But what if someone comes to me covered in dirt, filthy, with a mustache hanging down to his knees? What can I say to him? How can I guide him? What has he been focused on that looks anything like beauty? How can I redirect him and say, 'Beauty isn't in this — it's in that'? Should I tell him that beauty doesn't come from being covered in filth, but lives in his rational mind? Does he even want beauty? Does he have any idea what it looks like? You might as well go talk to a pig and tell it not to roll in mud.
But if a man comes to me daubed with filth, dirty, with a moustache down to his knees, what can I say to him, by what kind of resemblance can I lead him on? For about what has he busied himself which resembles beauty, that I may be able to change him and say, Beauty is not in this, but in that? Would you have me to tell him, that beauty consists not in being daubed with muck, but that it lies in the rational part? Has he any desire of beauty? has he any form of it in his mind? Go and talk to a hog, and tell him not to roll in the mud.