Ion

                                 380 BC                                      ION                                    by Plato                         translated by Benjamin JowettION  PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; ION  Socrates. Welcome, Ion. Are you from your native city of Ephesus?  Ion. No, Socrates; but from Epidaurus, where I attended the festivalof Asclepius.  Soc. And do the Epidaurians have contests of rhapsodes at thefestival?  Ion. O yes; and of all sorts of musical performers.  Soc. And were you one of the competitors- and did you succeed?  Ion. I obtained the first prize of all, Socrates.  Soc. Well done; and I hope that you will do the same for us at thePanathenaea.  Ion. And I will, please heaven.  Soc. I often envy the profession of a rhapsode, Ion; for you havealways to wear fine clothes, and to look as beautiful as you can isa part of your art. Then, again, you are obliged to be continuallyin the company of many good poets; and especially of Homer, who is thebest and most divine of them; and to understand him, and not merelylearn his words by rote, is a thing greatly to be envied. And no mancan be a rhapsode who does not understand the meaning of the poet. Forthe rhapsode ought to interpret the mind of the poet to his hearers,but how can he interpret him well unless he knows what he means? Allthis is greatly to be envied.  Ion. Very true, Socrates; interpretation has certainly been the mostlaborious part of my art; and I believe myself able to speak aboutHomer better than any man; and that neither Metrodorus of Lampsacus,nor Stesimbrotus of Thasos, nor Glaucon, nor any one else who everwas, had as good ideas about Homer as I have, or as many.  Soc. I am glad to hear you say so, Ion; I see that you will notrefuse to acquaint me with them.  Ion. Certainly, Socrates; and you really ought to hear howexquisitely I render Homer. I think that the Homeridae should giveme a golden crown.  Soc. I shall take an opportunity of hearing your embellishments ofhim at some other time. But just now I should like to ask you aquestion: Does your art extend to Hesiod and Archilochus, or toHomer only?  Ion. To Homer only; he is in himself quite enough.  Soc. Are there any things about which Homer and Hesiod agree?  Ion. Yes; in my opinion there are a good many.  Soc. And can you interpret better what Homer says, or what Hesiodsays, about these matters in which they agree?  Ion. I can interpret them equally well, Socrates, where they agree.  Soc. But what about matters in which they do not agree?- forexample, about divination, of which both Homer and Hesiod havesomething to say-  Ion. Very true:  Soc. Would you or a good prophet be a better interpreter of whatthese two poets say about divination, not only when they agree, butwhen they disagree?  Ion. A prophet.  Soc. And if you were a prophet, would you be able to interpretthem when they disagree as well as when they agree?  Ion. Clearly.  Soc. But how did you come to have this skill about Homer only, andnot about Hesiod or the other poets? Does not Homer speak of thesame themes which all other poets handle? Is not war his greatargument? and does he not speak of human society and of intercourse ofmen, good and bad, skilled and unskilled, and of the gods conversingwith one another and with mankind, and about what happens in heavenand in the world below, and the generations of gods and heroes? Arenot these the themes of which Homer sings?  Ion. Very true, Socrates.  Soc. And do not the other poets sing of the same?  Ion. Yes, Socrates; but not in the same way as Homer.  Soc. What, in a worse way?  Ion. Yes, in a far worse.  Soc. And Homer in a better way?  Ion. He is incomparably better.  Soc. And yet surely, my dear friend Ion, in a discussion aboutarithmetic, where many people are speaking, and one speaks better thanthe rest, there is somebody who can judge which of them is the goodspeaker?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And he who judges of the good will be the same as he who judgesof the bad speakers?  Ion. The same.  Soc. And he will be the arithmetician?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. Well, and in discussions about the wholesomeness of food,when many persons are speaking, and one speaks better than the rest,will he who recognizes the better speaker be a different person fromhim who recognizes the worse, or the same?  Ion. Clearly the same.  Soc. And who is he, and what is his name?  Ion. The physician.  