pseudo longinus on the sublime

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THE BEQUEST OFEDWARD KAYE KENDALL,Cletk in Holy Orders, M. A., D. C. L., formerly Professor hi

this University.


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TRINITY UNIVLIBRARY,

FROM-THE- LIBRARYOFTRINITYCOLLEGETORONTO


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/-2LtDIONYSIUS LONGINUSON THE

SUBLIME;TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK,

WITH

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS,AND

SOME ACCOUNT OF THEUFE, WRITINGS, AND CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOR.

BY WILLIAM SMITH, D. D,DEAN OF CHESTER.

Tliee, great Longinus ! all the Nine inspire,And fill their critic with a poet s fire ;An ardent judge, who, zealous in his trust,With warmth gives sentence, and is always, just;Whose own example strengthens all his laws,And is himself the great Sublime he draws.

POPE.

LONDON :PRINTED FOR F. C. AND J. R1VINGTON ; i. NUNN; LONGMAN, HURST,

UKES, ORME, AND BROWN ; R. PRIESTLEY; LACKINGTON, HUGHES,HARDING, MAVOR, AND JONES; J. CUTHELL; SCATCHERD ANDLETTEKMAN ; AND OGLE, DUNCAN, AND CO.

1819.


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< Y v( "

Printed by J. F. DOVE, St. John s Square.


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TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLEGEORGE, EARL OF MACCLESFIELD,

Viscount Parker of Ewelme, and Baron Parker of Macdesfield.

MY LORD,The greatest degree of purity and splendour

united, that LONGINUS hasfor some ages appearedin, ivas under the patronage of the late Lord MACCLESFIELD. A writer of so much spirit andjudgment, had a just claim to the protection of so elevated a genius, and so judicious an encourager ofpolite learning. Longinus is now going to appearin an English dress, and begs the support of yourLORDSHIP S name. He has undergone no fartheralteration, than what teas absolutely necessary tomake him English. His sense is faithfully represented ; but whether this translation has any of theoriginal spirit, is a decision peculiar only to thosewho can relish unaffected grandeur and naturalSublimity i with the same judicious taste as yourLordship.

It is needless to say any thing to your Lordshipabout the other parts ofthis performance, since theyalone can plead effectuallyfor themselves. I wentthrough this ivork, animated with a vitw of pleas-


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IV DEDICATION.ing every body ; and publish it in some fear ofpleasing none. Yet I lay hold with pleasure onthis opportunity of paying my respects to yourLORDSHIP, and giving this public proof, thatIam,

MY LORD,Your Lordship s most obedient

and most humble Servant,WILLIAM SMITH.


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PREFACE.IT will, without doubt, be expected, that the Reader shouldbe made privy to the reasons upon which this Work was undertaken, and is now made public. The intrinsic beauty of thepiece itself first allured me to the attempt ; and a regard forthe public, especially for those who might be unable to readthe original, was the main inducement to its publication.The Treatise on the SUBLIME had slept for several ages,covered up in the dust of libraries, till the middle of the sixteenth century. The first Latin version by Gabriel de Petrawas printed at Geneva in 1612. But the first good translationof it into any modern language, was the French one of thefamous Boileau, which, though not always faithful to the text,yet has an elegance and a spirit which few will ever be ableto equal, much less to surpass.The present translation was finished before I knew of anyprior attempt to make Longinus speak English. The firsttranslation of him I met with, was published by Mr. Welsted,in 1724. But I was very much surprised, upon a perusal, tofind it only Boileau s translation misrepresented and mangled.For every beauty is impaired, if not totally effaced, and everyerror (even down to those of the printer) most injudiciouslypreserved.

t have since accidentally met with two other English versions of this Treatise ; one by J. Hall, Esq. London, 1652 ;the other without a name, but printed at Oxford in 1698, andsaid in the title-page to have been compared with the Frenchof Boileau. I saw nothing in either of these which did notyield the greatest encouragement to a new attempt.

fto less than nine years have intervened since the finishing


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VI PREFACE.of this translation, in which space it has been frequently revised, submitted to the censure of friends, and amended againand again by a more attentive study of the original. The design-was, if possible, to make it read like an original : whetherI have succeeded in this, the bulk of my readers may judge ;but whether the translation be good, or come any thing nearto the life, the spirit, the energy of Longinus, is a decision peculiar to men of learning and taste, who alone know the difficulties which attend such an undertaking, and will be impartial enough to give the translator the necessary indulgence.

Longinus himself was never accurately enough published,nor thoroughly understood, till Dr. Pearce * did him justice inhis late editions at London. My thanks are due to that gentleman, not only for his correct editions, on account of whichthe whole learned world is indebted to him, but for those animadversions and corrections of this translation, with which heso kindly favoured me. Most of the remarks and observations were drawn up before I had read his Latin notes.

I am not the least in pain about the pertinency of those instances which I have brought from the sacred writers, as wellas from some of the finest of our own country, to illustrate thecriticisms of Longinus. I am only fearful, lest, among themultiplicity of such as might be had, I may be thought tohave omitted some of the best. I am sensible, that what Ihave done, might be done much better ; but if I have thegood fortune to contribute a little towards the fixing a truejudicious taste, and enabling my readers to distinguish sensefrom sound, grandeur from pomp, and the Sublime from fustian and bombast, 1 shall think my time well spent ; and shallbe ready to submit to the censures of a judge, but shall onlysmile at the snarling of what is commonly called a critic.

* Now Lord Bishop of Rochester.JAN. 1770.


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CONTENTS.PageSOME account of the Life, Writings, and Character

of Longhuis 9SECT. 1. That Cecilius s treatise on the Sublime

is imperfect, and why 442. Whether the Sublime may be learned .... 483. Of Bombast 51Of Puerilities 55

Of the Parenthyrse, or ill-timed emotion 064. Of the Frigid 575. Whence these imperfections take their

rise 6l(j. That a knowledge of the true Sublime is

attainable 627. How the Sublime may be known ()38. That there are five sources of the Sub

lime (>69. Of Elevation ofThought 70

10. That a choice and connexion of propercircumstances will produce the Sublime 92

1 1 . Of Amplification 10412. That the definition which the writers of

rhetoric give of Amplification is improper 1()0

13. Of Plato s Sublimity 109Of Imitation Ill14. That the best authors ought to be ourmodels in writing 11415. Of Images 11516. -Of Figures 12817. That Figures and Sublimity mutually as

sist one another 13318. Of Question and Interrogation 13519. Of Asyndetons 13820. Of Heaps of Figures 14O21. That Copulatives weaken the style ..... 142


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Vlll CONTENTS.Page

SECT. 22. Of Hyperbatons 14423. Of Change of Number 15024. That Singulars sometimes cause Sub

limity 15425. Of Change of Tense . * 15526. Of Change of Person 15627. Of another Change of Person 15928. Of Periphrasis or Circumlocution ...... 16329. That Circumlocution carried too far grows

insipid 16630. Of Choice of Terms 1673 1 .Of Vulgar Terms . . 16932. Of Multitude of Metaphors 1 7233. That the Sublime, with some faults, is bet

ter than what is correct and faultlesswithout being Sublime. ........... 180

34. By the preceding rule Demosthenes andHyperides are compared, and the preference given to the former 184

35. That Plato is in all respects superior toLysias ; and in general, that whateveris great and uncommon soonest raisesadmiration 189

36. Sublime writers considered in a parallelview .

.. . 1Q2

37. Of Similes and Comparisons 19438. Of Hyperboles 19539. Of Composition or Structure of Words. . 20140. Of apt Connexion of the constituent parts

of discourse 20641. That broken and precipitate measures debase the Sublime 209

That Words of short syllables are prejudicial to the Sublime 210

4 i oDr.Pearce. vered - Some fanc^ mm a SJ-

rian, and that he was born atEmisa, because an uncle ofhis, one Fronto, arhetorician, is called by Suidas an Emisenian.But others, with greater probability, supposehim an Athenian. That he was a Grecian, isplain from two * passages in the followingTreatise ; in one of which he uses this expression, " If we Grecians ;" and in the otherhe expressly calls Demosthenes his countryman. Hisnamewas Dionysius Longinus, towhich Suidas makes the addition of Cassius;but that of his father is entirely unknown ; apoint (it is true) of small importance, since

* See Sect. xii.


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OF LONG1NUS. 13a son ofexcellence and worth, reflects a gloryupon, instead ofreceiving any from, his father.By his mother Frontonis he was allied, aftertwo or three removes, to the celebrated Plutarch. We are also at a loss for the ernploy-mentofhis parents, their station in life, andthebeginning of his education ; but a * remnantof his own writings informs us, that his youthwas spent in travelling with them, which gavehim an opportunity to increase his knowledge,and open his mind with that generous enlargement, which men of sense and judgment willunavoidably receive, from variety of objectsand diversity of conversation. The improvement of his mind was always uppermost in histhoughts, and his thirst after knowledge ledhim to those channels by which it is conveyed. Wherever rnen of learning were to befound, he was present, and lost no opportunityof forming a familiarity and intimacy withthem. Ammonius and Origen, philosophersof no small reputation in that age, were twoof those whom he visited and heard with thegreatest attention. As he was not deficientin vivacity of parts, quickness of apprehension,1 and strength of understanding, the pro-

* Fragment, quintum.


