938 Ion 530 c 531 SOCRATES: Ion! Hello. Where have you come from to visit us this time? From your home in Ephesus? ION: No, no, Socrates. From Epiauru

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1 ION A rhapsoe is a professional reciter of the poetry of Homer an certain other prestigious early poets of Greece. In Athens the prize-winning rhapsoe Ion from Ephesus (we o not know whether he is a historical personage or Plato s invention) runs into Socrates, who expresses amiration for his profession an questions him aout it. Theirs is a private conversation, apparently with no others present (as in Euthyphro). Ion professes not just to recite superly Homer s poetry (his specialty) ut also to speak eautifully in his own right aout Homer in interpreting an explaining his poetry an its excellences. Socrates is more intereste in this secon aspect of Ion s professional expertise than in the first. He wants to know whether Ion speaks aout Homer on the asis of knowlege or mastery : is he the master of some oy of knowlege, which he employs an expresses in speaking aout Homer? The chief interest of this short ialogue, apart from its comical portrayal of Ion s enthusiasm for his own skills, lies in the way Socrates evelops his own view which Ion in the en lithely accepts! that Ion speaks not from knowlege ut from inspiration, his thoughts eing reathe into him without the use of his own unerstaning at all. Using the analogy of a magnet, with the power to raw one iron ring to itself, an through that another, an another, Socrates suggests that Homer himself the greatest of the Greek poets ha no knowlege of his own in writing his poetry, ut was ivinely possesse. Ion an other expert rhapsoes are also ivinely possesse as it were, magnetize through him, oth when they recite his poetry an when they speak aout it an they pass on the inspiration to their hearers, who are in a state of ivine possession in opening themselves to the poetry. Neither poets nor rhapsoes have any knowlege or mastery of anything: their work, with all its eauty, is the prouct of the gos working through them, not of any human intelligence an skill. Thus these minor characters, the rhapsoes, provie Socrates entrée to much igger game, the poet Homer himself, the great teacher of the Greeks. Reaers shoul compare (an contrast) Socrates criticisms of Homer here with those in Repulic II an III, an his critique of poetry in X, along with the views aout poetic maness that he avances in Phaerus an elsewhere. J.M.C. 937

2 938 Ion 530 c 531 SOCRATES: Ion! Hello. Where have you come from to visit us this time? From your home in Ephesus? ION: No, no, Socrates. From Epiaurus, from the festival of Asclepius. SOCRATES: Don t tell me the Epiaurians hol a contest for rhapsoes in honor of the go? ION: They certainly o! They o it for every sort of poetry an music. SOCRATES: Really! Di you enter the contest? An how i it go for you? ION: First prize, Socrates! We carrie it off. SOCRATES: That s goo to hear. Well, let s see that we win the ig games at Athens, next. ION: We ll o it, Socrates, go willing. SOCRATES: You know, Ion, many times I ve envie you rhapsoes your profession. Physically, it is always fitting for you in your profession to e resse up to look as eautiful as you can; an at the same time it is necessary for you to e at work with poets many fine ones, an with Homer aove all, who s the est poet an the most ivine an you have to learn his thought, not just his verses! Now that is something to envy! I mean, no one woul ever get to e a goo rhapsoe if he in t unerstan what is meant y the poet. A rhapsoe must come to present the poet s thought to his auience; an he can t o that eautifully unless he knows what the poet means. So this all eserves to e envie. ION: That s true, Socrates. An that s the part of my profession that took the most work. I think I speak more eautifully than anyone else aout Homer; neither Metroorus of Lampsacus nor Stesimrotus of Thasos nor Glaucon nor anyone else past or present coul offer as many eautiful thoughts aout Homer as I can. SOCRATES: That s goo to hear, Ion. Surely you won t egruge me a emonstration? ION: Really, Socrates, it s worth hearing how well I ve got Homer resse up. I think I m worthy to e crowne y the Sons of Homer 1 with a golen crown. SOCRATES: Really, I shall make time to hear that later. Now I just like an answer to this: Are you so wonerfully clever aout Homer alone or also aout Hesio an Archilochus? ION: No, no. Only aout Homer. That s goo enough, I think. SOCRATES: Is there any suject on which Homer an Hesio oth say the same things? ION: Yes, I think so. A goo many. SOCRATES: Then, on those sujects, woul you explain Homer s verse etter an more eautifully than Hesio s? ION: Just the same Socrates, on those sujects, anyway, where they say the same things. Translate y Paul Wooruff. 1. The sons of Homer were a guil of rhapsoes who originally claime to e escenants of Homer.

