The Hall (19-20)

That the power of the tongue is no match for the eyes, one can learn by comparing

the story of the Sirens with the one about the Gorgons. The Sirens charmed passing voyagers by making music and working on them with songs, and held them long when they put in. In short, their performance only exacted a delay, and no doubt one or another voyager went by them, neglecting their music. On the contrary, the beauty of the Gorgons, being extremely powerful and affecting the very vitals of the soul, stunned its beholdersand made them speechless, so that, as the story has it and everyone says, they turned to stone in wonder. For this reason I count what my opponent said to you a moment ago about the peacock a plea for my side: surely his attractiveness is in his looks, not in his voice! If anybody should match a nightingale or a swan against him, letting them sing - and showing the peacock silent while they were singing, I “know well that your soul would go over to him, bidding a long farewell to their songs. So invincible, it seems, is the delight of the eyes!

If you wish, I will produce you a witness in the person of a sage, who will testify on the spot that what one sees is far more effective than what one hears. Crier, summon in person Herodotus, son ‘of Lyxus, of Halicarnassus. Since he has been so kind as to comply, let him take the stand and give his testimony. Suffer him to speak to you in Ionic, to which he is accustomed. “'Master Point o’ View telleth ye true herein. Believe whatso he sayeth to this matter, esteeming sight over hearing, for in sooth ears be less trusty than eyes.’ [*]

“Do you hear what the witness says, that he gives the palm to sight? With reason, for words are winged and go flying off the instant they have left the lips, while the beauty of things seen is always present and lasting and entices the spectator, will he, nill he.