A.“-έσω” Semon.7.29, S.El.1057, E.Andr.465 (lyr.), Heracl.[300], Pl.Smp.214e (dub. l.), X.An.1.4.16, 5.5.8: but more freq. “-έσομαι” E.Ba.1195 (lyr.), Pl.Smp.199a, R. 379e, 383a, X.HG3.2.6, D.2.31, etc.; poet. “-ήσω” Thgn.93 codd., Pi. P.10.69: aor. 1 “ἐπῄνεσα” S.Aj.536, Th.1.86, etc. (v. infr.); poet. (not Trag.) “ἐπῄνησα” Il.2.335, 18.312, Thgn.876, Pi.P.4.168,189: also Aeol. prose, Schwyzer622.21, 623.31, 636.17 (but “-έσαι” 623.34): pf. “ἐπῄνεκα” Isoc.12.207,261, Pl.Plt.307a, etc.:—Med., aor. “ἐπῃνησάμην” Them.Or.16.200c; “-εσάμην” Phalar.Ep.147:—Pass., fut. “ἐπαινεθήσομαι” And.2.13, Pl.R.474d; later “ἐπαινηθήσομαι” Longus4.4 codd.: aor. “ἐπῃνέθην” Th.2.25, Isoc.12.146, etc.; but “ἐπῃνήθην” SIG708.20 (Istropolis, ii B. C.): pf. “ἐπῄνημαι” Hp.Acut.51, Isoc.12.233: = αἰνέω (for which it is regularly used in Att.):—approve, applaud, commend, in Hom. mostly abs., “ἐπὶ δ᾽ ᾔνεον ἄλλοι Ἀχαιοί” Il.3.461, etc.: c. acc. rei, “μῦθον ἐπαινήσαντες Ὀδυσσῆος” 2.335; “μῦθον ἐ. πρεσβυτέροισι” h.Merc.457; “σύνθεσιν” Pi.P.4.168: c. dat. pers., agree with, side with, “Ἕκτορι μὲν γὰρ ἐπῄνησαν” Il.18.312: abs., assent, agree, Ar.Av.1616; ἐπαινεσάντων δ᾽ αὐτῶν on their assent, Th.4.65.
2. praise, commend in any way (the usu. sense in Att. and Trag.), τινά or τι, Alc. 37A, Hdt.3.34,6.130; “τὸ λίαν ἧσσον ἐ. τοῦ μηδὲν ἄγαν” E.Hipp.264; ἐ. τινά τι commend one for a thing, but in this case the thing is always a neut. Pron. or Adj., “τὰ μέν σ᾽ ἐπαινῶ” A.Pr.342 (cf. 111); “πάντ᾽ ἔχω σ᾽ ἐπαινέσαι” S.Aj.1381, cf. Pl.Smp.222a; in Din.3.22 ἐπαινεῖσθαι ταῖς ζητήσεσιν, <ἐπί> shd. be read; “ἐπί τινι . . καὶ διότι” Inscr.Prien. 44.17 (ii B. C.); “εἴς τι” Pl.Alc.1.111a; “κατά τι” D.S.1.37; “πρός τι” Pl. Tht.145b; also “ἐ. τινά τινος” Plu.2.1c, Luc.Herm.42 (but ἐ. τί τινος praise something in some one, Pl.Prt.361d): c.acc. cogn., “ἔπαινον ἐ.” Id.La.181b: c. part., “ἐπαινέσεσθαί τινα ἀνασχόμενον” D.21.73; “ἐ. τινὰ ὅτι . .” Pl.Grg.471d; ἐ. τινὰ πρός τινα praise one man to another, Id.R. 501c; esp. compliment publicly, “[Βρασίδας] πρῶτος τῶν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐπῃνέθη ἐν Σπάρτῃ” Th.2.25; freq. in honorary Inscrr., cf. IG22.102, Inscr.Prien. l.c., etc.: c. dat. pers., “τῷ δήμῳ τῷ Σαμίων” IG12.101.2, cf. SIG604.11 (Delph., ii B. C.).
3. of things, “[πολιτεία] ὑπὸ πάντων -ουμένη” Isoc.12.118, cf. Arist.Pol.1289a1; “νόμοι -ούμενοι” Id.Rh.1375b24; approve, “πόλις ἄλλως ἄλλοτ᾽ ἐ. τὰ δίκαια” A.Th.1077.
4. agree to or undertake to do, “ῥώμην μ᾽ ἐπαινῶ λαμβάνειν” E.Andr.553; “ἐ. εἰς τὸ λοιπόν” PTeb.8.18 (iii B. C.).
5. aor. ἐπῄνεσα in Att. in pres. sense, ἐπῄνεσ᾽ ἔργον I commend it, S.Aj.536: abs., well done! Id.Fr. 282, Ar.Ach.485, cf. E.Alc.1095, Med.707.
II. = παραινέω, recommend, advise, “τοιούσδ᾽ ἐπαινεῖς δῆτα δὺ κτᾶσθαι φίλους;” S.Aj.1360, cf. A.Th.596, Supp.996: c. dat. et inf., “ὑμῖν δ᾽ ἐπαινῶ γλῶσσαν εὔφημον φέρειν” Id.Ch.581; σιγᾶν ἐπῄνεσ᾽ (cf.1.5) S.El.1322, cf. OC665.
III. as a civil form of declining an offer or invitation, I thank you, I am much obliged, “κάλλιστ᾽, ἐπαινῶ” Ar.Ra.508 (ubi v. Sch.), cf. A.Pr.342; so ἐ. τὴν κλῆσιν decline it, X.Smp.1.7, cf. An.7.7.52.
IV. of Rhapsodists, recite, declaim publicly, Pl.Ion536d, 541e.