Book summary

カルミデスのあらすじ

著者：プラトン

読了7分
7 key ideas
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Home from war, Socrates meets a beautiful youth with a headache and offers a charm that treats the soul first.

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カルミデスの概要

要約：読むのに7 minかかります

読書時間: 約1 h 20 min1 h 5 min fast, 1 h 35 min slow
所要時間: 19,300語
ライブラリ内の難易度: 標準 longer sentences, everyday words
初版刊行年: 紀元前380年頃by プラトン

Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). 古典を読むのにかかる時間 · 更新日 22 October 2026

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カルミデス in short

The Charmides is a single conversation in a wrestling school, and it asks one question: what is temperance? Socrates tests three answers from Charmides and two from Critias. Quietness fails because speed is often better. Modesty fails because it is sometimes bad.

What カルミデス is about

What does it mean to be master of yourself? In the Charmides, Socrates comes home from the army at Potidaea and walks into a wrestling school full of old friends. Then the most admired young man enters, and Socrates, who says he is no judge of beauty, finds himself on fire.

Plato wrote this early dialogue about sophrosyne, which English calls temperance or self-control. You get a lively lesson in how a good definition is built and broken. You will hear a charm from Thrace, a riddle, and a bold claim that wisdom is knowledge of knowledge.

対象読者. You will enjoy this if you love clever conversation, ancient Athens, and watching a question turned over until it shines. It suits anyone curious about self-control and self-knowledge.

The 7 key ideas

Key idea 1 · free to read
A wrestling school welcomes Socrates home
Socrates tells the story himself. He has just come back to Athens from the army at Potidaea, and he goes straight to the wrestling school of Taureas to see his old haunts. His friend Chaerephon leaps up, seizes his hand, and asks how he got away.
Socrates sits beside Critias, tells the news, and then asks which of the young men stand out for wisdom, for beauty, or for both. Critias glances at the door. A noisy crowd is coming in, the advance guard of a youth everyone calls the beauty of the day. This is his cousin Charmides. Even the smallest boys stare at him as if he were a statue.
Socrates jokes that Charmides would be perfect with one more thing, a noble soul. Critias says his cousin is as fine inside as out, and a poet too. So Socrates proposes to look at the soul first. A pretext is found. Charmides is called to see a physician about his morning headaches.
Charmides sits between them, and Socrates glimpses the youth inside his garment and feels on fire. A wild appetite rises, and he masters it with effort. That struggle is a quiet clue to what the talk will be about.
Beauty draws every eye, but only conversation shows what a person is.
2
Cure the soul before you cure the head
Charmides asks whether Socrates really knows a cure for headache.
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3
Quietness is the first, failed definition
Socrates asks Charmides to look within and say what temperance is.
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4
Modesty and minding your own business fail
Charmides tries again.
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5
Critias redefines temperance as self-knowledge
Critias now takes the argument from the boy.
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6
A science of science has no clear object
Critias now explains self-knowledge.
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7
Knowing that you know is not enough
Socrates now grants, for argument's sake, that a science of science exists.
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『カルミデス』についての質問

What is the Charmides about?

It is a conversation in which Socrates asks Charmides and Critias to say what temperance, or self-control, is. They offer several definitions, and Socrates tests each one against everyday examples and sharp reasoning.

Who are Charmides and Critias?

Charmides is a handsome, admired young Athenian, and Critias is his older cousin and guardian. Socrates talks with Charmides first and then with Critias, who defends the idea that temperance is self-knowledge.

What does temperance mean in the Charmides?

The Greek word is sophrosyne, which can mean self-control, moderation, soundness of mind, or wisdom. The dialogue tries to find what it really is and whether it helps a person live well.

What is the Thracian charm in the Charmides?

It is the charm Socrates says he learned from a physician of King Zamolxis. The charm is made of fine words and treats the soul first, since the health of the body depends on it.

Is the Charmides easy to follow?

Yes, in the sense that it is short, set in one lively scene, and moves by simple questions and answers. Each definition is tested with examples from school, sport, and crafts that any listener can picture.

この版を引用します

Plato. Charmides. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/charmides.

Plato. (2026). Charmides. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/charmides (Original work published ca. 380 B.C.E.)

Plato. Charmides. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/charmides.

@book{plato2026charmides,
  author = {Plato},
  title = {Charmides},
  publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/charmides},
  note = {First published ca. 380 BCE}
}