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ION: VIII. - C'est bien parler, Socrate. Néanmoins je serais surpris si tu parlais assez bien pour me persuader que je suis possédé et hors de sens quand je fais l'éloge d'Homère ; et toi-même sans doute tu ne le penserais pas, si tu m'entendais parler d'Homère.

SOCRATE: Sans doute je veux t'entendre, mais pas avant que tu m'aies répondu sur ce point : parmi les choses dont il est question dans Homère, sur laquelle parles-tu bien ? pas sur toutes, je pense.

ION: Sur toutes sans exception, Socrate, apprends-le.

SOCRATE: V. - Je vois, Ion, et je vais te faire voir ce que c'est, à mon avis. C'est que ce don que tu as de bien parler d'Homère n'est pas, je le disais tout à l'heure, un art, mais une vertu divine, qui te meut, semblable à celle de la pierre qu'Euripide appelle pierre de Magnésie, mais que la plupart appellent pierre d'Héraclée.

ION: Mais alors, Socrate, quelle peut être la cause qui fait que, si l'on parle de quelque autre poète, je ne m'y intéresse pas, que je n'ai rien qui vaille à jeter dans la conversation et que je suis véritablement endormi, tandis que, si on fait mention d'Homère, me voilà éveillé, attentif et plein d'idées.

SOCRATE: I. - Salut à Ion. D'où nous reviens-tu cette fois ? d'Ephèse, ton pays ?

ION: Pas du tout, Socrate, d'Epidaure, des fêtes d'Asclèpios.

SOCRATE: Est-que les Epidauriens font aussi un concours de rhapsodes en l'honneur du dieu ?

ION: Mais oui, et de toutes les parties de la musique aussi.

SOCRATE: Et alors, tu as concouru ? et avec quel succès as-tu concouru ?

ION: Nous avons remporté le premier prix, Socrate.

SOCRATE: C'est bien, et maintenant il nous faut tâcher d'être vainqueurs aussi aux Panathénées.

Soc. But, indeed, Ion, if you are correct in saying that by art and knowledge you are able to praise Homer, you do not deal fairly with me, and after all your professions of knowing many, glorious things about Homer, and promises that you would exhibit them, you are only a deceiver, and so far from exhibiting the art of which you are a master, will not, even after my repeated entreaties, explain to me the nature of it.

Ion. That is good, Socrates ; and yet I doubt whether you will ever have eloquence enough to persuade me that I praise Homer only when I am mad and possessed ; and if you could hear me speak of him I am sure you would never think this to be the case.

Soc. I should like very much to hear you, but not until you have answered a question which I have to ask. On what part of Homer do you speak well ? — not surely about every part.

Ion. There is no part, Socrates, about which I do not speak well of that I can assure you.

Soc. 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.

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 ?

Soc. 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.

Soc. I shall take an opportunity of hearing your embellishments of him at some other time. But just now I should like to ask you a question : Does your art extend to Hesiod and Archilochus, or to Homer 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 Hesiod says, about these matters in which they agree ?

Ion. I can interpret them equally well, Socrates, where they agree.