Ion | Page 6

being discussed.
ION: True.
SOCRATES: Is not the same person skilful in both?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And you say that Homer and the other poets, such as
Hesiod and Archilochus, speak of the same things, although not in the
same way; but the one speaks well and the other not so well?
ION: Yes; and I am right in saying so.
SOCRATES: And if you knew the good speaker, you would also know
the inferior speakers to be inferior?
ION: That is true.
SOCRATES: Then, my dear friend, can I be mistaken in saying that
Ion is equally skilled in Homer and in other poets, since he himself
acknowledges that the same person will be a good judge of all those
who speak of the same things; and that almost all poets do speak of the

same things?
ION: Why then, Socrates, do I lose attention and go to sleep and have
absolutely no ideas of the least value, when any one speaks of any other
poet; but when Homer is mentioned, I wake up at once and am all
attention and have plenty to say?
SOCRATES: The reason, my friend, is obvious. No one can fail to see
that you speak of Homer without any art or knowledge. If you were
able to speak of him by rules of art, you would have been able to speak
of all other poets; for poetry is a whole.
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And when any one acquires any other art as a whole, the
same may 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 I
love to hear you wise men talk.
SOCRATES: O that we were wise, Ion, and that you could truly call us
so; 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. For
consider what a very commonplace and trivial thing is this which I
have said--a thing which any man might say: that when a man has
acquired a knowledge of a whole art, the enquiry into good and bad is
one and the same. Let us consider this matter; is not the art of painting
a whole?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And there are and have been many painters good and
bad?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And did you ever know any one who was skilful in
pointing out the excellences and defects of Polygnotus the son of
Aglaophon, but incapable of criticizing other painters; and when the
work of any other painter was produced, went to sleep and was at a loss,
and had no ideas; but when he had to give his opinion about Polygnotus,
or whoever the painter might be, and about him only, woke up and was
attentive and had plenty to say?
ION: No indeed, I have never known such a person.
SOCRATES: Or did you ever know of any one in sculpture, who was
skilful in expounding the merits of Daedalus the son of Metion, or of

Epeius the son of Panopeus, or of Theodorus the Samian, or of any
individual sculptor; but when the works of sculptors in general were
produced, was at a loss and went to sleep and had nothing to say?
ION: No indeed; no more than the other.
SOCRATES: And if I am not mistaken, you never met with any one
among flute-players or harp-players or singers to the harp or rhapsodes
who was able to discourse of Olympus or Thamyras or Orpheus, or
Phemius the rhapsode of Ithaca, but was at a loss when he came to
speak of Ion of Ephesus, and had no notion of his merits or defects?
ION: I cannot deny what you say, Socrates. Nevertheless I am
conscious in my own self, and the world agrees with me in thinking
that I do speak better and have more to say about Homer than any other
man. But I do not speak equally well about others--tell me the reason of
this.
SOCRATES: I perceive, Ion; and I will proceed to explain to you what
I imagine to be the reason of this. The gift which you possess of
speaking excellently about Homer is not an art, but, as I was just saying,
an inspiration; there is a divinity moving you, like that contained in the
stone which Euripides calls a magnet, but which is commonly known
as the stone of Heraclea. This stone not only attracts iron rings, but also
imparts to them a similar power of attracting other rings; and
sometimes you may see a number of pieces of iron and rings suspended
from one another so as to form quite a long chain: and all of them
derive their