Soc. And speaking generally, in all discussions in which the subjectis the same and many men are speaking, will not he who knows thegood know the bad speaker also? For if he does not know the bad,neither will he know the good when the same topic is being discussed.  Ion. True.  Soc. Is not the same person skilful in both?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And you say that Homer and the other poets, such as Hesiodand Archilochus, speak of the same things, although not in the sameway; but the one speaks well and the other not so well?  Ion. Yes; and I am right in saying so.  Soc. And if you knew the good speaker, you would also know theinferior speakers to be inferior?  Ion. That is true.  Soc. Then, my dear friend, can I be mistaken in saying that Ion isequally skilled in Homer and in other poets, since he himselfacknowledges that the same person will be a good judge of all thosewho speak of the same things; and that almost all poets do speak ofthe same things?  Ion. Why then, Socrates, do I lose attention and go to sleep andhave absolutely no ideas of the least value, when any one speaks ofany other poet; but when Homer is mentioned, I wake up at once andam all attention and have plenty to say?  Soc. The reason, my friend, is obvious. No one can fail to seethat you speak of Homer without any art or knowledge. If you were ableto speak of him by rules of art, you would have been able to speakof all other poets; for poetry is a whole.  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And when any one acquires any other art as a whole, the samemay be said of them. Would you like me to explain my meaning, Ion?  Ion. Yes, indeed, Socrates; I very much wish that you would: for Ilove to hear you wise men talk.  Soc. O that we were wise, Ion, and that you could truly call usso; but you rhapsodes and actors, and the poets whose verses you sing,are wise; whereas I am a common man, who only speak the truth. Forconsider what a very commonplace and trivial thing is this which Ihave said- a thing which any man might say: that when a man hasacquired a knowledge of a whole art, the enquiry into good and badis one and the same. Let us consider this matter; is not the art ofpainting a whole?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And there are and have been many painters good and bad?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And did you ever know any one who was skilful in pointing outthe excellences and defects of Polygnotus the son of Aglaophon, butincapable of criticizing other painters; and when the work of anyother painter was produced, went to sleep and was at a loss, and hadno ideas; but when he had to give his opinion about Polygnotus, orwhoever the painter might be, and about him only, woke up and wasattentive and had plenty to say?  Ion. No indeed, I have never known such a person.  Soc. Or did you ever know of any one in sculpture, who was skilfulin expounding the merits of Daedalus the son of Metion, or of Epeiusthe son of Panopeus, or of Theodorus the Samian, or of anyindividual sculptor; but when the works of sculptors in general wereproduced, was at a loss and went to sleep and had nothing to say?  Ion. No indeed; no more than the other.  Soc. And if I am not mistaken, you never met with any one amongflute-players or harp- players or singers to the harp or rhapsodes whowas able to discourse of Olympus or Thamyras or Orpheus, or Phemiusthe rhapsode of Ithaca, but was at a loss when he came to speak of Ionof Ephesus, and had no notion of his merits or defects?  Ion. I cannot deny what you say, Socrates. Nevertheless I amconscious in my own self, and the world agrees with me in thinkingthat I do speak better and have more to say about Homer than any otherman. But I do not speak equally well about others- tell me thereason of this.  Soc. I perceive, Ion; and I will proceed to explain to you what Iimagine to be the reason of this. The gift which you possess ofspeaking excellently about Homer is not an art, but, as I was justsaying, an inspiration; there is a divinity moving you, like thatcontained in the stone which Euripides calls a magnet, but which iscommonly known as the stone of Heraclea. This stone not onlyattracts iron rings, but also imparts to them a similar power ofattracting other rings; and sometimes you may see a number of piecesof iron and rings suspended from one another so as to form quite along chain: and all of them derive their power of suspension fromthe original stone. In like manner the Muse first of all inspiresmen herself; and from these inspired persons a chain of otherpersons is suspended, who take the inspiration. For all