It is from Greece that Williams seamlessly transitions to Rome, as he speaks in moredetail about Horace and Vergil. These two poets, in fact, are the ones whom Coicou most often
cites in the epigraphs to individual poems in Poésies Nationales. Horace (65-8 BC) remains an
important choice for Coicou for many reasons, not the least of which was his early political
involvement and devotion to his country, as illustrated in many of the odes authored in the
thirties.^251 As will become apparent in this study of Coicou’s collection, Horace shared with
Coicou the great concern about the demise of their republics, Roman and Haitian respectively.
Additionally, Horace is known for his satire, to which we can relate some of Coicou’s use of
irony and sarcasm in various poems. Horace’s epistles may also come to mind when reading
poems Coicou addresses to specific Haitian leaders. In Horace’s Epistles ii, I, addressed to
Augustus, Horace stresses the contribution a poet makes to society as a trainer of morality.
Gordon Williams quotes this epistle in a chapter called “Poetry and Society” in his study, The
Nature of Roman Poetry. Of Horace he argues that “even more than other Augustan poets,
Horace expresses the sense that poetry has a worthy social function, and it was he, more than any
other, who was given the opportunity to demonstrate it practically.”^252
The reasons for reminders of Vergil’s poetry take on greater significance later inCoicou’s collection with quotes from Vergil’s Aeneid, but in Williams’ preface Vergil is
mentioned for the honors he received by the emperor Augustus and the literary creativity which
places him among other poet-gods. What we know already, however, is that the Aeneid is an
epic poem about the founding of Rome and the Latin people or Latin race (as it is sometimes
translated), much like Coicou in Poésies Naitonales focuses on Haiti’s historical and mythical
(^251) This information about Horace and his poetry is taken from two sources: Gregson Davis, introduction, Odes, by
Horace (New York: The Modern Library, 2002) xi-xvii and Thomas N. Habinek, The Politics of Latin Literature:
Writing, Identity, and Empire in Ancient Rome (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953).
(^252) Gordon Williams, The Nature of Roman Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985) 16.