1. The Ion is a mystery in other ways too. We cannot tell the date at which the conversation is supposed to have taken place; but such slender indications as there are point to a time before 412 (see p. 64 n. 2). Nor do we know its date of composition, nor its place in the sequence of Plato’s writings and the development of his thought. Presumably it comes early in his literary career (see p. 35), not many years after Socrates’ death in 399. Ion himself is probably historical, but as he is known only from this dialogue, we cannot be quite sure. Moore’s article on the dating contains also a brief review of the difficulties raised by the dialogue’s form and content.

2. For further discussion of rhapsodes, see M. L. West, Journal of Hellenic Studies, 101 (1981), pp. 113–15, and G. S. Kirk, The Songs of Homer (Cambridge 1962), pp. 91, 312–15. The word ‘rhapsode’ meant ‘stitcher of songs’, though the implications of the expression are not quite clear. Few performances (except at festivals) could have been of the Iliad or Odyssey entire; so perhaps they usually consisted of extracts ‘stitched together’ in some coherent manner. More probably, the term referred to the detailed composition or assembling of Homeric poetry from phrases, formulae, lines, etc., and to its continuous performance, which would by its nature and sheer length be different from the performance of other kinds of poetry. A third explanation connects ‘rhapsode’ with rhabdos, the staff wielded by the rhapsode to heighten the dramatic effectiveness of his performance, and perhaps to help mark the rhythm.