 The combination of possession and madness in the Ion’s version of inspiration makes it hard to decide whether the dialogue implies some approval for inspired poetry or condemns it entirely. Readers have drawn opposite morals from this short work. (On the debate see Stern-Gillet 2004.) As Socrates characterizes enthousiasmos, it denies Ion’s professional credibility, not to mention his sanity. But there is religion to think of. If not traditionally pious, Plato is also not the irreverent type who would ascribe an action to divinities in order to mock it. And consider the example of inspired verse mentioned here. Socrates cites Tynnichus, author of only one passable poem, which was a tribute to the Muses (534d). It’s as if the Muses wanted to display their power, Socrates says, by proving that their intervention could elicit a good poem even from an unskilled author. If this is Socrates’ paradigm of inspired poetry, then whatever else inspiration also explains, it appears particularly well suited to producing praise of the gods. And praise of the gods is the lone poetic form that Plato respects and accepts (Republic 607a).