In the matter of the inner beauty of Socrates

Further, Eco repeats in his lecture, as way of making a point about classical Greek perceptions of the relationship between ugliness and beauty, the impression, first reported by Plato, and widely agreed with since, that Socrates, while ugly on the outside, was beautiful on the inside.

I read and read and read and puzzle: I happen not to find the insides of Socrates beautiful. On the contrary, he reminds me, as he reminded Russell, of a certain kind of bad cleric. What do people find beautiful about him?

Far from disproving the unpleasant theory that ugly people are ugly on the inside, too, the story of Socrates appears to me to confirm it!