A Satyriastic Epiphany in Horace’s Eleventh Epode

Abstract

Epode 11 presents several puzzles. What causes Horace’s embarrassed silence at a symposium? What does his impassioned but opaque speech mean? How does the poem relate to the genres of elegy and iambus? The “symptoms of love” motif does not fully explain Horace’s behavior. This article offers a new reading: Horace is in the presence of his girlfriend, rival, or both; worse still, he suffers an attack of satyriasis, an erection accompanied by uncontrollable desire. The motif is paralleled in the Symposion Relief of Cos, which I trace back to a common source in Greek lyric.