I shall now proceed to enumerate the five principal sources, as we may
call them, from which almost all sublimity is derived, assuming, of
course, the preliminary gift on which all these five sources depend,
namely, command of language. The first and the most important is (1)
grandeur of thought, as I have pointed out elsewhere in my work on
Xenophon. The second is (2) a vigorous and spirited treatment of the
passions. These two conditions of sublimity depend mainly on natural
endowments, whereas those which follow derive assistance from Art. The
third is (3) a certain artifice in the employment of figures, which are
of two kinds, figures of thought and figures of speech. The fourth is
(4) dignified expression, which is sub-divided into (_a_) the proper
choice of words, and (_b_) the use of metaphors and other ornaments of
diction. The fifth cause of sublimity, which embraces all those
preceding, is (5) majesty and elevation of structure. Let us consider
what is involved in each of these five forms separately.
I must first, however, remark that some of these five divisions are
omitted by Caecilius; for instance, he says nothing about the passions.
2
Now if he made this omission from a belief that the Sublime and the
Pathetic are one and the same thing, holding them to be always
coexistent and interdependent, he is in error. Some passions are found
which, so far from being lofty, are actually low, such as pity, grief,
fear; and conversely, sublimity is often not in the least affecting, as
we may see (among innumerable other instances) in those bold expressions
of our great poet on the sons of Aloeus--
"Highly they raged
To pile huge Ossa on the Olympian peak,
And Pelion with all his waving trees
On Ossa's crest to raise, and climb the sky;"
and the yet more tremendous climax--
"And now had they accomplished it."
3
And in orators, in all passages dealing with panegyric, and in all the
more imposing and declamatory places, dignity and sublimity play an
indispensable part; but pathos is mostly absent. Hence the most pathetic
orators have usually but little skill in panegyric, and conversely those
who are powerful in panegyric generally fail in pathos.
4
If, on the other hand, Caecilius supposed that pathos never contributes
to sublimity, and this is why he thought it alien to the subject, he is
entirely deceived. For I would confidently pronounce that nothing is so
conducive to sublimity as an appropriate display of genuine passion,
which bursts out with a kind of "fine madness" and divine inspiration,
and falls on our ears like the voice of a god.