nd, that I cannot measure anything, and
of the beautiful, I am simply such a measure as a white line is of
chalk; for almost all young persons are alike beautiful in my eyes.
But at that moment, when I saw him coming in, I must admit
that I was quite astonished at his beauty and stature; all the world
seemed to be enamoured of him; amazement and confusion reigned
when he entered; and a troop of lovers followed him. That grown-up
men like ourselves should have been affected in this way was
not surprising, but I observed that there was the same feeling
among the boys; all of them, down to the very least child, turned
and looked at him as if he had been a statue.

Chaerephon called me and said: 'What do you think of him,
Socrates? Has he not a beautiful face?'

'That he has indeed,' I said.

'But you would think nothing of his face,' he replied, 'if you
could see his naked form: he is absolutely perfect.'

[1] I quote from Professor Jowett's translation.

This Charmides is a true Greek of the perfect type. Not only is he
the most beautiful of Athenian youths; he is also temperate, modest,
and subject to the laws of moral health. His very beauty is a
harmony of well-developed faculties in which the mind and body are
at one. How a young Greek managed to preserve this balance in the
midst of the admiring crowds described by Socrates is a marvel.
Modern conventions unfit our minds for realising the conditions
under which he had to live. Yet it is indisputable that Plato has
strained no point in the animated picture he presents of the
palaestra. Aristophanes and Xenophon bear him out in all the details
of the scene. We have to imagine a totally different system of
social morality from ours, with virtues and vices, temptations and
triumphs, unknown to our young men. The next scene from the 'Lysis'
introduces us to another wrestling-ground in the neighbourhood of
Athens. Here Socrates meets with Hippothales, who is a devoted lover
but a bad poet. Hippothales asks the philosopher's advice as to the
best method of pleasing the boy Lysis:--

'Will you tell me by what words or actions I may become
endeared to my love?'

'That is not easy to determine,' I said; 'but if you will bring
your love to me, and will let me talk with him, I may perhaps be
able to show you how to converse with him, instead of singing
and reciting in the fashion of which you are accused.'

'There will b