32 pages • 1 hour read
LonginusOn the Sublime
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 100A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Contrast Between Greatness and Naturalness
Like other Greek literary theorists, Longinus distinguishes between two styles of writing, pathos and ethos, often called “greatness” and “naturalness” in English. Pathos denotes passionate emotional appeals and a dramatic or tragic style, while ethos denotes a down-to-earth, less exalted style that reflects everyday life. Pathos, with its qualities of heroism and grandeur, is associated with tragedy, while ethos came to be associated with comedy. Longinus applies this pair of concepts to Homer’s two epic poems: the heroic Iliad embodies pathos, while the episodic, sometimes humorous Odyssey embodies ethos.
Longinus’s main subject in this treatise is pathos—greatness or grandeur. This emphasis, along with his critical remarks about the lighter tone of the Odyssey, suggest that he sees the pathetic style as more worthy than its counterpart. He underscores this contrast when he says that “passion is as important in great writing as naturalness is in lighter kinds of writing” (41). Longinus places a high value on emotion and equates it with greatness in writing; nevertheless, writing that does not aspire to wield dramatic emotional power also has its place.
Passion Is More Important Than Perfection
By critiquing a number of revered writers of the past, including Plato, Longinus opens up debate about what constitutes strong and weak writing. For Longinus, sincere passion outweighs technical perfection. He discusses this especially in Chapter 33, where he states that “great writing with occasional flaws” is preferable to “moderate talent which is entirely sound and faultless” (44). Emotion is so important that it justifies an occasional stylistic indiscretion: “As I never cease repeating, actions and passions which bring one close to distraction compensate for and justify every boldness of expression” (51). For example, using a metaphor that is strained or far-fetched is acceptable if it accurately reflects the tense emotion of the scene. On the other hand, there are some rhetorical expressions that are artificial and do not flow naturally from the situation; these should be rejected (50).
Through these declarations, Longinus implies that emotional expression takes priority and that rules of writing have exceptions. The purpose of great writing is not for the writer to display skill in deploying the rules and conventions, but rather to communicate emotion, which should be the ruling principle in everything the writer does. Longinus’s aesthetic views were later influential in the Romantic aesthetic movement, which favored passion and grandeur over perfecting details.
Literature Has a Moral Purpose
In Chapter 7, Longinus announces that his treatise on literature includes a moral dimension. Having the right moral outlook on life is a precondition for producing great writing. Specifically, the writer must have a “noble” and “high-minded” soul, which involves being free from vanity and materialistic concerns. This state of the soul is the first and primary source of literary greatness.
Longinus takes up this theme again in the final chapter of the book, where he argues that the moral conditions of society affect our ability to produce great writing. Here Longinus equates morality with what is “immortal” within us, and connects material obsessions and vanity with what is “mortal.” If one is a “slave” to money and pleasure, this will destroy one’s ability to be a great writer. Such an attitude ends in “indifference” to moral values, and in writers who work only for “praise of pleasure” within an ethically compromised society (58). Longinus’s target here seems to be writers who are motivated only by vanity and by envy of their rivals.
Thus, for Longinus, writing is not merely an external and mechanically learned activity; it is connected to, and an expression of, the human soul. The state of a writer’s soul will show in the quality of their writing.
Freedom Is Necessary for Literary Genius to Flourish
Longinus devotes the final chapter of his treatise to the relationship between freedom and greatness. This focus reflects social conditions and issues that concerned many thinkers in late antiquity.
Longinus describes his philosopher friend who has remarked on the current dearth of literary genius: Traditionally, in the literary world, freedom allows young writers to compete and win prizes, thus sharpening their talents and skills. However, the philosopher complains that in present times children are taught only “righteous slavery.” He does not define this condition in depth, but it appears to involve the tendency to use flattery to win honor and pleasure. A slave lacks complete freedom and cannot say what he truly thinks; he is constrained by his needs to please his master and to avoid trouble. Thus, for the philosopher, the ability to be a great writer or orator depends in large part on freedom of speech. The philosopher holds that freedom is a precondition for literary greatness, but does not argue for it or defend it, simply takes the idea for granted. This stance reflects how deeply democratic principles were embedded in Greek culture.
Longinus agrees with his friend’s diagnosis but shifts the emphasis from societal malaises to personal ones. He argues that the real problem is not in society but in our souls, in being enslaved to pleasure and wealth. The love of wealth leads “inevitably” to other “kindred evils” such as extravagance, selfishness and vanity, and finally violence and lawlessness.
For Longinus, these “evils” are the opposite of the great writer’s values. The great writer “looks upward” to divine or immortal things, and is concerned with “later fame” rather than pleasure and security in the here and now. Longinus seems to equate “immortality” with fame after death rather than with a heavenly state. The morally compromised person, by contrast, is heavily involved in bribery and flattery. Bribes make him indifferent to truth and to interests other than his own. He sells his soul for profit, and derives benefit from the death or ruined reputations of others. Longinus implies that amid the competition, envy, and rivalry among writers, the true purpose of writing gets lost.
By pursuing literary fame in this wrong-headed way, the writer ends up destroying even his literary ability—thus, destroying himself. This is because his indifference to truth destroys his ability to judge literature, which—according to Longinus—requires moral values. Longinus concludes, with some bitterness, that it may be best for such wicked people to be closely ruled rather than for them to be free and able to do harm.
