Canidia (gens)


The gens Canidia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome, first mentioned during the late Republic. It is best known from a single individual, Publius Canidius Crassus, consul suffectus in 40 BC, and the chief general of Marcus Antonius during the Perusine War. Other Canidii are known from inscriptions. The name Canidia was also used by Horace as a sobriquet for the perfumer, Gratidia.

Origin

The nomen Canidius belongs to a common class of gentilicia formed from cognomina ending in . It is derived from the cognomen Canidus, "whitish" or "greyish", itself derived from the Latin adjective canus or kanus, "white, grey", typically referring to the color of a person's hair, also sometimes used as a cognomen. This was certainly the association that Horace intended; the name Gratidia suggests pleasant, winsome attributes, while the nickname Canidia suggests an elderly crone.

Members

The "Canidia" mentioned by Horace in his fifth and seventeenth epodes, and in the eighth satire in his first book of satires, and perhaps alluded to in the sixteenth ode of his first volume of Palinodia, was actually named "Gratidia"; the scholiasts describe her as a Neapolitan hetaira who had deserted the poet. Horace bestowed the ironic nickname upon her, and portrayed her as a sorceress, who used magic perfumes to enchant her lover, Varus. Maxwell Paule cautions against reading Horace's description literally; his portrayal was that of the anti-muse, who torments rather than inspires the artist.