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14 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSgress of his improvement must needs havebeen equal to his industry and diligence inseeking after it. He was capable of learningwhatever he desired, and no doubt he desiredto learn whatever was commendable anduseful.The travels of Longinus ended with his ar

rival at Athens, where he fixed his residence.This city was then, and had been for someages, the University of the world. It was theconstant resort of all who were able to teach,or willing to improve; the grand and lastingreservoir of philosophy and learning, fromwhence were drawn every rivulet and streamthat watered and cultivated the rest of theworld. Here our author pursued the studiesof humanity and philosophy with the greatestapplication, and soon became the most remarkable person in a place so remarkable asAthens. Here he published his Treatise onthe Sublime, which raised his reputation tosuch a height, as no critic, either before orsince, durst ever aspire to. He was a perfectmaster of the ancient writings of Greece, andintimately acquainted not only with the worksbut the very genius and spirit with whichthey were written. His cotemporaries therehad such an implicit faith in his judgment,


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OF LONGINUS. 15and were so well convinced of the perfectionof his taste, that they appointed him judgeof aU the ancient authors, and learned to distinguish between the genuine and spuriousproductions of antiquity, from his opinionsand sentiments about them. He was lookedupon by them as infallible and unerring, andtherefore by his decrees were fine writingand fine sense established, and his sentencestamped its intrinsic value upon every piece.The entrusting any one person with so delicate a commission, is an extraordinary instance of complaisance : it is without a precedent in every age before, and unparalleledin any of the succeeding ; as it is fit it should,till another Longinus shall arise. But in regard to him, it does honour to those wholodged it in his hands. For no classic writerever suffered in character from an erroneouscensure of Longinus. He was, as I observedbefore, a perfect master of the style and peculiar turn of thought of them all, and coulddiscern every beauty or blemish in everycomposition. In vain might inferior criticsexclaim against this monopoly of judgment.Whatever objections they raised against itwere mere air and unregarded sounds. Andwhatever they blamed, or whatever they com-


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16 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSmended, was received or rejected by the

public, only as it met with theEunapius. approbation of Longinus, or was

confirmed and ratified by his sovereign decision.

His stay at Athens seems to have been oflong continuance, and that city perhaps hadnever enjoyed so able a Professor of finelearning, eloquence, and philosophy united.Whilst he taught here, he had, amongst others,the famous Porphyry for his pupil. The system of philosophy which he went upon, wasthe Academic ; for whose founder, Plato, hehad so great a veneration, that he celebratedthe anniversary of his birth with the highestsolemnity. There is something agreeable evenin the distant fancy; how delightful thenmust those reflections have been, which couldnot but arise in the breast of Longinus, thathe was explaining and recommending thedoctrine of Plato, in those calm retreatswhere he himself had written ; that he wasteaching his scholars the eloquence of Demosthenes, on the very spot, perhaps, wherehe had formerly thundered ; and was professing rhetoric in the place where Cicero hadstudied !The mind of our Author was not so con-


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OF LONGINUS. 17tracted, as to be fit only for a life of stillnessand tranquillity. Fine genius, and a true philosophic turn, qualify not only for study andretirement, but will enable their owners toshine, I will not say in more honourable, butin more conspicuous views, and to appearon the public stage of life with dignity andhonour. And it was the fortune of Longinusto be drawn from the contemplative shades ofAthens, to mix in more active scenes, to trainup young princes to virtue and glory, to guidethe busy and ambitious passions of the greatto noble ends, to struggle for, and at last todie.in the cause of liberty.

During the residence of Longi- Trebelliuso onus at Athens, the Emperor Va- Pollio.lerian had undertaken an expedition against the Persians, who had revoltedfrom the Roman yoke. He was assisted init by Odenathus, king of Palmyra, who, afterthe death of Valerian, carried on the war withuncommon spirit and success. Gallienus, whosucceeded his father Vralerian at Rome, beinga prince of a weak and effeminate soul, of themost dissolute and abandoned manners, without any shadow of worth in himself, waswilling to get a support in the valour of Odenathus, and therefore he made him his part-


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18 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSner in empire by the title of Augustus, anddecreed his medals, strucken in honour of thePersian victories, to be current coin throughout the empire. Odenathus, says an historian,seemed born for the empire of the world, andwould probably have risen to it, had he notbeen taken off, in a career of victory, by thetreachery of his own relations. His abilitieswere so great, and his actions so illustrious,that they were above the competition of everyperson then alive, except his own wife Ze-nobia, a lady ofso extraordinary magnanimityand virtue, that she outshone even her husband, and engrossed the attention and admiration of the world. She was descended fromthe ancient race of Ptolemy and Cleopatra,and had all those qualifications which are theornament of her own, and the glory of theother sex. A miracle of beauty, but chasteto a prodigy : in punishing the bad, inflexiblysevere ; in rewarding the good, or relievingthe distressed, benevolent and active. Splendid, but not profuse ; and generous withoutprodigality. Superior to the toils and hardships of war, she was generally on horseback ;and would sometimes march on foot withher soldiers. She was skilled in several languages, and is said to have drawn up herself


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or LONGINUS. 19an epitome of the Alexandrian and Orientalhistory.The great reputation of Longinus had beenwafted to the ears of Zenobia, who prevailedupon him to quit Athens, and undertake theeducation of her sons. He quickly gainedan uncommon share in her esteem, as shefound him not only qualified to form thetender minds of the young, but to improvethe virtue, and enlighten the understandingof the aged. In his conversation she spentthe vacant hours of her life, modelling hersentiments by his instructions, and steeringherself by his counsels in the whole series ofher conduct ; and in carrying on that plan ofempire, which she herself had formed, whichher husband Odenathus had begun to execute,but had left imperfect. The number of competitors, who, in the vicious and scandalousreign of Gallienus, set up for the empire, butwith abilities far inferior to those of Zenobia,gave her an opportunity to extend her conquests, by an uncommon tide of success, overall the East. Claudius, who succeeded Gallienus at Rome, was employed during hiswhole reign, which was very short, againstthe Northern nations. Their reduction wasafterwards completed by Aurelian, the great-


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OF LONGINUS. 21raise new forces, and venture again into theopen field. Aurelian was not long behind,his activity impelled him forwards, to crownhis former success, by completing the conquest of Zenobia. His march was terriblyharassed by the frequent attacks of the Syrian banditti ; and when he came up, hefound Palmyra so strongly fortified and sobravely defended, that though he invested itwith his army, yet the siege was attendedwith a thousand difficulties. His army wasdaily weakened and dispirited by the gallantresistance of the Palmyrenians, and his ownlife sometimes in the utmost danger. Tiredoat last with the obstinacy of the besieged,and almost worn out by continued fatigues,he sent Zenobia a written summons to surrender, as if his words could strike terror" intoher, whom by force of arms he was unableto subdue.

AURELIAN, EMPEROR OF THE ROMANWORLD, AND RECOVERER OF THE EAST,TO ZENOBIA AND HER ADHERENTS." Why am I forced to command, what

you ought voluntarily to have done already ?I charge you to surrender, and thereby


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22 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSavoid the certain penalty of death, whichotherwise attends you. You, Zenobia, shallspend the remainder of your life, where I, bythe advice of the most honourable senate,shall think proper to place you. Your jewels,your silver, your gold, your finest apparel,your horses, and your camels, you shall resign to the disposal of the Romans, in orderto preserve the Palmyrenians from being divested of all their former privileges."

Zenobia, not in the least affrighted by themenace, nor soothed by the cruel promise ofa life in exile and obscurity ; resolved by heranswer to convince Aurelian, that he shouldfind the stoutest resistance from her, whomhe thought to frighten into compliance. Thisanswer was drawn up by Longinus in a spiritpeculiar to himself, and worthy of his mistress.

ZENOBIA, QUEEN OF THE EAST, TO THEEMPEROR AURELIAN." Never was such an unreasonable demand

proposed, or such rigorous terms offered, byany but yourself. Remember, Aurelian, thatin war, whatever is done, should be done by


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OF LONGINUS. 23valour. You imperiously command me tosurrender ; but can }TOU forget, that Cleopatra chose rather to die with the title ofQueen, than to live in any inferior dignity ?We expect succours from Persia ; the Saracens are arming in our cause ; even theSyrian banditti have already defeated yourarmy. Judge what you are to expect froma conjunction of these forces. You shall becompelled to abate that pride, with which,as if you were absolute lord of the universe,you command me to become your captive."

