The reference is to Odyssey, I I. 632. The Gorgon's head is introduced for the sake of the pun, but since its effect was to turn spectators to stone it is not inapposite. The artificialities of Agathon's style, especially the use of short parallel phrases at the end, are evidence that the speech is composed according to the precepts of Gorgias, the celebrated rhetorician and sophist.