[21] The sun is born and lasts but a single day; dark night follows upon the light; beauty dies amidst the gloomy shadows and joy amid continued grief. Why, then, if the sun must die, was it born? Why, if light be beautiful, does it not endure? How is beauty thus transfigured? How does pleasure thus trust pain? But let firmness be lacking in sun and light, let permanence flee beauty, and in joy, let there be a note of sadness. Let the world begin, at length, in ignorance; for, whatever the boon, it is by nature constant only in its inconstancy. [22] “The story of Xenophon’s Ten Thousand is but a child’s tale compared with the fearless adventure of our colonial brothers.” Carvalho. Op. Cit. P. 127. [23] Oliveira Lima. _Aspectos da Litteratura Colonial Brazileira._ Leipzig, 1896. This youthful work of the eminent cosmopolite furnishes valuable as well as entertaining collateral reading upon the entire colonial period in Brazil. The standpoint is often historical rather than literary, yet the proportions are fairly well observed. [24] See, for just such inclusion, B. Gorin’s _Die Geshichte vun Yiddishen Theater_, New York, 1918, 2 vols. (In Yiddish.) Page 33, Volume I. With reference to the Jew and comic opera, rumours of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s partial Jewish origin still persist. [25] Diminutive of _moda_, and signifying, literally, a new song. The _modinha_ is the most characteristic of Brazilian popular forms, a transformation of the troubadors’ _jácara_ and the Portuguese _fado_. It is generally replete with love and the allied feelings. [26] The chief works of Antonio José da Silva are _Vida do Grande D. Quixote de la Mancha e do gordo Sancho Pança_ (1733); _Ezopaida_ ou _Vida de Ezopo_ (1734); _Os Encantos de Medea_ (1735); _Amphytrião_ ou _Jupiter e Alcmena_ (1736); _Labyrintho de Creta_ (1736); _Guerras do Alecrim e da Manjerona_ (1737); a highly amusing Molièresque farce, considered by many his best; _As Variedades de Proteu_ (1737); _Precipicio de Faetonte_ (posthumous). The latest view of Antonio José (See Bell’s _Portuguese Literature_, pages 282-284); whom Southey considered “the best of their drama writers,” is that his plays would in all likelihood have received little “attention in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries had it not been for the tragedy of the author’s life.” This probably overstates the case against _O Judeu_, but it indicates an important non-literary reason for his popularity. CHAPTER III PERIOD OF AUTONOMOUS DEVELOPMENT (1750-1830) Stirrings of Revolt--The Inconfidencia--Two Epics: _Uraguay_ and _Caramurú_--The Lyrists of Minas Geraes: Claudio da Costa, Gonzaga, Alvarenga Peixoto, Silva Alvarenga--Minor figures--Political Satire--Early Nineteenth Century--José Bonifacio de Andrade e Silva. I