One of the most furious attacks by Lucian of Samosata to his opponent in the Pseudologist is not his ignorance of the finest attic lexicon —a sin for the πεπαιδευμένοι—, but the fact that he practices fellations, despite his advanced age. Similarly, a contemporary of Lucian, the novelist Achilles Tatius, uses the same resources to discredit Tersander. In the defence parliament, an Aristophanic priest essentially devotes himself to attacking the dissipated life —hidden behind a curtain of philosophical dedication— of his opponent, including many plays of words marked by obscenity, with references to his indecorous uses of his tongue, too. It seems, then, that this type of attack must be a well-consolidated topic in the rhetorical repertoire, and that ancient Greek novel has more contacts with the Second Sophistic than is often thought of.