Aurelian, says Vopiscus, had no soonerread this disdainful letter, than he blushed(not so much with shame, as) with indignation. He redoubled his efforts, invested thetown more closely than ever, and kept it incontinual alarms. No art was left untried,which the conduct of a general could suggest,or the bravery of angry soldiers could put inexecution. He intercepted the aid whichwas marching from Persia to its relief. Hereduced the Saracen and Armenian forces,either by strength of amis, or the subtiltyof intrigues ; till at length, the Palmyre-nians, deprived

of allprospect

of succour,and worn out by continual assaults from with-


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24 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSout, and by famine within, were obliged toopen the gates and receive their conqueror.The Queen and Longinus could not tamelystay to put on their chains. Mounted on theswiftest camels, they endeavoured to fly intoPersia, to make fresh head against Aurelian,who entering the city was vexed to find his victory imperfect, and Zenobia yet unsubdued.A body of the swiftest horse was immediatelydispatched in pursuit, who overtook andmade them prisoners as they wereZosimus. crossing the Euphrates. Aure

lian, after he had settled Palmyra,returned to Emisa, whither the captives werecarried after him. He sat on his tribunal to receive Zenobia, or rather to insult her. The Roman soldiers throng around her, and demandher death with incessant shouts. Zenobianow was no longer herself: the former greatness of her spirit quite sunk within her ; sheowned a master, and pleaded for her life." Her counsellors (she said) were to beblamed, and not herself. What could a weakshort-sighted woman do, when beset by artful and ambitious men, who made her subservient to all their schemes ? She never hadaimed at empire, had they not placed it before her eyes in all its allurements. The let-


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OF LONGINUS. 25ter which affronted Aurelian was not herown ; Longinus wrote it, the insolence washis/ This was no sooner heard, than Aurelian, who was soldier enough to conquer,but not hero enough to forgive, poured allhis vengeance on the head of Longinus. Hewas borne away to immediate execution,amidst the generous condolence of those whoknew his merit, and admired the inward generosity of his soul. He pitied Zenobia, andcomforted his friends. He looked upon deathas a blessing, since it rescued his body fromslavery, and gave his soul the most desirablefreedom. " This world (said he with his expiring breath) is nothing but a prison ;happy therefore he who gets soonest out ofit, and gains his liberty."The writings of Longinus are numerous,some on philosophical, but the greatest parton critical subjects. Dr. Pearce has collected the titles of twenty-five Treatises, noneof which, except this on the Sublime, haveescaped from the depredations of time andbarbarians. And even this is rescued as froma wreck, damaged too much and shatteredby the storm. Yet on this little and imperfect piece has the fame of Longinus beenfounded and erected. The learned and judi-


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26 THE LIFE AND WRITINGScious have bestowed extraordinary commendation upon it. The Golden Treatise is itsgeneral title. It is one of those valuable remnants of antiquity, of which enough remainsto engage our admiration, and excite anearnest regret for every particle of it thathas perished. It resembles those mutilatedstatues, which are sometimes digged out ofruins. Limbs are broken off, which it is notin the power of any living artist to replace,because the fine proportion and delicatefinishing of the trunk excludes all hope ofequalling such masterly performances. Froma constant inspection and close study ofsuch an antique fragment of Rome, MichaelAngelo learned to execute and to teach theart of Sculpture ; it was therefore called Michael Angelo s School. The same use maybe made of this imperfect piece on the Sublime, since it is a noble school for critics,poets, orators, and historians.

" The Sublime/ says Longinus," is an

image reflected from the inward greatnessof the soul/ The remark is refined and just ;and who more deserving than he of its application ? Let his sentiments be consideredas reflections from his own mind; let thispiece on the Sublime be regarded as the


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OF LONGINUS. 2?picture of its author. It is a pity we have nota larger portrait of him ; but as that cannotbe had, we must take up at present withthis incomplete, though beautiful miniature.The features are graceful, the air is noble,the colouring lively enough to shew how fineit was, and how many qualifications are necessary to form the character of a critic withdignity and applause.

Elevation of thought, the greatest qualification requisite to an orator or poet, isequally necessary to a critic, and is the mostshining talent in Longinus. Nature had implanted the seeds of it within him, which hehimself improved and nursed up to perfection, by an intimacy with the greatest andsublimest writers. Whenever he has HomerIQ view, he catches his fire, and increases thelight and ardour of it. The space betweenheaven and earth marks out the extent of thepoet s genius; but the world itself seems toonarrow a confinement for that of the critic.*And though his thoughts are sometimesstretched to an immeasurable size, yet theyare always great without swelling, bold without rashness, far beyond what any other could

* See Sect. ix.C 2


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28 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSor durst have said, and always proper andjudicious.As his sentiments are noble and lofty, sohis style is masterly, enlivened by variety,and flexible with ease. There is no beautypointed out by him in any other, which hedoes not imitate, and frequently excel, whilsthe is making remarks upon it. How he admires and improves upon Homer, has beenhinted already. When Plato is his subject,the words glide along in a smooth, easy, andpeaceable flow. When he speaks of Hype-rides, he copies at once his engaging manner,the simplicity, sweetness, and harmony of hisstyle. With Demosthenes he is vehement,abrupt, and disorderly regular; he dazzleswith his

lightning,and terrifies with his thun

der. When he parallels the Greek with theRoman orator, he shews in two periods thedistinguishing excellences of each; the firstis a very hurricane, which bears down all before it; the last, a conflagration, gentle in itsbeginning, gradually dispersed, increasingand getting to such a head, as to rage beyondresistance, and devour all things. His sense-is every where the very thing he would express, and the sound of his words is an echoto his sense.


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Ol LONGINUS.His judgment is exact and impartial, both

in what he blames and what he commends.The sentence he pronounces is founded uponand supported by reasons which are satisfactory and just. His approbation is not attended with fits of stupid admiration, orgaping, like an idiot, at something surprisingwhich he cannot comprehend ; nor are hiscensures fretful and waspish. He stings, likethe bee, what actually annoys him; but carries honey along with him, which, if it healsnot the wound, yet assuages the smart.His candour is extensive as his judgment.The penetration of the one obliged him toreprove what was amiss ; the secret workingsof the other bias him to excuse or extenuateit in the best manner he is able. Wheneverhe lays open the faults of a writer, he forgetsnot to mention the qualities he had whichwere deserving of praise. Where Homersinks into trirles, he cannot help reprovinghim ; but though Homer nods sometimes, heis Homer still ; excelling all the world whenbroad awake, and in his fits of drowsiness,dreaming like a god.The good-nature, also, of Longinus mustnot pass without notice. He bore an aversionto the sneers and cavils of those who, un-


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30equal to the weighty province of criticism,abuse it, and become its nuisance. He frequently takes pains to shew how misplacedtheir animadversions are, and to defend theinjured from aspersions. There is an instance of this in his vindication of Theopom-pus from the censure of Cecilius.* He cannot endure to see what is right in that authorperverted into error; nor where he reallyerrs, will he suffer him to pass unreproved.-f-Yet here his good-nature exerts itself again,and he proposes divers methods of amendingwhat is wrong.The judgment, and candour, and impartiality, with which Longinus declares his sentiments of the writings of others, will, I ampersuaded, rise in our esteem, when we reflecton that exemplary piece of justice he hasdone to Moses. The manner of his quotingthat celebrated passage^ from him, is as honourable to the critic, as the quotation itselfto the Jewish legislator. Whether he believedthe Mosaic history of the creation, is a pointin which we are not in the least concerned;but it was plainly his opinion, that though itbe condescendingly suited to the finite con-

* Sect. xxxi. f Sect, xliii, t Sect. ix.


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or LONGINUS. 31ception of man, yet it is related in a mannernot inconsistent with the majesty of God.To contend, as some do, that he never readMoses, is trifling, or rather litigious. TheGreek translation had been dispersed throughout the Roman empire, long before the timein which he lived : and no man of a serious,much less of a philosophical turn, could reject it as unworthy a perusal. Besides, Zeno-bia, according to the testimony of Photius,*was a Jewish convert. And I have somewhere seen it mentioned from Bellarmine,that she was a Christian; but as I am astranger to the reasons on which he foundsthe assertion, I shall lay no stress upon it.But there is strong probability, that Lon-ginus was not only acquainted with the writings of the Old Testament, but with thosealso of the New, since to a manuscript ofthe latter in the Vatican library, there is prefixed a passage from some of this Author swritings, which is preserved there as an instance of his judgment. He is drawing upa list of the greatest orators, and at the closehe says, " And further, Paul of Tarsus, thechief supporter of an opinion not yet esta-

Prefixed to Hudson s Longinus.


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33 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSblished." Fabricius, I own, has been so officiously kind as to attribute these words toChristian forgery;* but for what reasons Icannot conjecture. If for any of real weightand importance, certainly he ought not tohave concealed them from the world.

If Longinus ever saw any of the writingsof St. Paul, he could not but entertain ahigh opinion of him. Such a judge mustneeds applaud so masterly an orator. Forwhere is the writer that can vie with him insublime and pathetic eloquence? Demosthenes could rouse up the Athenians againstPhilip, and Cicero strike shame and confusioninto the breasts of Antony or Catiline ; anddid not the eloquence of St. Paul, thoughbound in degrading fetters, make the oppressive, the abandoned Felix tremble, and almost persuade Agrippa, in spite of all hisprejudice, to be a Christian? Homer, afterhis death, was looked upon as more than human, and temples were erected to his honour;and was not St. Paul admired as a god, evenwhilst he was on earth, when the inhabitantsof Lystra would have sacrificed to him ? Lethis writings be examined and judged by the

* Bibliotheca Gracca, 1. 4. c. 31,


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OF LONOINUS. 33severest test of the severest critics, and theycannot be found deficient ; nay, they willappear more abundantly stocked with sublime and pathetic thoughts, with strong andbeautiful figures, with nervous and elegantexpressions, than any other composition inthe world.

