Key Facts
full title · Charmides
author · Plato
language · Ancient Greek
time and place written · Athens, c.380 B.C. (exact year unknown)
speaker · Socrates (469–399 B.C.), Plato's mentor.
other main characters · Charmides and Critias.
translation used in this note · Bollingen Series LXXI, Princeton University Press (1994).
setting · A palaestra in Athens.
primary topic of the dialogue · Temperance (sophrosyne)
other topics · Passionate desire, self-knowledge, the ideal state.
conclusion to the dialogue · Aporia; nothing is decided.
