Longinus

Longinus (or Pseudo-Longinus) is the name conventionally given to the author of an influential work of literary criticism, On the Sublime, the author's real name being unknown. He wrote in Greek and probably lived in the 1st century AD.

Quotes

Greek text cited from D. A. Russell, Libellus de sublimitate Dionysio Longino fere adscriptus (Oxford, 1968).
Translations cited from W. H. Fyfe, revised by Donald Russell (1995), included in vol. 199 of the Loeb Classical Library ISBN 0-674-99563-5, unless otherwise noted.

• δεῖ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὡς κέντρου πολλάκις οὕτω δὲ καὶ χαλινοῦ.
  • Genius needs the curb as often as the spur.
  • 2.2

• τεθόλωται γὰρ τῇ φράσει καὶ τεθορύβηται ταῖς φαντασίαις μᾶλλον ἢ δεδείνωται, κἂν ἕκαστον αὐτῶν πρὸς αὐγὰς ἀνασκοπῇς, ἐκ τοῦ φοβεροῦ κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ὑπονοστεῖ πρὸς τὸ εὐκαταφρόνητον.
  • The images make for confusion rather than forcefulness. Examine each in the light of day and it gradually sinks from the terrible to the ridiculous.
  • 3.1

• πολλαχοῦ γὰρ ἐνθουσιᾶν ἑαυτοῖς δοκοῦντες οὐ βακχεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ παίζουσιν.
  • Utterances which appear inspired are often not sublime but merely childish.
  • 3.2 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• φύσει γὰρ ἅπαντες οἱ μεγέθους ἐφιέμενοι, φεύγοντες ἀσθενείας καὶ ξηρότητος κατάγνωσιν, οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως ἐπὶ τοῦθ᾿ ὑποφέρονται, πειθόμενοι τῷ "μεγάλων ἀπολισθαίνειν ὅμως εὐγενὲς ἁμάρτημα".
  • For all who aim at grandeur, in trying to avoid the charge of being feeble and arid, fall somehow into this fault, pinning their faith to the maxim that "to miss a high aim is to fail without shame."
  • 3.3
    • Alternate translation (W. Rhys Roberts, 1899):
    • All who aim at elevation are so anxious to escape the reproach of being weak and dry that they are carried, as by some strange law of nature, into the opposite extreme. They put their trust in the maxim that 'failure in a great attempt is at least a noble error.'

• οὐδὲν ὑπάρχει μέγα οὗ τὸ καταφρονεῖν ἐστι μέγα, οἷον πλοῦτοι τιμαὶ δόξαι τυραννίδες καὶ ὅσα δὴ ἄλλα ἔχει πολὺ τὸ ἔξωθεν προστραγῳδούμενον οὐκ ἂν τῷ γε φρονίμῳ δόξειεν ἀγαθὰ ὑπερβάλλοντα ὧν αὐτὸ τὸ περιφρονεῖν ἀγαθὸν οὐ μέτριον—θαυμάζουσι γοῦν τῶν ἐχόντων αὐτὰ μᾶλλον τοὺς δυναμένους ἔχειν καὶ διὰ μεγαλοψυχίαν ὑπερορῶντας.
  • Nothing is truly great which it is great to despise; wealth, honor, reputation, absolute power—anything in short which has a lot of external trappings—can never seem supremely good to the wise man because it is no small good to despise them. People who could have these advantages if they chose but disdain them out of magnanimity are admired much more than those who actually possess them.
  • 7.1 (tr. L. Golden, 1974)

