κύρβεις
ὅτι μέντοι καὶ ἡ χρῆσις τῶν τρόπων, ὥσπερ τἆλλα πάντα καλὰ ἐν λόγοις, προαγωγὸν ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ ἄμετρον, δῆλον ἤδη, κἂν ἐγὼ μὴ λέγω → however, it is also obvious, even without my saying so, that the use of figures of speech, like other literary adornments, is something that has always tempted toward excess
English (LSJ)
εων, αἱ, Ar.Av.1354, Lys.30.20, etc.; οἱ, Cratin.274 (but ταῖς codd. of Plu.Sol.25), Arist.Ath.7.1, Euph.6:
A κύρβιες AP4.4 (Agath.); acc. pl. κύρβιας A.R.4.280, AP4.3b.37 (Agath.): sg., v. infr. 111, acc. κύρβιν Nonn.D.12.55; dat. κύρβιδι ib.37: (perh. akin to κόρυμβος): —at Athens, triangular tablets, forming a three-sided pyramid, turning on a pivot, upon which the early laws were inscribed, Cratin. l.c., Ar.l.c., Pl.Plt.298e, Lys.30.17, Arist. l. c.; described as being of wood, Plu. l. c.; of bras, Sch.Ar. l. c.; of stone, Apollod.Fr. Hist.107(a) J.; by some identified with ἄξονες, Eratosth. ap. Sch. A.R.4.280, Plu. l.c.; by others distd. from them, Ar.Byz. ap. EM 547.52, Sch.A.R. l.c., AB274, Hsch. II later, of all pillars or tablets with inscriptions, Pl. l.c., Porph.Abst.2.21; of maps, A.R. l.c.; of wall-pictures, Nonn.D.12.32; κ. γηραλέαι, of Homer's poems, AP15.36 (Cometas), cf. 4.4 (Agath.): metaph., the pillars of Heracles, ib.4.3b.37 (Id.). III in sg., metaph., of the Spartan scytale, Achae.19; of a pettifogging lawyer, as if a walking statutebook, Ar.Nu.448 (anap.); κ. ἑταιρικῶν κακῶν, of a ἑταίρα, Aristaenet. 1.17, cf. Zen.4.77.
