Returning from the army at Potidaea, Socrates finds the wrestling school full of talk about Charmides, the most admired youth in Athens. With Charmides and his guardian Critias he tries one definition of temperance after another, modesty, minding one’s own business, self-knowledge, and finds each wanting. Benjamin Jowett supplies the translation and introduction.
A short, lively early dialogue that shows the Socratic method at full stretch. Download the free EPUB.