On the Sublime | Page 2

Ornaments of Style (cc. xxxi, xxxii and xxxvii, xxxviii).
(+a+) On the use of Familiar Words (c. xxxi).
(+b+) Metaphors; accumulated; extract from the Timaeus; abuse of
Metaphors; certain tasteless conceits blamed in Plato (c. xxxii). [Hence
arises a digression (cc. xxxiii-xxxvi) on the spirit in which we should
judge of the faults of great authors. Demosthenes compared with
Hyperides, Lysias with Plato. Sublimity, however far from faultless, to
be always preferred to a tame correctness.]
(+g+) Comparisons and Similes [lost] (c. xxxvii).
(+d+) Hyperbole (c. xxxviii).
(v.) Dignity and Elevation of Structure (cc. xxxix, xl).
a. Modulation of Syllables (c. xxxix).
b. Composition (c. xl).
V.--cc. xli-xliii. Vices of Style destructive to Sublimity.
(i.) Abuse of Rhythm }
(ii.) Broken and Jerky Clauses } (cc. xli, xlii).
(iii.) Undue Prolixity }
(iv.) Improper Use of Familiar Words. Anti-climax. Example from
Theopompus (c. xliii).

VI.--Why this age is so barren of great authors--whether the cause is to
be sought in a despotic form of government, or, as Longinus rather
thinks, in the prevailing corruption of manners, and in the sordid and
paltry views of life which almost universally prevail (c. xliv).

INTRODUCTION
TREATISE ON THE SUBLIME
Boileau, in his introduction to his version of the ancient Treatise on the
Sublime, says that he is making no valueless present to his age. Not
valueless, to a generation which talks much about style and method in
literature, should be this new rendering of the noble fragment, long
attributed to Longinus, the Greek tutor and political adviser of Zenobia.
There is, indeed, a modern English version by Spurden,[1] but that is
now rare, and seldom comes into the market. Rare, too, is Vaucher's
critical essay (1854), which is unlucky, as the French and English
books both contain valuable disquisitions on the age of the author of
the Treatise. This excellent work has had curious fortunes. It is never
quoted nor referred to by any extant classical writer, and, among the
many books attributed by Suidas to Longinus, it is not mentioned.
Decidedly the old world has left no more noble relic of criticism. Yet
the date of the book is obscure, and it did not come into the hands of
the learned in modern Europe till Robertelli and Manutius each
published editions in 1544. From that time the Treatise has often been
printed, edited, translated; but opinion still floats undecided about its
origin and period. Does it belong to the age of Augustus, or to the age
of Aurelian? Is the author the historical Longinus--the friend of
Plotinus, the tutor of Porphyry, the victim of Aurelian,--or have we
here a work by an unknown hand more than two centuries earlier?
Manuscripts and traditions are here of little service. The oldest
manuscript, that of Paris, is regarded as the parent of the rest. It is a
small quarto of 414 pages, whereof 335 are occupied by the "Problems"
of Aristotle. Several leaves have been lost, hence the fragmentary
character of the essay. The Paris MS. has an index, first mentioning the
"Problems," and then +DIONUSIOU Ê LONGINOU PERI UPSOUS+,

that is, "The work of Dionysius, or of Longinus, about the Sublime."
[Footnote 1: Longmans, London, 1836.]
On this showing the transcriber of the MS. considered its authorship
dubious. Supposing that the author was Dionysius, which of the many
writers of that name was he? Again, if he was Longinus, how far does
his work tally with the characteristics ascribed to that late critic, and
peculiar to his age?
About this Longinus, while much is written, little is certainly known.
Was he a descendant of a freedman of one of the Cassii Longini, or of
an eastern family with a mixture of Greek and Roman blood? The
author of the Treatise avows himself a Greek, and apologises, as a
Greek, for attempting an estimate of Cicero. Longinus himself was the
nephew and heir of Fronto, a Syrian rhetorician of Emesa. Whether
Longinus was born there or not, and when he was born, are things
uncertain. Porphyry, born in 233 A.D., was his pupil: granting that
Longinus was twenty years Porphyry's senior, he must have come into
the world about 213 A.D. He travelled much, studied in many cities,
and was the friend of the mystic Neoplatonists, Plotinus and Ammonius.
The former called him "a philologist, not a philosopher." Porphyry
shows us Longinus at a supper where the plagiarisms of Greek writers
are discussed--a topic dear to trivial or spiteful mediocrity. He is best
known by his death. As the Greek secretary of Zenobia he inspired a
haughty answer from the queen to Aurelian, who therefore put him to
death. Many rhetorical and philosophic treatises are ascribed to him,
whereof only fragments survive. Did he write the Treatise on the
Sublime? Modern students prefer to believe that