José Orozco is probably the most widely known of the Ecuadorian poets. He was born in Riobamba in 1733. His principal literary product was the “epic poem” called _La Conquista de Menorca_. At nearly the same time there was born in Ibarra a writer, Ramón Viescas, who as a lyric poet held a place comparable with that held by Orozco as an epic poet. Two other poets, Ambrosio and Joaquín Larrea, born about the middle of the eighteenth century, became residents of Italy and in their later writings made use of the Italian language. Although Juan de Velasco is especially known for his _Historia del reino de Quito_, he left certain mediocre writings in verse. He was born in Riobamba in 1727. The minor poets are, like the poor, always with us, and among these in Ecuador in the eighteenth century may be classed Juan Ullauri, Manuel Orozco, José Gorrido and Nicolás Crespo.[218] [Sidenote: Juan Manuel Lavarden] The name of Juan Manuel Lavarden had passed almost completely out of memory in Buenos Aires, when it was recalled by the publication of the _Oda al Paraná_ in _El Telégrafo mercantil_. Later researches have revealed very little concerning the youth and early education of the author. He was known in Buenos Aires as a licenciado, honorary oidor of the audiencia of La Plata, and auditor de guerra. The title of _auditor de guerra_ was created by Philip V (1738), and first held by Florencio Antonio Mereiras. It passed to Juan Manuel Lavarden, a lawyer of distinction, under the approval of the king dated April 30, 1761. Lavarden’s title to a place in the literary history of his country rests on a _Sátira_, the drama of _Siripo_, and the _Oda al Paraná_. It is through various persons that Lavarden voices his satire of things colonial. The new nobles are among his victims. Resenting the contemptuous attitude of Lima towards Buenos Aires, the poet was pleased to point to the fact that in spite of the haughtiness and family pride of the nobles they did not hesitate to abase themselves even by mingling Spanish blood with the dark and turbulent blood that flows in the veins of the daughters of Mozambique.[219] [Sidenote: Political radicalism in poetry] In some of the lines a political radicalism appears, which is a youth’s anticipation, in 1786, of the revolutionary democracy of three decades later: El pueblo que de libre se gloría, Produce nobles almas, que a ninguno Quisieran conceder la primacía. [Sidenote: Lavarden’s _Siripo_] [Sidenote: The gist of _Siripo_]