good poets,epic as well as lyric, compose their beautiful poems not by art, butbecause they are inspired and possessed. And as the Corybantianrevellers when they dance are not in their right mind, so the lyricpoets are not in their right mind when they are composing theirbeautiful strains: but when falling under the power of music and metrethey are inspired and possessed; like Bacchic maidens who draw milkand honey from the rivers when they are under the influence ofDionysus but not when they are in their right mind. And the soul ofthe lyric poet does the same, as they themselves say; for they tell usthat they bring songs from honeyed fountains, culling them out ofthe gardens and dells of the Muses; they, like the bees, winging theirway from flower to flower. And this is true. For the poet is a lightand winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until hehas been inspired and is out of his senses, and the mind is nolonger in him: when he has not attained to this state, he is powerlessand is unable to utter his oracles.  Many are the noble words in which poets speak concerning the actionsof men; but like yourself when speaking about Homer, they do not speakof them by any rules of art: they are simply inspired to utter that towhich the Muse impels them, and that only; and when inspired, one ofthem will make dithyrambs, another hymns of praise, another choralstrains, another epic or iambic verses- and he who is good at one isnot good any other kind of verse: for not by art does the poet sing,but by power divine. Had he learned by rules of art, he would haveknown how to speak not of one theme only, but of all; and thereforeGod takes away the minds of poets, and uses them as his ministers,as he also uses diviners and holy prophets, in order that we whohear them may know them to be speaking not of themselves who utterthese priceless words in a state of unconsciousness, but that Godhimself is the speaker, and that through them he is conversing withus. And Tynnichus the Chalcidian affords a striking instance of what Iam saying: he wrote nothing that any one would care to remember butthe famous paean which; in every one's mouth, one of the finestpoems ever written, simply an invention of the Muses, as he himselfsays. For in this way, the God would seem to indicate to us and notallow us to doubt that these beautiful poems are not human, or thework of man, but divine and the work of God; and that the poets areonly the interpreters of the Gods by whom they are severallypossessed. Was not this the lesson which the God intended to teachwhen by the mouth of the worst of poets he sang the best of songs?Am I not right, Ion?  Ion. Yes, indeed, Socrates, I feel that you are; for your wordstouch my soul, and I am persuaded that good poets by a divineinspiration interpret the things of the Gods to us.  Soc. And you rhapsodists are the interpreters of the poets?  Ion. There again you are right.  Soc. Then you are the interpreters of interpreters?  Ion. Precisely.  Soc. I wish you would frankly tell me, Ion, what I am going to askof you: When you produce the greatest effect upon the audience inthe recitation of some striking passage, such as the apparition ofOdysseus leaping forth on the floor, recognized by the suitors andcasting his arrows at his feet, or the description of Achilles rushingat Hector, or the sorrows of Andromache, Hecuba, or Priam,- are you inyour right mind? Are you not carried out of yourself, and does notyour soul in an ecstasy seem to be among the persons or places ofwhich you are speaking, whether they are in Ithaca or in Troy orwhatever may be the scene of the poem?  Ion. That proof strikes home to me, Socrates. For I must franklyconfess that at the tale of pity, my eyes are filled with tears, andwhen I speak of horrors, my hair stands on end and my heart throbs.  Soc. Well, Ion, and what are we to say of a man who at a sacrificeor festival, when he is dressed in holiday attire and has goldencrowns upon his head, of which nobody has robbed him, appears sweepingor panic-stricken in the presence of more than twenty thousandfriendly faces, when there is no one despoiling or wronging him;- ishe in his right mind or is he not?  Ion. No indeed, Socrates, I must say that, strictly speaking, heis not in his right mind.  Soc. And are you aware that you produce similar effects on mostspectators?  Ion. Only too well; for I look down upon them from the stage, andbehold the various emotions of pity, wonder, sternness, stamped upontheir countenances when I am speaking: and I am obliged to give myvery best attention to them; for if I make them cry I myself shalllaugh, and if I make them laugh I myself shall cry when the time ofpayment arrives.  