On the Sublime

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.