Ion

SOC: Greeting to Ion. From where have you come to us just now? Is it from your home in Ephesus? ION: Not at all, Socrates, but from Epidaurus, from the festival of Asclepius. SOC: Do the Epidaurians really hold a contest for rhapsodes as well in honor of the god? ION: Indeed they do, and for the rest of music too. SOC: What then? Did you compete in any way for us? And how did you fare in the competition? ION: We carried off the first prize, Socrates. SOC: Well said! Come then, let us see to it that we win at the Panathenaia as well. ION: It shall be so, if god wills. SOC: Indeed, Ion, I have often envied you rhapsodes for your art. For it is truly enviable that, on the one hand, your body must always be adorned to befit your art and you must appear as beautiful as possible, and on the other hand, it is necessary to spend time with many excellent poets, and especially with Homer, the best and most divine of poets, and to learn his thought thoroughly, not just his verses. For one could never become a good rhapsode unless he understands what is said by the poet. For the rhapsode must become an interpreter of the poet’s thought to the audience; and to do this well without knowing what the poet says is impossible. All these things, then, are worthy of envy. ION: What you say is true, Socrates. For me, at least, this was the part of my art that gave me the most trouble, and I think I speak about Homer more beautifully than anyone else, so that neither Metrodorus of Lampsacus, nor Stesimbrotus of Thasos, nor Glaucon, nor anyone else who has ever lived, has been able to express as many beautiful thoughts about Homer as I have. SOC: Well said, Ion! For it is clear that you will not grudge me a demonstration. ION: Indeed, Socrates, it is worth hearing how well I have adorned Homer, so that I think I deserve to be crowned with a golden crown by the Homeridae.

​SOC: Truly, I will make leisure to listen to you another time, but for now answer me just this: are you skilled only in Homer, or also in Hesiod and Archilochus? ION: Not at all, but only in Homer; for that seems to me to be sufficient. SOC: Is there any subject on which both Homer and Hesiod say the same things? ION: I think so, indeed many. SOC: On these subjects, then, would you explain more beautifully what Homer says or what Hesiod says? ION: Equally on these, Socrates, about which they say the same things. SOC: But what about those things of which they do not say the same? For instance, both Homer and Hesiod say something about prophecy. ION: Certainly. SOC: Well then, as to all the things these two poets say about prophecy, both where they agree and where they differ, would you explain them more beautifully, or would one of the good prophets? ION: One of the prophets. SOC: But if you were a prophet, if you were able to explain the things said in agreement, would you not also have known how to explain the things said differently? ION: Clearly I would. SOC: Why then are you skilled in Homer but not in Hesiod or the other poets? Does Homer speak of any other things than those which all the other poets speak of? Has he not described for the most part war, and the relations of men with one another—both good and bad, commoners and craftsmen—and the gods interacting with one another and with men, as they do, and the heavenly events, and those in Hades, and the genealogies of both gods and heroes? Are not these the subjects about which Homer has made his poetry? ION: What you say is true, Socrates. SOC: What about the other poets? Is it not about these same things? ION: Yes, but Socrates, they have not composed their poetry in the same way as Homer. SOC: What then? Worse? ION: Much worse. SOC: And Homer better? ION: Better indeed, by Zeus! SOC: Is it not true then, my dear Ion, that when many are speaking about number and one speaks best, someone will recognize the one who speaks well? ION: I say so. SOC: Will it be the same person who recognizes those who speak badly, or another? ION: The same, surely. SOC: And is this the one who possesses the art of arithmetic? ION: Yes. SOC: What then? When many are speaking about healthy foods, what they are, and one speaks best, will one person recognize that the one who speaks best does so, and another that the worse speaker does so, or the same person? ION: Clearly the same, surely. SOC: Who is this? What is his name? ION: A doctor.