How's about "the face he was born with" (as opposed to "the face he
acquired via plastic surgery"); I think that's what is actually meant in
1:23. Presumably it is the one who has had plastic surgery, or who fancies
himself more handsome than he is, whose forgotten what that mirror-image
really showed him. Catullus has a cute little poem about a harlot who
charges too much; I'll cite only the punch line (Catullus 43:7-8):
non est sana puella, nec rogare
qualis sit solet aes imaginosum.
"The girl's out of her mind--and also out of the habit of
asking a mirror what she actually looks like."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/