σπάνιος
κρεῖττον σιωπᾶν ἐστιν ἢ λαλεῖν μάτην → it's better to keep silence than to speak without reason (Menander)
English (LSJ)
α, ον (also ος, ον Arist.HA608b21, Thphr.Lap.3, Plb.4.16.3, etc.), of persons and things,
A rare, scarce, scanty, Hdt.2.67, 5.29, etc.; σ. θήρευμα . . λαβεῖν a rare catch, E.IA1162; of persons, rarely seen, aloof, δυσπρόσιτος, ἔσω τε κλῄθρων σπάνιος ib.345 (troch.); σ. σεαυτὸν παρέχειν Pl.Euthphr.3d, cf. Plu.Crass.7; τῷ ὕδατι σ. χρώμενοι having a scanty supply of water, Th.7.4; in an Adv.sense, σπάνιος ἐπιφοιτᾷ he seldom visits, Hdt.2.73; so τοὺς σπανίους ἰδεῖν στρατηγούς seldom seen, X.Cyr.7.5.46, cf. Pl.Lg.953c; σπάνιοι περιπεπλεύκασι Str.15.1.4; σπάνιόν ἐστι, c. inf., it is seldom that... X.Cyr.1.3.3, Isoc.10.13; opp. ῥᾴδιον, Archyt.3; σπάνιον εἴ τις . .it is rare for one to... Str.7.3.4: τὸ σ. Aeschin.3.180, Arist.Mete.372a23; ὁ ταὧς διὰ τὸ σ. θαυμάζεται Eub.114. II Comp. σπανιώτερος Hdt.8.25, Th. 1.33, etc.: Sup. -ώτατος Id.7.68, Lyr.Adesp.138.1, Pl.Cra.389a, etc. III Adv. -ίως seldom, X.Ages.9.1, Arist.HA488b6, Plb.2.15.6 (so σπάνιον Str.3.5.1, Plu.Cic.8, etc., but σπανίᾳ is Adj. in Pl. Phdr.256c, and σπάνιον in Arist.Mete.372a14): Comp. -ιώτερον Th.1.23; -ιαίτερον Thphr.HP3.7.5 codd.—Rare in Poets, as Ion Eleg. 3.4.
