He had no sooner reclined than there came in a number of revellers--for some one who had gone out had left the door open--and took their places on the vacant couches, and everything became full of confusion; and no order being observed, every one was obliged to drink a great quantity of wine. Eryximachus, and Phædrus, and some others, said Aristodemus, went home to bed; that, for his part, he went to sleep on his couch, and slept long and soundly--the nights were then long--until the cock crew in the morning. When he awoke he found that some were still fast asleep, and others had gone home, and that Aristophanes, Agathon, and Socrates had alone stood it out, and were still drinking out of a great goblet which they passed round and round. Socrates was disputing between them. The beginning of their discussion Aristodemus said that he did not recollect, because he was asleep; but it was terminated by Socrates forcing them to confess, that the same person is able to compose both tragedy and comedy, and that the foundations of the tragic and comic arts were essentially the same. They, rather convicted than convinced, went to sleep. Aristophanes first awoke, and then, it being broad daylight, Agathon. Socrates, having put them to sleep, went away, Aristodemus following him, and coming to the Lyceum he washed himself, as he would have done anywhere else, and after having spent the day there in his accustomed manner, went home in the evening. [Decoration] [Decoration] ION; OR, OF THE ILIAD. Translated from Plato. Socrates _and_ Ion. _Socrates._ Hail to thee, O Ion! from whence returnest thou amongst us now?--from thine own native Ephesus? _Ion._ No, Socrates; I come from Epidaurus and the feasts in honour of Æsculapius. _Socrates._ Had the Epidaurians instituted a contest of rhapsody in honour of the God? _Ion._ And not in rhapsodies alone; there were contests in every species of music. _Socrates._ And in which did you contend? And what was the success of your efforts? _Ion._ I bore away the first prize at the games, O Socrates. _Socrates._ Well done! You have now only to consider how you shall win the Panathenæa. _Ion._ That may also happen, God willing. _Socrates._ Your profession, O Ion, has often appeared to me an enviable one. For, together with the nicest care of your person, and the most studied elegance of dress, it imposes upon you the necessity of a familiar acquaintance with many and excellent poets, and especially with Homer, the most admirable of them all. Nor is it merely because you can repeat the verses of this great poet, that I envy you, but because you fathom his inmost thoughts. For he is no rhapsodist who does not understand the whole scope and intention of the poet, and is not capable of interpreting it to his audience. This he cannot do without a full comprehension of the meaning of the author he undertakes to illustrate; and worthy, indeed, of envy are those who can fulfil these conditions.