Ion | Page 9

the pilot we do not
know by the art of medicine?
ION: Certainly not.
SOCRATES: Nor do we know by the art of the carpenter that which we
know by the art of medicine?
ION: Certainly not.
SOCRATES: And this is true of all the arts;--that which we know with
one art we do not know with the other? But let me ask a prior question:
You admit that there are differences of arts?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: You would argue, as I should, that when one art is of one
kind of knowledge and another of another, they are different?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: 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 here are five fingers, and you know the same. And if I were to ask
whether I and you became acquainted with this fact by the help of the
same art of arithmetic, you would acknowledge that we did?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: Tell me, then, what I was intending to ask you,--whether
this holds universally? Must the same art have the same subject of
knowledge, and different arts other subjects of knowledge?
ION: That is my opinion, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Then he who has no knowledge of a particular art will
have no right judgment of the sayings and doings of that art?
ION: Very true.
SOCRATES: Then which will be a better judge of the lines which you

were reciting from Homer, you or the charioteer?
ION: The charioteer.
SOCRATES: Why, yes, because you are a rhapsode and not a
charioteer.
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And the art of the rhapsode is different from that of the
charioteer?
ION: Yes.
SOCRATES: And if a different knowledge, then a knowledge of
different matters?
ION: True.
SOCRATES: You know the passage in which Hecamede, the
concubine of Nestor, is described as giving to the wounded Machaon a
posset, as he says,
'Made with Pramnian wine; and she grated cheese of goat's milk with a
grater of bronze, and at his side placed an onion which gives a relish to
drink (Il.).'
Now would you say that the art of the rhapsode or the art of medicine
was better able to judge of the propriety of these lines?
ION: The art of medicine.
SOCRATES: And when Homer says,
'And she descended into the deep like a leaden plummet, which, set in
the horn of ox that ranges in the fields, rushes along carrying death
among the ravenous fishes (Il.),'--
will the art of the fisherman or of the rhapsode be better able to judge
whether these lines are rightly expressed or not?
ION: Clearly, Socrates, the art of the fisherman.
SOCRATES: Come now, suppose that you were to say to me: 'Since
you, Socrates, are able to assign different passages in Homer to their
corresponding arts, I wish that you would tell me what are the passages
of which the excellence ought to be judged by the prophet and
prophetic art'; and you will see how readily and truly I shall answer you.
For there are many such passages, particularly in the Odyssee; as, for
example, the passage in which Theoclymenus the prophet of the house
of Melampus says to the suitors:--
'Wretched men! what is happening to you? Your heads and your faces
and your limbs underneath are shrouded in night; and the voice of

lamentation bursts forth, and your cheeks are wet with tears. And the
vestibule is full, and the court is full, of ghosts descending into the
darkness of Erebus, and the sun has perished out of heaven, and an evil
mist is spread abroad (Od.).'
And there are many such passages in the Iliad also; as for example in
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 huge bloody
dragon in his talons, still living and panting; nor had he yet resigned the
strife, for he bent back and smote the bird which carried him on the
breast by the neck, and he in pain let him fall from 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 (Il.).'
These are the sort of things which I should say that the prophet ought to
consider and determine.
ION: And you are quite right, Socrates, in saying so.
SOCRATES: Yes, Ion, and you are right also. And as I have selected
from the Iliad and Odyssee for you passages which describe the office
of the prophet and the physician and