Pathos

Pa′thos (pā′thŏs), n. [L., from Gr. πάθος a suffering, passion, fr. παθεῖν, πάσχειν, to suffer; cf. πόνος toil, L. pati to suffer, E. patient.] That quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, esp., that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality; as, the pathos of a picture, of a poem, or of a cry.

The combination of incident, and the pathos of catastrophe. T. Warton.