Dionysiou Longinou Peri Hupsous, Kai Talla Heuriskomena
by Longinus
Dionysiou Longinou Peri Hupsous, Kai Talla Heuriskomena | |
Title page from Dionysiou Longinou Peri Hupsous, Kai Talla Heuriskomena, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary. | |
Author | Longinus |
Published | Trajecto ad Rhenum: Ex Officinâ Francisci Halma |
Date | 1694 |
Language | Text in Latin and Greek, followed by French translation from the Greek of De Sublimitate |
Pages | Ex Officinâ Francisci Halma |
Desc. | 4to (24 cm.) |
This Greek literary treatise On the Sublime is steeped in mystery. Not only is a third of it lost, but no one knows who wrote it or when.[1] The author is referred to as both “Dionysius Longinus” and “Dionysius or Longinus” in various manuscripts (referred to as Longinus hereafter). Until the 1800s, it was believed to be authored by Cassius Longinus, but chronological internal evidence indicates it was written perhaps around the first century AD.[2] It was written as an answer to the rhetor Caecilius of Caleacte who Longinus believes failed to properly address the importance and weight of pathos (emotional weight) in his own treatise on sublimity.[3] Longinus addressed his work to a friend, Postumius Terentianus (likely Roman from the name) on the role of sublimity in literature.[4] Sublime can be defined as “that quality of genius in great literary works which irresistibly delights, inspires, and overwhelms the reader."[5] It applies more to literature than natural phenomena, and to specific excerpts rather than entire works, resulting from “superhuman natural capacity…[to] lift us above our quotidian banalities and put us in touch with finer minds and, above all, with less obstructed emotions.”[6] On the Sublime is an important and influential book due to its analysis of poetry and prose and its reflections on writing and genius in general.[7] Longinus gives many examples and non-examples of sublimity in a wide variety of literary sources from Homer to Demosthenes to Cicero, Sappho, and even the Book of Genesis. This indicates that the author was connected with not only Greeks and Romans but with Jewish contacts as well.[8]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
Beautifully rebacked in full mottled calf with gilt lettered red leather spine label. Has five raised bands and gilt decorations. All edges of the binding are decorated in gilt. Added engraved title page: Dionysius Longinus Cassius de sublimitate. Purchased from Elliot's Books.
View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.
External Links
References
- ↑ "Longī'nus on the Sublime” in The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, ed. by M.C. Howatson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ "‘Longīnus'" in Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World, ed. by John Roberts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
- ↑ "Longī'nus on the Sublime” in The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature.
- ↑ "sublime" in Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World, ed. by John Roberts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ "‘Longīnus’" in Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World.
- ↑ "Longī'nus on the Sublime” in The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature.