Quant Virgile, Horace et Claudien exaltent Louis XVIII. L’épître dédicatoire de la Bibliotheca classica Latina de Nicolas-Éloi Lemaire

Abstract

This paper focuses on a 179-line poem written by Nicolas-Eloi Lemaire, professor of Latin poetry at La Sorbonne (1819): a dedicatory epistle to Louis XVIII, in order to thank him for funding his collection of classical authors (Bibliotheca classica Latina). Several Latin authors, including Caesar, Horace, Vergil, Juvenal and Claudian, sing the praises of the king. While the poem eulogises some major virtues of Louis XVIII and the new Regime, it reflects the popularity of those authors. The poem is also programmatic of the whole collection, considering for instance its patriotism and its eulogy of Louis XVIII’s successors. In the Appendix, the poem itself is edited with a translation and explanatory notes.