Soc. Do you know that the spectator is the last of the ringswhich, as I am saying, receive the power of the original magnet fromone another? The rhapsode like yourself and the actor are intermediatelinks, and the poet himself is the first of them. Through all thesethe God sways the souls of men in any direction which he pleases,and makes one man hang down from another. Thus there is a vast chainof dancers and masters and undermasters of choruses, who aresuspended, as if from the stone, at the side of the rings which hangdown from the Muse. And every poet has some Muse from whom he issuspended, and by whom he is said to be possessed, which is nearly thesame thing; for he is taken hold of. And from these first rings, whichare the poets, depend others, some deriving their inspiration fromOrpheus, others from Musaeus; but the greater number are possessed andheld by Homer. Of whom, Ion, you are one, and are possessed byHomer; and when any one repeats the words of another poet you go tosleep, and know not what to say; but when any one recites a strainof Homer you wake up in a moment, and your soul leaps within you,and you have plenty to say; for not by art or knowledge about Homer doyou say what you say, but by divine inspiration and by possession;just as the Corybantian revellers too have a quick perception ofthat strain only which is appropriated to the God by whom they arepossessed, and have plenty of dances and words for that, but take noheed of any other. And you, Ion, when the name of Homer is mentionedhave plenty to say, and have nothing to say of others. You ask, "Whyis this?" The answer is that you praise Homer not by art but by divineinspiration.  Ion. That is good, Socrates; and yet I doubt whether you will everhave eloquence enough to persuade me that I praise Homer only when Iam mad and possessed; and if you could hear me speak of him I amsure you would never think this to be the case.  Soc. I should like very much to hear you, but not until you haveanswered a question which I have to ask. On what part of Homer doyou speak well?- not surely about every part.  Ion. There is no part, Socrates, about which I do not speak wellof that I can assure you.  Soc. Surely not about things in Homer of which you have noknowledge?  Ion. And what is there in Homer of which I have no knowledge?  Soc. Why, does not Homer speak in many passages about arts? Forexample, about driving; if I can only remember the lines I will repeatthem.  Ion. I remember, and will repeat them.  Soc. Tell me then, what Nestor says to Antilochus, his son, where hebids him be careful of the turn at the horse-race in honour ofPatroclus.  Ion. He says:  Bend gently in the polished chariot to the left of them, and urgethe horse on the right hand with whip and voice; and slacken the rein.And when you are at the goal, let the left horse draw near, yet sothat the nave of the well-wrought wheel may not even seem to touch theextremity; and avoid catching the stone.  Soc. Enough. Now, Ion, will the charioteer or the physician be thebetter judge of the propriety of these lines?  Ion. The charioteer, clearly.  Soc. And will the reason be that this is his art, or will there beany other reason?  Ion. No, that will be the reason.  Soc. And every art is appointed by God to have knowledge of acertain work; for that which we know by the art of the pilot we do notknow by the art of medicine?  Ion. Certainly not.  Soc. Nor do we know by the art of the carpenter that which we knowby the art of medicine?  Ion. Certainly not.  Soc. And this is true of all the arts;- that which we know withone art we do not know with the other? But let me ask a priorquestion: You admit that there are differences of arts?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. You would argue, as I should, that when one art is of onekind of knowledge and another of another, they are different?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. Yes, surely; for if the subject of knowledge were the same,there would be no meaning in saying that the arts were different,-if they both gave the same knowledge. For example, I know that hereare five fingers, and you know the same. And if I were to askwhether I and you became acquainted with this fact by the help ofthe same art of arithmetic, you would acknowledge that we did?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. Tell me, then, what I was intending to ask you- whether thisholds universally? Must the same art have the same subject ofknowledge, and different arts other subjects of knowledge?  