Background
Cassius Longinus was born about 213. He was perhaps a native of Emesa (Homs) in Syria, the birthplace of his uncle Fronto the rhetorician.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Longinus On The Sublime; Oxford Library Of Translations Longinus, Robert Lowth Arthur Octavius Prickard The Clarendon Press, 1906 Lowth, Robert bp. of London, 1710-1787; Prickard, Arthur Octavius, 1843; Rhetoric, Ancient; Sublime, The
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0404147437/?tag=2022091-20
Cassius Longinus was born about 213. He was perhaps a native of Emesa (Homs) in Syria, the birthplace of his uncle Fronto the rhetorician.
He studied rhetoric and philosophy at Alexandria and then taught at Athens for 30 years, one of his students being the Neoplatonist Porphyrios.
About 262, Longinus left Athens to join the circle of the famous Neoplatonist Plotinus at Rome.
Longinus did not embrace the new speculations then being developed by Plotinus, but continued a Platonist of the old type.
Among those mentioned by Suldas are Quaestiones Homericae, An Homerus fuerit phtiosophus, Problemata Homeri et solutiones, Atticorum vocabtdorum editiones duae; the most important of his philological works,
Philological Discourses consisting of at least 21 books, is omitted.
A considerable fragment of the De finibus, On the Chief End is preserved in the Life of Plotinus by Porphyry.
Under his name there are also extant Prolegomena to the Encheiridion of Hephaestion on metre (printed in R. Westphal, Scriptores Metrici Graeci, i. 1866) and the fragment of a treatise on rhetoric (L. Spengel, Rhetores Graeci, i. pp. 299-320), inserted in the middle of a similar treatise by Apsines. It gives brief practical hints on invention, arrangement, style, memory and other things useful to the student. Some important excerpts ἐκ τῶν Λογγίνο�
(Spengel, i. 325-328) may possibly be from the φιλόλογοι ὁμιλίαι.
It is as the reputed author of the well-known and remarkable work Περὶ ὕψο�
ς (generally, but inadequately, rendered On the Sublime) that Longinus is best known.
Modern scholars, however, with few exceptions, are agreed that it cannot with any certainty be ascribed to him, and that the question of authorship cannot be determined.
The following are the chief arguments against Longinus.
(1) The treatise is not mentioned by any classical author, nor in any lists of the works attributed to him. (2) The evidence of the MSS. shows that doubts existed even in early times. In the most important (No. 2036 in the Paris Library, 10th century) the heading is Διον�
σίο�
ἥ Λογγίνο�
, thus giving an alternative author Dionysius; in the Laurentian MS. at Florence the title has ἀνωνύμο�
, implying that the author was unknown. The ascription in the Paris MS. led to the addition of Dionysius to the name of the reputed author—Dionysius Cassius Longinus, accounted for by the supposition that his early name was Dionysius, Cassius Longinus being subsequently adopted from a Roman patron whose client he had been. (3) The absence of any reference to the famous writers on rhetoric of the age of the Antonines, such as Hermogenes and Alexander son of Numenius. (4) The opening sentences show that the Περὶ ὕψο�
ς was written with a view of correcting the faults of style and method in a treatise by Caecilius (q. v. ) of Calactē on the same subject. As Caecilius flourished during the reign of Augustus, it is hardly likely that his work would have been selected for purposes of criticism in the 3rd century. (5) General considerations of style and language and of the point of view from which the work is written.
In favour of Longinus; (1) The traditional ascription, which held its ground unchallenged till the beginning of the.
18th century.
(2) The philosophical colouring of the first chapter and the numerous quotations from Plato are in accordance with what is known of his philosophical opinions.
(3) The treatise is the kind of work to be expected from one who was.
styled "the first of critics. "
(4) The Ammonius referred to (xiii.
3) is supposed to be Ammonius Saccas (c. 175-242), but it appears from the Venetian scholia to the Iliad that there was an earlier Ammonius (fl. c. 140 B. c. ), a pupil and successor of Aristarchus at Alexandria, who, judging from the context, is no doubt the writer in question.
The reference is therefore an argument against Longinus.
The work is dedicated to a certain Terentianus, of whom nothing is known.
The alternative author Dionysius has been variously identified with the rhetorician and historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Atticist Aelius Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Dionysius Atticus of Pergamum, Dionysius of Miletus.
Other suggested, claimants to the authorship are Plutarch, the author of a work on the Arrangement of Speech.
But it seems most probable that the author was an unknown writer who flourished in the 1st century soon after Caecilius and before Hermogenes.
On the Sublime is rather a treatise on style.
According to the author's own definitions, "Sublimity is a certain distinction and excellence in expression, " "sublimity consists in elevation, " "sublimity is the echo (or expression) of a great soul".
The treatise is especially valuable for the numerous quotations from classical authors, above all, for the preservation of the famous fragment of Sappho, the ode to Anactoria. Its main object is to point out the essential elements of an impressive style which, avoiding all tumidity, puerility, affectation and bad taste, finds its inspiration in grandeur of thought and intensity of feeling, and its expression in nobility of diction and in skilfully ordered composition.
The number of translations in all the languages of Europe is large, including the famous one by Boileau, which made the work a favourite text-book of the bellelettristic critics of the 18th century.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
