Lucian Muscae Encomium 11

[11] According to the ancients she has had two namesakes, a very pretty and accomplished poetess and a famous Athenian courtesan. It was the latter whom the comic poet meant when he said, “Yon fly him to the heart did bite.” ¹ From this you see that comic wit has not disdained the name of fly nor barred it from the boards, and that parents have not been ashamed to give it to their daughters. As for tragedy, it, too, mentions the fly with great praise; for example, in these words:

'Tis strange that while the fly with hardy strength

Encounters man to sate itself with gore,

Stout men-at-arms should fear the foeman’s lance!

unknown (Nauck, Tag. Graec. Fragm., adesp. I could also say a great deal about Muia, the Pytha gorean, if her story were not known to everyone. ²

[11] In ancient times there was a woman of her name, a poetess wise and beautiful, and another a famous Attic courtesan, of whom the comic poet wrote: As deep as to his heart fair Myia bit him.

The comic Muse, we see, disdained not the name, nor refused it the hospitality of the boards; and parents took no shame to give it to their daughters. Tragedy goes further and speaks of the fly in high terms of praise, as witness the following: I might add many details about Pythagoras’s daughter Myia, were not her story too well known.