But, to leave this digression : it is a remark.of Sir William Temple, that no pure Greekwas written after the reign of the Antonini.oBut the diction of Longinus, though lesspure than that of Aristotle, is elegant andnervous, the conciseness or diffuseness of hisperiods being always suited to the nature ofhis subject. The terms he uses are generallyso strong and expressive, and sometimes soartfully compounded, that they cannot berendered into another language without widecircumlocution. He has a high and masculine turn of thought, unknown to any otherwriter, which enforced him to give all possiblestrength and energy to his words, that hislanguage might be properly adjusted to hissense, and the sublimity of the latter be uniformly supported by the grandeur of theformer.

But further, there appears not in him theleast show or affectation of learning, though


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34 THE LIFE AND WRITINGShis stock was wonderfully large, yet withoutany prejudice to the brightness of his fancy.Some writers are even profuse of their commendations of him in this respect. For howextensive must his reading have been, to deserve those appellations given him by Euna-pius, that he was a living library, and a walking museum? Large reading, without a duebalance of judgment, is like a voracious appetite with a bad digestion ; it breaks outaccording to the natural complexion of different persons, either into learned dulness, or abrisk but insipid pedantry. In Longinus, itwas so far from palling or extinguishing, thaton the contrary it sharpened and enlivenedhis taste. He was not so surly as to reject thesentiments of others without examination,but he had the wisdom to stick by his own.

Let us pause a little here, and consider whata disagreeable and shocking contrast thereis between the genius, the taste, the candour,the

good-nature,the generosity, and modesty

of Longinus, and the heaviness, the dulness,the snarling and sneering temper of moderncritics, who can feast on inadvertent slips,and triumph over what they think a blunder.His very rules are shining examples of whatthey inculcate ; his remarks the very excel-


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OF LONGINUS. 35lences he is pointing out. Theirs are ofteninversions of what is right, and sinking othermen by clogging them with a weight of theirown lead. Pie keeps the same majesticpace, or soars aloft with his authors ; theyare either creeping after, or plunging belowthem, fitted more by nature for heroes of aDunciad, than for judges of fine sense andfine writing. The business of a critic is notonly to find fault, nor to be all bitterness andgall. Yet such behaviour, in those who haveusurped the name, has brought the office intoscandal and contempt. An Essay on Criticism appears but once in an age ; and whata tedious interval is there between Longinusand Mr. Addison!

Having; traced our Author thus far as a cri-otic, we must view him now in another light,I mean as a Philosopher. In him these arenot different, but mutually depending and coexisting parts of the same character. Tojudge in a worthy manner of the performancesof men, we must know the dignity of humannature, the reach of the human understanding, the ends for which we were created, andthe means of their attainment. In these speculations Longinus will make no contempt-


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36 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSible figure, and I hope the view will not appear superfluous or useless.Man cannot arrive to a just and proper understanding of himself, without worthy notions of the Supreme Being. The sad depravations of the pagan world are chiefly to beattributed to a deficiency in this respect.Homer has exalted his heroes at the expenseof his deities, and sunken the divine naturefar below the human ; and therefore deservesthat censure of blasphemy which Longinushas passed upon him. Had the poet designedto have turned the imaginary gods of his idolatrous countrymen into ridicule, he couldhardly have taken a better method. Yet whathe has said has never been understood in thatlight ; and though the whole may be allegorical, as his commentators would fain persuade us, yet this will be no excuse for themalignancy of its effects on a superstitiousworld. The discourses of Socrates, and thewritings

of Plato, had in a great measure corrected the notions of inquisitive and thoughtful men in this particular, and caused thedistinction of religion into vulgar and philosophical. By what Longinus has said of Homer, it is plain to me, that his religion was


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OF LONGINUS. 37of the latter sort. Though we allow him notto be a Christian or a Jewish convert, yet hewas no idolater, since without a knowledgeand reverence of the Divine perfections, henever could have formed his noble ideas ofhuman nature.

This life he considers as a public theatre,on which men are to act their parts. A thirstafter glory, and an emulation of whatever isgreat and excellent, is implanted in theirminds, to quicken their pursuits after realgrandeur, and to enable them to approach,as near as their finite abilities will admit, toDivinity itself. Upon these principles, heaccounts for the vast stretch and penetrationof the human understanding ; to these heascribes the labours of men of

genius ;and by

the predominancy of them in their minds,ascertains the success of their attempts. Inthe same manner he accounts for that turn inthe mind, which biasses us to admire morewhat is great and uncommon, than what isordinary and familiar, however useful. Thereare other masterly reflections of this kind inthe 33d and 34th Sections, which are only tobe excelled by Mr. Addison s Essay on theImagination. Whoever reads this part ofLonginus, and that piece of Mr. Addison s


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38 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSwith attention, will form notions of them bothvery much to their honour.Yet telling us we were born to pursue what

is great, without informing us what is so,would avail but little. Longinus declares for aclose and attentive examination of all things.Outsides and surfaces may be splendid andalluring, yet nothing be within deserving ourapplause. He that suffers himself to be dazzled with a gay and gaudy appearance, willbe betrayed into admiration of what the wisecontemn ; his pursuits will be levelled atwealth, and power, and high rank in life, tothe prejudice of his inward tranquillity, andperhaps the wreck of his virtue. The pageantry and pomp of life will be regarded bysuch a person as true honour and glory ; andhe will neglect the nobler acquisitions, whichare more suited to the dignity of his nature,which alone can give merit to ambition, andcentre in solid and substantial grandeur.The mind is the source and standard ofwhatever can be considered as great and illustrious in any light. From this our actionsand our words must flow, and by this mustthey be weighed. We must think well, before we can act or speak as we ought. Andit is the inward vigour of the soul, though


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OF LONGINUS. 39variously exerted, which forms the patriot,the philosopher, the orator, or the poet : thiswas the rise of an Alexander, a Socrates, aDemosthenes, and a Homer. Yet this inward vigour is chiefly owing to the bounty ofnature, is cherished and improved by education, but cannot reach maturity without otherconcurrent causes, such as public liberty,and the strictest practice of virtue.That the seeds of a great genius in any

kind must be implanted within, and cherishedand improved by education, are points inwhich the whole world agrees. But the importance of liberty in bringing it to perfection, may perhaps be more liable to debate.Longinus is clear on the affirmative side. Hespeaks feelingly, but with caution about it,because tyranny and oppression were triumphant at the time he wrote.He avers, with a spirit of generous indignation, that slavery is the confinement of thesoul, and a public dungeon.* On this hecharges the suppression of genius and decayof the sublime. The condition of man is deplorable, when he dares not exert his abilities, and runs into imminent danger by say-

* Sect. xliv.


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40 THE LIFE AND WRITINGSing or doing what he ought. Tyranny, erected on the ruins of liberty, lays an immediaterestraint on the minds of vassals, so that theinborn fire of genius is quickly damped, andsuffers at last a total extinction. This mustalways be a necessary consequence, whenwhat ought to be the reward of an honourable ambition becomes the prey of knavesand flatterers. But the infection graduallyspreads, and fear and avarice will bend thoseto it, whom nature formed for higher employments, and sink lofty orators into pompousflatterers. The truth of this remark willeasily appear, if we compare Cicero speaking to Catiline, to the same Cicero pleadingbefore Caesar for Marcellus. That spirit ofadulation, which prevailed so much in England about a century ago, lowered one of thegreatest geniuses that ever lived, and turnedeven the Lord Bacon into a sycophant. Andthis will be the case wherever power encroaches on the rights of mankind : a servilefear will clog and fetter every rising genius,will strike such an awe upon it in its tenderand infant state, as will stick- for ever after,and check its generous sallies. No one willwrite or speak well in such a situation, unlesson subjects of mere amusement, and which


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OF LONGINUS. 41cannot, by any indirect tendency, affect hismasters. For how shall the vassal dare totalk sublimely on any point wherein his lordacts meanly ?But further, as despotic and unbridledpower is generally obtained, so it is as oftensupported t by unjustifiable methods. Thesplendid and ostentatious pageantry of thoseat the helm, gives rise to luxury and profuse-ness among the subjects. These are the fatalsources of dissolute manners, of degeneratesentiments, of infamy and want. As pleasure is supplied by money, no method, however mean, is omitted to procure the latter,because it leads to the enjoyment of the former. Men become corrupt and abject, theirminds are enervated and insensible to shame." The faculties of the soul (in the words ofLonginus) * will then grow stupid, their spiritwill be lost, and good sense and genius mustlay in ruins, when the care and study of manis engaged about the mortal, the worthlesspart of himself, and he has ceased to cultivatevirtue, and polish his nobler part, the soul."The scope of our Author s reflections in the .latter part of the Section is this ; that genius

* Sect. xliv.I)


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42 THE LIFE AND WRITINGScan never exert itself, or rise to sublimity,where virtue is neglected, and the morals aredepraved. Cicero was of the same opinionbefore him, and Quinctilian has a wholechapter to prove that the great orator mustbe a good man. Men of the finest genius,who have hitherto appeared in the world,have been for the most part not very defective in their morals, and less in their principles. I am sensible there are exceptionsto this observation, but little to the credit ofthe persons, since their works become the severest satires on themselves, and the manifestopposition between their thought and practice detracts its weight from the one, andmarks out the other for public abhorrence.An inward grandeur of soul is the common

centre, from whence every ray of sublimity,either in thought, or action, or discourse, isdarted out. For all minds are no more of thesame complexion, than all bodies of the sametexture. In the latter case, our eyes wouldmeet only with the same uniformity of colourin every object : in the former, we should beall orators or poets, all philosophers, or allblockheads. This would break in upon thatbeautiful and useful variety, with which theAuthor of nature has adorned the rational as


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OF LONGINUS. 43well as the material creation. There is inevery mind a tendency, though perhaps differently inclined, to what is great and excellent. Happy they, who know their own peculiar bent, who have been blessed with opportunities of giving it the proper cultureand polish, and are not cramped or restrainedin the liberty of shewing and declaring it toothers ! There are many fortunate concurrences, without which we cannot attain to anyquickness of taste or relish for the Sublime.

I hope what has been said will not bethought an improper introduction to the following Treatise, in which (unless I am deceived) there is a just foundation for every remark that has been made. The Author appears sublime in every view, not only inwhat he has written, but in the manner inwhich he acted, and the bravery with whichhe died ; by all acknowledged the Prince ofCritics, and by no worse judge than Boileauesteemed a philosopher, worthy to be rankedwith Socrates and Cato.

D


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.

SECTION I.You remember, my dear ITERENTIANUS,

that when we read over together 2 Cecil!us sTreatise on the Sublime, we thought it toomean for a subject of that nature, that it isentirely defective in its principal branches,and that consequently its advantage (whichought to be the principal aim of every writer)

1 Who this Terentianus, or Posthumius Terentianus, was,to whom the Author addresses this Treatise, is not possible tobe discovered, nor is it of any great importance. But it appears, from some passages in the sequel of this work, that hewas a young Roman, a person of a bright genius, an eleganttaste, and a particular friend to Longinus. What he says ofhim, I am confident, was spoken with sincerity more thancomplaisance, since Longinus must have disdained to flatter,like a modern dedicator.

2 Cecilius was a Sicilian rhetorician. He lived underAugustus, and was cotemporary with Dionysius of Halicar-nassus, with whom he contracted a very close friendship. He.is thought to have been the first who wrote on the Sublime.


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 45would prove very small to the readers. Besides, though in every treatise upon any science two points are indispensably required ;the first, that the science, which is the subjectof it, be fully explained ; the second (I meanin order of writing, since in excellence it isfar the superior), that plain directions begiven, how and by what method such sciencemay be attained ; yet Cecilius, who brings athousand instances to shew what the Sublimeis, as if his readers were wholly ignorant ofthe matter, has omitted, as altogether unnecessary, the method which, judiciously observed, might enable us to raise our naturalgenius to any height of this SUBLIME. But,perhaps, this writer is not so much to beblamed for his omissions, as commended forhis good designs and earnest endeavours.You indeed have laid your commands uponme, to give you my thoughts on this Sublime ; let us then, in obedience to those commands, consider whether any thing can bedrawn from my private studies, for the service of 3 those who write for the world, orspeak in public.

3 " Those who write for the world, or speak in public."] Itake all this to be implied in the original word TTO\ITIKOIS.


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46 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.But I request you, my dear friend, to giveme your opinion on whatever I advance, with

that exactness, which is due to truth, andthat sincerity which is natural to yourself.For well did the * sage answer the question," In what do we most resemble the gods?"when he replied, " In doing good and speaking truth/ But since I write, my dearfriend, to you, who are versed in everybranch of polite learning, there will be littleoccasion to use many previous words in proving, that the Sublime is a certain eminenceor perfection of language, and that the greatest writers, both in verse and prose, have bythis alone obtained the prize of glory, andfilled all time with their renown. For theSublime not only persuades, but even throwsan audience into transport. The Marvellousalways works with more surprising force thanthat which barely persuades or delights. Inmost cases, it is wholly in our own powereither to resist or yield to persuasion. Butthe Sublime, endued with strength irresisti-oble, strikes home, and triumphs over everyhearer. Dexterity of invention, and goodorder and economy in composition, are not to

* Pythagoras,


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 4?be discerned from one or two passages, norscarcely sometimes from the whole texture ofa discourse ; but 4 the Sublime, when seasonably addressed, with the rapid force of lightning has borne down all before it, and shewnat one stroke the compacted might of genius.But these, and truths like these, so wellknown and familiar to himself, I am confident my dear TERENTI ANUS can undeniablyprove by his own practice.

4 " The Sublime, when seasonably addressed," &c.] Thissentence is inimitably fine in the original. Dr. Pearce has aningenious observation upon it. " It is not easy (says he) todetermine, whether the precepts of Longinus, or his example,be most to be observed and followed in the course of thiswork, since his style is possessed of all the sublimity of hissubject. Accordingly, in this passage, to express the powerof the Sublime, he has made use of his words, with all the artand propriety imaginable. Another writer would have said$iaopei and evtieiKvvrat, but this had been too dull and languid.Our Author uses the preterperfect tense, the better to expressthe power and rapidity with which sublimity of discoursestrikes the minds of its hearers. It is like lightning (says ourAuthor) because you can no more look upon this, when present, than you can upon the flash of that. Besides, the structure of the words in the close of the sentence is admirable.They run along, and are hurried in the celerity of shortvowels. They represent to the life the rapid motion either oflightning, or the Sublime."


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48 IONGINUS ON TttE SUBLIME.

SECTION II.BUT we ought not to advance, before we

clear the point, whether or no there be anyart in the Sublime.1 For some are entirelyof opinion, that they are guilty of a greatmistake, who would reduce it to the rules ofart. " The Sublime (say they) is born withinus, and is not to be learned by precept. Theonly art to reach it, is, to have the powerfrom nature. And (as they reason) those effects, which should be purely natural, are

1 In all the editions is added rj padove, or the profound : aperplexing expression, and which perhaps gave rise to a treatise on the Bathos. It was purposely omitted in the translation, for this plain substantial reason, because I could notmake sense of it. I have since been favoured with a sight ofthe learned Dr. Tonstal s conjectural emendations on thisAuthor, and here for /3a0oi/e he readeth nadavs. The minutealteration of a single letter enlightens and clears the wholepassage : the context, the whole tenor of the piece, justifiesthe emendation. I beg leave therefore to give the followingnew version of the passage : " But we ought not to advance,before we clear the point, whether or no there be any art inthe Sublime or the Pathetic. For some are entirely of opinion,that they are guilty of a great mistake, who would reduce themto the rules of art. These high attainments (say they) areborn within us, and are not to be learned by precept: the onlyart to reach them, is to have the power from nature."


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 49dispirited and weakened by the dry impoverishing rules of art."But I maintain, that the contrary mighteasily appear, would they only reflect that2 though nature for the most part challengesa sovereign and uncontrollable power in thePathetic and Sublime, yet she is not altoge-

2 These observations of Longinus, and the following linesof Mr. Pope, are a very proper illustration for one another :

First follow nature, and your judgment frameBy her just standard, which is still the same:Unerring nature, still divinely bright,One clear, unchang d, and universal light,Life, force, and beauty must to all impart,At once the source, and end, and lest of art.Art from that fund each just supply provides,Works without showr , and without pomp presides :In some fair body thus the secret soulWith spirits feeds, with vigour fills the whole ;Each motion guides, and every nerve sustains,Itself unseen, but in th effect remains.There are, whom Heav n has bless d w ith store of wit,Yet want as much asjain to manage it ;o o *For wit and judgment ever are at strife,Though meant each other s aid, like man and wife.Tis more to guide, than spur the muse s steed,Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed ;The winged courser, like a generous horse,Shews most true mettle when you check his course.Essay on Criticism.


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50 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.ther lawless, but delights in a proper regulation. That again though she is the foundation, and even the source of all degrees of theSublime, yet that method is able to point outin the clearest manner the peculiar tendenciesof each, and to mark the proper seasons inwhich they ought to be enforced and applied.And further that flights of grandeur arethen in the utmost danger, when left at random to themselves, having no ballast properly to poise, no helm to guide their course,but cumbered with their own weight, andbold without discretion. Genius may sometimes want the spur, but it stands as frequently in need of the curb.Demosthenes somewhere judiciously ob

serves, " That in common life success is thegreatest good ; that the next, and no less important, is conduct, without which the othermust be unavoidably of short continuance/Now the same may be asserted of Composition, where nature will supply the place ofsuccess, and art the place of conduct.But further, there is one thing which de

serves particular attention. For though itmust be owned, that there is a force in eloquence, which depends not upon, nor can belearned by, rule, yet even this could not be


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 51known without that

lightwhich we receive

from art. If, therefore, as I said before, hewho condemns such works as this in which Iam now engaged, would attend to these reflections, I have very good reason to believehe would no longer think any undertaking ofthis nature superfluous or useless.

