SOCRATES:  Do you think beauty exists in man alone, or in anything else?

CRITOBULUS:  I believe it is found in horse and ox and many inanimate things.  For instance, I recognize a beautiful shield, sword or spear.

S:  And how can all these things be beautiful when they bear no resemblance to each other?

C:  Why?  If they are well made for the purpose for which we acquire them, or well adapted by nature to our  needs, then in each case I call them beautiful.

S:   Well then, what do we need eyes for?

CRITOBULUS:  To see with of course.

SOCRATES:  In that case my eyes are at once proved to be more beautiful than yours, because yours look only straight ahead, whereas mine project so that they can see sideways as well.

C:  Are you claiming that a crab has the most beautiful eyes of any animal?

S:  Certainly, since from the point of view of strength also its eyes are best constructed by nature.

C:  All right, but which of our noses is the more beautiful?

S:  Mine, I should say, if the gods gave us noses to smell with, for your nostrils point to earth,  but mine are spread out widely to receive odours from every quarter.

C:  But how can a snub nose be more beautiful than a straight one?

S:  Because it does not get in the way but allows the eyes to see what they will, whereas a high bridge walls them off as if to spite them.

C:  As for the mouth, I give in, for if mouths are made for biting, you could take a much larger bite than I.

S:  And with my thick lips don't you think I could give a softer kiss?

(Xenophon, Symposium V, trans., W.K.C. Guthrie, in Socrates, pp. 67-68)