Note 249-13 — Chapter II
John J. (John Joseph) Lalor translation
On the Pornographs of antiquity, see Athen., XIII, 21. Even Aristophanes was acquainted with some of the species. (Ranæ, 13, 10 ff.) Compare Aristot., Polit., III, 17. Martial, XII, 43, 96. Of modern nations, Italy seems to have been the first to produce such poison flowers: Antonius Panormita (ob. 1471); Petrus Aretinus (ob. 1556). Of the disastrous influence on morals, during his time, of obscene pictures, Propert, II, 5, complains. It is dreadfully characteristic that even a Parrhasios painted wanton deeds of shame. (Sueton., Tiber, 44), and that Praxiteles did not disdain to glorify the triumph of a meretrix gaudens over a flens matrona. (Plin., H. N., XXXIV, 19.) But indeed also Giulio Romano!