Aesculapius and Priapus: The medical and literary contexts of Jan Kochanowskis epigram On The Old Man (II. 42)

This is an analysis of the epigram On the Old Man (II.42), Jan Kochanowski's single epigram (fraszka) on a medical theme. The old man of the title suffers from priapism, i.e. an abnormal persistent erection. Part I of the article discusses the significance of the poem's place in the sequence of epigrams that make up the collection and its intertextual links to earlier literature referring to the phallic god Priapus, especially Martial's Epigrams. In Part II it is argued that Kochanowski's understanding of priapism and its underlying causes was based on humoral medicine and detailed descriptions of this condition in Renaissance (primarily Italian) medical manuals. An analysis of the poem from the medical perspective leads to the conclusion that Kochanowski's bawdy conceit contains a misrepresentation: what for humoral medicine was a possible anomaly (priapism in old men) became a well-documented condition.