O Ego Non Felix: Inachia, Lesbia, and Horace's Epodes

Abstract:This paper explores Horace's relationship with neoteric poetry in the context of Epodes 11 and 12 as signaled by Horace's use of meaningful names. Epode 11 focuses on Latin love elegy, but Epode 12 engages broadly with neoteric poetics through names associated with and references to that earlier poetry. This includes an adaptation of the lament from Calvus' Io. Horace creates a portrait of the mulier in Epode 12 that stands in contrast to the ideal neoteric woman. Horace's sexual failure with her dramatizes the poet's relationship with iambic invective, of which she is an allegorical representation.