Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 6.8:
“The fact that dolphins have a strong propensity for lust and love is affirmed not only by ancient historians, but also by recent events. Under the emperor Augustus, off the coast of Campania (as Apion writes) and even a few generations before in Naupactus (as Theophrastus relates) the most flagrant venereal incidents involving dolphins were discovered. They did not love the species to which they themselves belonged, but rather, they burned with miraculous and even human passions for boys endowed with well-bred figures whom they saw in boats or the shallows just off shore.”
Res ultra fidem tradita super amatore delphino et puero amato. 1 Delphinos venerios esse et amasios non modo historiae veteres, sed recentes quoque memoriae declarant. 2 Nam et sub Caesaris Augusti imperio in Puteolano mari, ut Apion scriptum reliquit, et aliquot saeculis ante apud Naupactum, ut Theophrastus tradidit, amores flagrantissimi delphinorum cogniti compertique sunt. 3 Neque hi amaverunt, quod sunt ipsi, genus, sed pueros forma liberali in naviculis forte aut in vadis litorum conspectos miris et humanis modis arserunt.
