In this and in the rich variety of topics and in a certain fondness for piquant, not to say earthy, stories from the life of men and of animals, one may trace the in?uence of the Milesian Tales. Unfettered by any canons of style or language, picaresque, and sometimes gross, they pandered to popular taste. To adopt their technique while re?ning the style and imparting a moral ?avour to his narratives may well have seemed to Aelian a sure way of gaining like popularity with educated readers.
