Plato
ΙΩΝ. Ναί.
ΣΩ. Οὐκ ἄρα πάντα γε γνώσεται ἡ ῥαψῳδικὴ κατὰ τὸν σὸν λόγον, οὐδὲ ὁ ῥαψῳδός.
ΙΩΝ. Πλήν γε ἴσως τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὦ Σώκρατες.
ΣΩ. Τὰ τοιαῦτα δὲ λέγεις πλὴν τὰ τῶν ἄλλων τεχνῶν σχεδόν τι· ἀλλὰ ποῖα δὴ γνώσεται, ἐπειδὴ οὐχ ἅπαντα;
ΙΩΝ. Ἃ πρέπει, οἶμαι ἔγωγε, ἀνδρὶ εἰπεῖν καὶ ὁποῖα γυναικί, καὶ ὁποῖα δούλῳ καὶ ὁποῖα ἐλευθέρῳ, καὶ ὁποῖα ἀρχομένῳ καὶ ὁποῖα ἄρχοντι.
ΣΩ. Ἆρ᾿ ὁποῖα ἄρχοντι, λέγεις, ἐν θαλάττῃ χειμαζομένου πλοίου πρέπει εἰπεῖν, ὁ ῥαψῳδὸς γνώσεται κάλλιον ἢ ὁ κυβερνήτης;
ΙΩΝ. Οὔκ, ἀλλὰ ὁ κυβερνήτης τοῦτό γε.
ΣΩ. Ἀλλ᾿ ὁποῖα ἄρχοντι κάμνοντος πρέπει εἰπεῖν, ὁ ῥαψῳδὸς γνώσεται κάλλιον ἢ ὁ ἰατρός;
ΙΩΝ. Οὐδὲ τοῦτο.
ΣΩ. Ἀλλ᾿ οἷα δούλῳ πρέπει, λέγεις;
ΙΩΝ. Ναί.
ΣΩ. Οἷον βουκόλῳ λέγεις δούλῳ ἃ πρέπει εἰπεῖν ἀγριαινουσῶν βοῶν παραμυθουμένῳ, ὁ ῥαψῳδὸς γνώσεται, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὁ βουκόλος;
ΙΩΝ. Οὐ δῆτα.
ΣΩ. Ἀλλ᾿ οἷα γυναικὶ πρέποντά ἐστιν εἰπεῖν ταλασιουργῷ περὶ ἐρίων ἐργασίας;
ΙΩΝ. Οὔ.
ΣΩ. Ἀλλ᾿ οἷα ἀνδρὶ πρέπει εἰπεῖν γνώσεται στρατηγῷ στρατιώταις παραινοῦντι;
Ion
ion. Yes.
soc. Then by your own account the rhapsode’s art cannot know everything, nor the rhapsode either.
ion. Let us say, everything except those instances, Socrates.
soc. By “those instances” you imply the subjects of practically all the other arts. Well, as he does not know all of them, which kinds will he know?
ion. Those things, I imagine, that it befits a man to say, and the sort of thing that a woman should say; the sort for a slave and the sort for a freeman; and the sort for a subject or for a ruler.
soc. Do you mean that the rhapsode will know better than the pilot what sort of thing a ruler of a storm-tossed vessel at sea should say?
ion. No, the pilot knows better in that case.
soc. Well, will the rhapsode know better than the doctor what sort of thing a ruler of a sick man should say?
ion. Not in that case either.
soc. But he will know the sort for a slave, you say?
ion. Yes.
soc. For instance, if the slave is a cowherd, you say the rhapsode will know what the other should say to pacify his cows when they get fierce, but the cowherd will not?
ion. That is not so.
soc. Well, the sort of thing that a woman ought to say—a spinning-woman—about the working of wool?
ion. No.
soc. But he will know what a man should say, when he is a general exhorting his men?