• Ἐπεὶ δὲ πέντε, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, πηγαί τινές εἰσιν αἱ τῆς ὑψηγορίας γονιμώταται, προϋποκειμένης ὥσπερ ἐδάφους τινὸς κοινοῦ ταῖς πέντε ταύταις ἰδέαις τῆς ἐν τῷ λέγειν δυνάμεως, ἧς ὅλως χωρὶς οὐδέν, πρῶτον μὲν καὶ κράτιστον τὸ περὶ τὰς νοήσεις ἁδρεπήβολον [. . .] δεύτερον δὲ τὸ σφοδρὸν καὶ ἐνθουσιαστικὸν πάθος· ἀλλ᾿ αἱ μὲν δύο αὗται τοῦ ὕψους κατὰ τὸ πλέον αὐθιγενεῖς συστάσεις, αἱ λοιπαὶ δ᾿ ἤδη καὶ διὰ τέχνης, ἥ τε ποιὰ τῶν σχημάτων πλάσις (δισσὰ δέ που ταῦτα, τὰ μὲν νοήσεως, θάτερα δὲ λέξεως), ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ἡ γενναία φράσις [. . .] πέμπτη δὲ μεγέθους αἰτία καὶ συγκλείουσα τὰ πρὸ αὑτῆς ἅπαντα, ἡ ἐν ἀξιώματι καὶ διάρσει σύνθεσις.
  • There are, one may say, some five most productive sources of the sublime in literature, the common groundwork, as it were, of all five being competence in speaking, without which nothing can be done. The first and most powerful is the power of grand conceptions [. . .] and the second is the inspiration of vehement emotion. The other three come partly from art, namely the proper construction of figures – these being of course of two kinds, figures of thought and figures of speech – and, over and above these, nobility of language [. . .] The fifth cause of grandeur, which gives form to all those already mentioned, is dignified and elegant word-arrangement.
  • 8.1

• ὕψος μεγαλοφροσύνης ἀπήχημα.
  • Sublimity is the echo of a noble mind.
  • 9.2
    • Alternate translation (tr. G. F. Else, 1974):
    • Sublimity is the echo of greatness of spirit.

• οὐδὲ γὰρ οἷόν τε μικρὰ καὶ δουλοπρεπῆ φρονοῦντας καὶ ἐπιτηδεύοντας παρ᾿ ὅλον τὸν βίον θαυμαστόν τι καὶ τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος ἐξενεγκεῖν ἄξιον· μεγάλοι δὲ οἱ λόγοι τούτων, κατὰ τὸ εἰκός, ὧν ἂν ἐμβριθεῖς ὦσιν αἱ ἔννοιαι.
  • Those whose thoughts and habits all their lives are trivial and servile cannot possibly produce anything admirable or worthy of eternity. Words will be great if thoughts are weighty.
  • 9.3 (tr. D. A. Russell, 1965)

• εἰ δέ τις αὐτόθεν φοβοῖτο, μὴ τοῦ ἰδίου βίου καὶ χρόνου φθέγξαιτό τι ὑπερήμερον, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὰ συλλαμβανόμενα ὑπὸ τῆς τούτου ψυχῆς ἀτελῆ καὶ τυφλὰ ὥσπερ ἀμβλοῦσθαι, πρὸς τὸν τῆς ὑστεροφημίας ὅλως μὴ τελεσφορούμενα χρόνον.
  • If a man is afraid of saying anything which will outlast his own life and age, the conceptions of his mind are bound to be incomplete and abortive; they will miscarry and never be brought to birth whole and perfect for the day of posthumous fame.
  • 14.3 (tr. D. A. Russell, 1965)

• τότε γὰρ ἡ τέχνη τέλειος ἡνίκ᾿ ἂν φύσις εἶναι δοκῇ, ἡ δ᾿ αὖ φύσις ἐπιτυχὴς ὅταν λανθάνουσαν περιέχῃ τὴν τέχνην.
  • For art is only perfect when it looks like nature and Nature succeeds only when she conceals latent art.
  • 22.1

Criticism

• Thee, bold Longinus! all the Nine inspire,
  And bless their Critick with a Poet's Fire.
  An ardent Judge, who Zealous in his Trust,
  With Warmth gives Sentence, yet is always Just;
  Whose own Example strengthens all his Laws,
  And Is himself that great Sublime he draws.
  • Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, line 675.