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English Page · Branch 15 of 44
Charmides · 159b–159d
Ancient Greek
p. 20κρίνασθαι· ἔπειτα μέντοι εἶπεν ὅτι οἷ δοκοῖ σωφροσύνη εἶναι τὸ κοσμίως πάντα πράττειν καὶ ἡσυχῇ, ἔν τε ταῖς ὁδοῖς βαδίζειν καὶ διαλέγεσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὡσαύτως ποιεῖν. καί μοι δοκεῖ, ἔφη, συλλήβδην ἡσυχιότης τις εἶναι ὃ ἐρωτᾷς.
Ἆρ’ οὖν, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, εὖ λέγεις; φασί γέ τοι, ὦ Χαρμίδη, τοὺς ἡσυχίους σώφρονας εἶναι· ἴδωμεν δὴ εἴ τι λέγουσιν. 159c εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, οὐ τῶν καλῶν μέντοι ἡ σωφροσύνη ἐστίν;
Πάνυ γε, ἔφη.
Πότερον οὖν κάλλιστον ἐν γραμματιστοῦ τὰ ὅμοια γράμματα γράφειν ταχὺ ἢ ἡσυχῇ;
Ταχύ.
Τί δ’ ἀναγιγνώσκειν; ταχέως ἢ βραδέως;
Ταχέως.
Καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ τὸ κιθαρίζειν ταχέως καὶ τὸ παλαίειν ὀξέως πολὺ κάλλιον τοῦ ἡσυχῇ τε καὶ βραδέως;
Ναί.
Τί δὲ πυκτεύειν τε καὶ παγκρατιάζειν; οὐχ ὡσαύτως;
Πάνυ γε.
Θεῖν δὲ καὶ ἅλλεσθαι καὶ τὰ τοῦ σώματος ἅπαντα ἔργα, 159d οὐ τὰ μὲν ὀξέως καὶ ταχὺ γιγνόμενα τὰ τοῦ καλοῦ ἐστιν, τὰ δὲ [βραδέα] μόγις τε καὶ ἡσυχῇ τὰ τοῦ αἰσχροῦ;
Φαίνεται.
Φαίνεται ἄρα ἡμῖν, ἔφην ἐγώ, κατά γε τὸ σῶμα οὐ τὸ ἡσύχιον, ἀλλὰ τὸ τάχιστον καὶ ὀξύτατον κάλλιστον ὄν. ἦ γάρ;
Πάνυ γε.
Ἡ δέ γε σωφροσύνη καλόν τι ἦν;
Ναί.
Charmides
p. 21answer; but then he said that in his view temperance was doing everything in an orderly way and quietly: walking in the streets and talking, and doing everything else, in the same manner. “And in short,” he said, “I think what you are asking about is a kind of quietness.”1
“Well, are you right?” I said. “People do say, you know, Charmides, that quiet people are temperate. Let us see whether there is anything in it. 159c Tell me: temperance is one of the fine things, isn’t it?”2
“Certainly,” he said.
“Well then, which is finest at the writing-master’s: to copy out the letters quickly, or quietly?”3
“Quickly.”
“And reading? Quickly, or slowly?”
“Quickly.”
“And again, playing the lyre quickly and wrestling nimbly are far finer than doing them quietly and slowly?”
“Yes.”
“And boxing and the pancration? Isn’t it the same?”4
“Certainly.”
“And running and jumping, and all the actions of the body: 159d aren’t the ones done nimbly and quickly the fine ones, and the ones done laboriously and quietly the ugly ones?”
“So it appears.”
“So it appears to us,” I said, “that in the body, at any rate, it is not the quiet that is finest, but the quickest and the nimblest. Isn’t that so?”
“Certainly.”
“And temperance was something fine?”
“Yes.”
Socrates
Reading Charmides · Charmides · 159b–159d
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Socrates, Charmides, and Critias examine temperance, self-knowledge, and the knowledge of knowledge. The complete dialogue appears in Ancient Greek and English, aligned by the supplied edition’s facing pages and Stephanus references.
Historical Text and Translation
Greek: Plato, Charmides, in J. Burnet, ed., Platonis Opera, volume III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), transcribed by the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University. The supplied edition omits words marked for deletion, retains supplied words, lightly normalizes punctuation and paragraphing, and removes a stray digital numeral at 163c. The digital Greek transcription and its modifications are provided under CC BY-SA 4.0, with attribution to the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independently worded English translation in house. It aims for clear, measured English while preserving Plato’s conversational rhythm, philosophical distinctions, and the unfolding give-and-take of Socratic inquiry.
Rights
Plato's Greek source work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos.