§533ΣΩ. ἤδη οὖν τινα εἶδες ὅστις περὶ μὲν Πολυγνώτου τοῦ Ἀγλαοφῶντος δεινός ἐστιν ἀποφαίνειν ἃ εὖ τε γράφει καὶ ἃ μή, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων γραφέων ἀδύνατος;
Socrates: Well then, have you ever seen anyone who is skilled in showing what Polygnotus, the son of Aglaophon, paints well and what he does not, but regarding the other painters is unable to do so?
καὶ ἐπειδὰν μέν τις τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ζωγράφων ἔργα ἐπιδεικνύῃ, νυστάζει τε καὶ ἀπορεῖ καὶ οὐκ ἔχει ὅτι συμβάληται, ἐπειδὰν δὲ περὶ Πολυγνώτου ἢ ἄλλου ὅτου βούλει τῶν γραφέων ἑνὸς μόνου δέῃ ἀποφήνασθαι γνώμην, ἐγρήγορέν τε καὶ προσέχει τὸν νοῦν καὶ εὐπορεῖ ὅτι εἴπῃ;
And who, when anyone displays the works of the other painters, dozes off and is at a loss and has nothing to contribute, but when he needs to express an opinion about Polygnotus, or any other single painter you please, is awake and pays attention and has plenty to say?
ΙΩΝ. οὐ μὰ τὸν Δία, οὐ δῆτα.
Ion: No, by Zeus, certainly not.
ΣΩ. τί δέ;
Socrates: And what about sculpture?
ἐν ἀνδριαντοποιίᾳ ἤδη τινʼ εἶδες ὅστις περὶ μὲν Δαιδάλου τοῦ Μητίονος ἢ Ἐπειοῦ τοῦ Πανοπέως ἢ Θεοδώρου τοῦ Σαμίου ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς ἀνδριαντοποιοῦ ἑνὸς πέρι δεινός ἐστιν ἐξηγεῖσθαι ἃ εὖ πεποίηκεν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἀνδριαντοποιῶν ἔργοις ἀπορεῖ τε καὶ νυστάζει, οὐκ ἔχων ὅτι εἴπῃ;
Have you ever seen anyone who, regarding Daedalus, the son of Metion, or Epeius, the son of Panopeus, or Theodorus of Samos, or any other single sculptor, is skilled in explaining what he has made well, but regarding the works of the other sculptors is at a loss and dozes off, having nothing to say?
ΙΩΝ. οὐ μὰ τὸν Δία, οὐδὲ τοῦτον ἑώρακα.
Ion: No, by Zeus, I have not seen such a person either.
ΣΩ. ἀλλὰ μήν, ὥς γʼ ἐγὼ οἶμαι, οὐδʼ ἐν αὐλήσει γε οὐδὲ ἐν κιθαρίσει οὐδὲ ἐν κιθαρῳδίᾳ οὐδὲ ἐν ῥαψῳδίᾳ οὐδεπώποτʼ εἶδες ἄνδρα ὅστις περὶ μὲν Ὀλύμπου δεινός ἐστιν ἐξηγεῖσθαι ἢ περὶ Θαμύρου ἢ περὶ Ὀρφέως ἢ περὶ Φημίου τοῦ Ἰθακησίου ῥαψῳδοῦ, περὶ δὲ Ἴωνος τοῦ Ἐφεσίου ἀπορεῖ καὶ οὐκ ἔχει συμβαλέσθαι ἅ τε εὖ ῥαψῳδεῖ καὶ ἃ μή.
Socrates: But surely, as I think, neither in flute-playing, nor in cithara-playing, nor in singing to the cithara, nor in rhapsodizing have you ever yet seen a man who is skilled in explaining about Olympus, or Thamyras, or Orpheus, or Phemius, the rhapsode of Ithaca, but regarding Ion of Ephesus is at a loss and has nothing to contribute as to what he rhapsodizes well and what he does not.
ΙΩΝ. οὐκ ἔχω σοι περὶ τούτου ἀντιλέγειν, ὦ Σώκρατες·
Ion: I have nothing to say against you on this, Socrates.
ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνο ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα, ὅτι περὶ Ὁμήρου κάλλιστʼ ἀνθρώπων λέγω καὶ εὐπορῶ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες μέ φασιν εὖ λέγειν, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων οὔ.
But this I am conscious of in myself: that I speak about Homer more beautifully than anyone else and have plenty to say, and everyone else says that I speak well, but not about the others.
καίτοι ὅρα τοῦτο τί ἔστιν.
See then what this means.
ΣΩ. καὶ ὁρῶ, ὦ Ἴων, καὶ ἔρχομαί γέ σοι ἀποφανούμενος ὅ μοι δοκεῖ τοῦτο εἶναι.
Socrates: I do see, Ion, and I am indeed going to declare to you what this seems to me to be.
ἔστι γὰρ τοῦτο τέχνη μὲν οὐκ ὂν παρὰ σοὶ περὶ Ὁμήρου εὖ λέγειν, ὃ νυνδὴ ἔλεγον, θεία δὲ δύναμις ἥ σε κινεῖ, ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ λίθῳ ἣν Εὐριπίδης μὲν Μαγνῆτιν ὠνόμασεν, οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ Ἡρακλείαν.
For this speaking well about Homer is not an art in you, as I was just saying, but a divine power that moves you, just like in the stone which Euripides called the Magnet, but most people call Heraclean.
καὶ γὰρ αὕτη ἡ λίθος οὐ μόνον αὐτοὺς τοὺς δακτυλίους ἄγει τοὺς σιδηροῦς, ἀλλὰ καὶ δύναμιν ἐντίθησι τοῖς δακτυλίοις ὥστʼ αὖ δύνασθαι ταὐτὸν τοῦτο ποιεῖν ὅπερ ἡ λίθος, ἄλλους ἄγειν δακτυλίους, ὥστʼ ἐνίοτε ὁρμαθὸς μακρὸς πάνυ σιδηρίων καὶ δακτυλίων ἐξ ἀλλήλων ἤρτηται·
For this stone not only attracts the iron rings themselves, but also puts power into the rings so that they can in turn do this same thing which the stone does, namely, attract other rings; so that sometimes a very long chain of iron pieces and rings is suspended from one another.
πᾶσι δὲ τούτοις ἐξ ἐκείνης τῆς λίθου ἡ δύναμις ἀνήρτηται.
And for all of these, the power is suspended from that stone.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἡ Μοῦσα ἐνθέους μὲν ποιεῖ αὐτή, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἐνθέων τούτων ἄλλων ἐνθουσιαζόντων ὁρμαθὸς ἐξαρτᾶται.
In the same way, the Muse herself makes people inspired, and through these inspired ones a chain of others who are possessed is suspended.