3 Ion 939 SOCRATES: An how aout the sujects on which they o not say the same things? Divination, for example. Homer says something aout it an so oes Hesio. ION: Certainly. SOCRATES: Well. Take all the places where those two poets speak of ivination, oth where they agree an where they on t: who woul explain those etter an more eautifully, you, or one of the iviners if he s goo? ION: One of the iviners. SOCRATES: Suppose you were a iviner: if you were really ale to explain the places where the two poets agree, wouln t you also know how to explain the places where they isagree? ION: That s clear. SOCRATES: Then what in the worl is it that you re clever aout in Homer ut not in Hesio an the other poets? Does Homer speak of any sujects that iffer from those of all the other poets? Doesn t he mainly go through tales of war, an of how people eal with each other in society goo people an a, orinary folks an craftsmen? An of the gos, how they eal with each other an with men? An oesn t he recount what happens in heaven an in hell, an tell of the irths of gos an heroes? Those are the sujects of Homer s poetry-making, aren t they? ION: That s true, Socrates. SOCRATES: An how aout the other poets? Di they write on the same sujects? ION: Yes, ut Socrates, they in t o it the way Homer i. SOCRATES: How, then? Worse? ION: Much worse. SOCRATES: An Homer oes it etter? ION: Really etter. SOCRATES: Well now, Ion, ear heart, when a numer of people are iscussing arithmetic, an one of them speaks est, I suppose someone will know how to pick out the goo speaker. SOCRATES: Will it e the same person who can pick out the a speakers, or someone else? ION: The same, of course. SOCRATES: An that will e someone who has mastere arithmetic, right? SOCRATES: Well. Suppose a numer of people are iscussing healthy nutrition, an one of them speaks est. Will one person know that the est speaker speaks est, an another that an inferior speaker speaks worse? Or will the same man know oth? ION: Oviously, the same man. SOCRATES: Who is he? What o we call him? ION: A octor. c e

4 940 Ion 532 c e SOCRATES: So, to sum it up, this is what we re saying: when a numer of people speak on the same suject, it s always the same person who will know how to pick out goo speakers an a speakers. If he oesn t know how to pick out a a speaker, he certainly won t know a goo speaker on the same suject, anyway. ION: That s so. SOCRATES: Then it turns out that the same person is wonerfully clever aout oth speakers. SOCRATES: Now you claim that Homer an the other poets (incluing Hesio an Archilochus) speak on the same sujects, ut not equally well. He s goo, an they re inferior. ION: Yes, an it s true. SOCRATES: Now if you really o know who s speaking well, you ll know that the inferior speakers are speaking worse. ION: Apparently so. SOCRATES: You re super! So if we say that Ion is equally clever aout Homer an the other poets, we ll make no mistake. Because you agree yourself that the same person will e an aequate juge of all who speak on the same sujects, an that almost all the poets o treat the same sujects. ION: Then how in the worl o you explain what I o, Socrates? When someone iscusses another poet I pay no attention, an I have no power to contriute anything worthwhile: I simply oze off. But let someone mention Homer an right away I m wie awake an I m paying attention an I have plenty to say. SOCRATES: That s not har to figure out, my frien. Anyone can tell that you are powerless to speak aout Homer on the asis of knowlege or mastery. Because if your aility came y mastery, you woul e ale to speak aout all the other poets as well. Look, there is an art of poetry as a whole, isn t there? SOCRATES: An now take the whole of any other suject: won t it have the same iscipline throughout? An this goes for every suject that can e mastere. Do you nee me to tell you what I mean y this, Ion? ION: Lor, yes, I o, Socrates. I love to hear you wise men talk. SOCRATES: I wish that were true, Ion. But wise? Surely you are the wise men, you rhapsoes an actors, you an the poets whose work you sing. As for me, I say nothing ut the truth, as you expect from an orinary man. I mean, even this question I aske you look how commonplace an orinary a matter it is. Anyoy coul unerstan what I meant: on t you use the same iscipline throughout whenever you master the whole of a suject? Take this for iscussion painting is a suject to e mastere as a whole, isn t it? SOCRATES: An there are many painters, goo an a, an there have een many in the past.

