1. cf. Republic 601b.

2. This, I take it, would be the line likely to be adopted by a modern poet, who (unlike an ancient) would not claim authority to teach, except perhaps in some remote sense.

3. On ‘giving an account’, see e.g. Republic 534D–C, Gorgias 465a, and cf. Apology 22a ff.

4. Indeed, it is a difficulty for Socrates’ position that if a god speaks ‘through’ the poet, and gods tell no lies (Republic 381e ff), we ought to treat the poet’s utterance as true, and worth the most serious attention. The difficulty is compounded by Plato’s occasional description of other categories of persons also as ‘inspired’ and ‘possessed’, for example statesmen (Meno 99d). Presumably the human medium introduces distortion – yet how, if he is entirely passive, as Plato seems to claim? Cf. pp. 42–3, and n. 2 on 534c below.