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Horace's Xanthias and Phyllis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

P. Murgatroyd
P. Murgatroyd
Affiliation:
Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal
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Extract

Horace C. 2.4 is an ironical address to Xanthias (presumably a freeborn man), who, it appears, is rather ashamed of his love for Phyllis, a slave-girl. It has long been held that ‘Xanthias’ is a pseudonym, but so far there has been no convincing explanation of why Horace chose that appellation rather than any other. Of course, there is no way of telling if the situation of the ode is real or imaginary, but, whether ‘Xanthias’ is the pseudonym of an actual person or a name given to an invented character, I believe that it does have particular point.

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , December 1980 , pp. 540
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1980

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References

1 Cf. Aristoph. Vespae, Ranae, Ach. 243, 259, Nub. 1485, Av. 656, Aeschines De Fals. Leg. 157, Athenaeus 336e, 553a, 689f.

2 Cf. e.g. Ovid Am. 2.7.21 f. ‘quis Veneris famulae conubia liber hike/ tergaque complecti verbere recta velit?’

3 There could also be a hint that, like her mythological predecessor in most accounts, the ‘Phyllis’ of this ode will be left by her lover before her marriage to him (cf. ‘generum’, 13).