Temperance is harmony or symphony in the soul wherein the better principle rules the worse; the common saying ‘master of himself’ reflects this ordering, and its opposite arises when, through evil education and association, the smaller better part is overwhelmed by the larger worse part.

By Plato, from The Republic

Key Arguments

  • Temperance has more the nature of harmony and symphony than the prior virtues.
  • Ordinary language—‘a man being his own master’—implicitly points to internal rule and order.
  • Self-mastery is praised when the better principle controls the worse; blame attaches when the worse overcomes the better due to corrupt formation.

Source Quotes

Then consider, he said. Yes, I replied; I will; and as far as I can at present see, the virtue of temperance has more of the nature of harmony and symphony than the preceding. How so? he asked.
How so? he asked. Temperance, I replied, is the ordering or controlling of certain pleasures and desires; this is curiously enough implied in the saying of 'a man being his own master;' and other traces of the same notion may be found in language. No doubt, he said.
Certainly. The meaning is, I believe, that in the human soul there is a better and also a worse principle; and when the better has the worse under control, then a man is said to be master of himself; and this is a term of praise: but when, owing to evil education or association, the better principle, which is also the smaller, is overwhelmed by the greater mass of the worse—in this case he is blamed and is called the slave

Key Concepts

  • the virtue of temperance has more of the nature of harmony and symphony
  • Temperance, I replied, is the ordering or controlling of certain pleasures and desires
  • a man being his own master
  • in the human soul there is a better and also a worse principle; and when the better has the worse under control, then a man is said to be master of himself
  • owing to evil education or association, the better principle, which is also the smaller, is overwhelmed by the greater mass of the worse

Context

Third virtue introduced and partially analyzed through linguistic and psychological reflection on self-mastery and education’s role.

Perspectives

Plato
Affirms temperance as psychic musical harmony—reason ruling appetite; notes corruption stems from miseducation and bad association.
Socrates
Clarifies temperance as ordered desire under rational control; stresses formative causes when the worse overwhelms the better.