Canidia
whose real name was Gratidia, as we learn from the scholiasts, was a Neapolitan hetaira beloved by Horace; but when she deserted him, he revenged himself upon her by holding her up to contempt as an old sorceress. This was the object of the 5th and 17th Epodes, and of the 8th Satire of the first book. The Palinodia in the 16th ode of the 1st book is supposed to refer to these poems. Horace attacks her by the name of Canidia because her real name Gratidia conveyed the idea of what was pleasing and agreeable, while the assumed one was associated with gray hairs and old age. (Comp. Hor. Sat. 2.1. 48; Schol. Acr. and Cruqu. ad loc. and ad Sat. 1.8. 24.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.