On the Sublime

A sublime sentence, says Longinus, does not persuade the reader: it seizes him, carries him out of himself, and flashes across a whole subject like lightning.

In this ancient Greek treatise, traditionally attributed to Longinus, a conversation with Terentian begins with a challenge to an earlier critic: it is not enough to define greatness in writing; can it be learned? Longinus weighs genius against art, comparing unchecked passion to a ship driven without ballast, then draws a sharp line between true grandeur and bombast—the inflated phrases that promise thunder and deliver comedy. His examples make literary criticism feel like a contest between force and folly, where even celebrated writers can stumble. How can a writer reach the sublime without mistaking noise for power?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.