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'he sat down and wept, to think that even the rams knew more about the deeds of love than he did'Daphnis is fifteen years old, Chloe thirteen. They are drawn to each other and long to make love. But no one has told them what love is, nor do they know how to accomplish the physical act. Round their predicament Longus weaves a fantasy which entertains and instructs, but never errs in taste.The hard toil and precariousness of peasant life are here, but so are its compensations - revelry, music, dance, and storytelling. Above the action brood divine presences - Eros, Dionysus, Pan, the Nymphs - who collaborate to guide the adolescents into the mystery of Love, at once a sensual and areligious initiation.Daphnis and Chloe is the best known, and the best, of the early Greek romances, precursors to the modern novel. Admired by Goethe, it has been reinterpreted in music and art by Ravel and Chagall. This new translation is immensely readable, and does full justice to the humour and humanity of thestory.… (more)
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A boy and a girl, by coincidence, were both abandoned at birth but discovered and reared by two pastoral families as their own. As two young
I found this book to be a both delightful and fascinating. It is a Greek story that provides a glimpse into everyday life of ordinary folk in an era when, for example, religious devotion and sacrifice to the appropriate gods was how you lived. And the description of how hard Daphnis falls for Chloe is poetic, sweet, and slightly erotic.
George Thornley used the subtitle "A Most Sweet, and Pleasant Pastorall ROMANCE for Young Ladies." For our era, "young adult" would be more appropriate. Nevertheless, this Greek story translated into the English of Shakespeare's era is an easy and pleasant read.
A goatherd and a shepherdess (each abandoned as babies by their wealthy parents) fall hard
What I’ll remember most clearly from [Daphnis and Chloe] is its almost pathological naiveté: sarcastic, snarky little me is not used to being served uncynical charm unless its purpose is later subversion. This ancient tale, though, is so … wholesome! As though cynicism had not yet been invented. I’m not sure what to make of that, really.
Also,
Do give it a try: even with its insistence on innocence, it’s an interesting view into an ancient society and the kinds of tropes and tales it apparently appreciated.