A Greek poet of Thrace.
He wrote verses against Philadelphus Ptolemy, for which he was thrown into the sea in a cage of lead.
He was called Cinædus, not only because he was addicted to the abominable crime which the surname indicates, but because he wrote a poem in commendation of it.
Some suppose, that instead of the word Socraticos in the 2nd satire, verse the 10th, of Juvenal, the word Sotadicos should be inserted, as the poet Sotades, and not the philosopher Socrates, deserved the appellation of Cinædus.
Obscene verses were generally called Sotadea carmina from him.
They could be turned and read different ways without losing their measure or sense, such as the following, which can be read backwards:
Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor.
Si bene te tua laus taxat, sua laute tenebis.
Sole medere pede, ede, perede melos.
Quintilian, bk. 1, ch. 8; bk. 9, ch. 4.—Pliny, bk. 5, ltr. 3.—Ausonius, ltr. 17, li. 29.
John Lemprière – A classical dictionary, United Kingdom: George Routledge and Sons, 1904
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