Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T18:27:45.777Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Longinus, on Sublimity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2013

Malcolm Heath
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the treatise On sublimity was universally attributed to the third-century critic, rhetorician and philosopher Cassius Longinus. Weiske's edition, first issued in 1809, marked a turning-point in the trend of scholarly opinion, and Longinus' claim to authorship is now generally rejected, often summarily. A variety of alternative attributions have been canvassed; most commonly the work is assigned to an anonymous author of the first century A.D. But a minority of scholars have resisted the consensus and defended Longinus' claim to authorship. This paper will argue that they were right to do so.

To avoid ambiguity, I shall follow Russell in using the symbol ‘L’ as a non-committal way of designating the author of On sublimity; by ‘Longinus’ I shall always mean Cassius Longinus. So the question before us is whether L is Longinus. I begin by explaining why manuscript evidence (§2) and stylistic comparison with the fragments of Longinus (§3) fail to resolve the question. I then try to find a place for the composition of the treatise within Longinus' career (§4). This leads to a consideration of the final chapter, widely regarded as inconsistent with a third-century date; I shall argue that there is no inconsistency (§5). If so, the way lies open to a reassessment of the case in favour of Longinus' claim.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society (Second Series) , Volume 45 , 2000 , pp. 43 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alföldi, A. (1967) Studien zur Geschichte der Weltkrise des 3. Jahrhunderts nach Christus (Darmstadt)Google Scholar
Alföldy, G. (1974) ‘The crisis of the third century as seen by contemporaries’, GRBS 15, 89–111Google Scholar
Andresen, C. (1955) Logos und Nomos. Die Polemik des Kelsos wider das Christentum (Berlin)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, A.H. (1940) The architecture of the intelligible universe in the philosophy of Plotinus (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Armstrong, A.H. (1960) ‘The background of the doctrine “That the intelligibles are not outside of the intellect”’, Entretiens Hardt 5, 391–413Google Scholar
Aulitzky, K. (1927) ‘Longinos’, RE 13.2, 1401–23Google Scholar
Ballaira, G. (1968) Tiberii de figuris Demosthenicis libellus cum deperditorum operum fragmentis (Rome)Google Scholar
Berry, D.H. (1996) ‘The value of prose rhythm in questions of authenticity: the case of De optimo genere oratorum attributed to Cicero’, PLLS 9, 47–74Google Scholar
Blois, L. de (1984) ‘The third-century crisis and the Greek élite in the Roman empire’, Historia 38, 358–77Google Scholar
Boileau Despréaux, N. (1966) Oeuvres complètes, ed. Escal, F. (Paris)Google Scholar
Boyd, M.J. (1957) ‘Longinus, the “Philological discourses”, and the essay “On the sublime”’, CQ 7, 39–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brisson, L., Goulet-Cazé, M.-O., Goulet, R. and O'Brien, D. (1982) Porphyre: Vie de Plotin I (Paris)Google Scholar
Brisson, L. and Patillon, M. (1994) ‘Longinus Platonicus philosophus et philologus, I. Longinus philosophus’, ANRW II 36.7, 5214–99Google Scholar
Brisson, L. and Patillon, M. (1998) ‘Longinus Platonicus philosophus et philologus, II. Longinus philologus’, ANRW II 34.4, 3023–3108Google Scholar
Buehler, W. (1964) Beiträge zur Erklärung der Schrift vom Erhabenen (Göttingen)Google Scholar
Chevalier, J. (1915) Étude critique du dialogue pseudo-platonicien l'Axiochos (Paris)Google Scholar
Croke, B. (1983) ‘Porphyry's anti-Christian chronology’, Journal of Theological Studies 34, 168–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dörrie, H. (1972) ‘Une exégèse néoplatonicienne du prologue de l'Évangile de St Jean’, in Fontaine, J. & Kannengiesser, C. (eds.) Epiktesis. Mélanges patristiques offerts au Cardinal Jean Daniélou (Beauchesne) 75–87 = Platonica minora (Munich 1976) 491–507Google Scholar