5 Ion 941 ION: Certainly. SOCRATES: Have you ever known anyone who is clever at showing what s well painte an what s not in the work of Polygnotus, ut who s powerless to o that for other painters? Someone who ozes off when the work of 533 other painters is isplaye, an is lost, an has nothing to contriute ut when he has to give jugment on Polygnotus or any other painter (so long as it s just one), he s wie awake an he s paying attention an he has plenty to say have you ever known anyone like that? ION: Goo lor no, of course not! SOCRATES: Well. Take sculpture. Have you ever known anyone who is clever at explaining which statues are well mae in the case of Daealus, son of Metion, or Epeius, son of Panopeus, or Theoorus of Samos, or any other single sculptor, ut who s lost when he s among the proucts of other sculptors, an he ozes off an has nothing to say? ION: Goo lor no. I haven t. SOCRATES: An further, it is my opinion, you ve never known anyone ever not in flute-playing, not in cithara-playing, not in singing to the cithara, an not in rhapsoizing you ve never known a man who is clever at explaining Olympus or Thamyrus or Orpheus or Phemius, the rhapsoe c from Ithaca, ut who has nothing to contriute aout Ion, the rhapsoe from Ephesus, an cannot tell when he oes his work well an when he oesn t you ve never known a man like that. ION: I have nothing to say against you on that point, Socrates. But this I know aout myself: I speak aout Homer more eautifully than anyoy else an I have lots to say; an everyoy says I o it well. But aout the other poets I o not. Now see what that means. SOCRATES: I o see, Ion, an I m going to announce to you what I think that is. As I sai earlier, that s not a suject you ve mastere speaking well aout Homer; it s a ivine power that moves you, as a Magnetic stone moves iron rings. (That s what Euripies calle it; most people call it Heraclean. ) 2 This stone not only pulls those rings, if they re iron, it also puts power in the rings, so that they in turn can o just what the e stone oes pull other rings so that there s sometimes a very long chain of iron pieces an rings hanging from one another. An the power in all of them epens on this stone. In the same way, the Muse makes some people inspire herself, an then through those who are inspire a chain of other enthusiasts is suspene. You know, none of the epic poets, if they re goo, are masters of their suject; they are inspire, possesse, an that is how they utter all those eautiful poems. The same goes for lyric poets if they re goo: just as the Coryantes are not in their right 534 mins when they ance, lyric poets, too, are not in their right mins when they make those eautiful lyrics, ut as soon as they sail into harmony an 2. Natural magnets apparently came from Magnesia an Heraclea in Caria in Asia Minor, an were calle after those places.

6 942 Ion c e 535 rhythm they are possesse y Bacchic frenzy. Just as Bacchus worshippers 3 when they are possesse raw honey an milk from rivers, ut not when they are in their right mins the soul of a lyric poet oes this too, as they say themselves. For of course poets tell us that they gather songs at honey-flowing springs, from glaes an garens of the Muses, an that they ear songs to us as ees carry honey, flying like ees. An what they say is true. For a poet is an airy thing, winge an holy, an he is not ale to make poetry until he ecomes inspire an goes out of his min an his intellect is no longer in him. As long as a human eing has his intellect in his possession he will always lack the power to make poetry or sing prophecy. Therefore ecause it s not y mastery that they make poems or say many lovely things aout their sujects (as you o aout Homer) ut ecause it s y a ivine gift each poet is ale to compose eautifully only that for which the Muse has arouse him: one can o ithyrams, another encomia, one can o ance songs, another, epics, an yet another, iamics; an each of them is worthless for the other types of poetry. You see, it s not mastery that enales them to speak those verses, ut a ivine power, since if they knew how to speak eautifully on one type of poetry y mastering the suject, they coul o so for all the others also. That s why the go takes their intellect away from them when he uses them as his servants, as he oes prophets an goly iviners, so that we who hear shoul know that they are not the ones who speak those verses that are of such high value, for their intellect is not in them: the go himself is the one who speaks, an he gives voice through them to us. The est evience for this account is Tynnichus from Chalcis, who never mae a poem anyone woul think worth mentioning, except for the praise-song everyone sings, almost the most eautiful lyric-poem there is, an simply, as he says himself, an invention of the Muses. In this more than anything, then, I think, the go is showing us, so that we shoul e in no out aout it, that these eautiful poems are not human, not even from human eings, ut are ivine an from gos; that poets are nothing ut representatives of the gos, possesse y whoever possesses them. To show that, the go elierately sang the most eautiful lyric poem through the most worthless poet. Don t you think I m right, Ion? ION: Lor yes, I certainly o. Somehow you touch my soul with your wors, Socrates, an I o think it s y a ivine gift that goo poets are ale to present these poems to us from the gos. SOCRATES: An you rhapsoes in turn present what the poets say. ION: That s true too. SOCRATES: So you turn out to e representatives of representatives. ION: Quite right. SOCRATES: Hol on, Ion; tell me this. Don t keep any secrets from me. When you recite epic poetry well an you have the most stunning effect 3. Bacchus worshippers apparently ance themselves into a frenzy in which they foun streams flowing with honey an milk (Euripies, Bacchae ).

