Plato presents many questions about the arts which will only be answered later when Aristotle founds the new branch of philosophy, Aesthetics. Plato’s most important book dealing with artist and audience, Ion, is an interview with one of the ancient near-musicians called Rhapsodists. What does Plato mean when he has this artist conclude:
If I make them cry I myself shall laugh, and if I make them laugh I myself shall cry, when the time of payment arrives.
