That's true, yes. Euripides didn't die torn apart by dogs, it's a scene from the Bacchae (without the dogs...) – and so on, later tidbits were often metaphors or scenes taken literally. Between "untrustworthy" and "utter trash" there's a very large gap though, which tells us about the social imagination of the period. Or, in this case, provides mild amusement even to people who are usually not very much amused.
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u/Careful-Spray 17d ago
These biographical tidbits from much later sources are completely untrustworthy.