Daphnis and Chloe

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Daphnis and Chloe is the only known work of the 2nd century AD Greek novelist and romancer Longus.^[1]

Contents 1 Setting and style 2 Plot 3 Characters 4 Reception and influences 4.1 Adaptation (2006) 5 See also 6 Notes 7 Further reading 7.1 Editions 7.2 English translations 7.3 Studies 8 External links

[edit] Setting and style

It is set on the isle of Lesbos during the 2nd century AD, which is also assumed to be the author's home. Its style is rhetorical and pastoral, its shepherds and shepherdesses are wholly conventional, but the author has imparted human interest to a purely fanciful picture. Daphnis and Chloe resembles the modern novel more than its chief rival among Greek erotic romances, the Aethiopica of Heliodorus, which is remarkable mainly for the ingenious succession of incidents.

[edit] Plot

Daphnis and Chloe, two children found by shepherds, grow up together, nourishing a mutual love which neither suspects. The development of this simple passion forms the chief interest, and there are few incidents. Chloe is carried off by a pirate, and ultimately regains her family. Rivals alarm the peace of mind of Daphnis; but the two lovers are recognized by their parents, and return to a happy married life in the country.

[edit] Characters

The human characters in the novel include:

• Chloe - The heroine of the story
  
• Daphnis - The hero of the story
  
• Dorcon - The would-be suitor of Chloe
  
• Dryas - Chloe's foster father
  
• Lamon - Daphnis' foster father
  
• Myrtale - Daphnis' foster mother
  
• Nape - Chloe's foster mother

[edit] Reception and influences

Daphnis and Chloe was the model of La Sireine of Honoré d'Urfé, the Diana enamorada of Montemayor, the Aminta of Tasso, and The Gentle Shepherd of Allan Ramsay. The celebrated Paul et Virginie is an echo of the same story. Also, Maurice Ravel based his ballet, Daphnis et Chloé, on the story.

Longus found an incomparable translator in Jacques Amyot, bishop of Auxerre, whose French version, as revised by Paul Louis Courier, is better known than the original. It appeared in 1559. The illustrated editions, generally of Amyot's version, are numerous and some are beautiful, Prudhon's designs being especially celebrated.

[edit] Adaptation (2006)

The work was adapted into a 45-minute radio play by Hattie Naylor, first broadcast at 14:15 on Friday 3 March 2006, BBC Radio 3. It was played for comedy, with the sexual encounters preceded by 'I must speak in Latin!' and each dream-sleep preceded by a sudden comic thud. The cast were as follows-

• Longus ...... Adrian Scarborough
• Chloe ...... Lyndsey Marshal
• Daphnis ...... Ben McKay
• Lamo/Megacles ...... Kim Wall
• Myrtale/Lycaenium ......Tracy Wiles
• Philetas/Dionyosophanes ...... Geoffrey Beevers
• Love/Astylus ...... Simon Trinder
• Dryas/Gnatho/Lampis ...... Anthony Glennon

• Original music - Sarah Moody
• Producer/director Jeremy Mortimer.

[edit] See also

Other ancient Greek novelists:

• Chariton - The Loves of Chaereas and Callirhoe
• Xenophon of Ephesus - The Ephesian Tale
• Achilles Tatius - Leucippe and Clitophon
• Heliodorus of Emesa - The Aethiopica

[edit] Notes

1. ^ It has been suggested that the name Longus is merely a misreading of the last word of the title Λεσβιακῶν ἐρωτικῶν λόγοι δ in the Florentine manuscript; Seiler also observes that the best manuscript begins and ends with λόγου (not λόγγου) ποιμενικῶν.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Editions

• Columbani, Raphael; Henry Cuffe and Marcello Adriani (1598). Longi Pastoralium, de Daphnide & Chloë libri quatuor. Florence: Apud Philippum Iunctam.  The first printed edition.
• Courier, Paul Louis (1810). Contained a previously unknown passage, after the discovery of a new manuscript.
• Edmonds, John Maxwell (1916). Daphnis & Chloe, by Longus; The Love Romances of Parthenius and Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-99076-5.  With English translation revised from that of George Thornley.
• Dalmeyda, George [1934] (1971). Pastorales (Daphnis et Chloe) / Longus, Collection des universités de France. Paris: Belles Lettres.  With French translation.
• Reeve, Michael D. [1982] (1994). Daphnis et Chloe / Longus, Editio correctior, Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, Stuttgart: Teubner. ISBN 3815419328.  Reeve's text is reprinted with the translation and commentary by Morgan (see below).

[edit] English translations

• Thornley, George (1733). A revised version is printed with Edmonds's text (see above).
• Hadas, Moses (1953). Three Greek Romances. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 0-672-60442-6. 
• Turner, Paul [1956] (1989). Longus: Daphnis and Chloe, Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044059-3. 
• Gill, Christopher (1989). "Longus: Daphnis and Chloe", in Bryan P. Reardon (ed.): Collected Ancient Greek Novels. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 285–348. ISBN 0-520-04306-5. 
• McCail, Ronald (2002). Daphnis and Chloe / Longus, Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-284052-5. 
• Morgan, J. R. (2004). Longus: Daphnis and Chloe, Aris and Phillips Classical Texts. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 0-85668-562-3 (cloth); ISBN 0-85668-563-1 (pbk.).  With reprint of Reeve's text and a commentary.

[edit] Studies

• J. C. Dunlop, History of Prose Fiction (1888)
• E. Rohde, Der griechische Roman (1900).

[edit] External links

• Daphnis and Chloe English translation by George Thornley, 1657.
• "A Synopsis of Longus' Daphnis and Chloe" by Jean Alvares
• Classic images of Daphnis and Chloe