Charmides

There were many things that intrigued me while reading the Charmides. However, what intrigued me the most was the erotic situation in the beginning of the dialogue. What I find most memorable about Socrates in the Charmides is his how awestruck and irresistibly attracted he is to Charmides.

The desire Socrates had for Charmides is made quite apparent in the beginning of the dialogue. "Ð'...and when everyone in the palaestra surge all around us in a circle, then, my noble friend, I saw inside his cloak and caught on fire and was quite beside myself." (Charmides 155D 3-5) At this moment, in the beginning of the dialogue, Charmides just came over and sat down with Socrates. I was intrigued when Socrates' reaction to this simple action was quite overwhelming. I found the pull of desire very strong in the beginning of the Charmides as Socrates is nearly struck dumb with nervousness when Charmides comes over to speak to him. "And then my friend, I really was in difficulties, and although I had thought it would be perfectly easy to talk to him, I found my previous brash confidence quite gone."(Charmides 155C 6-9) Also, at the end of the dialogue, a curious exchange occurs in which Charmides both agreed to become Socrates' devoted pupil and told him, "Do not oppose me." (Charmides 176D 3) This dense network of emotions and relations between Socrates and Charmides contrasts with the fairly strict philosophical conversation that occupies the middle sections of the dialogue between Socrates and Critias, and for this reason made it very memorable.

However, I realize that learning and love were intimately bound up in Athenian society at the time. The love of an older man for a young man was not only accepted, but idealized as a kind of teacher-student relationship in which wisdom was to be imparted. Nonetheless, my modern notions found this interaction between Charmides and Socrates quite curious and different, which is why I found it the most memorable interaction in the Charmides.

Although Socrates' advice to Charmides seems somewhat odd, it also makes sense. What Socrates is trying to tell Charmides is to examine his advice and if he finds that he does indeed have temperance, there is no need for his advice anyways.

Socrates came to the realization that there is no conclusion on what temperance really is. " But in spite of the fact that