capax

căpax, ācis, adj. [capio], that can contain or hold much, wide, large, spacious, roomy, capacious (in poets and in post-Aug. prose freq.; in Cic. perh. only once, and then trop; v. infra).

I.

Lit.: mundus, * Lucr. 6, 123:

conchae,

Hor. C. 2, 7, 22:

urna,

id. ib. 3, 1, 16; Ov. M. 3, 172:

capaciores scyphos,

Hor. Epod. 9, 33:

pharetram,

Ov. M. 9, 231:

putei,

id. ib. 7, 568:

urbs,

id. ib. 4, 439:

ripae,

id. Am. 3, 6, 19:

uterus,

Plin. 10, 33, 49, § 93:

portus,

id. 4, 7, 12, § 26:

spatiosa et capax domus,

Plin. Ep. 7, 27, 5:

villa usibus capax,

id. ib. 2, 17, 4:

forma capacissima,

Quint. 1, 10, 40:

moles,

Tac. A. 2, 21.—With gen.:

circus capax populi,

Ov. A. A. 1, 136:

cibi vinique capacissimus,

Liv. 9, 16, 13:

flumen onerariarum navium capax,

Plin. 6, 23, 26, § 99; 12, 1, 5, § 11:

magnae sedis insula haud capax est,

Curt. 4, 8, 2.—

II.

Trop.

A.

Capacious, susceptible, capable of, good, able, apt, fit for: Demosthenes non semper implet aures meas: ita sunt avidae et capaces, etc., * Cic. Or. 29, 104:

ingenium,

great, Ov. M. 8, 533:

animi ad praecepta,

id. ib. 8, 243:

animo majora capaci,

id. ib. 15, 5:

capax est animus noster,

Sen. Ep. 92, 30.—With gen.:

animal mentis capacius altae (i.e. homo),

Ov. M. 1, 76:

imperii,

Tac. H. 1, 49; cf. id. A. 1, 13:

aetas honorum nondum capax,

id. H. 4, 42:

molis tantae mens,

id. A. 1,11: secreti, that can keep or conceal, Plin. Ep. 1, 12, 7:

capacia bonae spei pectora,

Curt. 8, 13, 11:

magnorum operum,

id. 6, 5, 29:

ingenium omnium bonarum artium capacissimum,

Sen. Contr. 2, praef. §

4: cujusque clari operis capacia ingenia,

Vell. 1, 16, 2:

bonum et capax recta discendi ingenium,

id. 2, 29, 5:

laboris ac fidei,

id. 2, 127, 3:

ingenia fecunda et totius naturae capacissima,

Plin. 2, 78, 80, § 190:

doli,

fit, suitable for, Dig. 43, 4, 1.—

B.

In the Lat. of the jurists (cf. capio, II. F.), that has a right to an inheritance, Dig. 34, 3, 29.— Adv.: căpācĭter, Aug. Trin. 11, 2.