Page - 149 - in The Complete Plato
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Had he learned by rules of art, he would have known how to speak not of one
theme only, but of all; and therefore God takes away the minds of poets, and
uses them as his ministers, as he also uses diviners and holy prophets, in order
that we who hear them may know them to be speaking not of themselves who
utter these priceless words in a state of unconsciousness, but that God himself
is the speaker, and that through them he is conversing with us. And Tynnichus
the Chalcidian affords a striking instance of what I am saying: he wrote
nothing that any one would care to remember but the famous paean which is
in every one’s mouth, one of the 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
149
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book The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Title
- The Complete Plato
- Author
- Plato
- Date
- ~347 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 1612
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International