House, lineage and nobility

Use in the book

Socrates first appeals to the household at 154e: Charmides ought to be well endowed in soul, being a member of Critias' family. After the account of the charm, the expectation becomes an extended encomium of the paternal and maternal houses. Poets have celebrated the former; Pyrilampes' admired embassies distinguish the latter. Their union is said to promise unusually fine offspring.

The logic is expectational rather than demonstrative. At 158b Socrates differentiates what is visible in Charmides' appearance from the conditional claim that he has adequate natural gifts for temperance and the other virtues. The examination is necessary precisely because familial reputation has not answered whether this particular person possesses the virtue or can explain it.

The repeated vocabulary of nobility also creates a tension with the therapeutic oath. No one, the Thracian insists, is to be rich, wellborn, or beautiful enough to evade treatment of the soul. Charmides meets the conspicuous social qualifications, but they do not purchase an exemption. The authority of an admired lineage is respected rhetorically and restricted procedurally.

When Charmides gives his careful answer rather than either boasting or contradicting his guardian, the narrator says he replies ouk agennōs. The edition's “did his breeding credit” makes the family echo audible. This is a judgment about the grace of his immediate response, not a proof that sōphrosynē is genetically inherited. Later oikia appears in the thought experiment about well-managed households; that political-economic use should not automatically be read as genealogical praise.

Places to read

1. 154e–155aSoul, family expectation, and kinship with Solon
2. 157b–c2Wellborn status is explicitly denied the power to override therapeutic conditions
3. 157e–158b2The two houses and their union receive an encomium
4. 158c–d2Charmides answers “not ignobly”
5. 171e–172d2Household becomes an object of the hypothetical management by temperance

Translation in this edition

At 157e5 the apparatus distinguishes οἰκία, household or house, from B's οὐσία, property or substance. At 158b1 Burnet adopts Madvig's “fallen short” in a difficult ancestral comparison; the unqualified compliment depends on that textual choice.

ἀγεννής

Attested: ἀγεννῶς (agennōs). Ignobly or in an ungenerous manner, here negated; Socrates commends the manner of Charmides’ spoken answer after his blush. References: 158c. Lexical identification: lemma: ἀγεννής. See House, lineage and nobility.

γενναῖος

Attested: γενναῖον (gennaion). Wellborn or of noble family; one of the advantages that must not persuade Socrates to treat a head before treating its owner’s soul. References: 157b. Lexical identification: lemma: γενναῖος. See House, lineage and nobility.

γεννάω

Attested: γεννήσειαν (gennēseian). To beget or produce offspring; the rhetorical praise asks what union of two Athenian houses could be expected to produce finer children than Charmides’ parents. References: 157e. Lexical identification: lemma: γεννάω. See House, lineage and nobility.

εἰκός

Attested: εἰκότων / εἰκός (eikotōn / eikos). Likely or reasonable: the expected quality of offspring from Charmides’ two houses, and the excellence fittingly expected from such ancestry. References: 157e, 158a. Lexical identification: lemma: ἔοικα; εἰκός is its neuter perfect participle. See House, lineage and nobility.

οἰκία

Attested: οἰκίας / οἰκίαι / οἰκία (oikias / oikiai / oikia). House or household; first Charmides’ family and ancestral line, later the domestic unit that temperance is imagined as administering well. References: 154e, 157e, 158a, 171e, 172d. Lexical identification: lemma: οἰκία. See House, lineage and nobility.

πατρῷος

Attested: πατρῴα (patrōia). Paternal or inherited from the father; qualifies the household of Critias son of Dropides in the praise of Charmides’ lineage. References: 157e. Lexical identification: lemma: πατρῷος. See House, lineage and nobility.

συγγένεια

Attested: συγγενείας (syngeneias). Kinship or family connection; Socrates links Charmides’ poetic gift with the family’s relationship to Solon. References: 155a. Lexical identification: lemma: συγγένεια. See House, lineage and nobility.

γεννάδα (gennada)

My good fellow; a familiar vocative addressed by Socrates to his unnamed listener, not a proof of the listener’s noble ancestry. References: 155d. Lemma: γεννάδας. See House, lineage and nobility.

ἐγκεκωμιασμένη (enkekōmiasmenē)

Celebrated in encomium or praise; the ancestry is presented through poets' commendation. References: 157e. Lemma: ἐγκωμιάζω. See House, lineage and nobility.

ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων (ek tōn eikotōn)

On grounds of likelihood; the praise of Charmides' expected excellence rests on an inference from his ancestry. References: 157e. Lemma: εἰκός. See House, lineage and nobility.

ἔτικτεν (etikten)

Bore or gave birth to; Socrates calls Charmides fortunate in his birth, conditionally upon the adequacy of his soul. References: 158b. Lemma: τίκτω. See House, lineage and nobility.

μητρὸς (mētros)

Mother; introduces the maternal family line in the praise of Charmides’ ancestry. References: 158a. Lemma: μήτηρ. See House, lineage and nobility.

συνελθοῦσαι (synelthousai)

Having come together; the paternal and maternal houses are brought together in Charmides’ descent. References: 157e. Lemma: συνέρχομαι. See House, lineage and nobility.

ὑπάρχει (hyparchei)

Belongs to or is already present for; Socrates says poetic distinction has long belonged to the family through Solon. References: 155a. Lemma: ὑπάρχω. See House, lineage and nobility.