the Sophists. In the argument he is not unfair, if
allowance is made for a slight rhetorical tendency, and for a natural
desire to save his reputation with the company; he is sometimes nearer
the truth than Socrates. Nothing in his language or behaviour is
unbecoming the guardian of the beautiful Charmides. His love of
reputation is characteristically Greek, and contrasts with the humility
of Socrates. Nor in Charmides himself do we find any resemblance to the
Charmides of history, except, perhaps, the modest and retiring nature
which, according to Xenophon, at one time of his life prevented him from
speaking in the Assembly (Mem.); and we are surprised to hear that, like
Critias, he afterwards became one of the thirty tyrants. In the Dialogue
he is a pattern of virtue, and is therefore in no need of the charm
which Socrates is unable to apply. With youthful naivete, keeping his
secret and entering into the spirit of Socrates, he enjoys the detection
of his elder and guardian Critias, who is easily seen to be the author
of the definition which he has so great an interest in maintaining.
The preceding definition, 'Temperance is doing one's own business,' is
assumed to have been borrowed by Charmides from another; and when the
enquiry becomes more abstract he is superseded by Critias (Theaet.;
Euthyd.). Socrates preserves his accustomed irony to the end; he is in
the neighbourhood of several great truths, which he views in various
lights, but always either by bringing them to the test of common sense,
or by demanding too great exactness in the use of words, turns aside
from them and comes at last to no conclusion.

The definitions of temperance proceed in regular order from the popular
to the philosophical. The first two are simple enough and partially
true, like the first thoughts of an intelligent youth; the third,
which is a real contribution to ethical philosophy, is perverted by the
ingenuity of Socrates, and hardly rescued by an equal perversion on the
part of Critias. The remaining definitions have a higher aim, which is
to introduce the element of knowledge, and at last to unite good and
truth in a single science. But the time has not yet arrived for the
realization of this vision of metaphysical philosophy; and such a
science when brought nearer to us in the Philebus and the Republic will
not be called by the name of (Greek). Hence we see with surprise that
Plato, who in his other writings identifies good and kno