SECTION III.##**#*#*#iLet them the chimney s flashing flames repel.Could but these eyes one lurking wretch arrest,I d whirl aloft one streaming curl of flame,And into embers turn his crackling dome.But now a generous song I have not sounded.

Streaming curls of flame, spewing againstheaven, and 2 making Boreas a piper, with

1 Here is a great defect ; but it is evident that the Author istreating of those imperfections which are opposite to the trueSublime, and among those, of extravagant swelling or bombast, an example of which he produces from some old tragicpoet, none of whose lines, except these here quoted, and someexpressions below, remain at present.

2 tl Making Boreas a piper"] Shakespeare has fallen intothe same kind of bombast :

the southern windDoth play the trumpet to his purposes.First Part of Henry IV.


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52 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.such-like expressions, are not tragical, butsuper-tragical. For those forced and unnatural images corrupt and debase the style,and cannot possibly adorn or raise it ; andwhenever carefully examined in the light,their show of being terrible gradually disappears, and they become contemptible and ridiculous. Tragedy will indeed by its natureadmit of some pompous and magnificentswellings, yet even in tragedy it is an unpardonable offence to soar too high; much lessallowable must it therefore be in prose-writing, or those works which are founded intruth. Upon this account some expressionsof 3 Gofgias the Leontine are highly ridiculed,

3 Gorgias the Leontine, or of Leontium, was a Sicilianrhetorician, and father of the Sophists. He was in such universal esteem throughout Greece, that a statue was erected tohis honour in the temple of Apollo at Delphos, of solid gold,though the custom had been only to gild them. His stylingXerxes the Persian Jupiter, it is thought, may be defendedfrom the custom of the Persians to salute their monarch bythat high title. Calling vultures living sepulchres, has beenmore severely censured by Hermogenes than Longinus. Theauthors of such quaint expressions (as he says) deserve themselves to be buried in such tombs. It is certain that writersof great reputation have used allusions of the same nature.Dr. Pearce has produced instances from Ovid, and even fromCicero ; and observed further, that Gregory Nazianzen has


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 53who styles Xerxes the Persian Jupiter, andcalls vultures living sepulchres. Some expressions of 4 Callisthenes deserve the same treatment, for they shine not like stars, but glarelike meteors. And 5 Clitarchus comes underthis censure still more, who blusters indeed ,and blows, as Sophocles expresses it,

Loud sounding blasts not sweetened by the stop.6 Amphicrates, 7 Hegesias, and 8 Matris,

styled those \vild beasts that devour men, running sepulchres.However, at best they are but conceits, with which little witsin all ages will be delighted, the great may accidentally slipinto, and such as men of true judgment may overlook, but willhardly commend.

* Callisthenes succeeded Aristotle in the tuition of Alexander the Great, and wrote a history of the affairs of Greece.

5 Clitarchus wrote an account of the exploits of Alexanderthe Great, having attended him in his expeditions. Demetrius Phalereus, in his treatise on Elocution, has censured hisswelling description of a wasp. " It feeds (says he) uponthe mountains, and flies into hollow oaks." It seems as if hewas speaking of a wild bull, or the boar of Erymanthus, andnot of such a pitiful creature as a wasp. And for this reason,says Demetrius, the description is cold and disagreeable.

6 Amphicrates was an Athenian orator. Being banishedto Seleucia, and requested to set up a school there, he replied,with arrogance and disdain, that " The dish was not largeenough for dolphins." Dr. Pearce.

7 Hegesias was a Magnesian. Cicero, in his Orator, c.226, says humorously of him, " He is faulty no less in his


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54 LONGIISTUS ON THE SUBLIME.may all be taxed with the same imperfections.For often, when, in their own opinion, theyare all Divine, what they imagine to be godlike spirit, proves empty simple froth .9Bombast however is amongst those faultswhich are most difficult to be avoided. All

thoughts than his expressions, so that no one who has anyknowledge of him need ever be at a loss for a man to call impertinent." One of his frigid expressions is still remaining.Alexander was born the same night that the temple of Dianaat Ephesus, the finest edifice in the world, was by a terriblefire reduced to ashes. Hegesias, in a panegyrical declamationon Alexander the Great, attempted thus to turn that accidentto his honour : . 1. 1. c. 45. ed. Oxon.-f- Plato in Timseo passim.3 The Alljgory or chain of Metaphors that occurs in Psalm

Ixxx. 8, is no way inferior to this of Plato. The royal authorspeaks thus of the people of Israel under the Metaphor of avine :

" Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt : thou hast eastout the heathen and planted it. Thou niadest room for it, andwhen it had taken root, it filled the land. The hills werecovered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof werelike the goodly cedar-trees. She stretched out her branchesunto the sea, and her boughs unto the river." Dr. Pearce.


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176 LONGlNUS ON THE SUBLIME.calls a citadel. The neck is an isthmus placedbetween the head and the breast. The vertebrae, or joints, on which it turns, are somany hinges. Pleasure is the bait, whichallures men to evil, and the tongue is the informer of tastes. The heart, being the knot

St. Paul has nobly described, in a continuation of Metaphors, the Christian armour, in his Epistle to the Ephesians,chap. vi. IS, &c.The sublime description of the horse in Job, chap, xxxix.

39 25, has been highly applauded by several writers. Thereader may see some just observations on it, in the Guardian,No. 86. But the SQth chapter of the same book will afford asfine instances of the beauty and energy of this figure as can anywhere be met with :

" Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days whenGod preserved me ! when the Almighty was yet with me,when my children were about me : when I washed my stepswith butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil ! Whenthe ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye sawme, it gave witness to me. The blessing of him that wasready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow s heartto sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to theblind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor."There is another beautiful use of this Figure in the latterpart of the 65th Psalm. The description is lively, and whatthe French call riante, or laughing. It has indeed been frequently observed, that the Eastern writings abound very muchin strong Metaphors ; but in Scripture they are always supported by a ground-work of masculine and nervous strength,without which they are apt to swell into ridiculous Bombast.


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 1?7of the veins, and the fountain from whencethe blood arises, and briskly circulatesthrough all the members, is a watch-towerOcompletely fortified. The pores he calls narrow streets. And because the heart is subject to violent palpitations, either when disturbed with fear of some impending evil, orwhen inflamed with wrath, the gods, says Ae,have provided against any ill effect that mighthence arise, by giving a place in the body tothe lungs, a soft and bloodless substance, furnished with inward vacuities, like a sponge,that whenever choler inflames the heart, thelungs should easily yield, should graduallybreak its violent strokes, and preserve it fromharm. The seat of the concupiscible passions, he has named the apartment of the women ; the seat of the irascible, the apartmentof the men. The spleen is the sponge of theentrails, from whence, when filled with excrements, it is swelled and bloated. Afterwards(proceeds he) the gods covered all those partswith flesh, their rampart and defence againstthe extremities of heat and cold, soft throughout like a cushion, and gently giving way tooutward impressions. The blood he calls thepasture of the flesh ; and adds, that for thesake ot nourishing the remotest parts, they


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178 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.opened the body into a number of rivulets,like a garden well stocked with plenty ofcanals, that the veins might by this means receive their supply of the vital moisture fromthe heart, as the common source, and conveyit through all the sluices of the body. Andat the approach of death, the soul, he says, isloosed, like a ship from her cables, and leftat the liberty of driving at pleasure." Manyother turns of the same nature in the sequelmight be adjoined, but these already abundantly shew, that the Tropes are naturallyendued with an air of grandeur, that Metaphors contribute very much to Sublimity,and are of very important service in descriptive and pathetic compositions.That the use of Tropes, as well as of allother things which are ornamental in dis

course, may be carried to excess, is obviousenough, though I should not mention it.Hence it comes to pass, that many severelycensure Plato, because oftentimes, as if hewas mad to utter his words, he suffers himself to be hurried into raw undigested Metaphors, and a vain pomp of Allegory. " Foris it not (says he) * easy to conceive, that a

* Plato, 1. 6. de Legibus, p. 773. ed. Par.


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LONGINUS OX THE SUBLIME. 1?9city ought to resemble a goblet replenishedwith a well-tempered mixture ? where, whenthe foaming deity of wine is poured in, itsparkles and fumes ; but when chastised byanother more sober divinity, it joins in firmalliance, and composes a pleasant and palatable liquor/ For (say they) to call water asober divinity, and the mixture chastisement,is a shrewd argument, that the author wasnot very sober himself.

