Soc.
Yes, and I must find myself leisure some time to listen to you;
531a
but for the moment, please answer this little question: are you skilled in Homer only, or in Hesiod and Archilochus as well?
Ion.
No, no, only in Homer; for that seems to me quite enough.
Soc.
And is there anything on which Homer and Hesiod both say the same?
Ion.
Yes, I think there are many such cases.
Soc.
Then in those cases would you expound better what Homer says than what Hesiod says?
Ion.
I should do it equally well in those cases, Socrates, where they say the same.
Soc.
But what of those where they do not say the same? For example, about the seer’s art, on which both Homer and Hesiod say something.
Ion.
Quite so.
Soc.
Well then, would you, or one of the good seers, expound better what these two poets say, not only alike but differently, about the seer’s art?
Ion.
One of the seers.
Soc.
And if you were a seer, would you not, with an ability to expound what they say in agreement, know also how to expound the points on which they differ?
Ion.
Of course.
Soc.
Then how is it that you are skilled in Homer,
531c
and not in Hesiod or the other poets? Does Homer speak of any other than the very things that all the other poets speak of? Has he not described war for the most part, and the mutual intercourse of men, good and bad, lay and professional, and the ways of the gods in their intercourse with each other and with men, and happenings in the heavens and in the underworld, and origins of gods and heroes?
531d
Are not these the subjects of Homer’s poetry?
Ion.
What you say is true, Socrates.
Soc.
And what of the other poets? Do they not treat of the same things?
Ion.
Yes; but, Socrates, not on Homer’s level.
Soc.
What, in a worse way?
Ion.
Far worse.
Soc.
And Homer in a better?
Ion.
Better indeed, I assure you.
Soc.
Well now, Ion, dear soul; when several people are talking about number, and one of them speaks better than the rest, I suppose there is some one who will distinguish the good speaker?
Ion.
I agree.
Soc.
And will this some one be the same as he who can distinguish the bad speakers, or different?
Ion.
The same, I suppose.
Soc.
And he will be the man who has the art of numeration?
Ion.
Yes.
Soc.
And again, when several are talking about what kinds of foods are wholesome, and one of them speaks better than the rest, will it be for two different persons to distinguish the superiority of the best speaker and the inferiority of a worse one, or for the same?
Ion.
Obviously, I should say, for the same.
Soc.
Who is he? What is his name?
Ion.
A doctor.
Ion. Plato. William Rangeley Maitland Lamb (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1925.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.