Good men · Lexicon

From the book

Charmides

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordAgathoi andres means good men, with both words masculine plural.
In the CharmidesCritias guarantees at 154e that Charmides is beautiful and good in soul as well as impressive in body.
In this editionThe literal “beautiful and good” keeps the connection with the preceding praise of the boy's looks.
A place to readCritias extends the “beautiful and good” compliment to Charmides’ soul.

Meaning

Agathoi andres means good men, with both words masculine plural. In the compact phrase kalos kai agathos, “fine/beautiful and good,” the conjunction joins a conventional commendation of a person's standing and character. Neither expression is a neutral description of membership in a social class, and neither gives a definition of goodness simply by being uttered.

Use in the book

Critias guarantees at 154e that Charmides is beautiful and good in soul as well as impressive in body. Socrates' examination puts substance behind what could remain an easy compliment. At 160e the premise that temperate men are good becomes a criterion for testing the definition as modesty. What makes men good is taken to be good itself; temperance is said to make its possessors good and not bad (161a).

The movement from a praised individual to a general claim about the virtue matters. Publicly being called a good young man does not answer what temperance is, and the ensuing argument does not demonstrate that Charmides already has it. Nor does the masculine wording prove that the quality cannot belong to women; the local discussion is framed around a boy and the men examining him. A lexical account should report that frame without deriving an unattested exclusion from it.

Places to read

154eCritias extends the “beautiful and good” compliment to Charmides’ soul
160e–161a2The goodness of temperate men becomes a premise against the identity with modesty

Translation in this edition

The literal “beautiful and good” keeps the connection with the preceding praise of the boy's looks. The attested expanded form καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθός should not be silently replaced in the forms list by the familiar contraction καλὸς κἀγαθός.