In today's world, Daphnis and Chloe is a topic that arouses great interest and debate in society. With the advancement of technology and globalization, Daphnis and Chloe has become a relevant issue that affects people of all ages and nationalities. Whether professional, personal or academic, Daphnis and Chloe has a significant impact on the daily lives of many people. In this article, we will explore different aspects related to Daphnis and Chloe and analyze its influence in various areas, as well as possible implications for the future.
Ancient Greek novel by Longus
This article is about the novel. For the mythical Sicilian poet, see Daphnis.
For the mother of Alexander the Great which had one of her name as Myrtale, see Olympias.
"Myrtale" redirects here. For the genus of moth, see Myrtale (moth). For the plant genus, see Myrtales.
It is set on the Greek isle of Lesbos, where scholars assume the author to have lived. Its style is rhetorical and pastoral; its shepherds and shepherdesses are wholly conventional, but the author imparts human interest to this idealized world. Daphnis and Chloe resembles a modern novel more than does its chief rival among Greek erotic romances, the Aethiopica of Heliodorus, which is remarkable more for its plot than for its characterization.
Plot summary
Daphnis and Chloe is the story of a boy (Daphnis) and a girl (Chloe), each of whom is abandoned at birth along with some identifying tokens. A goatherd named Lamon discovers Daphnis, and a shepherd called Dryas finds Chloe. Each decides to raise the child he finds as his own. Daphnis and Chloe grow up together, herding the flocks for their foster parents. They fall in love but, being naive, do not understand what is happening to them. Philetas, a wise old cowherd, explains to them what love is and tells them that the only cure is kissing. They do this. Eventually, Lycaenion, a woman from the city, educates Daphnis in love-making. Daphnis, however, decides not to test his newly acquired skill on Chloe, because Lycaenion tells Daphnis that Chloe "will scream and cry and lie bleeding heavily ." Throughout the book, Chloe is courted by suitors, two of whom (Dorcon and Lampis) attempt with varying degrees of success to abduct her. She is also carried off by raiders from a nearby city and saved by the intervention of the god Pan. Meanwhile, Daphnis falls into a pit, gets beaten up, is abducted by pirates, and is very nearly raped by a drunkard. In the end, after being recognised by their birth parents, Daphnis and Chloe get married and live out their bucolic lives in the country.
Philetas – old countryman who advises the heroes about love; likely named after Philitas of Cos
Rhode – Chloe's mother
Text tradition
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, about a page of text was missing; when Paul Louis Courier went to Italy, he found the missing part in one of the plutei (an ancient Roman reading desk or place for storing manuscripts) of the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence. However, as soon as he had copied the text, he upset the ink-stand and spilled ink all over the manuscript. The Italian philologists were incensed, especially those who had studied the pluteus giving "a most exact description" (un'esattissima notizia) of it.
Jacques Amyot's French translation is perhaps better known than the original. The story has been presented in numerous illustrated editions, including a 1937 limited edition with woodcuts by Aristide Maillol, and a 1977 edition illustrated by Marc Chagall. Another translation that rivals the original is that of Annibale Caro, one of those writers dearest to lovers of the Tuscan elegances.
The 1952 work Shiosai (The Sound of Waves), written by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima following a visit to Greece, is considered to have been inspired by the Daphnis and Chloe myth. Another work based on it is the 1923 novel Le Blé en herbe by Colette.
The 1987 film The Princess Bride contains similarities to Daphnis and Chloe (for example, in both stories the male romantic lead is captured by pirates). Lawrence Rinder, director of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, attributes the inspiration for the film to Longus.
Maurice Ravel wrote what he called a symphonie chorégraphique bearing the title Daphnis et Chloé in 1912 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; its choreographer that year was Michel Fokine; at nearly sixty minutes, it is the composer's longest work, and two orchestral suites from it are regularly played
The work was adapted into a 64-minute silent film by Orestis Laskos in 1931, one of the first Greek cinema classics. The movie was originally considered shocking due to the nudity in some of the scenes.
Daphnis und Chloe, 1958 statue by Ursula Querner at Hamburg-Altona, Germany
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, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN0-674-99076-5. With English translation revised from that of George Thornley.
Reeve, Michael D. (1994) . Daphnis et Chloe / Longus. Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (Editio correctior ed.). Stuttgart: Teubner. ISBN3-8154-1932-8. Reeve's text is reprinted with the translation and commentary by Morgan (see below).
Turner, Paul (1989) . Longus: Daphnis and Chloe. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN978-0-14-044059-1.
Gill, Christopher (1989). "Longus: Daphnis and Chloe". In Bryan P. Reardon (ed.). Collected Ancient Greek Novels. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 285–348. ISBN978-0-520-04306-0.
McCail, Ronald (2002). Daphnis and Chloe / Longus. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-284052-3.
Morgan, J. R. (2004). Longus: Daphnis and Chloe. Aris and Phillips Classical Texts. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN978-0-85668-562-0. With reprint of Reeve's text and a commentary.
^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.
Longi Pastoralia First complete Greek text of Daphnis and Chloe, edited by P.-L. Courier, with a Latin translation by G. R. Lud. de Sinner. Paris, 1829.
Longi Pastoralia Greek text of Daphnis and Chloe with a Latin translation, edd. Seiler, Schaefer, Boissonade & Brunck. Leipzig, 1843.
Erotici Scriptores Paris, 1856. Longi Pastoralia, Greek text with Latin translation, edited by G A Hirschig, pp. 174–222.
Daphnis and Chloe The Bibliotheca Classica Selecta's 2006/07 edition of the Greek text with the French translation of Jacques Amyot revised, corrected and completed by P.-L. Courier.