We need to deal with these basic matters in our discussion so we can move on to higher things later. It's like building a body. First you set the bones, tendons, and joints in place. These parts aren't pretty to look at, but they're the foundation that holds everything together and keeps us alive. Next come the parts that create all the beauty of face and form. And finally, color — which charms the eye more than anything else — gets added last, when the rest of the body is finished.
It is necessary for our debate to stoop to the consideration of these matters, in order that it may afterwards be able to rise to loftier themes; for likewise in our bodies the parts which are first set in order are the bones, sinews, and joints, which are by no means fair to see, albeit they are the foundation of our frame and essential to its life: next to them come the parts of which all beauty of face and appearance consists; and after these, colour, which above all else charms the eye, is applied last of all, when the rest of the body is complete.