Phaon. A boatman at Mitylene, is said to have been originally an ugly old man; but having carried Aphrodite (Venus) across the sea without accepting payment, the goddess gave him a box of ointment, with which, when he anointed himself, he grew so beautiful that Sappho became enamored of him; but when the ointment had all been used Phaon returned to his former condition, and Sappho, in despair, drowned herself.
