Daphnis and Chloe / Love Romances and Poetical Fragments. Fragments of the Ninus Romance

by Longus, Parthenius, J.M. Edmonds (Translator)

Longus seems to have been a pagan sophist who lived about 200 CE; he is known to us only by his novel Daphnis and Chloe. This is the bucolic story of two foundlings, brought up by goatkeepers and shepherds on the island of Lesbos, who gradually fall in love. Notable among ancient romances for its perceptive characterizations, Daphnis and Chloe traces the development of the protagonists' love for each other from childlike innocence to full sexual maturity, the successive stages marked by adventures. The novel's picture of nature and rural life offers its own enchantments. Parthenius of Nicaea in Bithynia, a Greek poet, was brought to Rome in 73 BCE as a prisoner of war. After his release he settled in Italy and worked as poet and teacher. Virgil was one of his students. Parthenius's poetry, mainly elegiac, is lost, and his only extant work is Erotica Pathemata , an anthology of prose summaries of love stories from Greek literature, collected apparently for the use of Roman poets.

Genres: Mythology, Literature

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Longus, sometimes Longos (Greek: Λόγγος), was a Greek novelist and romancer, and author of Daphnis and Chloe. Very little is known of his life, and it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos during the 2nd century AD.

Reviews

[Rex · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Love, my children, is a God, a young youth and very fair, and winged to fly. And therefore he delights in youth, follows beauty, and gives our fantasy her wings. His power's so vast that that of Jove is not so great. He governs in the elements, rules in the stars, and domineers even o'er the Gods that are his peers. Nor have you only dominion o'er your sheep and goats. All flowers are the works of Love. Those plants are his creations and poems. By him it is that the rivers flow, and by him the winds blow."

Daphnis and Chloe is an enchanting Greek pastoral romance, and anyone familiar with the original Loeb Classical Library series will know what to expect as far as format--Greek on the left page, English on the right. The 1657 translation by "Geo. Thornley, Gent." is written in exquisite Baroque prose, and although my Greek is poor, the LCL editor assures us that the translation "is generally close enough to the Greek to satisfy the most fastidious modern scholar." Thornley's text is edited with some of the archaic spellings updated, but this is inconsistently applied. As is the case with other LCL editions, "indelicate" passages are rendered in Latin. It is not difficult to find Thornley's unexpurgated text online.

In contrast, I did not find Parthenius of Nicaea's Erotica Pathemata (or "Love Romances," as it is titled here) of particular interest, though a student of Greek might find these narrative epitomes good linguistic exercises. This latter part of the volume is translated by Cambridge scholar and diplomat Stephen Gaselee, M.A., C.B.E.

[Edward Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong, I *love* Daphnis and Chloe, but one should know that the Loeb edition (at least the one I have) has a very antiquated translation (1657!) that is scarcely modified. I wouldn't normally mind this, especially inasmuch as it is very faithful to the Greek text, but it lapses into Latin for the dirty bits! Which isn't very friendly.

[William Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming, and often funny, story of a teenage heterosexual erotic awakening. Also, if you read Greek, a good botanical vocabulary builder as being a pastoral tale it would be. The story is also interesting as it plays with tropes, old even then, that have remained in romance literature, I.e. awkward sexual awakening in exotic locales, kidnapping by pirates, rich foundlings adopted into poor families, etc. A fun read.