Plato, Epigram XXV (Page)
“Paphian Aphrodite once came across the sea to Knidos, hoping to see a statue of herself. After gazing at it in a spot seen from all sides , she said, ‘When did Praxiteles see me naked?’ Praxiteles never saw what it was not right to see – his tool carved out an Aphrodite that Ares would like.”
῾Η Παφίη Κυθέρεια δι’ οἴδματος ἐς Κνίδον ἦλθε
βουλομένη κατιδεῖν εἰκόνα τὴν ἰδίην.
πάντῃ δ’ ἀθρήσασα περισκέπτῳ ἐνὶ χώρῳ
φθέγξατο· „Ποῦ γυμνὴν εἶδέ με Πραξιτέλης;”
Πραξιτέλης οὐκ εἶδεν, ἃ μὴ θέμις, ἀλλ’ ὁ σίδηρος
ἔξεσεν, οἷά γ’ ῎Αρης ἤθελε, τὴν Παφίην.
Great title. Any idea where to find the anecdote of the guy who masturbated before and ejaculated upon the Knidian Venus?
It is Pliny. I am on the case
This sounds like a great story with an interesting climax.
Pliny the Elder, NH 36.4; according to the note on Perseus: “Lucian, Valerius Maximus, and Athenæus, tell the same improbable story, borrowing it from Posidippus the historian.”