Cecilius had certainly these trifling flourishes in view, when he had the rashness, in hisEssay on 4 Lysias, to declare him much preferable to Plato ; biassed to it by two passions equally indiscreet. For though heloved Lysias as well as his own self, yet hehated Plato with more violence than he couldpossibly love Lysias. Besides, he was hurried on by so much heat and prejudice, as topresume on the concession of certain pointswhich never will be granted. For Plato being oftentimes faulty, he thence takes occasion to cry up Lysias for a faultless and con-

4 Lysias was one of the ten celebrated orators of Athens.He was a neat, elegant, correct, and witty writer, but notsublime. Cicero calls him prope perfection, almost perfect.Quinctilian says he was more like a clear fountain than a greatriver.


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180 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.summate writer; which is so far from beingtruth, that it has not so much as the shadowof it.

SECTION XXXIII.BUT let us for once admit the possibility

of a faultless and consummate writer ; andthen, will it not be worth while to consider atlarge that important question, Whether, inpoetry or prose, what is truly grand in themidst of some faults, be not preferable tothat which has nothing extraordinary in itsbest parts, correct however throughout, andfaultless? And further, whether the excellence of fine writing consists in the numberof its beauties, or in the grandeur of itsstrokes ? For these points, being peculiar tothe Sublime, demand an illustration.

I readily allow, that writers of a lofty andtowering genius are by no means pure andcorrect, since whatever is neat and accuratethroughout, must be exceedingly liable toflatness. In the Sublime, as in great affluenceof fortune, some minuter articles will unavoidably escape observation. But it is almost impossible for a low and grovelling


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 181genius to be guilty of error, since he neverendangers himself by soaring on high, or aiming at eminence, but still goes on in the sameuniform secure track, whilst its very heightand grandeur exposes the Sublime to suddenfalls. Nor am I ignorant indeed of anotherthing, which will no doubt be urged, that 1 inpassing our judgment upon the works of anauthor, we always muster his imperfections,so that the remembrance of his faults sticksindelibly fast in the mind, whereas that of hisexcellences is quickly worn out. For mypart, I have taken notice of no inconsiderablenumber of faults in Homer, and some otherof the greatest authors, and cannot by anymeans be blind or partial to them ; however,2 1 judge them not to be voluntary faults, somuch as accidental slips incurred through inadvertence; such as, when the mind is intent

1 " In passing our judgment,? &c.] So Horace, Ep. I.ii. Ep. i. 262.

Discitenim citius meminitque libentius illud,Quod quis deridet, quam quod probat et veneratur.

1 " I judge them," &c.] So Horace, Ars Poet. Sol.Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis

Offender maculis, quas autincuria fudit,

Aut humana parum cavit natura.


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182 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.upon things of a higher nature, will creep isensibly into compositions. And for thisreason I give it as my real opinion, that thegreat and noble flights, 3 though they cannotevery where boast an equality of perfection,yet ought to carry off the prize, by the solemerit of their own intrinsic grandeur.4 Apollonius, author of the Argonautics, wasa writer without a blemish : and no one eversucceeded better in Pastoral than Theocritus,excepting some pieces where he has quittedhis own province. But yet, would you choose

3 " Though they cannot every where boast," 8cc.] So Mr.Pope, in the spirit of Longinus :

Great wits sometimes may gloriously offend,And rise to faults true critics dare not mend ;From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,And snatch a grace beyond the rules of art ;Which, without passing through the judgment, gainsThe heart, and all its end at once attains.

Essay on Criticism.4 Apollonius was born at Alexandria, but called a Rhodian,because he resided at Rhodes. He was the scholar of Calli-

machus, and succeeded Eratosthenes as keeper of Ptolemy slibrary : he wrote the Argonautics, which are still extant.Of this poet Quinctilian has thus given his judgment, Instit.Orat. 1. x. c. 1. " He published a performance, which wasnot despicable, but had a certain even mediocrity throughout." Dr. Pearce.


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184 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.left nothing without the nicest decoration ;but in Pindar and Sophocles, who carry firealong with them through the violence of theirmotion, that very fire is many times unseasonably quenched, and then they drop mostunfortunately down. But yet no one, I amcertain, who has the least discernment, willscruple to prefer the single 8 QEdipus of Sophocles, before all that lo ever composed.

SECTION XXXIV.IF the beauties of writers are to be esti

mated by their number, and not by theirquality or grandeur, then Hyperides willprove far superior to Demosthenes. He hasmore harmony and a finer cadence, he has agreater number of beauties, and those in adegree almost next to excellent. He resembles a champion, who, professing himselfmaster of the five exercises, in each of themseverally must yield the superiority to others,

8 The CEdipus Tyrannus, the most celebrated tragedy ofSophocles, which (as Dr. Pearce observes) poets of almost allnations have endeavoured to imitate, though in my opinionvery little to their credit.


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LONGINUS OX THE SUBLIME. 185but in all together stands alone and unrivalled. For Hyperides has in every point, except the structure of his words, imitated allthe virtues of Demosthenes, and has abundantly added 1 the graces and beauties ofLysias. When his subject demands simplicity, his style is exquisitely smooth ; nordoes he utter every thing with one empha-tical air of vehemence, like Demosthenes.His thoughts are always just and proper,tempered with most delicious sweetness andthe softest harmony of words. His turns ofwit are inexpressibly fine. He raises a laughwith the greatest art, and is prodigiously

1 " The graces of Lysias."] For the clearer understandingof this passage, \ve must observe, that there are two sorts ofgraces ; the one majestic and grave, and proper for the poets,the other simple, and like railleries in comedy. Those of thelast sort enter into the composition of the polished style, calledby the rhetoricians y\a.q>vpov \oyov ; and of this kind werethe graces of Lysias, who, in the judgment of Dionysius ofHalicarnassus, excelled in the polished style; and forthisreasonCicero calls him venuslissimum oratorem. We have one instance of the giaces of this pretty orator: Speaking one dayagainst zEschines, who was in love with an old woman, " Heis enamoured (cried he) with a lady, whose teeth may becounted easier than her fingers." Upon this account Demetrius has ranked the graces of Lysias in the same class withthose of Sophron, a farce writer. Dacier.

N


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186 LONG IN US ON THE SUBLIME.dexterous at irony or sneer. His strokes ofraillery are far from ungenteel ; by no meansfar-fetched, like those of the depraved imitators of Attic neatness, but apposite and proper. How skilful at evading an argument !With what humour does he ridicule, andwith what dexterity does he sting in the midstof a smile! In a word, there are inimitablegraces in all he says. Never did any onemore artfully excite compassion ; never wasany more diffuse in narration; never anymore dexterous at quitting and resuming hissubject with such easy address, and suchpliant activity, This plainly appears in hislittle poetical fables of Latona ; and besides,he has composed a funeral oration with suchpomp and ornament, as I believe never will,or can, be equalled.

Demosthenes, on the other side, has beenunsuccessful in representing the humours andcharacters of men ; he was a stranger to diffusive eloquence ; awkward in his address ;void of all pomp and show in his language ;and, in a word, for the most part, deficientin all the qualities ascribed to Hyperides.Where his subject compels him to be merryor facetious, he makes people laugh, but it isat himself. And the more he endeavours at


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME. 18?raillery, the more distant is he from it. 2 Hadhe ever attempted an oration for a Phryne

2 Hyperides, of whom mention has been made already, andwhom the Author in this Section compares with Demostheneswas one of the ten famous orators of Athens. He was Plato sscholar, and thought by some to have shared with Lycurgus inthe public administration. His orations for Phryne and Athe-nogenes were very much esteemed, though his defence of theformer owed its success to a very remarkable incident, mentioned by Plutarch. (Life of the ten orators, in Hyperides.)

Phryne was the most famous courtezan of that age ; herform so beautiful, that it was taken as a model for all thestatues of Venus carved at that time throughout Greece : yetan intrigue between her and Hyperides grew so scandalous,that an accusation was preferred against her in the court ofAthens. Hyperides defended her with all the art and rhetoricwhich experience and love could teach him, and his orationfor her was as pretty and beautiful as his subject. But aswhat is spoken to the ears makes not so deep an impressionas what is shewn to the eyes, Hyperides found his eloquenceunavailing, and effectually to soften the judges, uncovered thelady s bosom. Its snowy whiteness was an argument in herfavour not to be resisted, and therefore she was immediatelyacquitted.

