From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pathos \Pa"thos\ (p[=a]"th[o^]s), n. [L., from Gr. pa`qos a
suffering, passion, fr. paqei^n, pas`chein, to suffer; cf.
po`nos 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.
[1913 Webster]
The combination of incident, and the pathos of
catastrophe. --T. Warton.
[1913 Webster]
1. The quality or character of those emotions, traits, or
experiences which are personal, and therefore restricted
and evanescent; transitory and idiosyncratic dispositions
or feelings as distinguished from those which are
universal and deep-seated in character; -- opposed to
ethos.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. Suffering; the enduring of active stress or affliction.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]