fewness

* * *

ĭn-ŏpĭa, ae, f. [inops], want, lack, scarcity.

In gen.:

argenti,

Plaut. Curc. 2, 3, 55:

summa rerum omnium,

Caes. B. G. 5, 2:

frumenti commeatusque,

id. ib. 3, 6:

frumenti,

Sall. J. 91, 1; cf.:

frumentaria,

Caes. B. G. 5, 24:

et amore pereo et inopia argentaria,

Plaut. Ps. 1, 3, 66:

loci,

Liv. 1, 33, 6:

advocatorum,

Tac. A. 11, 7:

consilii,

Cic. Att. 6, 3, 2:

criminum,

id. Rosc. Am. 16, 48:

occasionis,

Suet. Cal. 56:

remedii,

Tac. A. 13, 57:

veri,

id. H. 1, 35 al. —

In partic., a want, esp. of necessaries, want, need, indigence, scarcity, fewness.

Lit.: opem ferre inopiae, i. e. to one in want, Plaut. Rud. 3, 2, 3: Quor (me) conducebas? Bal. Inopia;

alius non erat,

id. Ps. 3, 2, 9:

ne inopiam cives objectare possint tibi,

id. Trin. 3, 2, 27:

si propter inopiam in egestate estis,

Cic. Inv. 1, 47, 88:

utrum propter imbecillitatem atque inopiam desiderata sit amicitia,

id. Lael. 8, 26; cf.:

amicitiam ex inopia atque egestate natam volunt,

id. ib. 9, 29;

so also with egestas,

id. Cat. 2, 11, 24:

in Rhodiorum inopia et fame summaque annonae caritate,

id. Off. 3, 12, 50:

inopiae subsidium,

Caes. B. C. 1, 48:

inopiam vitare,

id. ib. 3, 17:

ad pudendam inopiam delabi,

Tac. A. 2, 38:

inopiam alicui facere,

to bring one to want, id. H. 3, 48:

manuum mercede inopiam tolerare,

Sall. C. 38, 7:

multorum dierum inopia contrahere pestem,

Just. 2, 13, 12:

dispensatio inopiae,

of scanty supplies, Liv. 4, 12, 10.—

Transf.

Want, helplessness:

praesidio esse contra vim et gratiam solitudini atque inopiae,

to those who have no protectors, Cic. Quint. 1, 5:

in hac causa improbitatem et gratiam cum inopia et veritate contendere,

id. ib. 27, 84; id. Rosc. Am. 7, 20; id. Clu. 20, 57:

judicum,

worthlessness, id. Att. 1, 16, 2:

ingenti cum difficultate itinerum locorumque inopia,

and the want of necessaries in these regions, Vell. 2, 54, 3; Sen. ad Helv. 12.—

Of a speaker:

inopia et jejunitas,

poverty of ideas, Cic. Brut. 55, 202.—

Of the want of fruition:

incendere animum cupidum alicujus inopiā,

Ter. Heaut. 2, 3, 126.

rārĭtas, ātis, f. [id.], the state of being loose or not dense, looseness of texture, distance apart (good prose).

Lit.:

in pulmonibus inest raritas quaedam et assimilis spongiis mollitudo ad hauriendum spiritum aptissima,

Cic. N. D. 2, 55, 136:

dentium,

Quint. 11, 3, 55:

(asini) nec pontes transeunt, per raritatem eorum translucentibus fluviis,

Plin. 8, 43, 68, § 169.—In plur.:

foraminum raritates,

Vitr. 2, 5:

venarum,

id. 8, 3.—

Transf., small number, fewness, rarity:

capillorum,

thinness, Suet. Oth. 12; cf.

superciliorum,

Plin. 28, 11, 46, § 163:

stellarum (opp. multitudo),

id. 2, 18, 16, § 80:

remanentium (hominum),

Suet. Aug. 43:

exemplorum,

Plin. 7, 13, 11, § 58; cf. Cels. 7, 14:

raritas dictorum distinguet oratorem a scurrā,

Cic. de Or. 2, 60, 247; cf.

figurarum,

Quint. 9, 3, 27:

lavandi,

Suet. Aug. 82:

in raritate videre,

Lampr. Elag. 28. —

Concr., a rarity:

Alexandro equi magna raritas contigit,

Plin. 8, 42, 64, § 154.— In plur.:

raritates,

Gell. 3, 16, 9.