Longinus s remark is a compliment to Hyperides, but doesa secret honour to Demosthenes. Hyperides was a graceful,genteel speaker, one that could say pretty things, divert hisaudience, and when a lady was the topic, quite outshine Demosthenes ; whose eloquence was too grand to appear for anything but honour and liberty. Then he could warm, transport, and triumph ; could revive in his degenerate countrymena love of their country and a zeal for freedom ; could make


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188 LONGIXUS ON THE SUBLIME.or an

Athenogenes,he would in such attemptshave only served as a foil to Hyperides.Yet after all, in my opinion, the numer

ous beauties of Hyperides are far from having any inherent greatness. They shew thesedateness and sobriety of the author s genius, but have not force enough to enlivenquot; Oor to warm an audience. No one that readshim, is ever sensible of extraordinary emotion. Whereas Demosthenes, adding to a continued vein of grandeur and to magnificenceof diction (the greatest qualifications requisite in an orator), such lively strokes of passion, such copiousness of words, such address, and such rapidity of speech ; and,what is his masterpiece, such force and vehemence, as the greatest writers besides durstnever aspire to ; being, I say, abundantlyfurnished with all these Divine (it would besin to call them human) abilities, he excelsall before him in the beauties which arereally his own ; and to atone for deficienciesin those he has not, overthrows all opponentswith the irresistible force and the glitteringblaze of his lightning. For it is much easier

them cry out in rage and fury, ** Let us arm, let us away, letu* march against Philip.**


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LONGINUS GN THE SUBLIME. 189to behold, with steadfast and undazzled eyes,the flashing lightning, than those ardentstrokes of the Pathetic, which come so thickone upon another in his orations.

SECTION XXXV.THE parallel between Plato and his oppo

nent must be drawn in a different lio;ht. ForOLysias not only falls short of him in the excellence, but in the number also of his beauties.And what is more, he not only falls short ofhim in the number of his beauties, but exceeds him vastly in the number of his faults.What then can we suppose that those godlike writers had in view, who laboured somuch in raising their compositions to thehighest pitch of the Sublime, and lookeddown with contempt upon accuracy and correctness? Amongst others, let this reasonObe accepted. Nature never designed man tobe a grovelling and ungenerous animal, butbrought him into life, and placed him in theworld, as in a crowded theatre, not to be anidle spectator, but spurred on by an eagerthirst of excelling, ardently to contend inthe pursuit of glory, For this purpose, she


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190 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.implanted in his soul an invincible love ofgrandeur, and a constant emulation of whatever seems to approach nearer to divinitythan himself. Hence it is, that the wholeuniverse is not sufficient for the extensivereach and piercing speculation of the humanunderstanding. It passes the bounds of thematerial world, and launches forth at pleasure into endless space. Let any one takean exact survey of a life, which, in its everyscene, is conspicuous on account of excellence, grandeur, and beauty, and he willsoon discern for what noble ends we wereborn. Thus the impulse of nature inclinesus to admire, not a little clear transparentrivulet that ministers to our necessities, butthe Nile, the Ister, the Rhine, or still muchmore, the Ocean. We are never surprisedat the sight of a small fire that burns clear,and blazes out on our own private hearth,but view with amaze the celestial fires, thoughthey are often obscured by vapours andeclipses. 1 Nor do we reckon any thing

1 We have a noble description of the volcano of JEtna inVirgil. .ZEn. 1. iii. v. 571. which will illustrate this passage inLonginus :

Horrificis juxta tonat -^Etna minis,Interdumque atram piorumpit ad aethera nubem,


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.in nature more wonderful than the boilingfurnaces of ^Etna, which cast up stones,and sometimes whole rocks, from their labouring abyss, and pour out whole rivers of liquidand unmingled flame. And from hence weomay infer, that whatever is useful and necessary to man, lies level to his abilities, and iseasily acquired ; but whatever exceeds thecommon size, is always great, and alwaysamazing,

Turbine fumantcm piceo et candente faviM.Attollitque globos rlammarum, et siclera lambit :Inteidum scopulos, avolsaque viscera mentisErigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub aurasCum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuat imo.

The coast where ./Etna lies,Horrid and waste, its entrails fraught with fire ;That now casts out dark fumes and pitchy clouds,Vast show rs of ashes hov ring in the smoke ;Now belches molten stones, and ruddy flamesIncens d, or tears up mountains by the roots,Or slings a broken rock aloft in air.The bottom works with smother d lire, involv dIn pestilential vapours, stench, and smoke. Addison.

Longinus s short description has the same spirit and grandeurwith Virgil s. The sidera lambit, in the fourth line, has theswell in it, which Longinus, Sect, iii, calls super-tragical.This is the remark of Dr. Pearce ; and it is observable, thatMr. Addison has taken no notice of those words in his translation.


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192 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.

SECTION XXXVI.WITH regard, therefore, to those sublime

writers, whose flight, however exalted, 1neverfails of its use and advantage, we must addanother consideration. Those other inferiorbeauties shew their authors to be men ; butthe Sublime makes near approaches to theheight, of God. What is correct and faultless, comes off barely without censure; butthe grand and the lofty command admiration.What can I add further? One exalted andsublime sentiment in those noble authorsmakes ample amends for all their defects.And, what is most remarkable, were theerrors of Homer, Demosthenes, Plato, andthe rest of the most celebrated authors, tobe culled carefully out and thrown together,

1 " Never fails of its use and advantage."] Longinus, in thepreceding Section, had said, that men " view with amaze thecelestial fires (such as the sun and moon), though they are frequently obscured ;" the case is the same with the burningmountain ./Etna, though it casts up pernicious fire from itsabyss : but here, when he returns to the sublime authors, heiut inates, that the sublime is the more to be admired, because, far from being useless or amusing merely, it is of greatservice to its authors, as well as to the public. Di . Pearce.


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.they would not bear the least proportion tothose infinite, those inimitable excellences,which are so conspicuous in these heroes ofantiquity. And for this reason, has everyage and every generation, unmoved by partiality, and unbiassed by envy, awarded thelaurels to these great masters, which flourishstill green and unfading on their brows, andwill flourish,

As long as streams in silver mazes rove,Or Spring with annual green renews the grove.Fenton,

A certain writer objects here, that an ill-wrought 2Colossus cannot be set upon thelevel with a little faultless statue; for instance, 3 the little soldier of Polycletus: butthe answer to this is very obvious. In theworks of art we have regard to exact proportion; in those of nature, to grandeur andmagnificence. Now speech is a gift bestowed

2 The Colossus was a most famous statue of Apollo, erectedat Rhodes by Jalysus, of a size so vast, that the sea ran, andships of the greatest burden sailed, between its legs.Dr. Pearce.

3 The Doryphoi us, a small statue by Polycletus, a celebrated statuary. The proportions were so finely observed init, that Lysippus professed

he had learned all his art from thestudy and imitation of it.


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194 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.upon us by nature. As, therefore, resemblance and proportion to the originals is required in statues, so, in the noble faculty ofdiscourse, there should be something extraordinary, something more than humanly great.But to close this long digression, which hadbeen more regularly placed at the beginningof the Treatise ; since it must be owned, thatit is the business of art to avoid defect andblemish, and almost an impossibility in theSublime, always to preserve the same majestic air, the same exalted tone, art and natureshould join hands, and mutually assist oneanother. For, from such union and alliance,perfection must certainly result.

These are the decisions I have thoughtproper to make concerning the questions indebate. I pretend not to say they are absolutely right ; let those who are willing, makeuse of their own judgment.

SECTION XXXVII.To return. * Similes and Comparisons

bear so near an affinity to Metaphors, as to1 The manner in which Similes or Comparisons differ from

Metaphors, \\c cannot know from Longirius, because of the


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.differ from them only in one particular * ** # * * [The remainder of this Sectionis lost] * * * *

SECTION XXXVIII.* * * * [The beginning of this Sectionon Hyperboles is lost.] *As this Hyperbole, for instance, is exceeding bad: o$.

" This very decreescattered, like a vapour, the danger which atthat time hung hovering over the city." Yetthe sentiment itself is not more to be admiredthan the harmony of the period. It consiststhroughout of Dactylics, the finest measure,and most conducing to Sublimity. Andhence are they admitted into heroic verse,universally allowed to be the most noble ofall. But for further satisfaction, only transpose a word or two, just as you please ; TOUTOTO fyqQta fjiM, utTTTSo vetyoi;, tTroiyve. TOV TOTS xivouvovarotoexQstv or take away a syllable, STroiyrs wotg-sxQeiv uz vetpog, and you will quickly discernhow much Harmony conspires with Sublimity.In uo-Tref vstpos, the first word moves along in astately measure of four times, and when onesyllable is taken away, as ug vtqoq, the subtraction maims the Sublimity. So, on theother side, if you lengthen it,

* Oral, de Corona, p. 114, ed. OXOB.


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206 LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.the sense indeed is still preserved,

but the cadence is entirely lost. For thegrandeur of the period languisheth and re-laxeth, when enfeebled by the stress thatmust be laid upon the additional syllable.

SECTION XL.BUT, amongst other methods, an apt Con

nexion of the parts conduces as much to theaggrandizing discourse, 1 as symmetry in themembers of the body to a majestic mien. Ifthey are taken apart, each single member willhave no beauty or grandeur, but when skilfully knit together, they produce what iscalled afine person. So the constituent partsof noble periods, when rent asunder and divided, in the act of division fly off and losetheir Sublimity ; but when united into onebody, and associated together by the bondof harmony, they join to promote their own

1 So Mr. Pope :In wit, as nature, what affects our heartsIs not th exactness of peculiar parts ;Tis not a lip or cheek we beauty call,But the joint force and full result of all.

Essay on Criticism.


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LONGINUS ON THE SUBLIME.elevation, and by their union and multiplici

pseudo longinus on the sublime

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