my friend, 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 appear to be beautiful in my eyes. But
at that moment when I saw him coming in, I confess that I was quite
astonished at his beauty and his 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."

Charmides, like Lysis, is persuaded to sit down by Socrates, who opens a
discussion upon the appropriate question of _Sophrosyne_, or modest
temperance and self-restraint.[112]

"He came as he was bidden, and sat down between Critias and me.
Great amusement was occasioned by everyone pushing with might and
main at his neighbour in order to make a place for him next to
them, until at the two ends of the row one had to get up, and the
other was rolled over sideways. Now I, my friend, was beginning to
feel awkward; my former bold belief in my powers of conversing with
him had vanished. And when Critias told him that I was the person
who had the cure, he looked at me in such an indescribable manner,
and was going to ask a question; and then all the people in the
palaestra crowded about us, and, O rare! I caught a sight of the
inwards of his garment, and took the flame. Then I could no longer
contain myself. I thought how well Cydias understood the nature of
love when, in speaking of a fair youth, he warns someone, 'not to
bring the fawn in the sight of the lion to be devoured by him,' for
I felt that I had been overcome by a sort of wild-beast appetite."

The whole tenor of the dialogue makes it clear that, in spite of the
admiration he excited, the honour paid him by a public character like
Socrates and the troops of lovers and of friends surrounding him, yet
Charmides was unspoiled. His docility, modesty, simplicity, and
healthiness of soul are at least as remarkable as the beauty for which
he was so famous.

A similar impression is produced upon our minds by Autolycus in the
_Symposium_ of Xenophon.[113] Callias, his acknowledg