Self-control

And though shamelessness and not shrinking from shameful actions is base, this does not prove that to be ashamed when one a does shameful acts is virtuous— any more than Self-restraint is a virtue, and not rather a mixture of virtue and vice.

This is the unrestrained man:

one we call Virtue, the other Self-restraint.

Really now, don’t you think this dinner much finer than your Persian dinners?

but the road to satiety is much more simple and direct in our country than with you;

But, grandfather, said Cyrus, I observe that even you are disgusted with these viands.

what alarming power in a kiss!

for the scorpion injects something by its bite.

it is not easy to control yourself once you meddle with that sort of thing.

for self-control is the greatest gift of God.

And according to this account the temperate man among us is dear to God, for he is like;

You see love of mankind with self-control?

the virtues of the appetitive part are temperance and self-control;

It belongs to self-control to be able to restrain with reason the appetite that strives toward base enjoyments and pleasures;

Self-control is the virtue of the appetitive part, by which they restrain with reason the appetite that strives after base pleasures.

but with good order, decorum, by showing yourselves temperate and steadfast.

but temperance and mind are the things that save.

Formerly, then, your city was renowned for good order and temperance and produced such men;

It is, he replied, and of itself.

And temperance was an honorable thing?

And medicine, I said, is a science of health?

To rule oneself is the greatest dominion.

Oh, by how great errors are men possessed, who long to extend their right of dominion across the seas, and judge themselves most fortunate if they hold many provinces with their soldiery and add new ones to the old, ignorant of what that mighty realm, equal to the gods, may be!

Temperance commands the pleasures, some it hates and drives away, others it dispenses and reduces to a sound measure, nor does it ever come to them for their own sake.

the defendant should suffer it because he is unwilling to restrain his own lewdness.

Is it not perfectly plain that the man who makes such demands must himself necessarily be furnishing in return certain pleasures to the men who are spending their money on him?

But, I think, so long as the boy is not his own master and is as yet unable to discern who is a genuine friend, and who is not, the law teaches the lover self-control, and makes him defer the words of friendship till the other is older and has reached years of discretion;

From which it is understood that intemperance is not to be shunned for its own sake, nor temperance sought for its own sake, but because the latter procures greater pleasures.

And by the same reasoning we shall say that not even temperance is to be sought for its own sake, but because it brings peace to our minds and soothes and calms them, as it were, with a certain harmony.

and this is the virtue of the mind, which some say is temperance itself, others say is something obedient to the precepts of temperance and following it, having no form of its own;

As, then, temperance calms the cravings and brings it about that they obey right reason, and preserves the considered judgements of the mind, so intemperance, hostile to it, inflames, confounds, rouses the whole state of the mind;

As for discreetness of conduct, it is my privilege to pass the finest of compliments, namely, that though such youthfulness readily invites scandal, it has been your lot to be praised instead.

All men would agree with me, I believe, that it is of the utmost importance for young men of your age to possess beauty in respect of person, self-discipline in respect of soul, and manliness in respect of both, and consistently to possess charm in respect of speech.

Now touching your admirers, if it is right to speak also of these, you seem to me to deport yourself so admirably and sensibly toward them, that, though most of them cannot be patient even with the object of their preference, you succeed in pleasing them all exceedingly.

Soundness of mind and reverence for the affairs of the gods is best;

I have become somehow sobered, changing from my former state of mind.

for all these things are the works of temperance and justice.

And now on the subject of temperance, also, I have still more important things to recount.

But why need I take the time to speak in detail, especially when I can make clear in a word the truth about myself?

Consider that no adornment so becomes you as modesty, justice, and self-control;

Practice self-control in all the things by which it is shameful for the soul to be controlled, namely, gain, temper, pleasure, and pain.

If possible avoid drinking-parties altogether, but if ever occasion arises when you must be present, rise and take your leave before you become intoxicated;

How can that be, Socrates?

And self-knowledge we admitted to be temperance.

Then it is impossible to be happy if one is not temperate and good.

Besides courage, I refer to temperance, justice, and other similar qualities.

Do you suppose that such a man could be lacking in temperance, or justice, and holiness, when he alone has the gift of taking due precaution, in his dealings with gods and men, as regards what is to be dreaded and what is not, and of procuring good things, owing to his knowledge of the right behaviour towards them?

We say, to be sure, that this is impossible, nevertheless their foolish self-restraint amounts to little more than this;

For, said Socrates, if you care to consider the courage and the self-restraint of other men, you will see that they are absurd.

and courage and self-restraint and justice and, in short, true virtue exist only with wisdom, whether pleasures and fears and other things of that sort are added or taken away.

—do you think the hearing of that sort of thing will conduce to a young man’s temperance or self-control?

And for the multitude are not the main points of self-control these—to be obedient to their rulers and themselves to be rulers over the bodily appetites and pleasures of food, drink, and the rest?

But do we not also praise the gentle type of movement in many actions?

And, of course, that self-restraint is different from courage, but is also a part of virtue of which courage is a part.

For those who are especially decorous are ready to live always a quiet and retired life and to mind their own business;

After a deep silence, Agesilaus gave his reply:

As for sleep, it was not his master, but the servant of his activities;

Drunkenness, he thought, should be avoided like madness, overeating like idleness.

And how could I be corrupting the young by habituating them to fortitude and frugality?

First, who is there in your knowledge that is less a slave to his bodily appetites than I am?

so you tell us whether you know of any one who under my influence has fallen from piety into impiety, or from sober into wanton conduct, or from moderation in living into extravagance, or from temperate drinking into sottishness, or from strenuousness into effeminacy, or has been overcome of any other base pleasure.

Yes, so far so good, Socrates.

And who, pray, may these unseen rulers be?

Ah, Critobulus, we must fight for our freedom against these tyrants as persistently as if they were armed men trying to enslave us.

For this reason I maintain that one who intends to possess the power of self-control must refrain from kissing those in the bloom of beauty.

But now, Critobulus, said he, in the presence of all these witnesses I warn you not to lay a finger on me until you get as much hair on your chin as you have on your head.

For since we handsome men exert a certain inspiration upon the amorous, we make them more generous in money matters, more strenuous and heroic amid dangers, yes, and more modest and self-controlled also;