Dyck, A.R. (1989) ‘New light on ancient authors from grammatical texts’, MH 46, 1–8Google Scholar
Edwards, M.J. (1990) ‘Atticizing Moses? Numenius, the Fathers and the Jews’, Vigiliae Christianae 44, 64–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, M.J. (1993) ‘Ammonius, teacher of Origen’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 44, 169–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, E. (1982) ‘Greek translations of Latin literature in the fourth century A.D.’, YCS 27, 173–215Google Scholar
Gager, J.G. (1972) Moses in Greco-Roman paganism (Nashville)Google Scholar
Gatti, M.L. (1996) ‘Plotinus: the Platonic tradition and the foundation of Neoplatonism’ in Gerson, Lloyd P. (ed.) The Cambridge companion to Plotinus (Cambridge) 10–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gautier, P. (1977) ‘Michel Psellos et la rhétorique de Longin’, Prometheus 3, 193–9Google Scholar
Goold, G.P. (1961) ‘A Greek professorial circle at Rome’, TAPA 92, 168–92Google Scholar
Gowing, A. (1972) The Triumviral narratives of Appian and Cassius Dio (Ann Arbor)Google Scholar
Gowing, A. (1998) ‘Greek advice for a Roman senator’, PLLS 10, 373–90Google Scholar
Graeven, H. (1895) ‘Ein Fragment des Lachares’, Hermes 30, 289–313Google Scholar
Grube, G.M.A. (1957) ‘Notes on the πεϱὶ ὕψους’ AJP 78, 355–74Google Scholar
Grube, G.M.A. (1959) ‘Theodorus of Gadara’, AJP 80, 337–65Google Scholar
Grube, G.M.A. (1965) The Greek and Roman critics (London)Google Scholar
Gudeman, A. (1921) ‘Scholien’, RE 3A, 625–705Google Scholar
Heath, M (1996) ‘The family of Minucianus?’, ZPE 113, 66–70Google Scholar
Heath, M (1997) ‘Invention’ in Porter, S. (ed.) A handbook of classical rhetoric in the Hellenistic period (Leiden) 89–119CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, M (1998a) ‘Apsines and pseudo-Apsines’, AJP 119, 89–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, M (1998b) ‘Menecrates on the end of the Iliad’, RM 141, 204–6Google Scholar
Heath, M (1999) ‘Echoes of Longinus in Gregory of Nyssa’, Vigiliae Christianae 53, 395–400CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, M (1999) (forthcoming, a) ‘Longinus, On sublimity 35.1’, CQ 50 (2000) forthcomingGoogle Scholar
Heath, M (1999) (forthcoming, b) ‘Caecilius, Longinus and Photius’Google Scholar
Heath, M (1999) (in preparation) ‘Porphyry's rhetoric’Google Scholar
Innes, D.C. (1994) ‘Period and colon: theory and example in Demetrius and Longinus’ in Fortenbaugh, W.W. & Mirhady, D.C. (eds.) Peripatetic rhetoric after Aristotle (Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities 6, New Brunswick) 36–53Google Scholar
Jones, C.P. (1980) ‘Prosopographical notes on the second sophistic’, GRBS 21, 373–80Google Scholar
Kaibel, G. (1899) ‘Cassius Longinus und die Schrift πεϱὶ ὕψους’, Hermes 34, 106–32Google Scholar
Kennedy, G.A. (1972) The art of rhetoric in the Roman world (Princeton)Google Scholar
Kennedy, G.A. (1997) ‘Historical survey of rhetoric’ in Porter, S. (ed.) A handbook of classical rhetoric in the Hellenistic period (Leiden) 3–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleve, K. (1980) ‘Longinus – too good to he a rhetorician?’, SO 55, 71–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Low, D.M. (1929) Gibbon's Journal to January 28th, 1763 (London)Google Scholar
Luck, G. (1967) ‘Die Schrift vom Erhahenen und ihr Verfasser’, Arktos 5, 97–113Google Scholar
Marx, F. (1898) ‘Die Zeit der Schrift vom Erhabenen’, WS 20, 169–204Google Scholar
Mazzucchi, C.M. (1990) ‘Longino in Giovanni di Sicilia’, Aevum 64, 183–98Google Scholar
Meijer, P.A. (1992) Plotinus on the Good or the One (Ennead VI, 9) (Amsterdam)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merlan, P. (1964) ‘Plotinus and the Jews’, Journal of the History of Ideas 2, 15–21 = Kleine Schriften (Hildesheim 1976) 372–8Google Scholar
Millar, F. (1964) A study of Cassius Dio (Oxford)Google Scholar
Mosshammer, A. A. (1979) The Chronicle of Eusebius and Greek chronographic tradition (Lewisburg)Google Scholar
Neuberger-Donath, R. (1987) Longini De subilimitate Lexicon (Hildesheim)Google Scholar
