內容簡介
伊安是一位專以吟誦荷馬史詩為業的誦詩人，這天參加誦詩競賽歸來，正為自己獲得頭獎而洋洋自得。不料，遇見蘇格拉底假裝向他求教，提出許多令人困惑的問題，結果卻使伊安自相矛盾，難以招架。按照蘇格拉底的邏輯，如果伊安果真是憑技藝解說荷馬史詩的話，那么，他也就能憑藉技藝去解說其他詩人的作品。因為既然它們都是詩歌，就會具有詩歌的共通性。可是，事實上伊安只擅長吟誦荷馬，談及別的詩人來就要打瞌睡。由此看來，他之擅長解說荷馬，並非是一種技藝，而是憑藉著靈感。柏拉圖由此指出：
凡是高明的詩人，無論在史詩或抒情詩方面，都不是憑技藝來做成他們的優美的詩歌，而是因為他們得到靈感，有神力憑附著……因為詩人是一種輕飄的長著羽翼的神明的東西，不得到靈感，不失去平常理智而陷入迷狂，就沒有能力創作，就不能做詩或代神說話。詩人們對於他們所寫的那些題材，說出那樣多的優美詞句，像你自己解說荷馬那樣，並非憑技藝的規矩，而是依詩神的驅遣。
柏拉圖在《伊安篇》中,通過"赫剌克勒斯石"之鏈的比喻,形象地說明了藝術創作中靈感的作用,詩人進入靈感狀態的表現,以及作品的藝術感染力的問題,對後世文藝理論的發展產生了極為重要的影響.
英譯版本簡介原文
Ion
by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett
"In Plato's Ion Socrates discusses with the title character the question of whether the rhapsode, a professional performer of poetry, gives his performance on account of his skill and knowledge or by virtue of divine possession.
Ion has just come from a festival of Asclepius at the city of Epidarus, and is full of himself for having carried off first prize in the competition. Socrates presses the view that it is divine possession and not acquired skill that is behind the actor's art, but Ion admits that it is the specter of money that really keeps him on his toes. Socrates subjects Ion to his philosophical dialectic, and gets him to admit that because he recites Homer's war stories, he is as much military general as actor. Only then does Socrates seem satisfied that he has made a fool of the actor, whom he accuses of being as shifty as Proteus.
Ion admits when Socrates asks, that his skill in performance recitation is limited to Homer, and that all other poets bore him. Socrates finds this puzzling, and sets out to solve the "riddle" of Ion's limited expertise. He points out to Ion that art critics and judges of sculpture normally do not limit themselves to judging the work of only a single artist, but can criticize the art no matter who the particular artist. Socrates deduces from this observation that Ion has no real skill, but is like a soothsayer or prophet in being divinely possessed. Socrates offers the metaphor of a magnet to explain how the actor transmits the poet's original inspiration from the muse to the audience. He says that the god speaks first to the poet, then gives the actor his skill, and thus, gods communicate to the people; the only other option is to be a cheater since Ion does not know of skills in which he recites (military general).
中文相關書籍
《文藝對話集》 [ 古希臘 ] 柏拉圖 ( 前 427 ～前 347) 著。朱光潛編集並翻譯，上海文藝聯合出版社 1954 年初版，上海新文藝出版社 1956 年再版，人民文學出版社 1963 年再版。是柏拉圖的美學和文藝學論著選集。
本書收集了柏拉圖的 8 篇對話體文章，共約 22 萬字。第 1 篇是《伊安篇》，主要論述詩的靈感問題。第 2 篇是《理想國》 ( 卷 2 至卷 3 ），主要論述統治者的文學音樂教育問題。第 3 篇是《理想國》（卷 10) ，主要論述詩人的罪狀。第 4 篇是《裴德若篇》，主要論述修辭術。第 5 篇是《大希庇阿斯篇》，主要論述美的本質問題。第 6 篇是《會飲篇》，主要論述愛美和哲學修養問題。第 7 篇是《斐利布斯篇》，主要論述美感問題。第 8 篇《法律篇》，主要論述文藝教育問題。所選的每一篇文章在書末都附有一篇編譯者寫的題解。另外，書末還有編譯者寫的譯後記，對柏拉圖的美學思想作了系統的論述和評價。
柏拉圖是古希臘最著名的客觀唯心主義哲學家，本書比較集中系統地反映了他的美學和文藝學思想。柏拉圖的美學和文藝學思想體現了古代人對美學和文藝學問題思考和探求的成就，雖然具有唯心主義成分，但對後世產生了深遠的影響，成為西方美和文藝學的重要源頭之一。柏拉圖關於美的本質的探討開闢了中世紀直至德國古典美學的基本研究路向，他關於靈感問題的探索對文藝復興乃至近代浪漫主義文藝思潮產生了影響。