7 Ion 943 on your spectators, either when you sing of Oysseus how he leapt into the oorway, his ientity now ovious to the suitors, an he poure out arrows at his feet or when you sing of Achilles charging at Hector, or when you sing a pitiful episoe aout Anromache or Hecua or Priam, are you at that time in your right min, or o you get esie yourself? c An oesn t your soul, in its enthusiasm, elieve that it is present at the actions you escrie, whether they re in Ithaca or in Troy or wherever the epic actually takes place? ION: What a vivi example you ve given me, Socrates! I won t keep secrets from you. Listen, when I tell a sa story, my eyes are full of tears; an when I tell a story that s frightening or awful, my hair stans on en with fear an my heart jumps. SOCRATES: Well, Ion, shoul we say this man is in his right min at times like these: when he s at festivals or celerations, all resse up in fancy clothes, with golen crowns, an he weeps, though he s lost none of his finery or when he s staning among millions of frienly people an he s frightene, though no one is unressing him or oing him any harm? Is he in his right min then? ION: Lor no, Socrates. Not at all, to tell the truth. SOCRATES: An you know that you have the same effects on most of your spectators too, on t you? ION: I know very well that we o. I look own at them every time from e up on the rostrum, an they re crying an looking terrifie, an as the stories are tol they are fille with amazement. You see I must keep my wits an pay close attention to them: if I start them crying, I will laugh as I take their money, ut if they laugh, I shall cry at having lost money. SOCRATES: An you know that this spectator is the last of the rings, on t you the ones that I sai take their power from each other y virtue of the Heraclean stone [the magnet]? The mile ring is you, the rhapsoe 536 or actor, an the first one is the poet himself. The go pulls people s souls through all these wherever he wants, looping the power own from one to another. An just as if it hung from that stone, there s an enormous chain of choral ancers an ance teachers an assistant teachers hanging off to the sies of the rings that are suspene from the Muse. One poet is attache to one Muse, another to another (we say he is possesse, an that s near enough, for he is hel). From these first rings, from the poets, they are attache in their turn an inspire, some from one poet, some from another: some from Orpheus, some from Musaeus, an many are possesse an hel from Homer. You are one of them, Ion, an you are possesse from Homer. An when anyone sings the work of another poet, you re asleep an you re lost aout what to say; ut when any song of that poet is soune, you are immeiately awake, your soul is ancing, c an you have plenty to say. You see it s not ecause you re a master of knowlege aout Homer that you can say what you say, ut ecause of a ivine gift, ecause you are possesse. That s how it is with the Coryantes, who have sharp ears only for the specific song that elongs to whatever