Ion. That is my opinion, Socrates.  Soc. Then he who has no knowledge of a particular art will have noright judgment of the sayings and doings of that art?  Ion. Very true.  Soc. Then which will be a better judge of the lines which you werereciting from Homer, you or the charioteer?  Ion. The charioteer.  Soc. Why, yes, because you are a rhapsode and not a charioteer.  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And the art of the rhapsode is different from that of thecharioteer?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And if a different knowledge, then a knowledge of differentmatters?  Ion. True.  Soc. You know the passage in which Hecamede, the concubine ofNestor, is described as giving to the wounded Machaon a posset, ashe says,  Made with Pramnian wine; and she grated cheese of goat's milk with agrater of bronze, and at his side placed an onion which gives a relishto drink.Now would you say that the art of the rhapsode or the art ofmedicine was better able to judge of the propriety of these lines?  Ion. The art of medicine.  Soc. And when Homer says,  And she descended into the deep like a leaden plummet, which, set inthe horn of ox that ranges in the fields, rushes along carryingdeath among the ravenous fishes,-will the art of the fisherman or of the rhapsode be better able tojudge whether these lines are rightly expressed or not?  Ion. Clearly, Socrates, the art of the fisherman.  Soc. Come now, suppose that you were to say to me: "Since you,Socrates, are able to assign different passages in Homer to theircorresponding arts, I wish that you would tell me what are thepassages of which the excellence ought to be judged by the prophet andprophetic art"; and you will see how readily and truly I shallanswer you. For there are many such passages, particularly in theOdyssey; as, for example, the passage in which Theoclymenus theprophet of the house of Melampus says to the suitors:-  Wretched men! what is happening to you? Your heads and your facesand your limbs underneath are shrouded in night; and the voice oflamentation bursts forth, and your cheeks are wet with tears. Andthe vestibule is full, and the court is full, of ghosts descendinginto the darkness of Erebus, and the sun has perished out of heaven,and an evil mist is spread abroad.  And there are many such passages in the Iliad also; as for examplein the description of the battle near the rampart, where he says:-  As they were eager to pass the ditch, there came to them an omen:a soaring eagle, holding back the people on the left, bore a hugebloody dragon in his talons, still living and panting; nor had heyet resigned the strife, for he bent back and smote the bird whichcarried him on the breast by the neck, and he in pain let him fallfrom him to the ground into the midst of the multitude. And the eagle,with a cry, was borne afar on the wings of the wind.  These are the sort of things which I should say that the prophetought to consider and determine.  Ion. And you are quite right, Socrates, in saying so.  Soc. Yes, Ion, and you are right also. And as I have selected fromthe Iliad and Odyssey for you passages which describe the office ofthe prophet and the physician and the fisherman, do you, who knowHomer so much better than I do, Ion, select for me passages whichrelate to the rhapsode and the rhapsode's art, and which therhapsode ought to examine and judge of better than other men.  Ion. All passages, I should say, Socrates.  Soc. Not all, Ion, surely. Have you already forgotten what youwere saying? A rhapsode ought to have a better memory.  Ion. Why, what am I forgetting?  Soc. Do you not remember that you declared the art of the rhapsodeto be different from the art of the charioteer?  Ion. Yes, I remember.  Soc. And you admitted that being different they would have differentsubjects of knowledge?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. Then upon your own showing the rhapsode, and the art of therhapsode, will not know everything?  Ion. I should exclude certain things, Socrates.  Soc. You mean to say that you would exclude pretty much the subjectsof the other arts. As he does not know all of them, which of them willhe know?  Ion. He will know what a man and what a woman ought to say, and whata freeman and what a slave ought to say, and what a ruler and what asubject.  Soc. Do you mean that a rhapsode will know better than the pilotwhat the ruler of a sea-tossed vessel ought to say?  Ion. No; the pilot will know best.  