Canidia Rome's First Witch

Canidia is one of the most well-attested witches in Latin literature. She appears in no fewer than six of Horace's poems three of which she has a prominent role in. Throughout Horace's <i>Epodes</i> and <i>Satires</i> she perpetrates acts of grave desecration kidnapping murder magical torture and poisoning. She invades the gardens of Horace's literary patron Maecenas rips apart a lamb with her teeth starves a Roman child to death and threatens to unnaturally prolong Horace's life to keep him in a state of perpetual torment. She can be seen as an anti-muse: Horace repeatedly sets her in opposition to his literary patron casts her as the personification of his iambic poetry and gives her the surprising honor of concluding not only his <i>Epodes</i> but also his second book of <i>Satires</i>.<br/> <br/>This volume is the first comprehensive treatment of Canidia. It offers translations of each of the three poems which feature Canidia as a main character as well as the relevant portions from the other three poems in which Canidia plays a minor role. These translations are accompanied by extensive analysis of Canidia's part in each piece that takes into account not only the poems' literary contexts but their magico-religious details.