reasoning on the subject; but when his opinion was required of Polygnotus, or any one single painter you please, awoke, paid attention to the subject, and discoursed on it with great eloquence and sagacity? ION.-Never, by Jupiter! SOCRATES. Did you ever know any one very skilful in determining the merits of Daedalus, the son of Metion, Epius, the son of Panopus, Theodorus the Samian, or any other great sculptor, who was immediately at a loss, and felt sleepy the moment any other sculptor was mentioned ? ION.-I never met with such a person certainly. SOCRATES.-Nor, do I think, that you ever met with a man professing himself a judge of poetry and rhapsody, and competent to criticise either Olympus, Thamyris, Orpheus, or Phemius of Ithaca, the rhapsodist, who, the moment he came to Ion the Ephesian, felt himself quite at a loss, utterly incompetent to judge whether he rhapsodised well or ill. ION. I cannot refute you, Socrates, but of this I am conscious to myself: that I excel all men in the copiousness and beauty of my illustrations of Homer, as all who have heard me will confess, and with respect to other poets, I am deserted of this power. It is for you to consider what may be the cause of this distinction. SOCRATES.-I will tell you, O Ion, what appears to me to be the cause of this inequality of power. It is that you are not master of any art for the illustration of Homer, but it is a divine influence which moves you, like that which resides in the stone called Magnet by Euripides, and Heraclea by the people. For not only does this stone possess the power of attracting iron rings, but it can communicate to them the power of attracting other rings; so that you may see sometimes a long chain of rings, and other iron substances, attached and suspended one to the other by this influence. And as the power of the stone circulates through all the links of this series, and attaches each to each, so the Muse, communicating through those whom she has first inspired, to all others capable of sharing in the inspiration, the influence of that first enthusiasın, creates a chain and a succession. For the authors of those great poems which we admire, do not attain to excellence through the rules of any art, but they utter their beautiful melodies of verse in a state of inspiration, and, as it were, possessed by a spirit not their own. Thus the composers of lyrical poetry create those admired songs of theirs in a state of divine insanity, like the Corybantes, who lose all control over their reason in the enthusiasm of the sacred dance; and, during this supernatural possession, are excited to the rhythm and harmony which they communicate to men. Like the Bacchantes, who, when possessed by the God draw honey and milk from the rivers, in which, when they come to their senses, they find nothing but simple water. For the souls of the poets, as poets tell us, have this peculiar ministration in the world. They tell us that these souls, flying like bees from flower to flower, and wandering over the gardens and the meadows and the honey-flowing fountains of the Muses, return to us laden with the sweetness of melody; and arrayed as they are in the plumes of rapid imagination, they speak truth. For a poet is indeed a thing ethereally light, winged, and sacred, nor can he compose anything worth calling poetry until he becomes inspired, and, as it were, mad, or whilst any reason remains in him. For whilst a man retains any portion of the thing called reason, he is utterly incompetent to produce poetry or to vaticinate. Thus, those who declaim various and beautiful poetry upon any subject, as for instance upon Homer, are not enabled to do so by art or study; but every rhapsodist or poet, whether dithyrambic, encomiastic, choral, epic, or iambic, is excellent in proportion to the extent of his participation in the divine influence, and the degree in which the Muse itself has descended on him. In other respects, poets may be sufficiently ignorant and incapable. For they do not compose according to any art which they have acquired, but from the impulse of the divinity within them; for did they know any rules of criticism according to which they could compose beautiful verses upon one subject, they would be able to exert the same faculty with respect to all or any other. The God seems purposely to have deprived all poets, prophets, and soothsayers of every particle of reason and understanding, the better to adapt them to their employ. ment as his ministers and interpreters; and that we, their auditors, may acknowledge that those who write so beautifully, are possessed, and address us, inspired by the God. [Tynnicus the Chalcidean, is a manifest proof of this, for he never before composed any poem worthy to be remembered; and yet, was the author of that Paean which everybody sings, and which excels almost every other hymn, and which he, himself, acknowledges to have been inspired by the Muse. And, thus, it appears to me, that the God proves beyond a doubt, that these transcendant poems are not human as the work of men, but divine as coming from the God. Poets then are the interpreters of the divinities--each being possessed by some one deity; and to make this apparent, the God designedly inspires the worst poets with the sublimest verse. Does it seem to you that I am in the right, O Ion? ION.-Yes, by Jupiter! My mind is enlightened Jon To my the truth, we must see. BOMATER you often perceive your andrace mored now! love. Many among them, and frequently. I, standing on the rostrum, see them werping, with ayon fixed castratly on me, and overome by my der lactation. I have need so to actate them; for if they weep, I langh, taking their money; if they shold laugh, I must werp, going without it. HKM RATER. Do you not perceive that your anditor is the last link of that chain which I have described as held together through the power of the magnet! You rhapsodiats and actors are the middle links, of which the poet is the first-and through all these the God influences whichever mind he selects, as they conduct this power one to the other; and thus, as rings from the stone, so hangs a long series of chorus-dancers, teachers, and disciples from the Muse. Some poets are influenced by one Muse, some by another; we call them possessed, and this word really expresses the truth, for they are held. Others, who are interpreters, are inspired by the first links, the poets, and are filled with enthusiasm, some by one, soine Sorauris-Does which you are un low-What can SorBites-Does various arts-on cha remember the vers Jox-I w repeat SOCRATES-Repeat Antilochas, counse.. turning, during the games of Patroclus. ION-Ards Seat And was A little bending to the le But urge the right, and While thy strict hand hi And turns him short; t The wheel's round nave Yet, not to break the car Clear of the stony heap SOCRATES.