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incĭpĭo , cēpi, ceptum, 3 (archaic incepsit inceperit, Paul. ex Fest. p. 107 Müll.), v. a. and n. [in-capio; lit., to seize upon, lay hold of; opp. to desinere; hence, with the accessory idea of action),
I.to begin to do something, to take in hand (syn. incoho; in class. prose, viz. in Cic., only in the tempp. press., while coepi is used in the tempp. perff.); constr. usually with the inf., less freq. absol., with the acc., ab, or adv. of place or time.
I. Act.
(γ). With acc. (once in Cic., once in Cæs., v. infra): “facinus audax incipit,Plaut. Aul. 3, 4, 1: “facinus,Sall. C. 20, 3: “pugilatum,Plaut. Capt. 4, 2, 13: “iter,id. Cas. 4, 4, 2: “aliquid novi negotii,Ter. Phorm. 4, 4, 29: “bellum (opp. deponere),Sall. J. 83, 1: “tam prava,id. ib. 64, 2: “indigna nobis,id. H. 2, 41, 8: “opus,Liv. 7, 34, 13: “bellum,id. 21, 21, 6; 26, 37, 9; 42, 43, 3: “sementem,Verg. G. 1, 230: “Maenalios versus,id. E. 8, 21: “si id facere non potueris, quod, ut opinio mea fert, ne incipies quidem,Cic. Planc. 19, 48; Quint. 1, 12, 5: “iter mihi incepi,Plaut. Cas. 2, 1, 16: “tantum incepi operis,id. Men. 2, 3, 80: “mandata,Tac. A. 12, 10; 4, 46: “auspicia a parricidio,Just. 26, 2 init.: multa, Cat. ap. Gell. 16, 14, 2.— Pass.: “tanta incepta res est,Plaut. Capt. 2, 1, 31: “nuptiarum gratia haec sunt ficta atque incepta,Ter. And. 5, 1, 17; 3, 3, 7: “si inceptam oppugnationem reliquissent,Caes. B. G. 7, 17, 6: “quia dici extremum erat, proelium non inceptum,Sall. J. 21, 2: “proelium incipitur,id. ib. 57, 3; “74, 2: saxis proelium incipitur,Tac. H. 5, 17: “satis cito incipi victoriam,id. ib. 2, 25; id. A. 2, 5; 2, 76; 12, 67 fin.: “iter inceptum celerant,Verg. A. 8, 90: “inceptumque decurre laborem,id. G. 2, 39: “inceptum frustra summitte furorem,id. A. 12, 832: “deus me vetat Inceptos iambos Ad umbilicum adducere,Hor. Epod. 14, 7: “in re incipiunda ad defendendam noxiam,Ter. Phorm. 1, 4, 48: “in contentionibus aut incipiendis aut finiendis,Quint. 11, 3, 128: “a tantis princeps incipiendus erat,Ov. F. 5, 570.—
II. Neutr., to begin to be, to begin, commence (rare but class.); constr. with abl. instrum., or absol.
(β). Absol.: “cum ver esse coeperat ... cum rosam viderat, tum incipere ver arbitrabatur,Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 10, § 27: “quoties incipit sensus aut desinit,Quint. 9, 4, 67: “hic annus incipit vicesimus,Plaut. Capt. 5, 3, 3: “narrationis incipit mihi initium,Ter. And. 4, 2, 26: “jam tum inceperat turba inter eos,id. Eun. 4, 4, 58: “tempus erat quo prima quies mortalibus aegris Incipit,Verg. A. 2, 269: “mox Idumaea incipit et Palaestina,Plin. 5, 13, 14, § 68: “epistula, quam incipiente febricula scripseras,Cic. Att. 7, 8, 2: “incipientes curas principis onerari,Tac. A. 1, 19: “incipiens adhuc et nondum adulta seditio,id. H. 1, 31: “incipiens omnia sentit amor,Ov. A. A. 2, 648: “Menander Syracusanus incipientis juventae,Plin. 8, 5, 5, § 14: “incipiente aestate,id. 27, 13, 109, § 133: “trixago incipientibus hydropicis efficax,id. 24, 15, 80, § 131: “quem (honorem) et incipientes principes et desinentes adeo concupis cunt ut auferant,Plin. Pan. 57.—Hence, in-ceptum , i, n., a beginning, attempt, undertaking (freq. in historians and poets, but not in Cæs.; “also rare in Cic.): cujus ego non modo factum, sed inceptum ullum conatumve contra patriam deprehendero,Cic. Cat. 2, 12, 27: “servetur ad imum, Qualis ab incepto processerit (persona),from the beginning onwards, Hor. A. P. 127: permanere in incepto, Luccei. ap. Cic. Fam. 5, 14 fin.: “a quo incepto studioque me ambitio mala detinuerat,Sall. C. 4, 2: “cujus neque consilium neque inceptum ullum frustra erat,id. J. 7, 6; cf.: “ni ea res longius nos ab incepto traheret,the subject, id. ib. 7 fin.: “absistere incepto,Liv. 31, 26, 5: “desistere incepto,Verg. A. 1, 37: “haerere in incepto,id. ib. 2, 654: “peragere inceptum,id. ib. 4, 452; cf.: “perficere inceptum,Sall. J. 11 fin.: “piget incepti,Verg. A. 5, 678: “nunc ad inceptum redeo,Sall. J. 4, 9; 42, 5: “turpe inceptum est,Ter. Phorm. 2, 4, 16.— In plur.: “cupidus incepta patrandi,Sall. J. 70, 5: “juventus Catilinae inceptis favebat,id. C. 17, 6: “incepta mea inpedivit,id. H. 4, 61, 12; cf.: “inceptis annue, diva, meis,Ov. Am. 3, 2, 56; and: “di nostra incepta secundent,Verg. A. 7, 259: “gravia et magna professa,Hor. A. P. 14.
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hide References (92 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (92):
