19 January 1983

Abstract

Around Ion, around Ion’s birth, we have had: Creusa who departed slightly from the truth by claiming that it was her sister who was seduced by Apollo; the god who, from shame, did not want to give the true answer and who pointed Xuthus to a son who was not really his son; and Xuthus who, out of negligence in a way, is happy with truths which are, to tell the truth, plausible but without real founda­tion. And it is this game of half-lies, half-truths, and approximations that Ion rejects. Ion refuses; he wants the truth. And—as is shown by the tirade which we will consider for a while—he wants the truth because he wants to justify the right. He wants to justify his right, his political right at Athens. He wants the right to speak there, to say everything, speak the truth, and speak freely. In order to justify his parrēsia he needs the truth finally to be told, a truth which will found this right. This then is why, after Xuthus has warmly embraced him and more or less convinced him that, all in all, he is more or less his son, Ion says: Yes, but it’s not enough.

Ion: A nobody, son of nobody.∽Three categories of citizen.∽Consequences of political intrusion by Ion: private hatreds and public tyranny.∽In search of a mother.∽Parrēsia irreducible to the actual exercise of power and to the citizen’s status.∽The agonistic game of truth-telling: free and risky.∽Historical context: the Cleon/Nicias debate.∽ Creusa’s anger.