Norden, E. (1915) Die antike Kunstprosa (Stuttgart)Google Scholar
Norden, E. (1954) ‘Das Genesiszitat in der Schrift vom Erhabenen’, Abhandl. d. deutsch. Akademied. Wiss. zu BerlinGoogle Scholar
Norden, E. (1954) = Kleine Schriften zum klassischen Altertum (Berlin 1966) 286–313Google Scholar
Pernot, L. (1993) La Rhétorique de l'éloge dans le monde gréco-romain (Paris)Google Scholar
Praechter, L. (1906) ‘Hierax der Platoniker’, Hermes 41, 593–618 = Kleine Schriften (Hildesheim 1973) 55–80Google Scholar
Rabe, H. (1931) Prolegomenon sylloge (Leipzig)Google Scholar
Reynolds, J. (1983) Aphrodisias and Rome (JRS Monographs 1, London)Google Scholar
Richards, G.C. (1938) ‘The authorship of the πεϱὶ ὕψους,’ CQ 32, 133–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rist, J.M. (1967) Plotinus: the road to reality (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Rinaldi, G. (1989) Biblia gentium (Rome)Google Scholar
Roberts, W. Rhys (1897) ‘Caecilius of Calacte’, AJP 18, 302–12Google Scholar
Roberts, W. Rhys (1907) Longinus On the sublime (ed. 2, Cambridge)Google Scholar
Rochette, B. (1997) Le Latin dans le monde grec: recherches sur la diffusion de la langue et des lettres latines dans les provinces hellénophones de l'Empire romain (Collection Latomus 233. Brussels)Google Scholar
Ruhnken, D. (1765) [announcement of the discovery of a fragment of Longinus Art of rhetoric] Bibliothèque des Sciences et des Beaux Arts 24, 273 f.Google Scholar
Ruhnken, D. (1776) ‘Dissertatio philologica de vita et scriptis Longini’ in Weiske, (1809) lxix–cviGoogle Scholar
Runia, D.T. (1986) Philo of Alexandria and the Timaeus of Plato (Leiden)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, D.A. (1964) ‘Longinus’ On the sublime (Oxford)Google Scholar
Russell, D.A. (1989) ‘Greek criticism of the empire’ in Kennedy, G.A. (ed.) The Cambridge history of literary criticism I: classical criticism (Cambridge) 297–329Google Scholar
Rutherford, I. (1998) Canons of style in the Antonine Age (Oxford)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, W.G. (1905) A chapter in the history of annotation (London)Google Scholar
Ste Croix, G.E.M. de (1981) The class struggle in the ancient Greek world (London)Google Scholar
Sedgwick, W.B. (1948) ‘Sappho in “Longinus” (X, 2, Line 13)’, AJP 69, 197–200Google Scholar
Sellew, P. (1989) ‘Achilles or Christ? Porphyry and Didymus in debate on allegorical interpretation’, Harvard Theological Review 82, 79–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheppard, A. (1980) Studies on the fifth and sixth essays of Proclus' commentary on the Republic (Hypomnemata 61, Göttingen)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solmsen, F. (1936) ‘Tiberius (2)’, RE 6A, 804–7Google Scholar
Stein, E. (1932–1933) ‘De Celso Platonico Philonis Alexandrini imitatore’, Eos 34, 205–16Google Scholar
Stern, M. (1976–1984) Greek and Latin authors on Jews and Judaism, 3 vols. (Jerusalem)Google Scholar
Trapp, M. (1996) Maximus of Tyre (Oxford)Google Scholar
Treadgold, W.T. (1980) The nature of the Bibliotheca of Photius (Dumbarton Oaks Studies 18, Washington)Google Scholar
Walsdorff, F. (1927) Die antiken Urteile über Platans Stil (Bonn)Google Scholar
Walzer, R. (1949) Galen on Jews and Christians (Oxford)Google Scholar
Weinstock, S. (1926–1927) ‘Die platonische Homerkritik und seine Nachwirkung’. Philologus 82, 121–53Google Scholar
Weiske, B. (1809) Dionysii Longini De sublimitate (Leipzig)Google Scholar
Whittaker, J. (1987) ‘Platonic philosophy in the early Empire’, ANRW II 36.1, 81–123Google Scholar
Wilken, R.L. (1979) ‘Pagan criticism of Christianity: Greek religion and Christian faith’, in Schoedel, William R. & Wilken, Robert L.Early Christian literature and the classical intellectual tradition (Paris) 117–34Google Scholar
Williams, G. (1978) Change and decline: Roman literature in the early Empire (Berkeley)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyttenbach, D. (1799) ‘Vita Davidis Ruhnkenii’, in Wyttenbach, (1821), 520–793Google Scholar
Wyttenbach, D. (1821) Opuscula I (Leipzig)Google Scholar