he finest poems ever written, simply
an invention of the Muses, as he himself says. For in this way the
God would seem to indicate to us and not allow us to doubt that these
beautiful poems are not human, or the work of man, but divine and the
work of God; and that the poets are only the interpreters of the Gods by
whom they are severally possessed. Was not this the lesson which the God
intended to teach when by the mouth of the worst of poets he sang the
best of songs? Am I not right, Ion?

ION: Yes, indeed, Socrates, I feel that you are; for your words touch
my soul, and I am persuaded that good poets by a divine inspiration
interpret the things of the Gods to us.

SOCRATES: And you rhapsodists are the interpreters of the poets?

ION: There again you are right.

SOCRATES: Then you are the interpreters of interpreters?

ION: Precisely.

SOCRATES: I wish you would frankly tell me, Ion, what I am going to ask
of you: When you produce the greatest effect upon the audience in the
recitation of some striking passage, such as the apparition of Odysseus
leaping forth on the floor, recognized by the suitors and casting his
arrows at his feet, or the description of Achilles rushing at Hector,
or the sorrows of Andromache, Hecuba, or Priam,--are you in your right
mind? Are you not carried out of yourself, and does not your soul in
an ecstasy seem to be among the persons or places of which you are
speaking, whether they are in Ithaca or in Troy or whatever may be the
scene of the poem?

ION: That proof strikes home to me, Socrates. For I must frankly confess
that at the tale of pity my eyes are filled with tears, and when I speak
of horrors, my hair stands on end and my heart throbs.

SOCRATES: Well, Ion, and what are we to say of a man who at a sacrifice
or festival, when he is dressed in holiday attire, and has golden
crowns upon his head, of which nobody has robbed him, appears weeping
or panic-stricken in the presence of more than twenty thousand friendly
faces, when there is no one despoiling or wronging him;--is he in his
right mind or is he not?

ION: No indeed, Socrates, I must say that, strictly speaking, he is not
in his right mind.

SOCRATES: And are you aware that you produce similar effects on most of
the spectators?

ION: Only too well; for I look down upon them from the stage, and behold
the various emotions of pity, wonder, sternness, stamped upon their
countenances when I am speaking: and I am oblig