. mostly c. gen., make a beginning of, “ἄρχειν πολέμοιο” Il.4.335; “μύθων” Od.3.68; “τῶν ἀδικημάτων πρῶτον τοῦτο ἄρξαι” Hdt. 1.2; “ἦρξεν ἐμβολῆς” A.Pers.409; τοῦ κακοῦ ib.353; ἄρχειν χειρῶν ἀδίκων, ἄρχειν τῆς πληγῆς, strike the first blow, Antipho 4.2.1 and 2:— in Med. in religious sense, = ἀπάρχεσθαι, ἀρχόμενος μελέων beginning with the limbs, Od.14.428, cf. E.Ion651; but Act., “σπονδαῖσιν ἄρξαι” Pi.I.6(5).37.
2. c. gen., begin from or with . . , “ἐν σοὶ μὲν λήξω σέο δ᾽ ἄρξομαι” Il.9.97; “ἄρχεσθαι Διός” Pi.N.5.25; πόθεν ἄρξωμαι; A.Ch. 855; “πόθεν ποτὲ ἦρκται” Hp. VM5; ἄρχεσθαι, ἦρχθαι ἔκ τινος, Od.23.199, Hp.Off.11; ἀπό τινος freq. in Prose, ἀρξάμενοι αὐτίκα ἀπὸ παιδίων even from boyhood, Hdt.3.12; but more commonly ἐκ παίδων, ἐκ παιδός, etc., Pl.R.408d, Thg.128d:—ἀπό in non-temporal relations, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ σοῦ. i.e. including yourself, Pl.Grg.471c, cf. D.18.297; “ἀπὸ τῶν πατέρων” X.Mem.3.5.15; “μέχρι τῶν δώδεκα ἀπὸ μιᾶς ἀρξάμενος” Pl.Lg.771c; ἀφ᾽ ἱερῶν ἠργμένη ἀρχή ib.771a; “ἀφ᾽ Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενος” Ar.V.846.
3. c. gen. rei et dat. pers., ἄρχε θεοῖς δαιτός begin a banquet to the gods, Il.15.95; “τοῖς ἄρα μύθων ἦρχε” 2.433, etc.; “τῇσι δὲ . . ἄρχετο μολπῆς” Od.6.101; “ἦρξε τῇ πόλει ἀνομίας τὸ νόσημα” Th.2.53, cf. 12; “τὴν ἡμέραν ἄρχειν ἐλευθερίας τῇ Ἑλλάδι” X.HG2.2.23; “ἡμὶν οὐ σμικρῶν κακῶν ἦρξεν τὸ δῶρον” S.Tr.871.
4. c. acc., ἄρχειν ὁδόν τινι, show him the way, Od.8.107 (but also ἄρχειν ὁδοῖο lead the way, 5.237): abs. (sc. ὁδόν)“, ἄρχε δ᾽ Ἀθήνη” 3.12; “σὺ μὲν ἄρχε” Il.9.69; “ἦ ῥα καὶ ἄρχε λέχοσδε κιών” 3.447; “ἦρχε δ᾽ ἄρα σφιν Ἄρης” 5.592, cf. infr. 11.2: with other accusatives, “ἄρχειν ὕμνον” Pi.N.3.10; “ἅπερ ἦρξεν” A.Ag.1529 (lyr.); “λυπηρόν τι” S.El.552; “ὕβριν” Id.Fr.368.
5. of actions, “σέο δ᾽ ἕξεται ὅττι κεν ἄρχῃ” Il.9.102: freq. c. inf., τοῖσιν δ᾽ ἦρχ᾽ ἀγορεύειν among them, Il.1.571, etc.; ἦρχε νέεσθαι, ἦρχ᾽ ἴμεν, 2.84, 13.329; “ἄρχετε νῦν νέκυας φορέειν” Od.22.437, etc.; “ὑφαίνειν ἤρχετο μῆτιν” Il.7.324; “ἤρξαντο οἰκοδομεῖν” Th.1.107; “ἡ νόσος ἤρξατο γενέσθαι” Id.2.47: c. part., of continued action or condition, “ἦρχον χαλεπαίνων” Il.2.378; “ἢν ἄρξῃ ἀδικέων” Hdt.4.119; “ἡ ψυχὴ ἄρχεται ἀπολείπουσα” X.Cyr.8.7.26; “πόθεν ἂν ὀρθῶς ἀρξαίμεθα ἐπαινοῦντες;” Pl.Mx.237a, cf. Tht.187a (but “ἄ. ἐπαινεῖν” Id.Phdr.241e); “ἄρξομαι διδάσκων” X.Cyr.8.8.2 (but “ἤρξω μανθάνειν” Id.Mem.3.5.22).
6. abs., “ἄρχε” take the lead! Il.9.69: generally, begin, ἄρχειν [τὴν ἐκεχειρίαν] τήνδε τὴν ἡμέραν Indut. ap. Th.4.118, cf. Lex ap.D.24.42; τὸ ἄρχον, opp. τὸ ἑπόμενον, Dam.Pr.234: part. “ἀρχόμενος” at first, X.Eq.9.3, Cyn.3.8, Isoc.2.54; at the beginning, “ἀρχομένου δὲ πίθου καὶ λήγοντος” Hes.Op.368, cf. Fr.192.4; “ἀρχομένοισιν ἢ καταπαυομένοισι” Ar.Eq. 1246; “ἄρχεται ὁ πόλεμος ἐνθένδε” Th.2.1; ἅμα ἦρι ἀρχομένῳ ibid.; θέρους εὐθὺς ἀρχομένου ib.47.
II. in point of Place or Station, rule, govern, command,
2. less freq. c. dat., “ἀνδράσιν ἦρξα” Od.14.230, cf. 471, Il.2.805, Pi.P.3.4, A.Pr.940, E.Andr.666, IA337, IG7.2830 (Hyettus), etc.; also ἐν δ᾽ ἄρα τοῖσιν ἦρχ᾽ held command among them, Il.13.690, cf. Pl.Phdr.238a: c. inf. added, ἄρχε Μυρμιδόνεσσι μάχεσθαι led them on to fight, Il.16.65.
3. abs., rule, “ὅσον τό τ᾽ ἄρχειν καὶ τὸ δουλεύειν δίχα” A.Pr.927, cf. Pers.774; esp. hold a magistracy, “ὁκοῖόν τε εἴη ἄρχειν μετὰ τὸ βασιλεύειν” Hdt.6.67; at Athens, etc., to be archon, D.21.178; ἀρχάς, ἀρχὴν ἄρχειν, Hdt.3.80, Th.6.54; ἄρχειν τὴν ἐπώνυμον (with or without ἀρχήν) IG3.659, 693, SIG872.7.
4. Pass., with fut. “ἄρξομαι” Hdt.7.159, Pi.O.8.45, A.Pers.589, Lys.28.7; but “ἀρχθήσομαι” Arist.Pol.1259b40, D.C.65.10:—to be ruled, governed, etc., “ὑπό τινος” Hdt.1.127; “ἔκ τινος” S.El.264, Ant.63; “ὑπό τινι” Hdt.1.91, 103; “σφόδρα ὑπό τινος” Lys.12.92; “ἄρχε πρῶτον μαθὼν ἄρχεσθαι” Sol. ap.D.L.1.60, cf. Pl.Prt.326d; “δύνασθαι καὶ ἄρχεσθαι καὶ ἄρχειν” Arist. Pol.1277b14; “οἱ ἀρχόμενοι” subjects, X.An.2 6.19, etc.