Aspectos novos do horacianismo em Correia Garção

Abstract

The new edition of the eighteenth-century Portuguese poet Correia Garção by Dr. A. J. Saraiva includes three hitherto unpublished odes (n° 38, 39 and 40), which have been preserved in MS. 1164 of the Coimbra University Library. Of these, n° 38 is an imitation of Maecenas atauis, a theme the poet is known to have developed also, though in a different way, in his Ode 19. N° 39 is an Ode to Virtue, in the style of the already known Odes 5 and 29; the first part is based on Horace ii. 22 and iii.3, while the second part contains an exemplum from national history, in the way that Horace had used the example of Regulus for Carmina iii. 5. N° 40 is in alcaic stanzas (this being the only extant example of the poet’s use of this metre). Its first part is clearly influenced by Virgil; the other part is written in praise of the state of peace enjoyed under the government of King Joseph I, much in the style Horace spoke about the pax Augusta in iii. 24 and iv. 15. Other encomia of the King’s policy by Garção are to be found elsewhere in the poet’s work, but most clearly of all in his Eighth Speech. The three new odes are interesting because they provide us with further examples of the poets’ special ability to imitate Horace, developing the same theme in several different ways; ode 38 also tells us about the literary and artistic preferences of the author.