 At the same time, Plato appears to consider painting on its own terms, not merely as illustrative of a process also found in poetry. Many passages speak in approving terms of painting and sculpture, or recognize the skill involved in making them as a technê “profession, craft” (Ion 532e-533a; Gorgias 430c, 448b, 453c-d, 503e; Protagoras 318b-c; see Demand 1975, Halliwell 2002, 37–43). Even the famously anti-poetic Republic contains positive references to paintings and drawings. Sometimes these are metaphors for acts of imagination and political reform (472d, 500e-501c), sometimes literal images whose attractiveness helps to form a young ruler’s character (400d-401a) – in any case visual arts appreciated on their own terms and for their own sake.