You know your native language, I said, and therefore you must be able to
tell what you feel about this.

Certainly, he said.

In order, then, that I may form a conjecture whether you have temperance
abiding in you or not, tell me, I said, what, in your opinion, is
Temperance?

At first he hesitated, and was very unwilling to answer: then he said
that he thought temperance was doing things orderly and quietly, such
things for example as walking in the streets, and talking, or anything
else of that nature. In a word, he said, I should answer that, in my
opinion, temperance is quietness.

Are you right, Charmides? I said. No doubt some would affirm that the
quiet are the temperate; but let us see whether these words have any
meaning; and first tell me whether you would not acknowledge temperance
to be of the class of the noble and good?

Yes.

But which is best when you are at the writing-master's, to write the
same letters quickly or quietly?

Quickly.

And to read quickly or slowly?

Quickly again.

And in playing the lyre, or wrestling, quickness or sharpness are far
better than quietness and slowness?

Yes.

And the same holds in boxing and in the pancratium?

Certainly.

And in leaping and running and in bodily exercises generally, quickness
and agility are good; slowness, and inactivity, and quietness, are bad?

That is evident.

Then, I said, in all bodily actions, not quietness, but the greatest
agility and quickness, is noblest and best?

Yes, certainly.

And is temperance a good?

Yes.

Then, in reference to the body, not quietness, but quickness will be the
higher degree of temperance, if temperance is a good?

True, he said.

And which, I said, is better--facility in learning, or difficulty in
learning?

Facility.

Yes, I said; and facility in learning is learning quickly, and
difficulty in learning is learning quietly and slowly?

True.

And is it not better to teach another quickly and energetically, rather
than quietly and slowly?

Yes.

And which is better, to call to mind, and to remember, quickly and
readily, or quietly and slowly?

The former.

And is not shrewdness a quickness or cleverness of the soul, and not a
quietness?

True.

And is it not best to understand what is said, whether at the
writing-master's or the music-master's, or anywhere else, not as quietly
as possible, but as quickly as possible?

Yes.

And in the searchings or deliberations o