Note 9 — THE Metamorphoses of Venus

Athenaeus, XIV., 13: “Also the Ionic dialect has to show the poems of Sotades and the “Ionic” poems preceding his, those of Alexander the Aetolian, and Pyres of Miletus, and Alexis, and others of the same class. The last mentioned is known as the Cinaedologue. But in this genre the most eminent writer is Sotades, of Maroneia, as is stated by Carystius of Pergamus in his work on Sotades, and by Apollonius, Sotades’ son, who also wrote a work on his father’s poems. “His end was a miserable one. Having assailed Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, with witticisms too independent for the sensitive ears of princes, the king caused him to be enclosed in a leaden casket, and thrown into the sea.”