A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

9. Of PATRAE, a Greek writer of uncertain date. He wrote Μεταμορφώσεων λόγοι διάφοροι, Metamorphoseon Libri Diversi. which are now lost, but were extant in the time of Photius, who has described them (Bibl. cod. 129). His style was perspicuous and pure, but his works were crowded with marvels; and, according to Photius, he related with perfect gravity and good faith the transformations of men into brutes and brutes into men, and " the other nonsense and idle tales of the ancient mythology." Some parts of his works bore so close a resemblance to the Lucius s. Asinus of Lucian, that Photius thought he had either borrowed from that writer, or, as was more likely, Lucian had borrowed from him. The latter alternative appears to be the true one; for if Photius is correct as to Lucius believing the stories he related, we can hardly suppose he would have derived any part of his narratives from such an evident scoffer as Lucian; and Lucian possibly designed, by giving the name Lucius to his hero, and making him an inhabitant of Patrae, to ridicule the credulity of his predecessor.