



Produced by Sue Asscher





ION

By Plato


Translated by Benjamin Jowett




INTRODUCTION.

The Ion is the shortest, or nearly the shortest, of all the writings
which bear the name of Plato, and is not authenticated by any early
external testimony. The grace and beauty of this little work supply the
only, and perhaps a sufficient, proof of its genuineness. The plan is
simple; the dramatic interest consists entirely in the contrast
between the irony of Socrates and the transparent vanity and childlike
enthusiasm of the rhapsode Ion. The theme of the Dialogue may possibly
have been suggested by the passage of Xenophon's Memorabilia in which
the rhapsodists are described by Euthydemus as'very precise about the
exact words of Homer, but very idiotic themselves.' (Compare Aristotle,
Met.)

Ion the rhapsode has just come to Athens; he has been exhibiting in
Epidaurus at the festival of Asclepius, and is intending to exhibit
at the festival of the Panathenaea. Socrates admires and envies the
rhapsode's art; for he is always well dressed and in good company--in
the company of good poets and of Homer, who is the prince of them. In
the course of conversation the admission is elicited from Ion that his
skill is restricted to Homer, and that he knows nothing of inferior
poets, such as Hesiod and Archilochus;--he brightens up and is wide
awake when Homer is being recited, but is apt to go to sleep at the
recitations of any other poet. 'And yet, surely, he who knows the
superior ought to know the inferior also;--he who can judge of the good
speaker is able to judge of the bad. And poetry is a whole; and he
who judges of poetry by rules of art ought to be able to judge of
all poetry.' This is confirmed by the analogy of sculpture, painting,
flute-playing, and the other arts. The argument is at last brought home
to the mind of Ion, who asks how this contradiction is to be solved. The
solution given by Socrates is as follows:--

The rhapsode is not guided by rules of art, but is an inspired person
who derives a mysterious power from the poet; and the poet, in like
manner, is inspired by the God. The poets and their interpreters may be
compared to a chain of magnetic rings suspended from one another, and
from a magnet. The magnet is the Muse, and the ring which immediately
follows is the poet himself; from him are suspended other poets; there
is also a chain of rhapsodes and actors, who also hang from the Muses,
but are let down at the side; and the last ring of all is the spectator.
The poet is the inspired interpreter of the God, and this is the reason
why some poets, like Homer, are restricted to a single theme, or,
like Tynnichus, are famous for a single poem; and the rhapsode is
the inspired interpreter of the poet, and for a similar reason some
rhapsodes, like Ion, are the interpreters of single poets.

Ion is delighted at the notion of being inspired, and acknowledges that
he is beside himself when he is performing;--his eyes rain tears and his
hair stands on end. Socrates is of opinion that a man must be mad who
behaves in this way at a festival when he is surrounded by his friends
and there is nothing to trouble him. Ion is confident that Socrates
would never think him mad if he could only hear his embellishments
of Homer. Socrates asks whether he can speak well about everything
in Homer. 'Yes, indeed he can.' 'What about things of which he has no
knowledge?' Ion answers that he can interpret anything in Homer. But,
rejoins Socrates, when Homer speaks of the arts, as for example, of
chariot-driving, or of medicine, or of prophecy, or of navigation--will
he, or will the charioteer or physician or prophet or pilot be the
better judge? Ion is compelled to admit that every man will judge of
his own particular art better than the rhapsode. He still maintains,
however, that he understands the art of the general as well as any one.
'Then why in this city of Athens, in which men of merit are always being
sought after, is he not at once appointed a general?' Ion replies that
he is a foreigner, and the Athenians and Spartans will not appoint a
foreigner to be their general. 'No, that is not the real reason; there
are many examples to the contrary. But Ion has long been playing tricks
with the argument; like Proteus, he transforms himself into a variety of
shapes, and is at last about to run away in the