A c He publish'd many Books both in Philofophy and Criticifm; all which, thro' the Injury of Time, have perished, except a few Fragments and this fmall Treatife of the SUBLIME, or as One truly calls it, Libellus reverà aureolus de Grandiloquentiâ, which we have now before us, and which has always been fo justly esteem'd, by all good Judges, the greatest Mafter-piece in Criticism that ever was wrote. I intend, SIR, to fend you the reft at proper Opportunities, if, upon a repeated Perufal, I like 'em myself, and find 'em not troublefome to you. Till when I beg leave to fubfcribe myself, SIR, Your most obedient humble Servant, J. H. OBS. III. c ANNOTATIONS. HE Books THE LONGINUS is faid to have wrote are 25. viz. 1. On the Objections against Pheidias. 2. Homerical Doubts. 3. Whether Homer was a PhiloJopher. 4. Problems of Homer, with their Solutions, in two Books. 5.What Things are recorded by the Grammarians as Hiftorical, befides what we meet with in Hiftory. 6. Of Words of various Significations in Homer, four Books. 7. Two Commentaries of the Attic Dialect in alphabetical Order. 8. The Diction of Antimachus and Cleon. All these are mention'd by Suidas. 9. Liber de Principiis. 10. Against Plotinus, and Gentilianus Amelius, Liber de Fine. 11: An Epiftle against Amelius. 12. Concerning Juflice according to Plato. 13. On the Rhetoric of Hermogenes. 14. Concerning Ideas. 15. Prælections to Hephæftion's Manual. 16. A Confutation of the Stoics Doctrine of the Soul. These are conjectur'd from the Fragments. 17. On the Sublime. 18. On the Compofition of Words. 19. On the Paffions. 20. A Tract concerning Xenophon. The three laft he mentions in his Treatife of the Sublime. 21. Of Military Affairs. 22. On the Poets. 23. Critical Works. 24. 'Odaival : Aby. 25. Philolo gers. Thefe are mention'd by different Authors. LETTER LETTER II. SIR, Holt, Jan. 4 IN hopes my laft did not interfere too much with your feverer Studies, I proceed to my fecond Epiftle, which begins the Treatife itself — .MEMORABILIA EX LONGINI ei "rfus L18 ELLO EXCERPT A. LON ONGINUS in his First SECTION, after having fhewn CECILIUS's Treatife on the Sublime to be imperfect both in Stile and Subject, defcribes SUBLIMITY thus Ακρότης καὶ Ἐξοχή τις Λόγων ἐςὶ τα Ψψη. Sublimity is the very Height and Excellency of good Writings. And declares to his Friend POSTHUMUS TERENTIANUS, that this is the only Virtue whereby the greatest Writers in all Ages have attained to their Height of Reputation and Immortality. d ANNOTATION S. OBS. IV. THIS CECILI US, thought to be the firft that ever wrote of the Sublime, was a Sicilian Orator, in the Time of guftus As for RHETORIC, or the meer Art of Perfuafion, fays he, it can have no more Influence over us than we please to let it; but it is not fo with the SUBLIME, whofe Force is irresistible, ever conquering and filling the Mind with Extafy and Admiration. He adds further- The Excellency of INVENTIOŇ or DISPOSITION is fcarcely difcernible in one or two Paffages of any Production, nor fometimes in the whole Contexture; but as for the e SUBLIME, no fooner doth it properly appear in an Author, but it captivates our Understandings, forces our Approbation, and like Lightening has, as it were already, driven all Objections before it, and at one Stroke difcover'd the Orator's whole Power and Strength. In SECTION II. our Author proceeding to inquire, Whether this SUBLIMITY be an OBS. V. e ANNOTATIONS. MR. R. Pearce obferves, that Longinus in this Treatife ufes, as Synonymous Terms, for The Sublime or Sublimity, ro, τὰ ὕψη, τὰ ὑπερουά, τὰ μεγαλα, τὸ ὑπερτε]αμένον, τὰ μεγέθη, τὸ μεγαλοφυές, τὸ θαυμάσιον, ὁ ὄγκα, τὸ βα8, Tà Singuéva, &c. What's beyond Sublime, he calls ρα, παρὰ τραγῳδα, &c. but Longinus ufes the Time paft eqógnoev & évedésalo, it hath driven away and discover'd, intimating with what Celerity and Force Sublimity like Lightning (which while prefent we can't fay we fee, but when paft foon perceive it by its Effelts) ftrikes the Mind of the Auditor. Befides, the Structure and rapidSound of the very Words feem to give us a lively Picture both of Lightning and Sublimity. Try to pronounce them- "rto δὲ σε καιρίως ἐξενεχθὲν τα τε πράγματα δίκην σκηπτ πάντα διεφόρησεν, καὶ τὴν τὸ ρήτορα ευθὺς αθρόαν ἐνεδείξε απο δύναμιν. Effect Effect of Art or Nature, He contradicts fuch as affert Μία Τέχνη πρὸς αὐτὰ, τὸ πεφυκέναι, The only Art to attain it is to be born to it.-Or That the Force of Genius or meer Strength of Natural Parts produces it; and that Learning is fo far from contributing any thing thereto, that by it's Precepts and Rules it rather cramps and hinders it. He owns, that in all Productions, Nature ought to act freely and unconfin'd; however, not fo headlong or irrational, as to be fubject to no Laws of Method. He confeffes indeed the Force of Genius to be the Foundation and primogenial Principle of all that can be call'd SUBLIME; but then, that the Knowing in what Manner, Time and Place, for what End, and under what Restrictions it ought to be us'd, is folely owing to Art and Method. That Natural Abilities frequently want Ballast as well as Sail, a Bridle as well as a Spur. And that what DEMOSTHENES faid of Common Life holds good in Stile, viz. That a Competency was the greatest Bleffing; but that the next, and what was fcarcely inferior to it, was the Prudent Skill to manage it, which if wanting, the other would be but of little Service or Significancy. In Stile, hints LONGINUS, call Genius that Competency, and Art that Prudence. In In SECTION III. the Beginning of which is loft, he goes on to fhew, that this SUBLIMITY confifts not in I. AN EMPTY SWELLING OF WORDS, fuch as ÆSCHYLUS puts into Boreas's Mouth, at firing an House, viz. Whirlpools of Flames tow'rds Heav'n I vomit soon, Nor bad I whistled yet my Fav'rite Tune. Magnificently terrible at firft Sight; but do but bring Whirlpools of Flames, Vomiting towards Heaven, and the Whistler Boreas, to the Teft of Senfe and Truth, And what vile fwoln frivolous contemptible Bombaft will these Images appear!- Now, fays he, if Tragedy, which is in it's Nature grand and lofty, will not admit of this, who can forbear laughing to hear the Hiftorian & GORGIAS LEON |