8 944 Ion e 537 go possesses them; they have plenty of wors an movements to go with that song; ut they are quite lost if the music is ifferent. That s how it is with you, Ion: when anyone mentions Homer, you have plenty to say, ut if he mentions the others you are lost; an the explanation of this, for which you ask me why it is that you have plenty to say aout Homer ut not aout the others is that it s not mastering the suject, ut a ivine gift, that makes you a wonerful singer of Homer s praises. ION: You re a goo speaker, Socrates. Still, I woul e amaze if you coul speak well enough to convince me that I am possesse or craze when I praise Homer. I on t elieve you think so if you hear me speaking on Homer. SOCRATES: An I really o want to hear you, ut not efore you answer me this: on which of Homer s sujects o you speak well? I on t suppose you speak well on all of them. ION: I o, Socrates, elieve me, on every single one! SOCRATES: Surely not on those sujects you happen to know nothing aout, even if Homer oes speak of them. ION: An these sujects Homer speaks of, ut I on t know aout what are they? SOCRATES: But oesn t Homer speak aout professional sujects in many places, an say a great eal? Chariot riving, for example, I ll show you, if I can rememer the lines. ION: No, I ll recite them. I o rememer. SOCRATES: Then tell me what Nestor says to his son Antilochus, when he avises him to take care at the turning post in the horse race they hel for Patroclus funeral. ION: Lean, he says, Lean yourself over on the smooth-plane chariot Just to the left of the pair. Then the horse on the right Goa him, shout him on, easing the reins with your hans. At the post let your horse on the left stick tight to the turn So you seem to come right to the ege, with the hu Of your wele wheel. But escape cropping the stone... 4 c SOCRATES: That s enough. Who woul know etter, Ion, whether Homer speaks correctly or not in these particular verses a octor or a charioteer? ION: A charioteer, of course. SOCRATES: Is that ecause he is a master of that profession, or for some other reason? 4. Ilia xxiii

9 Ion 945 ION: No. It s ecause he s a master of it. SOCRATES: Then to each profession a go has grante the aility to know a certain function. I mean, the things navigation teaches us we won t learn them from meicine as well, will we? ION: Of course not. SOCRATES: An the things meicine teaches us we won t learn from architecture. ION: Of course not. SOCRATES: An so it is for every other profession: what we learn y mastering one profession we won t learn y mastering another, right? But first, answer me this. Do you agree that there are ifferent professions that one is ifferent from another? SOCRATES: An is this how you etermine which ones are ifferent? When I fin that the knowlege [involve in one case] eals with ifferent sujects from the knowlege [in another case], then I claim that one is a e ifferent profession from the other. Is that what you o? SOCRATES: I mean if there is some knowlege of the same sujects, then why shoul we say there are two ifferent professions? Especially when each of them woul allow us to know the same sujects! Take these fingers: I know there are five of them, an you know the same thing aout them that I o. Now suppose I aske you whether it s the same profession arithmetic that teaches you an me the same things, or whether it s two ifferent ones. Of course you say it s the same one. SOCRATES: Then tell me now what I was going to ask you earlier. Do 538 you think it s the same way for every profession the same profession must teach the same sujects, an a ifferent profession, if it is ifferent, must teach not the same sujects, ut ifferent ones? ION: That s how I think it is, Socrates. SOCRATES: Then a person who has not mastere a given profession will not e ale to e a goo juge of the things which elong to that profession, whether they are things sai or things one. ION: That s true. SOCRATES: Then who will know etter whether or not Homer speaks eautifully an well in the lines you quote? You, or a charioteer? ION: A charioteer. SOCRATES: That s ecause you re a rhapsoe, of course, an not a charioteer. SOCRATES: An the rhapsoe s profession is ifferent from the charioteer s. SOCRATES:Ifit s ifferent, then its knowlege is of ifferent sujects also.

