Longinus On Sublimity

The traditional attribution of On Sublimity to the third-century critic Cassius Longinus has been rejected by most scholars since the early nineteenth century. The arguments against a third-century date are examined and shown to be unfounded. It is argued that the interest in sublimity and a number of aspects of the treatise’s vocabulary show distinctive points of contact with the evidence for Cassius Longinus, and with authors influenced by him. There is therefore a balance of probability in favour of the traditional attribution.