Longinus

Longinus is similar to Horace in the fact that he questions whether true poetry come from the mastery of the art or from untutored inspiration. Longinus comes from the first of two periods, the Second Sophistic and the second, Neo-Platonism. It is believed that Longinus came from the Second Sophistic era and wrote one of the most influential texts that has stood the test of time. This text is known as peri hupsous or On the Sublime.

In the beginning of the book, he begins to enter the debate on whether art comes from within the writer, or if it is imparted by the lessons already set. Longinous takes the side of the fact that art must be taught. He says, "Nature is indeed the prime cause of all production but that the operations of genius cannot be wholly random and unsystematic, and needs the good judgement supplied by the rules of art (II. 2-3).

Longinus makes note about the existence of the sublime. The definition according to Longinus is "a sense of proud possession, we are filled with joyful pride, as if we had ourselves produced the very thing we heard. Another point that Longinus brings up is Amplification, which is quantity and redundance, rather than one single entity, like the sublime.