SHEETS AND PROPOSALS FOR THE LETTERS OF PIETRO BEMBO

The article presents a hitherto unknown poem of Diogo Pires (1517-1599), a Neo-Latin poet who was forced by the Inquisition to leave Portugal in 1535 and spent a part of his long exile in Italy. The composition, an Alcaic ode, celebrates the poet Marcantonio Flamini (1498-1550). It was written shortly after Flaminio's death and received the praise of Paolo Manuzio, one of the most important arbitri elegantiarum of his time. In his poem, Pires shows Flaminio as an inhabitant of Heaven, who is fascinating the blessed with his religious chants. In doing so, he makes him appear a Christian counterpart to Alcaeus, the Greek poet whose charismatic "concerts" in the underworld are the subject of one of Horace's odes.