Quietness

Use in the book

Charmides' first answer gives an entire style of conduct: doing everything orderly and quietly, with walking through the streets and talking as his examples (159b). Its formulation fits public deportment; he is describing the manner of a well-behaved young person, not calculating the fastest way to complete a task. He then compresses the proposal into “a kind of quietness.” Socrates acknowledges that ordinary speakers call quiet people temperate and tests that reputation against another agreed judgment: temperance is fine.

The examples move through the boy's education and bodily exercises. Copying letters, reading, playing the lyre, wrestling and running are better performed quickly or nimbly than slowly and laboriously (159c–d). The soul supplies parallel cases: learning, teaching, remembering, understanding and finding a result in deliberation (159e–160b). This movement does not equate all bodily speed with virtue. It challenges quietness's exclusive claim to be the fine quality called temperance.

There is nevertheless a pressure point in the argument. “Quietly” in the initial description can mean controlled or unostentatious; “slowly” and “with difficulty” in the counterexamples suggest inefficiency. A fast action can be calm, and a slow one can be agitated. The edition rightly flags the possible shift of sense. A careful reading should allow both the ordinary overlap and the inadequacy of treating the terms as perfect synonyms.

Socrates' final fallback makes the negative result more robust than the earlier comparisons alone. Even if quiet actions were fine just as often as vigorous quick ones, there would be no basis for identifying temperance with quiet action rather than its apparent opposite (160b–d2). This shows underdetermination, not a definition of temperance as speed. The temperate life has to be fine, but no single pace captures that requirement. Charmides' next pause before answering also prevents the drama from simply abolishing thoughtful stillness: his second proposal emerges after reflection rather than instant response (160e).

Places to read

1. 159bCharmides proposes orderly and quiet conduct, summarised as a kind of quietness
2. 159c–dBodily examples contrast quiet and slow performance with quick and nimble performance
3. 159e–160bLearning and deliberation provide corresponding examples for the soul
4. 160b–d2Even parity between fine quiet and fine quick actions cannot establish the proposed identity

Translation in this edition

“Quietly” is preserved even where English might naturally substitute “slowly,” making the argumentative movement visible. At 160c Burnet brackets κόσμιος, “orderly,” in the sentence about the quiet life; the English accordingly does not silently reinstate the adjective. The definition should be cited from the unbracketed κοσμίως at 159b.

ἡσυχῇ

Attested: ἡσυχῇ (hēsychēi). Quietly or calmly; the adverbial dative describes the orderly manner of action proposed as temperance. References: 159b, 159e. Lexical identification: adverbial dative: ἡσυχῇ. See Quietness.

ἡσυχία

Attested: ἡσυχία (hēsychia). Quietness, calm or lack of haste; the noun joins the comparison of quick and quiet mental activities. References: 160a. Lexical identification: lemma: ἡσυχία. See Quietness.

ἡσύχιος

Attested: ἡσύχιοι / ἡσυχίου (hēsychioi / hēsychiou). Quiet or calm; qualifies lives and activities whose merit is compared with quick performance. References: 160c. Lexical identification: lemma: ἡσύχιος. See Quietness.

ἡσυχιότης

Attested: ἡσυχιότης / ἡσυχιότητος (hēsychiotēs / hēsychiotētos). The quality of quietness; Charmides’ first proposed account of temperance. References: 159b, 159d, 160b. Lexical identification: lemma: ἡσυχιότης. See Quietness.

βαδίζειν (badizein)

To walk; ordinary gait is one example in Charmides' proposed quiet deportment. References: 159b. Lemma: βαδίζω. See Quietness.

βαδισμῷ (badismōi)

Walking or gait; repeated as a field in which quietness is not necessarily the finest performance. References: 160c. Lemma: βαδισμός. See Quietness.