10 946 Ion SOCRATES: Then what aout the time Homer tells how Hecamee, Nes- tor s woman, gave arley-meicine to Machaon to rink? He says something like this c Over wine of Pramnos she grate goat s milk cheese With a razen grater.... An onion relish for the rink... 5 Is Homer right or not: woul a fine iagnosis here come from a octor s profession or a rhapsoe s? ION: A octor s. SOCRATES: An what aout the time Homer says: Leaen she plunge to the floor of the sea like a weight That is fixe to a fiel cow s horn. Given to the hunt It goes among ravenous fish, carrying eath. 6 e Shoul we say it s for a fisherman s profession or a rhapsoe s to tell whether or not he escries this eautifully an well? ION: That s ovious, Socrates. It s for a fisherman s. SOCRATES: All right, look. Suppose you were the one asking questions, an you aske me, Socrates, since you re fining out which passages elong to each of the professions Homer treats which are the passages that each profession shoul juge come tell me this: which are the passages that elong to a iviner an to ivination, passages he shoul e ale to juge as to whether they re well or aly compose? Look how easily I can give you a true answer. Often, in the Oyssey, he says things like what Theoclymenus says the prophet of the sons of Melampus: 539 Are you ma? What evil is this that s upon you? Night Has enshroue your hans, your faces, an own to your knees. Wailing spreas like fire, tears wash your cheeks. Ghosts fill the ooryar, ghosts fill the hall, they rush To the lack gate of hell, they rop elow arkness. Sunlight Has ie from a sky run over with evil mist. 7 An often in the Ilia, as in the attle at the wall. There he says: 5. Ilia xi with Ilia xxiv Oyssey xx ; line 354 is omitte y Plato.

11 Ion 947 There came to them a ir as they hungere to cross over. An eagle, a high-flier, circle the army s left With a loo-re serpent carrie in its talons, a monster, Alive, still reathing, it has not yet forgotten its warlust, For it struck its captor on the reast, y the neck; It was writhing ack, ut the eagle shot it grounwars In agony of pain, an roppe it in the mist of the throng, Then itself, with a scream, soare on a reath of the win. 8 c I shall say that these passages an those like them elong to a iviner. They are for him to examine an juge. ION: That s a true answer, Socrates. SOCRATES: Well, your answers are true, too, Ion. Now you tell me just as I picke out for you, from the Oyssey an the Ilia, passages that elong to a iviner an ones that elong to a octor an ones that elong to a e fisherman in the same way, Ion, since you have more experience with Homer s work than I o, you pick out for me the passages that elong to the rhapsoe an to his profession, the passages a rhapsoe shoul e ale to examine an to juge etter than anyone else. ION: My answer, Socrates, is all of them. SOCRATES: That s not your answer, Ion. Not all of them. Or are you really so forgetful? But no, it woul not efitarhapsoe to e forgetful. ION: What o you think I m forgetting? 540 SOCRATES: Don t you rememer you sai that a rhapsoe s profession is ifferent from a charioteer s? ION: I rememer. SOCRATES: An in t you agree that ecause they are ifferent they will know ifferent sujects? SOCRATES: So a rhapsoe s profession, on your view, will not know everything, an neither will a rhapsoe. ION: But things like that are exceptions, Socrates. SOCRATES: By things like that you mean that almost all the sujects of the other professions are exceptions, on t you? But then what sort of thing will a rhapsoe know, if not everything? ION: My opinion, anyhow, is that he ll know what it s fitting for a man or a woman to say or for a slave or a freeman, or for a follower or a leaer. SOCRATES: So what shoul a leaer say when he s at sea an his ship is hit y a storm o you mean a rhapsoe will know etter than a navigator? ION: No, no. A navigator will know that. SOCRATES: An when he is in charge of a sick man, what shoul a leaer c say will a rhapsoe know etter than a octor? ION: Not that, either. 8. Ilia xii

12 948 Ion e 541 SOCRATES: But he will know what a slave shoul say. Is that what you mean? SOCRATES: For example, what shoul a slave who s a cowher say to calm own his cattle when they re going wil will a rhapsoe know what a cowher oes not? ION: Certainly not. SOCRATES: An what a woman who spins yarn shoul say aout working with wool? ION: No. SOCRATES: An what a man shoul say, if he s a general, to encourage his troops? ION: Yes! That s the sort of thing a rhapsoe will know. SOCRATES: What? Is a rhapsoe s profession the same as a general s? ION: Well, I certainly woul know what a general shoul say. SOCRATES: Perhaps that s ecause you re also a general y profession, Ion. I mean, if you were somehow oth a horseman an a cithara-player at the same time, you woul know goo riers from a. But suppose I aske you: Which profession teaches you goo horsemanship the one that makes you a horseman, or the one that makes you a cithara-player? ION: The horseman, I say. SOCRATES: Then if you also knew goo cithara-players from a, the profession that taught you that woul e the one which mae you a citharaplayer, not the one that mae you a horseman. Wouln t you agree? SOCRATES: Now, since you know the usiness of a general, o you know this y eing a general or y eing a goo rhapsoe? ION: I on t think there s any ifference. SOCRATES: What? Are you saying there s no ifference? On your view is there one profession for rhapsoes an generals, or two? ION: One, I think. SOCRATES: So anyone who is a goo rhapsoe turns out to e a goo general too. ION: Certainly, Socrates. SOCRATES: It also follows that anyone who turns out to e a goo general is a goo rhapsoe too. ION: No. This time I on t agree. SOCRATES: But you o agree to this: anyone who is a goo rhapsoe is a goo general too. ION: I quite agree. SOCRATES: An aren t you the est rhapsoe in Greece? ION: By far, Socrates. SOCRATES: Are you also a general, Ion? Are you the est in Greece? ION: Certainly, Socrates. That, too, I learne from Homer s poetry. SOCRATES: Then why in heaven s name, Ion, when you re oth the est general an the est rhapsoe in Greece, o you go aroun the country

