Ion

The Ion is the shortest, or nearly the shortest, of all the writings which bear the name of Plato, and is not  authenticated by any early external testimony. The grace and beauty of this little work supply the only, and  perhaps a sufficient, proof of its genuineness. The plan is simple; the dramatic interest consists entirely in the  contrast between the irony of Socrates and the transparent vanity and childlike enthusiasm of the rhapsode  Ion. The theme of the Dialogue may possibly have been suggested by the passage of Xenophon's  Memorabilia in which the rhapsodists are described by Euthydemus as 'very precise about the exact words of  Homer, but very idiotic themselves.' .....