Théophile in Carcere : dois rostos, uma moeda

Theophile de Viau was sentenced to death for refusing to appear in court. During his stay in prison of the Conciergerie, the libertine published a violent pamphlet, in Latin, to expose the immoral nature of the leader of the Society of Jesus, the one responsible for his conviction. Behind a text apparently going through the precepts of the classical principle of imitation, we find a writer who does not hesitate to applaud his desire for modernity and aesthetic freedom, through the exaltation of pagan themes.