13 Ion 949 giving rhapsoies ut not commaning troops? Do you think Greece really c nees a rhapsoe who is crowne with a golen crown? An oes not nee a general? ION: Socrates, my city is governe an commane y you [y Athens]; we on t nee a general. Besies, neither your city nor Sparta woul choose me for a general. You think you re goo enough for that yourselves. SOCRATES: Ion, you re super. Don t you know Apolloorus of Cyzicus? ION: What oes he o? SOCRATES: He s a foreigner who has often een chosen y Athens to e their general. An Phanosthenes of Anros an Heraclies of Clazomenae they re also foreigners; they ve emonstrate that they are worth noticing, an Athens appoints them to e generals or other sorts of officials. An o you think that this city, that makes such appointments, woul not select Ion of Ephesus an honor him, if they thought he was worth noticing? Why? Aren t you people from Ephesus Athenians of long staning? An e isn t Ephesus a city that is secon to none? But you, Ion, you re oing me wrong, if what you say is true that what enales you to praise Homer is knowlege or mastery of a profession. You assure me that you knew many lovely things aout Homer, you promise to give a emonstration; ut you re cheating me, you re a long way from giving a emonstration. You aren t even willing to tell me what it is that you re so wonerfully clever aout, though I ve een egging you for ages. Really, you re just like Proteus, 9 you twist up an own an take many ifferent shapes, till finally you ve escape me altogether y turning your- 542 self into a general, so as to avoi proving how wonerfully wise you are aout Homer. If you re really a master of your suject, an if, as I sai earlier, you re cheating me of the emonstration you promise aout Homer, then you re oing me wrong. But if you re not a master of your suject, if you re possesse y a ivine gift from Homer, so that you make many lovely speeches aout the poet without knowing anything as I sai aout you then you re not oing me wrong. So choose, how o you want us to think of you as a man who oes wrong, or as someone ivine? ION: There s a great ifference, Socrates. It s much lovelier to e thought ivine. SOCRATES: Then that is how we think of you, Ion, the lovelier way: it s as someone ivine, an not as master of a profession, that you are a singer of Homer s praises. 9. Proteus was a servant of Posion. He ha the power to take whatever shape he wante in orer to avoi answering questions (Oyssey iv.385 ff.).

14 PLATO COMPLETE WORKS Eite, with Introuction an Notes, y JOHN M. COOPER Associate Eitor D. S. HUTCHINSON HACKETT PUBLISHING COMPANY Inianapolis/Camrige

15 Copyright 1997 y Hackett Pulishing Company, Inc. All rights reserve Printe in the Unite States of America For further information, please aress Hackett Pulishing Company, Inc. P. O. Box Inianapolis, Iniana Jacket esign y Chris Hammill Paul Text esign y Dan Kirklin Lirary of Congress Cataloging-in-Pulication Data Plato. [Works. English. 1997] Complete works/plato; eite, with introuction an notes, y John M. Cooper; associate eitor, D. S. Hutchinson. p. cm. Inclues iliographical references an inex. ISBN (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Philosophy, Ancient. 2. Socrates. I. Cooper, John M. (John Maison). II. Hutchinson, D. S. III. Title. B358.C c CIP ISBN-13: (cloth) Aoe PDF e-ook ISBN: