{67}That poetry is the nurse of abuse,infecting us with wanton and pestilent desires.
{68}Rampire,rampart,the Old French form of "rempart,"was "rempar,"from "remparer,"to fortify.
{69}"I give him free leave to be foolish."A variation from the line (Sat.I.i.63),"Quid facias illi?jubeas miserum esse libenter."{70}That Plato banished poets from his ideal Republic.
{71}Which authority certain barbarous and insipid writers would wrest into meaning that poets were to be thrust out of a state.
{72}Ion is a rhapsodist,in dialogue with Socrates,who cannot understand why it is that his thoughts flow abundantly when he talks of Homer."I can explain,"says Socrates;"your talent in expounding Homer is not an art acquired by system and method,otherwise it would have been applicable to other poets besides.It is a special gift,imparted to you by Divine power and inspiration.
The like is true of the poet you expound.His genius does not spring from art,system,or method:it is a special gift emanating from the inspiration of the Muses.A poet is light,airy,holy person,who cannot compose verses at all so long as his reason remains within him.The Muses take away his reason,substituting in place of it their own divine inspiration and special impulse ...
Like prophets and deliverers of oracles,these poets have their reason taken away,and become the servants of the gods.It is not they who,bereft of their reason,speak in such sublime strains,it is the god who speaks to us,and speaks through them."George Grote,from whose volumes on Plato I quote this translation of the passage,placed "Ion"among the genuine dialogues of Plato.