[1][2] There remains the possibility that the work belongs to neither Cassius Longinus nor either Dionysius but, rather, some unknown author writing under the Roman Empire, likely in the 1st century.
Among further names proposed, are Hermagoras of Temnos (a rhetorician who lived in Rome during the 1st century AD), Aelius Theon (author of a work which had many ideas in common with those of On the Sublime), and Pompeius Geminus (who was in epistolary conversation with Dionysius).
[3] Credited with writing a number of literary works, Longinus was a disciple of Plotinus, and considered "the most distinguished scholar of his day."
Longinus is reported to have written answers for the Queen, which were used in response to Aurelian, the man who would soon rise to power as the Roman emperor.
[8] Along with the expected examples from Homer and other figures of Greek culture, Longinus refers to a passage from Genesis, which is quite unusual for the 1st century: A similar effect was achieved by the lawgiver of the Jews—no mean genius, for he both understood and gave expression to the power of the divinity as it deserved—when he wrote at the very beginning of his laws, and I quote his words: "God said,"—what was it?—"Let there be light, and there was.
[9] The effects of the Sublime are: loss of rationality, an alienation leading to identification with the creative process of the artist and a deep emotion mixed in pleasure and exaltation.
In this way the treatise becomes not only a text of literary inquiry, but also one of ethical dissertation, since the Sublime becomes the product of a great soul (μεγαλοφροσύνης ἀπήχημα, megalophrosunēs apēchēma).
[11] The author speaks also about the decay of oratory, as arising not only from absence of political freedom but also from the corruption of morals, which together destroy that high spirit which generates the Sublime.
The word sublime, argues Rhys Roberts, is misleading, since Longinus' objective broadly concerns "the essentials of a noble and impressive style" than anything more narrow and specific.
[8] The treatise is also limited in its concentration on spiritual transcendence and lack of focus on the way in which language structures determine the feelings and thoughts of writers.
[9] Finally, Longinus' treatise is difficult to explain in an academic setting, given the difficulty of the text and lack of "practical rules of a teachable kind.
"[3] Despite its faults, the treatise remains critically successful because of its "noble tone," "apt precepts," "judicious attitude," and "historical interests".
Since Longinus' rhetorical formula avoids dominating his work, the literature remains "personal and fresh," unique in its originality.
Longinus rebels against the popular rhetoric of the time by implicitly attacking ancient theory in its focus on a detailed criticism of words, metaphors, and figures.
[8] German film director Werner Herzog claims to have an affinity with the work of Longinus, in a talk entitled "On the Absolute, the Sublime and Ecstatic Truth", presented in Milan.
He quotes from Longinus: "For our soul is raised out of nature through the truly sublime, sways with high spirits, and is filled with proud joy, as if itself had created what it hears."