Soc. Or will the rhapsode know better than the physician what theruler of a sick man ought to say?  Ion. He will not.  Soc. But he will know what a slave ought to say?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. Suppose the slave to be a cowherd; the rhapsode will knowbetter than the cowherd what he ought to say in order to soothe theinfuriated cows?  Ion. No, he will not.  Soc. But he will know what a spinning-woman ought to say about theworking of wool?  Ion. No.  Soc. At any rate he will know what a general ought to say whenexhorting his soldiers?  Ion. Yes, that is the sort of thing which the rhapsode will besure to know.  Soc. Well, but is the art of the rhapsode the art of the general?  Ion. I am sure that I should know what a general ought to say.  Soc. Why, yes, Ion, because you may possibly have a knowledge of theart of the general as well as of the rhapsode; and you may also have aknowledge of horsemanship as well as of the lyre: and then you wouldknow when horses were well or ill managed. But suppose I were to askyou: By the help of which art, Ion, do you know whether horses arewell managed, by your skill as a horseman or as a performer on thelyre- what would you answer?  Ion. I should reply, by my skill as a horseman.  Soc. And if you judged of performers on the lyre, you would admitthat you judged of them as a performer on the lyre, and not as ahorseman?  Ion. Yes.  Soc. And in judging of the general's art, do you judge of it as ageneral or a rhapsode?  Ion. To me there appears to be no difference between them.  Soc. What do you mean? Do you mean to say that the art of therhapsode and of the general is the same?  Ion. Yes, one and the same.  Soc. Then he who is a good rhapsode is also a good general?  Ion. Certainly, Socrates.  Soc. And he who is a good general is also a good rhapsode?  Ion. No; I do not say that.  Soc. But you do say that he who is a good rhapsode is also a goodgeneral.  Ion. Certainly.  Soc. And you are the best of Hellenic rhapsodes?  Ion. Far the best, Socrates.  Soc. And are you the best general, Ion?  Ion. To be sure, Socrates; and Homer was my master.  Soc. But then, Ion, what in the name of goodness can be the reasonwhy you, who are the best of generals as well as the best of rhapsodesin all Hellas, go about as a rhapsode when you might be a general?Do you think that the Hellenes want a rhapsode with his goldencrown, and do not want a general?  Ion. Why, Socrates, the reason is, that my countrymen, theEphesians, are the servants and soldiers of Athens, and do not needa general; and you and Sparta are not likely to have me, for you thinkthat you have enough generals of your own.  Soc. My good Ion, did you never hear of Apollodorus of Cyzicus?  Ion. Who may he be?  Soc. One who, though a foreigner, has often been chosen theirgeneral by the Athenians: and there is Phanosthenes of Andros, andHeraclides of Clazomenae, whom they have also appointed to the commandof their armies and to other offices, although aliens, after theyhad shown their merit. And will they not choose Ion the Ephesian to betheir general, and honour him, if he prove himself worthy? Were notthe Ephesians originally Athenians, and Ephesus is no mean city?But, indeed, Ion, if you are correct in saying that by art andknowledge you are able to praise Homer, you do not deal fairly withme, and after all your professions of knowing many, glorious thingsabout Homer, and promises that you would exhibit them, you are onlya deceiver, and so far from exhibiting the art of which you are amaster, will not, even after my repeated entreaties, explain to me thenature of it. You have literally as many forms as Proteus; and now yougo all manner of ways, twisting and turning, and, like Proteus, becomeall manner of people at once, and at last slip away from me in thedisguise of a general, in order that you may escape exhibiting yourHomeric lore. And if you have art, then, as I was saying, infalsifying your promise that you would exhibit Homer, you are notdealing fairly with me. But if, as I believe, you have no art, butspeak all these beautiful words about Homer unconsciously under hisinspiring influence, then I acquit you of dishonesty, and shall onlysay that you are inspired. Which do you prefer to be thought,dishonest or inspired?  Ion. There is a great difference, Socrates, between the twoalternatives; and inspiration is by far the nobler.  Soc. Then, Ion, I shall assume the nobler alternative; and attributeto you in your praises of Homer inspiration, and not art.                          -THE END-.