ANTONIO DINIS DA CRUZ E SILVA (Elfino Nonacriense): ODES PINDARICAS. COIMBRA 1801 First edition in Portuguese of Pindaros works. In 12mo,later cover sunned, complete 257p., text clean and bright, overall in very good condition Published posthumously in 1801, by the famous Portuguese University of Coimbra Press this collection is considered one of the most successful attempts in the Portuguese language to emulate the high-flown, complex structure of the ancient Greek poet Pindar.António Dinis da Cruz e Silva was a central figure in the Arcádia Lusitana and of the Enlightenment Philhellenism in Portugal.The Arcadia was a literary society in Lisbon in the very late 18th century that sought to purify Portuguese literature by returning to classical Greek models.Like all members of the society, he used a pseudonym: Dinis became Elpino Nonacriense.The odes in the 1801 Coimbra edition are heroic in nature. They do not focus on personal feelings, but rather on the glorification of the Portuguese nation that must follow the Greek nation as example.It was fundamental for the development of Philhellenism in Portugal.The publication of the Odes Pindaricas in Portuguese represent the beginning of the whole Neoclassical movement in Portugal.