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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 10 of 44
Charmides · 155e–156c
Ancient Greek
p. 10Τί οὖν, ἦ δ’ ὅς, ἐστίν;
Καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπον ὅτι αὐτὸ μὲν εἴη φύλλον τι, ἐπῳδὴ δέ τις ἐπὶ τῷ φαρμάκῳ εἴη, ἣν εἰ μέν τις ἐπᾴδοι ἅμα καὶ χρῷτο αὐτῷ, παντάπασιν ὑγιᾶ ποιοῖ τὸ φάρμακον· ἄνευ δὲ τῆς ἐπῳδῆς οὐδὲν ὄφελος εἴη τοῦ φύλλου.
156aΚαὶ ὅς, Ἀπογράψομαι τοίνυν, ἔφη, παρὰ σοῦ τὴν ἐπῳδήν.
Πότερον, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, ἐάν με πείθῃς ἢ κἂν μή;
Γελάσας οὖν, Ἐάν σε πείθω, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες.
Εἶεν, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ· καὶ τοὔνομά μου σὺ ἀκριβοῖς;
Εἰ μὴ ἀδικῶ γε, ἔφη· οὐ γάρ τι σοῦ ὀλίγος λόγος ἐστὶν ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἡλικιώταις, μέμνημαι δὲ ἔγωγε καὶ παῖς ὢν Κριτίᾳ τῷδε συνόντα σε.
Καλῶς γε σύ, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, ποιῶν· μᾶλλον γάρ σοι παρ156bρησιάσομαι περὶ τῆς ἐπῳδῆς οἵα τυγχάνει οὖσα· ἄρτι δ’ ἠπόρουν τίνι τρόπῳ σοι ἐνδειξαίμην τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῆς. ἔστι γάρ, ὦ Χαρμίδη, τοιαύτη οἵα μὴ δύνασθαι τὴν κεφαλὴν μόνον ὑγιᾶ ποιεῖν, ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ ἴσως ἤδη καὶ σὺ ἀκήκοας τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἰατρῶν, ἐπειδάν τις αὐτοῖς προσέλθῃ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀλγῶν, λέγουσί που ὅτι οὐχ οἷόν τε αὐτοὺς μόνους ἐπιχειρεῖν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἰᾶσθαι, ἀλλ’ ἀναγκαῖον εἴη ἅμα καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν θεραπεύειν, εἰ μέλλοι 156c καὶ τὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων εὖ ἔχειν· καὶ αὖ τὸ τὴν κεφαλὴν οἴεσθαι ἄν ποτε θεραπεῦσαι αὐτὴν ἐφ’ ἑαυτῆς ἄνευ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος πολλὴν ἄνοιαν εἶναι. ἐκ δὴ τούτου τοῦ λόγου διαίταις ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα τρεπόμενοι μετὰ τοῦ ὅλου τὸ μέρος ἐπιχειροῦσιν θεραπεύειν τε καὶ ἰᾶσθαι· ἢ οὐκ ᾔσθησαι ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως λέγουσίν τε καὶ ἔχει;
Πάνυ γε, ἔφη.
Οὐκοῦν καλῶς σοι δοκεῖ λέγεσθαι καὶ ἀποδέχῃ τὸν λόγον;
Charmides
p. 11“So what is it?” he said.
And I told him that the thing itself was a leaf, but that there was a charm to go with the remedy; if one sang the charm while using it, the remedy made one perfectly healthy, but without the charm the leaf was no use at all.1
156a“Then I’ll copy the charm down from you,” he said.
“If you persuade me,” I said, “or even if you don’t?”
He laughed. “If I persuade you, Socrates,” he said.2
“Very well,” I said. “And you are sure you have my name right?”
“I’d be doing you an injustice if I didn’t,” he said. “You’re talked about a good deal among people my age, and I remember you from when I was a boy, keeping company with Critias here.”
“Good for you,” I said. “Then I can speak to you more frankly 156b about this charm and what it is like. Just now I was at a loss how to show you its power. It is the kind of charm, Charmides, that cannot make the head alone healthy. It is like what you have probably heard good doctors say yourself: when someone comes to them with sore eyes, they tell him, I believe, that they cannot undertake to cure the eyes on their own, but must treat the head at the same time if the eyes 156c too are to be in good condition; and again, that to imagine one could ever treat the head on its own, apart from the whole body, is sheer folly. On this principle they put the entire body on a regimen and try to treat and heal the part along with the whole.3 Haven’t you noticed that this is what they say, and that it is so?”
“Certainly,” he said.
“And you think it well said, and you accept the principle?”
Socrates
Reading Charmides · Charmides · 155e–156c
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.