10.4: A Call to Poetry’s Defenders
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See 606e-608b. “Hymns to the gods and eulogies of good people,” Socrates says, “are the only poetry we can admit into our city.” And presumably he means not just any hymns and eulogies, but only those informed by a genuine understanding of what it is to be good. “The imitative poetry that aims at pleasure” must be rejected, unless an argument can be brought forward that shows that such poetry “gives not only pleasure but also benefit both to constitutions and to human life.” It is clear that Socrates would welcome such a defense of poetry, but in the absence of one, he recommends behaving like people who, having fallen passionately in love, judge their passion to be harmful, and so, make a point of avoiding the source of the temptation.