-Enough. Now, O Ion, would a physician or a charioteer be the better judge as to Homer's sagacity on this subject? ION. Of course, a charioteer. SOCRATES.-Because he understands the artor from what other reason? ION. From his knowledge of the art. SOCRATES.--For one science is not gifted with the power of judging of another-a steersman, for instance, does not understand medicine? ION. Without doubt. SOCRATES.-Nor a physician, architecture? SOCRATES. Is it not thus with every art! If we ION.-Certainly. SOCRATES.-Consider whether you are not inspired to make some such demand as this to me:-Come, Socrates, since you have found in Homer an accurate description of these arts, assist me also in the inquiry as to his competence on the subject of soothsayers and divination; and how far he speaks well or ill on such subjects; for he often treats of them in the Odyssey, and especially when he introduces Theoclymenus the Soothsayer of the Melampians, prophesying to the Suitors :Δαίμονι, τί κακὸν τόδε πάσχετε ; νυκτὶ μὲν ὑμέων other, when we speak of arithmetic-would you Ειλύαται κεφαλαί τε προσωπά τε νέρθε τε γυια, not say the same? SOCRATES.-For, if each art contained the knowledge of all things, why should we call them by different names? we do so that we may distinguish them one from the other. Thus, you as well as I, know that these are five fingers; and if I asked whether we both meant the same thing or an you Οιμωγὴ δὲ δέδηε, δεδάκρυνται δὲ παρειαί. Often too in the Iliad, as at the battle at the walls; Όρνις γάρ σφιν ἐπῆλθε περησέμεναι μεμαῶσιν, * Tempered in this, the nymph of form divine, O race to death devote with Stygian shade Pope, Book 2 ION. By far, O Socrates. SOCRATES. And you are also the most excellent general among the Greeks? ION.-I am. I learned the art from Homer. SOCRATES.-How is it then, by Jupiter, that being both the best general and the best rhapsodist among us, that you continually go about Greece rhapsodising, and never lead our armies ? Does it seem to you that the Greeks greatly need golden-crowned rhapsodists, and have no want of generals? ION. My native town, O Socrates, is ruled by yours, and requires no general for her wars ;--and neither will your city nor the Lacedemonians elect me to lead their armies-you think your own generals sufficient. But Athens, and is Ephesus the least of cities? if you spoke true, Ion, and praise Homer according to art and knowledge, you have deceived me,— since you declared that you were learned on the subject of Homer, and would communicate your knowledge to me-but you have disappointed me, and are far from keeping your word. For you will not explain in what you are so excessively clever, though I greatly desire to learn; but, as various as Proteus, you change from one thing to another, and to escape at last, you disappear in the form of a general, without disclosing your Homeric wisdom. If, therefore, you possess the learning which you promised to expound on the subject of Homer, you deceive me and are false. But if you are eloquent on the subject of this Poet, not through knowledge, SOCRATES. My good Ion, are you acquainted but by inspiration, being possessed by him, ignorant with Apollodorus the Cyzicenian ? ION. What do you mean? SOCRATES.-He whom, though a stranger, the Athenians often elected general; and Phanosthenes the Andrian, and Heraclides the Clazomenian, all foreigners, but whom this city has chosen, as being great men, to lead its armies, and to fill other high offices. Would not, therefore, Ion the Ephesian be elected and honoured if he were esteemned capable Were not the Ephesians originally from the while of the wisdom and beauty you display, then I allow that you are no deceiver. Choose then whether you will be considered false or inspired? ION. It is far better, O Socrates, to be thought inspired SOCRATES.-It is better both for you and for us, O Ion, to say that you are the inspired, and not the learned, eulogist of Homer. MENEXENUS; OR, THE FUNERAL ORATION. SOCRATES and MENEXENUS. A fragment. SOCRATES.-Whence comest thou, O Menexenus? from the forum? MENEXENUS. Even so; and from the senate house. SOCRATES.-What was thy business with the senate? Art thou persuaded that thou hast attained to that perfection of discipline and philosophy, from which thou mayest aspire to undertake greater matters! Wouldst thou, at thine age, my wonderful friend, assume to thyself the government of us who are thine elders, lest thy family should at any time fail in affording us a protector? MENEXENUS.-If thou, O Socrates, shouldst permit and counsel me to enter into public life, I would earnestly endeavour to fit myself for the attempt. If otherwise, I would abstain. On the present occasion, I went to the senate-house, merely from having heard that the senate was about to elect one to speak concerning those who are dead. Thou MENEXENUS. The election is deferred until tomorrow ; I imagine that either Dion or Archinus will be chosen. SOCRATES. In truth, Menexenus, the condition of him who dies in battle is, in every respect, fortunate and glorious. If he is poor, he is conducted to his tomb with a magnificent and honourable funeral, amidst the praises of all; if even he were a coward, his name is included in a panegyric pronounced by the most learned men; from which all the vulgar expressions, which unpremeditated composition might admit, have been excluded by the careful labour of leisure; who praise so admirably, enlarging upon every topic remotely, or immediately connected with the subject, and blending so eloquent a variety of expressions, that, praising in |
