 
1 | 2 | >3< | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Then let me tell you that he is the most temperate of human
beings, and for his age inferior to none in any quality.
Yes, I said, Charmides; and indeed I think that you ought to excel
others in all good qualities; for if I am not mistaken there is no one
present who could easily point out two Athenian houses, whose union
would be likely to produce a better or nobler scion than the two
from which you are sprung. There is your father's house, which is
descended from Critias the son of Dropidas, whose family has been
commemorated in the panegyrical verses of Anacreon, Solon, and many
other poets, as famous for beauty and virtue and all other high
fortune: and your mother's house is equally distinguished; for your
maternal uncle, Pyrilampes, is reputed never to have found his
equal, in Persia at the court of the great king, or on the continent
of Asia, in all the places to which he went as ambassador, for stature
and beauty; that whole family is not a whit inferior to the other.
Having such ancestors you ought to be first in all things, and,
sweet son of Glaucon, your outward form is no dishonour to any of
them. If to beauty you add temperance, and if in other respects you
are what Critias declares you to be, then, dear Charmides, blessed art
thou, in being the son of thy mother. And here lies the point; for if,
as he declares, you have this gift of temperance already, and are
temperate enough, in that case you have no need of any charms, whether
of Zamolxis or of Abaris the Hyperborean, and I may as well let you
have the cure of the head at once; but if you have not yet acquired
this quality, I must use the charm before I give you the medicine.
Please, therefore, to inform me whether you admit the truth of what
Critias has been saying;-have you or have you not this quality of
temperance?
Charmides blushed, and the blush heightened his beauty, for
modesty is becoming in youth; he then said very ingenuously, that he
really could not at once answer, either yes, or no, to the question
which I had asked: For, said he, if I affirm that I am not
temperate, that would be a strange thing for me to say of myself,
and also I should give the lie to Critias, and many others who think
as he tells you, that I am temperate: but, on the other hand, if I say
that I am, I shall have to praise myself, which would be ill
manners; and therefore I do not know how to answer you.
I said to him: That is a natural reply, Charmides, and I think
that you and I ought together to enquire whether you have this quality
about which I am asking or not; and then you will not be compelled
to say what you do not like; neither shall I be a rash practitioner of
medicine: therefore, if you please, I will share the enquiry with you,
but I will not press you if you would rather not.
There is nothing which I should like better, he said; and as far
as I am concerned you may proceed in the way which you think best.
I think, I said, that I had better begin by asking you a question;
for if temperance abides in you, you must have an opinion about her;
she must give some intimation of her nature and qualities, which may
enable you to form a notion of her. Is not that true?
Yes, he said, that I think is true.
You know your native language, I said, and therefore you must be
able to tell what you feel about this.
Certainly, he said.
In order, then, that I may form a conjecture whether you have
temperance abiding in you or not, tell me, I said, what, in your
opinion, is Temperance?
At first he hesitated, and was very unwilling to answer: then he
said that he thought temperance was doing things orderly and
quietly, such things for example as walking in the streets, and
talking, or anything else of that nature. In a word, he said, I should
answer that, in my opinion, temperance is quietness.
Are you right, Charmides? I said. No doubt some would affirm that
the quiet are the temperate; but let us see whether these words have
any meaning; and first tell me whether you would not acknowledge
temperance to be of the class of the noble and good?
Yes.
But which is best when you are at the writing-master's, to write the
same letters quickly or quietly?
Quickly.
And to read quickly or slowly?
Quickly again.
And in playing the lyre, or wrestling, quickness or sharpness are
far better than quietness and slowness?
Yes.
And the same holds in boxing and in the pancratium?
Certainly.
And in leaping and running and in bodily exercises generally,
quickness and agility are good; slowness, and inactivity, and
quietness, are bad?
That is evident.
Then, I said, in all bodily actions, not quietness, but the greatest
agility and quickness, is noblest and best?
Yes, certainly.
And is temperance a good?
Yes.
Then, in reference to the body, not quietness, but quickness will be
the higher degree of temperance, if temperance is a good?
True, he said.
And which, I said, is better-facility in learning, or difficulty
in learning?
Facility.
Yes, I said; and facility in learning is learning quickly, and
difficulty in learning is learning quietly and slowly?
True.
And is it not better to teach another quickly and energetically,
rather than quietly and slowly?
Yes.
And which is better, to call to mind, and to remember, quickly and
readily, or quietly and slowly?
The former.
And is not shrewdness a quickness or cleverness of the soul, and not
a quietness?
True.
And is it not best to understand what is said, whether at the
writing-master's or the music-master's, or anywhere else, not as
quietly as possible, but as quickly as possible?
Yes.
And in the searchings or deliberations of the soul, not the
quietest, as I imagine, and he who with difficulty deliberates and
discovers, is thought worthy of praise, but he who does so most easily
and quickly?
Quite true, he said.
And in all that concerns either body or soul, swiftness and activity
are clearly better than slowness and quietness?
Clearly they are.
Then temperance is not quietness, nor is the temperate life
quiet,-certainly not upon this view; for the life which is temperate
is supposed to be the good. And of two things, one is true, either
never, or very seldom, do the quiet actions in life appear to be
better than the quick and energetic ones; or supposing that of the
nobler actions, there are as many quiet, as quick and vehement: still,
even if we grant this, temperance will not be acting quietly any
more than acting quickly and energetically, either in walking or
talking or in anything else; nor will the quiet life be more temperate
than the unquiet, seeing that temperance is admitted by us to be a
good and noble thing, and the quick have been shown to be as good as
the quiet.
I think, he said, Socrates, that you are right.
Then once more, Charmides, I said, fix your attention, and look
within; consider the effect which temperance has upon yourself, and
the nature of that which has the effect. Think over all this, and,
like a brave youth, tell me-What is temperance?
After a moment's pause, in which he made a real manly effort to
think, he said: My opinion is, Socrates, that temperance makes a man
ashamed or modest, and that temperance is the same as modesty.
Very good, I said; and did you not admit, just now, that
temperance is noble?
Yes, certainly, he said.
And the temperate are also good?
Yes.
And can that be good which does not make men good?
Certainly not.
And you would infer that temperance is not only noble, but also
good?
That is my opinion.
Well, I said; but surely you would agree with Homer when he says,
Modesty is not good for a needy man?
Yes, he said; I agree.
Then I suppose that modesty is and is not good?
Clearly.
But temperance, whose presence makes men only good, and not bad,
is always good?
That appears to me to be as you say.
And the inference is that temperance cannot be modesty-if temperance
is a good, and if modesty is as much an evil as a good?
All that, Socrates, appears to me to be true; but I should like to
know what you think about another definition of temperance, which I
just now remember to have heard from some one, who said, "That
temperance is doing our own business." Was he right who affirmed that?
You monster! I said; this is what Critias, or some philosopher has
told you.
Some one else, then, said Critias; for certainly I have not.
1 | 2 | >3< | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
|
