I have also to acknowledge the kindness of the distinguished writer who has contributed the Introduction, and who, in spite of the heavy demands on his time, has lent his powerful support to help on the work of one who was personally unknown to him.
In conclusion, I may be allowed to express a hope that the present attempt may contribute something to reawaken an interest in an unjustly neglected classic.
The Treatise on the Sublime may be divided into six Parts, as follows:--
I.--cc. i, ii. The Work of Caecilius. Definition of the Sublime. Whether Sublimity falls within the rules of Art.
II.--cc. iii-v. [The beginning lost.] Vices of Style opposed to the Sublime: Affectation, Bombast, False Sentiment, Frigid Conceits. The cause of such defects.
III.--cc. vi, vii. The true Sublime, what it is, and how distinguishable.
IV.--cc. viii-xl. Five Sources of the Sublime (how Sublimity is related to Passion, c. viii, §§ 2-4).
_a._ As the natural outcome of nobility of soul. Examples (c. ix).
_b._ Choice of the most striking circumstances. Sappho’s Ode (c. x).
_c._ Amplification. Plato compared with Demosthenes, Demosthenes with Cicero (cc. xi-xiii).
(ii.) Power of moving the Passions (omitted here, because dealt with in a separate work).
_a._ The Figure of Adjuration (c. xvi). The Art to conceal Art (c. xvii).
_e._ Changes of Number, Person, Tense, etc. (cc. xxiii-xxvii).
(iv.) Graceful Expression (cc. xxx-xxxii and xxxvii, xxxviii).
_b._ Ornaments of Style (cc. xxxi, xxxii and xxxvii, xxxviii).
(α) On the use of Familiar Words (c. xxxi).
(β) Metaphors; accumulated; extract from the _Timaeus_; abuse of Metaphors; certain tasteless conceits blamed in Plato (c. xxxii). [Hence arises a digression (cc. xxxiii-xxxvi) on the spirit in which we should judge of the faults of great authors. Demosthenes compared with Hyperides, Lysias with Plato. Sublimity, however far from faultless, to be always preferred to a tame correctness.]
(γ) Comparisons and Similes [lost] (c. xxxvii).
(v.) Dignity and Elevation of Structure (cc. xxxix, xl).
V.--cc. xli-xliii. Vices of Style destructive to Sublimity.
(ii.) Broken and Jerky Clauses } (cc. xli, xlii).
(iv.) Improper Use of Familiar Words. Anti-climax. Example from Theopompus (c. xliii).