Ion
by Plato · Ἴων
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 390 BCE
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Short · 15 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Approachable1 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendComplete Works, translated by Paul Woodruff, in the volume edited by John M. CooperHackett, 1997The short dialogue is rarely printed alone; the Cooper volume has it in a crisp translation.
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Socrates meets Ion, a professional reciter of Homer fresh from winning a prize, and asks how he can speak so well about Homer and not about other poets. Ion cannot say. Socrates suggests that rhapsode and poet alike work not by knowledge or skill but by divine possession, passed down like the pull of a magnet through a chain of iron rings. Ion, unable to name any subject on which he is the expert, accepts the label of inspired rather than admit to being a fraud.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Ion are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
