C He publish'd many Books both in Philosophy and Criticifm; all which, thro' the Injury of Time, have perish'd, except a few Fragments and this Small 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 so justly esteem'd, by all good fudges, the greatest Mafter-piece in Criticism that ever was wrote. I intend, SIR, to fend you the rest 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 subfcribe myself, SIR, OBS.III. c Your most obedient humble Servant, ANNOTATION S. TH HE Books LONGINUS is faid to have wrote are 25. viz.1. On the Objections against Pheidias. z. Homerical Doubts. 3. Whether Homer was a Philofopher. 4. Problems of Homer, with their Solutions,in two Books. 5.WhatThings are recorded by the Grammarians as Hiftorical, befides what we meet with in Hif tory. 6. Of Words of various Significations in Homer, four Books. 7. Tvo Commentaries of the Attic Dialect in alphabetical Order. 8. The Diction of Antimachus and Cleon. All thefe are mention'd by Suidas. 9. Liber de Principiis. 10. Againft Plotinus, and Gentilianus Amelius, Liber de Fine. 11. An Epi J. H. fle against Amelius. 12. Con- LETTER LETTER II. SIR, IN Holt, Jan. 4. N hopes my laft did not interfere too much with your feverer Studies, I proceed to my fecond Epistle, which begins the Treatise itself- MEMORABILIA E X LONGINI περὶ Ὕψες LIBELLO EXCERPTA. ONGINUS in his First SECTION, LON d after having fhewn CECILIUS's Treatife on the Sublime to be imperfect both in Stile and Subject, describes SUBLIMITY thus ̓Ακρίτης και Εξοχή τις Λόγων ἐςὶ τὰ Ὕψη. 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. ANNOTATION S. OBS.IV. HIS CECILI- Orator, in the Time of Auguftus TUS, thought Caefar, and an Acquaintance to be the firit that ever wrote of Dionyfius Halicarnaffæus. of the Sublime, was a Sicilian 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 INVENTION or DISPOSITION is fcarcely difcernible in one or two Paffages of any Production, nor fometimes in the whole Contexture; but as for the • 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 discover'd the Orator's whole Power and Strength. In SECTION II. our Author proceeding to inquire, Whether this SUBLIMITY be an OBS. V. Mi ANNOTATION S. R. Pearce obferves, that Longinus in this Treatife ufes, as Synonymous Terms, for The Sublime or Sublimity, rò, τὰ ὕψη, τὰ ὑπερφυᾶ, τὰ μεγάλα, τὸ ὑπερτε]αμένον, τὰ μεγέθη, τὸ μεγαλοφυές, τὸ θαυμάσιον, ὁ ἔγκο, τὸ βάθα, τὰ διηρμένα, &c. What's beyond Sublime, he calls μετεωρα, παρά τραγῳδα, &c. The fame Gentleman likewife further remarks, that our Critic's Diction is as fublime as his Precepts, and gives us an Infance here: An ordinary Writer, fays he, would languidly have faid διαφερεῖ & ἐνδείκνυνται, it drives away and difcovers, but Longinus ufes the Time paft diepgnorer & vedelalo, 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 Effets) ftrikes the Mind of the Auditor. Befides, the Strulture and rapid Sound of the very Words feem to give us a lively Picture both of Lightning and Sublimity. Try to pronounce them- "rio δὲ τε καιρίως ἐξενεχθὲν τά τε πράγματα δίκην σκηπίς πάντα διεφόρησεν, καὶ τὴν τὸ ῥήτορα ἐνθὺς ἀθρίαν ἐνεδείξατο 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 so far from contributing any thing thereto, that by its Precepts and Rules it rather cramps and binders it. He owns, that in all Productions Nature ought to act freely and unconfin'd; however, not fo headlong or irrational, as to be subject 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 foon, Nor bad I whistled yet my Fav'rite Tune. Magnificently terrible at first 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 f ANNOTATIONS, TINUS 3 WO whole Pearce further adds -Critici OBS: VI. T Leaves, or nefcio quà Authoritate freti, bos more than 100 fuch Lines as the Text above, are thought to be here wanting, perhaps torn out of the Original MS. So that the Connexion is forc'd to be fupplied by Conjecture. Mr. Verfus fchylo adjudicant: Boreas verò Ventus hic loqui videtur.Gerard Langbænius prefumes to tax Virgil with the like Swelling in his Defcription of Burning Etna, where after he fays- Attollitq; Globos Flammarum OBS. VII. GORGIAS LEONTINUS was a famous Sicilian Rhetorician, who could extemporarily at any time talk pertinently on En. 3. ver. 574 |