ood and evil, whether in the body or in
human nature, originates, as he declared, in the soul, and overflows
from thence, as if from the head into the eyes. And therefore if the
head and body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul; that is
the first thing. And the cure, my dear youth, has to be effected by
the use of certain charms, and these charms are fair words; and by them
temperance is implanted in the soul, and where temperance is, there
health is speedily imparted, not only to the head, but to the whole
body. And he who taught me the cure and the charm at the same time added
a special direction: 'Let no one,' he said, 'persuade you to cure the
head, until he has first given you his soul to be cured by the charm.
For this,' he said, 'is the great error of our day in the treatment of
the human body, that physicians separate the soul from the body.' And he
added with emphasis, at the same time making me swear to his words, 'Let
no one, however rich, or noble, or fair, persuade you to give him the
cure, without the charm.' Now I have sworn, and I must keep my oath, and
therefore if you will allow me to apply the Thracian charm first to your
soul, as the stranger directed, I will afterwards proceed to apply the
cure to your head. But if not, I do not know what I am to do with you,
my dear Charmides.

Critias, when he heard this, said: The headache will be an unexpected
gain to my young relation, if the pain in his head compels him to
improve his mind: and I can tell you, Socrates, that Charmides is not
only pre-eminent in beauty among his equals, but also in that quality
which is given by the charm; and this, as you say, is temperance?

Yes, I said.

Then let me tell you that he is the most temperate of human beings, and
for his age inferior to none in any quality.

Yes, I said, Charmides; and indeed I think that you ought to excel
others in all good qualities; for if I am not mistaken there is no one
present who could easily point out two Athenian houses, whose union
would be likely to produce a better or nobler scion than the two from
which you are sprung. There is your father's house, which is descended
from Critias the son of Dropidas, whose family has been commemorated
in the panegyrical verses of Anacreon, Solon, and many other poets,
as famous for beauty and virtue and all other high fortune: and your
mother's house is equally distinguished; for your maternal uncle,
Pyrilampes, is reputed never t