Charmides.
Socrates, Charmides.
The former.
160 And is not shrewdness a quickness or cleverness of the soul, and not a quietness?
True.
And is it not best to understand what is said, whether at the writing-master's or the music-master's, or anywhere else, not as quietly as possible, but as quickly as possible ?
Yes.
And in the searchings or deliberations of the soul, not the quietest, as I imagine, and he who with difficulty deliberates and discovers, is thought worthy of praise, but he who does so most easily and quickly ?
Quite true, he said.
And in all that concerns either body or soul, swiftness and activity arc clearly better than slowness and quiet- ness?
Clearly they are.
Temperance therefore is no more quietness than quickness. Then temperance is not quietness, nor is the temperate life quiet,—certainly not upon this view: for the life which is temperate is supposed to be the good. And of two things, one is true,—either never, or very seldom, do the quiet actions m life appear to be better than the quick and energetic ones ; or supposing that of the nobler actions, there are as many quiet, as quick and vehement : still, even if we grant this, temperance will not be acting quietly any more than acting quickly and energetically, either in walking or talking or in anything else ; nor will the quiet life be more temperate than the unquiet, seeing that temperance is admitted by us to be a good and noble thing, and the quick have been shown to be as good as the quiet.
I think, he said, Socrates, that you are right.
Then once more, Charmides, I said, fix your attention, and look within ; consider the effect which temperance has upon yourself, and the nature of that which has the effect. Think over all this, and, like a brave youth, tell me—What is temperance?
Second definition: Temperance is modesty. After a moment's pause, in which he made a real manly effort to think, he said : My opinion is, Socrates, that temperance makes a man ashamed or modest, and that temperance is the same as modesty.
