Order and orderly conduct

Use in the book

Charmides first says temperance is doing everything kosmiōs and quietly, illustrating this with walking and speaking (159b). The adverb gives the proposal its social and normative aspect: not merely absence of motion or sound, but a suitable bearing. He then summarises the whole answer as a kind of quietness. Socrates' refutation chiefly pursues quietness in its opposition to quick and effective performance, and does not independently define or refute orderliness.

This omission matters when judging the argument. If the initial conjunction permits quick yet well-regulated activity, the later contrast with slowness has not exhausted it. Conversely Charmides himself authorises the compression into quietness. The exchange leaves a tension between the richer description of conduct and the compressed definiens that receives the direct test. Readers should not repair the argument by asserting that orderliness has silently been demonstrated equivalent to either speed or stillness.

Places to read

1. 159bThe first proposal joins orderly behaviour with quietness
2. 160c (apparatus)Burnet deletes κόσμιος from the later sentence about the quiet life

Translation in this edition

“In an orderly way” translates the adverb at 159b. The omission of “orderly” at 160c follows Burnet's brackets rather than a failure to translate an accepted word. Keeping the two textual statuses separate is essential.

βαδίζω

Attested: βαδίζειν (badizein). To walk, specifically walking in the streets; Charmides includes orderly, quiet everyday movement in his first description of temperance. References: 159b. Lexical identification: lemma: βαδίζω. See Order and orderly conduct.

βαδισμός

Attested: βαδισμῷ (badismōi). Walking as an activity; Socrates says quietness has no special claim to temperance in walking, speech or any other practice. References: 160c. Lexical identification: lemma: βαδισμός. See Order and orderly conduct.

κόσμιος

Attested: κοσμίως / κόσμιος (kosmiōs / kosmios). Orderly or decorous; the candidate gathers the adjective at 160c with its adverb κοσμίως at 159b. The adjective is printed in editorially deleted text at 160c and must not be treated as an unqualified accepted reading. References: 159b, 160c. Lexical identification: lemma family: κόσμιος (adjective), κοσμίως (adverb). κοσμίως at 159b is accepted; κόσμιος at 160c is bracketed for deletion. See Order and orderly conduct.

κοσμίως

Attested: κοσμίως (kosmiōs). In an orderly or decorous manner; Charmides qualifies everyday conduct by this adverb, coupling it with quietness in his initial account of temperance. References: 159b. Lexical identification: lemma: κοσμίως. See Order and orderly conduct.

ὁδοῖς (hodois)

Roads or streets; walking in public is an example of the decorous quietness Charmides proposes. References: 159b. Lemma: ὁδός. See Order and orderly conduct.