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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 34 of 44
Charmides · 170e–171c
Ancient Greek
p. 58Ναί.
Οὐδὲ περὶ ἰατρικῆς ἄρα οἶδεν ὁ ἰατρικός, ἐπειδήπερ ἡ 171a ἰατρικὴ ἐπιστήμη οὖσα τυγχάνει.
Ἀληθῆ.
Ὅτι μὲν δὴ ἐπιστήμην τινὰ ἔχει, γνώσεται ὁ σώφρων τὸν ἰατρόν· δέον δὲ πεῖραν λαβεῖν ἥτις ἐστίν, ἄλλο τι σκέψεται ὧντινων; ἢ οὐ τούτῳ ὥρισται ἑκάστη ἐπιστήμη μὴ μόνον ἐπιστήμη εἶναι ἀλλὰ καὶ τίς, τῷ τινῶν εἶναι;
Τούτῳ μὲν οὖν.
Καὶ ἡ ἰατρικὴ δὴ ἑτέρα εἶναι τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιστημῶν ὡρίσθη τῷ τοῦ ὑγιεινοῦ εἶναι καὶ νοσώδους ἐπιστήμη.
Ναί.
Οὐκοῦν ἐν τούτοις ἀναγκαῖον σκοπεῖν τὸν βουλόμενον 171b ἰατρικὴν σκοπεῖν, ἐν οἷς ποτ’ ἔστιν· οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἔν γε τοῖς ἔξω, ἐν οἷς οὐκ ἔστιν;
Οὐ δῆτα.
Ἐν τοῖς ὑγιεινοῖς ἄρα καὶ νοσώδεσιν ἐπισκέψεται τὸν ἰατρόν, ᾗ ἰατρικός ἐστιν, ὁ ὀρθῶς σκοπούμενος.
Ἔοικεν.
Οὐκοῦν ἐν τοῖς οὕτως ἢ λεγομένοις ἢ πραττομένοις τὰ μὲν λεγόμενα, εἰ ἀληθῆ λέγεται, σκοπούμενος, τὰ δὲ πραττόμενα, εἰ ὀρθῶς πράττεται;
Ἀνάγκη.
Ἦ οὖν ἄνευ ἰατρικῆς δύναιτ’ ἄν τις τούτων ποτέροις ἐπακολουθῆσαι;
Οὐ δῆτα.
171cΟὐδέ γε ἄλλος οὐδείς, ὡς ἔοικεν, πλὴν ἰατρός, οὔτε δὴ ὁ σώφρων· ἰατρὸς γὰρ ἂν εἴη πρὸς τῇ σωφροσύνῃ.
Ἔστι ταῦτα.
Charmides
p. 59“Yes.”
“Then the medical man doesn’t know about medicine either, since 171a medicine is in fact a knowledge.”1
“True.”
“That the doctor has some knowledge, then, the temperate man will know; but when he has to test what knowledge it is, won’t he look into what it is of? Or isn’t each kind of knowledge defined, not just as being knowledge, but as being a particular knowledge, by its being of particular things?”
“By that, yes.”
“And medicine was defined as different from the other kinds of knowledge by being knowledge of the healthy and the diseased.”
“Yes.”
“Then whoever wants to look into 171b medicine must look into it in the things in which it is found, and surely not in the things outside it, in which it is not?”
“Certainly not.”
“Then the man who looks into it correctly will examine the doctor, in so far as he is a doctor, in what is healthy and diseased.”
“It seems so.”
“Examining, in what is said or done in this way, whether the things said are said truly and whether the things done are done rightly?”
“Necessarily.”
“Could anyone, then, follow either of these without medicine?”
“Certainly not.”
171c“Nor could anyone else, it seems, except a doctor, and so not the temperate man either; for then he would be a doctor in addition to being temperate.”
“That is so.”
Socrates
Reading Charmides · Charmides · 170e–171c
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.
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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.