 This is to say that although poets’ and their readers’ ignorance is indeed a fact for Plato, it is a fact in need of interpretation. Whether it means as in the Ion that gods inspire poetry, or as in Republic 10 that imitative poetry imitates appearance alone, ignorance matters less than the implications drawn from it. Moreover, ignorance alone will not demonstrate that poets are possessed by the gods. The proof of Ion’s ignorance supports inspiration but does not suffice to generate that doctrine. Even if Ion’s ignorance takes up the last part of the dialogue, it is not Plato’s last word about poetry.