    • Cicero, Letters to his Friends, 5.14
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 7.8.2
    • Caesar, Gallic War, 2.2.2
    • Caesar, Gallic War, 5.51.4
    • Caesar, Gallic War, 7.17.6
    • Cicero, Against Catiline, 2.12.27
    • Cicero, For Plancius, 19.48
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.2.56
    • Cicero, Against Verres, 2.5.27
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 6.255
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 9.281
    • Plautus, Asinaria, 2.4
    • Plautus, Rudens, 2.5
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 12.832
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 1.37
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 2.269
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 5.678
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 7.259
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 8.90
    • Vergil, Georgics, 1.230
    • Vergil, Georgics, 2.39
    • Suetonius, Divus Augustus, 74
    • Horace, Satires, 1.9.21
    • Horace, Satires, 2.6.79
    • Horace, Ars Poetica, 127
    • Horace, Ars Poetica, 14
    • Horace, Ars Poetica, 136
    • Caesar, Civil War, 1.54.4
    • Tacitus, Annales, 12.10
    • Tacitus, Annales, 13.10
    • Tacitus, Annales, 15.4
    • Tacitus, Annales, 1.19
    • Tacitus, Annales, 2.5
    • Tacitus, Historiae, 1.31
    • Tacitus, Historiae, 5.17
    • Plautus, Aulularia, 3.4
    • Plautus, Captivi, 2.1
    • Plautus, Captivi, 4.2
    • Plautus, Captivi, 5.3
    • Plautus, Casina, 2.1
    • Plautus, Casina, 4.4
    • Plautus, Menaechmi, 2.3
    • Plautus, Truculentus, 2.5
    • Cornelius Nepos, Pelopidas, 1
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 4.1
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 8.14
    • Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, 9.4.1
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 42, 43
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 26, 37.9
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 31, 26
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 21, 21
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 7, 34
    • Cicero, De Republica, 1.36
    • Cicero, De Republica, 1.43
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 2.3
    • Cicero, De Amicitia, 21
    • Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, 1.49
    • Cicero, De Officiis, 1.37
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 3, 7.1
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 1, 12.5
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 1, 2.26
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 2, 5.18
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 2, 6.5
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 6, 3.76
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 9, 2.6
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 9, 4.67
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 9, 4.92
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 1.6
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.106
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.128
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.144
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 10, 1.46
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 10, 7.21
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 6.3
    • Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 16.14.2
    • Seneca, Epistulae, 116
    • Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio, 1
    • Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio, 17
    • Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio, 20
    • Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio, 4
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 109
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 11
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 21
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 4
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 42
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 57
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 64
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 7
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 70
    • Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, 83
    • Curtius, Historiarum Alexandri Magni, 5.12.1
    • Ovid, Fasti, 5
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