In Plato's Phaedrus, two parallel scenes illustrate how owning and withdrawing a failed version restores sight. On the left, the poet Stesichorus goes blind after composing a false poem about Helen; when he strikes through the false lines and writes his recantation, immediately his sight returns to him. On the right, Socrates delivers his first false speech with his face veiled beneath his cloak, then reaches up to pull back the veil and speaks his recantation with forehead bold and bare in the clear light.