 In the epigram, Philaenis herself is portrayed as directly addressing a "μάταιος ναύτης" ("aimless sailor"), but the addressee is not explicitly identified as a "ξένος" ("foreigner").Sailors in antiquity were notorious for their bawdiness and womanizing, so Aeschrion may have intended for the addressee of the epigram to be an ironic one.Aeschrion portrays Philaenis as vehemently insisting that she never wrote the book attributed to her.