Less than eight years later, he was promoted again: he took up the post of Canon of Évora Cathedral. This promotion was certainly due to his position as Deputy of the Lisbon Inquisition, but it also corresponded to the success of his studies and the prestige and influence of the Academy. This is how scholarly careers were built throughout the 18 th century. However, he had no desire to leave the capital, following in the footsteps of many other scholars and academicians before him, so he renounced this Ecclesiastical Benefit in 1806, reserving for himself a small part of the pension with which he survived until he was appointed Inquisitor of the Lisbon Inquisition in 1816. Nevertheless, with more or less prosperity, ACA always remained austere in his life, his science and his morals, cultivating to the end an extreme dedication to his work.

Meanwhile, Caetano do Amaral also continued his ‘curs u s honorum’ at the Academy. After the publication of Memory III in 1796, he was appointed interim S ecretary of the Real Academia at the beginning of 1797 during Correia da Serra ’ s incapacity and, when Garção Stockler replaced Correia da Serra as S ecretary of the Academy, Amaral was re-elected V ice-secretary for repeated three-year terms.

Let us now take a closer look at the work he was producing in the meantime. In the Prologue to V olume I of Memorias de Literatura Portugueza [Memoirs of the Portuguese Literature] , and after the dedication to the Queen signed by the Duke of Lafões, it is made clear that Portuguese Language and History form the two objects that make up what the Academy meant by Portuguese Literature. Thus, in this first volume of the Memories of Literature , Memory I is published (1792, Caetano do Amaral was 44 years old) dedicated to the ‘State of Lusitania until the time when it was reduced to a Roman Province’. With all due caution and reduced to the scarcity of sources, the author rejects the ‘vain glory that is sought in lying antiquities’ and emphasises the Lusitanians ’ simplicity of legislation – ‘ rare laws and simple customs ’ – ‘ austere sobriety ’ and ‘ love of freedom ’ .

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