Diotimos Library · Plato Collection · Bilingual Edition
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
Ancient Greek Page · Branch 28 of 44
Charmides · 167b–167e
Ancient Greek
p. 46εὐπορώτερος φανῇς ἐμοῦ· ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ ἀπορῶ. ᾗ δὲ ἀπορῶ, φράσω σοι;
Πάνυ γ’, ἔφη.
Ἄλλο τι οὖν, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, πάντα ταῦτ’ ἂν εἴη, εἰ ἔστιν ὅπερ σὺ νυνδὴ ἔλεγες, μία τις ἐπιστήμη, ἣ οὐκ ἄλλου τινός 167c ἐστιν ἢ ἑαυτῆς τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιστημῶν ἐπιστήμη, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἀνεπιστημοσύνης ἡ αὐτὴ αὕτη;
Πάνυ γε.
Ἰδὲ δὴ ὡς ἄτοπον ἐπιχειροῦμεν, ὦ ἑταῖρε, λέγειν· ἐν ἄλλοις γάρ που τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐὰν σκοπῇς, δόξει σοι, ὡς ἐγᾦμαι, ἀδύνατον εἶναι.
Πῶς δὴ καὶ ποῦ;
Ἐν τοῖσδε. ἐννόει γὰρ εἴ σοι δοκεῖ ὄψις τις εἶναι, ἣ ὧν μὲν αἱ ἄλλαι ὄψεις εἰσίν, οὐκ ἔστιν τούτων ὄψις, ἑαυτῆς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὄψεων ὄψις ἐστὶν καὶ μὴ ὄψεων ὡσαύτως, 167d καὶ χρῶμα μὲν ὁρᾷ οὐδὲν ὄψις οὖσα, αὑτὴν δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ὄψεις· δοκεῖ τίς σοι εἶναι τοιαύτη;
Μὰ Δί’ οὐκ ἔμοιγε.
Τί δὲ ἀκοήν, ἣ φωνῆς μὲν οὐδεμιᾶς ἀκούει, αὑτῆς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀκοῶν ἀκούει καὶ τῶν μὴ ἀκοῶν;
Οὐδὲ τοῦτο.
Συλλήβδην δὴ σκόπει περὶ πασῶν τῶν αἰσθήσεων εἴ τίς σοι δοκεῖ εἶναι αἰσθήσεων μὲν αἴσθησις καὶ ἑαυτῆς, ὧν δὲ δὴ αἱ ἄλλαι αἰσθήσεις αἰσθάνονται, μηδενὸς αἰσθανομένη;
Οὐκ ἔμοιγε.
167eἈλλ’ ἐπιθυμία δοκεῖ τίς σοι εἶναι, ἥτις ἡδονῆς μὲν οὐδεμιᾶς ἐστὶν ἐπιθυμία, αὑτῆς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιθυμιῶν;
Οὐ δῆτα.
Οὐδὲ μὴν βούλησις, ὡς ἐγᾦμαι, ἣ ἀγαθὸν μὲν οὐδὲν βούλεται, αὑτὴν δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας βουλήσεις βούλεται.
Charmides
p. 47you turn out to be better provided with a way through than I am: for I can find no way through. Shall I tell you where I find none?”1
“Please do,” he said.
“Well, wouldn’t all this amount to the following,” I said, “if what you were just saying is right: that there is one single knowledge which is knowledge of nothing else 167c but itself and the other kinds of knowledge, and that this same knowledge is also knowledge of the lack of knowledge?”
“Certainly.”
“Then see what a strange thing we are trying to say, my friend. For if you look at this same thing in other cases, it will seem to you, I think, to be impossible.”
“How so, and where?”
“In these. Consider whether you think there is a kind of sight which is not sight of the things the other sights are of, but is sight of itself and of the other sights, and of non-sights likewise; 167d and which, though it is sight, sees no color, but sees itself and the other sights. Do you think there is such a thing?”2
“By Zeus, I don’t.”
“And a hearing which hears no sound, but hears itself and the other hearings, and the non-hearings?”
“Not that either.”
“Then, taking all the senses together, see whether you think there is any sense which is a sense of senses and of itself, but which senses none of the things the other senses sense.”
“I don’t think so.”
167e“Well, do you think there is a desire which is desire for no pleasure, but for itself and for the other desires?”
“Certainly not.”
“Nor, I imagine, a wish which wishes for no good, but wishes for itself and for the other wishes.”
Socrates
Reading Charmides · Charmides · 167b–167e
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.