Mileʹsian Fables

The romances of Antonius Diogʹenēs, described by Photius, but no longer extant. They were greedily read by the luxurious Sybarites, and appear to have been of a very coarse amatory character. They were compiled by Aristiʹdēs, and translated into Latin by Sisenʹna, about the time of the civil wars of Maʹrius and Sylla.

The tales of Partheʹnius Niceʹnus were borrowed from them. The name is from the Milesians, a Greek colony, the first to catch from the Persians their rage for fiction. Parthenius taught Virgil Greek.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.