Socrates, are able to assign different passages in Homer to their
corresponding arts, I wish that you would tell me what are the passages of
which the excellence ought to be judged by the prophet and prophetic art';
and you will see how readily and truly I shall answer you. For there are
many such passages, particularly in the Odyssee; as, for example, the
passage in which Theoclymenus the prophet of the house of Melampus says to
the suitors:--

'Wretched men! what is happening to you? Your heads and your faces and
your limbs underneath are shrouded in night; and the voice of lamentation
bursts forth, and your cheeks are wet with tears. And the vestibule is
full, and the court is full, of ghosts descending into the darkness of
Erebus, and the sun has perished out of heaven, and an evil mist is spread
abroad (Od.).'

And there are many such passages in the Iliad also; as for example in the
description of the battle near the rampart, where he says:--

'As they were eager to pass the ditch, there came to them an omen: a
soaring eagle, holding back the people on the left, bore a huge bloody
dragon in his talons, still living and panting; nor had he yet resigned the
strife, for he bent back and smote the bird which carried him on the breast
by the neck, and he in pain let him fall from him to the ground into the
midst of the multitude. And the eagle, with a cry, was borne afar on the
wings of the wind (Il.).'

These are the sort of things which I should say that the prophet ought to
consider and determine.

ION: And you are quite right, Socrates, in saying so.