ELEPHANTIS: Under the early Roman Emperors, the writer of certain amatory works ( molles Elephantidos libelli), the character of which is sufficiently evident from the notices contained in Martial and Suetonius. We know not with certainty the sex of the author, nor in what language the pieces were composed, nor whether they were expressed in prose or verse; but the grammatical form of the name seems to indicate that the person in question was a female, and that she was either a Greek by birth or of Greek extraction. By the historians of literature she is generally ranked among the poetesses. (Martial; Suet. ; )
Suetonius, about Tiberius: He adorned his apartments, which were variously disposed, with pictures and seals, representing the lewdest images, and furnished them with the books of Elephantis, that no one might be at a loss for examples to copy after.
Martial [Epigrammaton libri, XII, XLIII]:
Facundos mihi de libidinosis
Legisti nimium, Sabelle, versus,
Quales nec Didymi sciunt puellae
Nec molles Elephantidos libelli.
Sunt illic Veneris novae figurae,
Quales perditus audeat fututor,
Praestent et taceant quid exoleti,
Quo symplegmate quinque copulentur,
Qua plures teneantur a catena,
Extinctam liceat quid ad lucernam.
Tanti non erat, esse te disertum.Tu m’as lu, Sabelle, des vers beaucoup trop parlant sur des luxures,
Tels que n’en savent ni les filles de Didyme
Ni les livres voluptueux d’Elephantis.
Il y a là de nouvelles figures érotiques,
Telles qu’un débauché n’oserait les tenter,
Ce que les prostitués pratiquent et taisent,
Par quel mélange cinq peuvent s’accoupler,
Comment un plus grand nombre peuvent s’étreindre à la chaine,
Ce qu’il est possible de faire une fois les lampes éteintes,
Tout cela, ce n’était pas à toi de l’exposer.