Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/580

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POR—POR

558 P R P O S those of Garrett, who is also the author of both the earliest and the best examples of the modern Portuguese drama, Gil Vicente, Alfagemc, and Lute de Sousa. The principal works of Castilho are A Priinarcra, Amor c Mclancolia, and Excavates Pocticas ; and the writers who may chiefly be claimed as his followers are Sarmento, J. SI. de Costa e Silva the dramatist, Cabral de Mello, and Fernandas Leitao. The publication in 1848 of Trovador, a collection of modern lyrics, marks the foundation of the school of Coimbra. Its leader, Joao de Lemos, the lyric poet, found fellow-workers in Jose Freire de Serpa, the impressionable author of Soldos, and Jose da Silva Mendes Leal, author of the dramas A Alva Estrclla, A Madrc Silva, and Os Homcns dc Mar-more, and various lyric poems. The most popular modern poet Luis Augusto Palmeirim, the dramatist A. Pereira da Cunlia, Antonio de Serpa, and Joao de Andrade Corvo, author of the novel Urn Anno da C6rtc, all belong to this school, the prevailing characteristic of which at its foundation was a profound admiration for Chateaubriand and his royalist and religious opinions. The second phase of this school dates from the A ora Trovador, in which the influence of Aime Martin and Krause on its originator Scares de Passos is plainly visible. The poems of Passes are tinged with a melancholy which presaged his early death, and he philoso phizes in the Firmamento, the Escravo, and the Mortc de Socrates somewhat in the same strain as the English Lake poets. The third phase of the school of Coimbra is represented by the Floras do Campo and Folhas Soltas of Joao de Deus, the poet of love and revolution. Of the same school the Visao dos Tempos by Theophilo Braga is an attempt at a new revelation, and the Odes Modernas by Anthero do Quental are socialistic, but both writers show more than ordinary power. Other modern poets are Alberto Telles, Sousa Viterbo, Candido de Figueiredo, Gomes Leal, Thomas Ribeiro, A. J. Viale, and Guilherme de Azevedo. The plays of C. C. Branco and Ernesto Biester are above the average, and King Luis has worthily followed the traditions of his race in his translations of the plays of Shake- Modern speare. The historical novels of Herculano are much admired by prose. his countrymen, as well as those of L. A. Rebello da Silva ; and the works of J. G. Gomes Coelho (Julio Diniz), A. de Oliveira Marreca, Mendes Leal, Bernardirn Ribeiro, Arnal do Gama, Teixeira de Vasconcellos, and Camillo Castello Branco, with his accuracy of description, have some reputation ; but the best modern novel, judged by an English standard, is Crime do Padre Amaro by E<;a de Queiroz. As the growth of Portuguese inde pendence was coeval with the work of the troubadours, and the discoveries and conquests of the heroic age gave birth to the epic of Cainoens, so, in like manner, the political revival of the 19th century has given rise to a school of great historians, the chief of whom was Alexandra Herculano. The exile of Herculano had brought him into contact with both English and French roman ticism, as appears in his early poems and his historical novels, in which the influence of Lamartine and Scott is plainly visible, but in later life he was attracted to the new German school of historians founded by Ranke, and perceived that his true vocation was scientific history. His chief work has been the disentangle ment of the early history of Portugal from the mass of legends which had clustered round it, and his History of Portugal and The Origin of the Inquisition in Portugal are lasting monuments of industry and criticism. But Herculano perceived that, before a true knowledge could be gained of Portuguese history, a critical study must be made of early documents, so, using his official position, he commenced the publication for the academy of a magnificent edition of the Origincs of Portuguese history. The viscount of Santarem began a similar work in his collections of Fcedcra. though his fame will rest rather on his researches into the history of the great maritime discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. L. A, Rebello da Silva continued the work of Santarem in the publica tion of the Corpo Diplomatic, and his History of Portugal in the 17th and 18th Centuries is only inferior to the great work of Herculano. These historians inspired many others, among whom may be mentioned Fonseca Bencvides, F. F. de la Fig;iniere, Claudio de Chaby, and Simao Jose da Luz Soriano. The strength of this school is no doubt partly due to the extreme vigour of the reaction aries who were first called into existence by Herculano s attacks on superstitious legends. Their work is brilliant if not convincing, and it would not therefore be right to pass over without mention such names as F. Recreio, Pinheiro Cbagas, and Affonso Ennes. In general literature the name of Francisco Alexandra Lobo (17t3- 1844) stands out prominently as the foremost man of the century, and the Portuguese equal of De Maistre, whilst Thomas de Car- valho, Rodrigo da Fonseca, Cesar Machado, Lopes de Mendonca, F. Adolpho Coelho, Theophilo Braga, Innocencio Francisco da Silva, and F. D. Yieira have all won a position as critics and essayists. Political liberty has gone hand in hand with the freedom of the press, and here again Herculano appears as the founder of the Panorama, in which he had the assistance of most of the writers above-mentioned. Besides these the most influential journalists are Teixeira de Vasconcellos, Rodrigues de Sampaio, and J. SI. Latino Coelho. While the press remains free and can boast of such writers Portuguese literature will certainly increase in strength and vigour, and maintain the feeling of national pride and independence which appears so strongly in the works of Garrett arid Herculano, and will always prevent a union with Spain. Bibliography. For the general history of Portuguese literature, Boutmvek, Hist, of Span, and Port. Literature (London, 1823) ; Sismondi, Hist, of the Litera ture oftheSouth of Europe (London, 1823) ; and J. F. Denis, Resume de I hist. lift, de Portugal (Paris, 1826) may be consulted ; also the " Notice on Literature " by Theo. Braga, in vol. i. of Vleira s Grande Diccionario (Oporto, 1871), and the same writer s Introductions to the Antologia Portugueza (Oporto, 1876) and the Parnaso Portuguez Moderno (Lisbon, 1877). For the troubadour period, see the Introductions to Trovas e Cantares, ed. Varnhagen (Madrid, 1849), and the Cancioneiro Portuguez, ed. Braga (Lisbon, 1878). The Memorials of the academy and the Introduction to the Parnaso Lusilano (Paris, 1826) may be consulted for the classical period ; and the Memorias de Lift, contemporanea by A. P. Lopes de MendoiiQa (Lisbon, 1855) and La Littemture Portiigaise by J. M. Pereira da Silva (Rio, 1806) give a fair account of contemporaneous literature. The best biographical dictionaries are the Bibliotheca Lusitana by Machado (Lisbon, 1741) and the Diccionario Biblioijraphico Portuguez by Inuocencio F. da Silva (Lisbon, 1S58). (H. B. B.) PORUS, the name of the Indian king who withstood Alexander the Great on the banks of the Hydaspes (Jhelum). He was afterwards confirmed in his kingdom by the conqueror, and still held the position of a Mace donian satrap when assassinated some time between 321 and 315 B.C. See INDIA, vol. xii. pp. 786, 787, and PERSIA, vol. xviii. p. 586. His cousin, also named Porus, with whom he was on bad terms, ruled over Gandaris beyond the Hydraotes (Ravi), and was subdued by Hephaestion. POSEIDON, the ancient Greek god of the sea and of water generally, was fabled to be the son of Cronus and Rhea, and brother of Zeus and Pluto. When the three brothers deposed their father Cronus the kingdom of the sea fell by lot to Poseidon. With his wife, Amphitrite, he dwelt in the depths of the sea ; at JEggs. he had a golden house beneath the waves. In his hand he bore a trident (a three- pronged fish -spear), wherewith he lashed the sea into fury. But, while he caused storms and shipwrecks, he could also send favouring winds. He was the god of navigation, adored by all who sailed the sea. His temples stood especially on headlands and isthmuses. As god of the sea he disputed with other deities for the possession of the land with Athene for Athens and Troezen, with Helios for Corinth, with Hera for Argos, with Zeus for yEgina, &c. Earthquakes were thought to be produced by Poseidon shaking the earth, hence his epithet of " Earth -shaker," and hence he was worshipped even in inland places, like Apamea in Phrygia, which had suffered from earthquakes. Hence also may have arisen the custom in some places of sacrificing moles to him. The great sea- wave which often accompanies an earthquake was also his work ; the destruction of Helice in Achaia by such a wave (373 B.C.) was attributed to his wrath. Once when an earthquake shook the ground where a Spartan army was encamped, the whole army sang a hymn to Poseidon. The island of Delos was thought to have been raised by him from the bottom of the sea, and in 237 B.C., when a new island appeared between Thera and Therasia, the Rhodians founded a temple of Poseidon on it. Thessaly was said to have been a lake until this god opened a way for the waters through the Vale of Tempe. Poseidon was also the god of springs, which he produced by striking the rock with his trident, as he did on the acropolis of Athens when he was disputing with Athene for the sovereignty of Athens. This dispute was represented on the western pediment of the Parthenon. As he gave, so he could withhold springs of water ; thus the waterless neighbour hood of Argos was supposed to suffer from his anger. Black bulls were sacrificed to him ; in Ionia and Thessaly bull-fights took place in his honour ; at a festival of his at Ephesus the cupbearers were called " bulls," and the god

himself was surnamed " Bull Poseidon." The hcrse was