Nothing at all is known about Longus but that he
composed the first pastoral romance, titled Daphnis
and Chloë. The Latin style of Longus’s name
may suggest he was a native of Italy, but it is also
possible that Longus was a nom de plume, or pen
name. Some scholars suggest that he was born on
the Aegean island of Lesbos, also home to the poet
SAPPHO. The story is set there, and the author describes
the setting as though he were familiar with it.
Daphnis and Chloë is a prose poem in Greek
that tells the story of the love of Daphnis, a
goatherd, for Chloë, a shepherdess. It combines
two traditions that emerged around 300 B.C.: the
development of the novel, and the pastoral tradition,
which concerns the doings of simple folk in
an idyllic country setting. Critics often classify
Daphnis and Chloë as a romance or a love story of
the type also written by XENOPHON and Heliodorus.
The Greek novel, as developed by such
writers as LUCIAN and PETRONIUS, typically featured
themes of love, separation, and mutual fidelity, and
the lively plots contained kidnappings, pirates,
near escapes, wolves, feasts, people falling in love,
trials, weddings, and grand reunions. Longus’s
story incorporates all of these elements. In addition,
he enlivened a genre that had come to rely on
formulaic plots, stock characters, and mundane
sentiment by adding irony and sophisticated
humor. The story shows that Longus was familiar
with the EPICs of HOMER and VIRGIL; the dramas of
EURIPIDES, ARISTOPHANES, MENANDER; and even the
history of THUCYDIDES. He frequently references
the pantheon of Greek gods, some of whom function
as characters. Though Longus likely lived at
the same time as the influential Christian teachers
and thinkers Origen and Clement of Alexandria,
his work adheres closely to the ancient pagan tradition.
Scholar William McCulloh calls Daphnis
and Chloë “the last great creation in pagan Greek
literature.”
True to pastoral convention, Daphnis and
Chloë lead an idealized country life, tending their
animals in the peaceful countryside. As infants,
both were abandoned in the woods, taken in by animals,
and finally discovered and raised by humble
families. This plot device was not so far-fetched
then as it seems now; it was a Greek practice to expose
unwanted children on the hillside, leaving a
token that could identify the infant if necessary.
The young Daphnis and Chloë meet while pasturing
their animals, and as it is springtime, they naturally
fall in love. Enforced separations test their
innocent passion in the form of accidents, rival
suitors, abductions, and deceit, but throughout
they remain true and devoted to each other. Their
fidelity convinces the gods to intercede and
arrange matters so that Daphnis and Chloë may be
together. Ultimately their birth tokens reveal that
both of them are the offspring of rich and upper-
class parents, so the last impediments to their marriage
are removed.
Longus’s Daphnis and Chloë has had a pervasive
influence on art,music, and literature. Early manuscripts
survived into the 16th century, but with
missing passages. Jacques Amyot published the
first print translation in French in 1559, and Angell
Daye brought out an English version in 1587. In
1809 excitement stirred the world of Longus scholars
when a French soldier in Italy discovered an
earlier manuscript containing the missing portions,
and the first complete Greek text was released
in 1810. The pastoral setting used by Longus
inspired later writers in the English tradition, particularly
the Arcadia of Philip Sidney. The novels of
Samual Richardson and Henry Fielding also borrow
from the pastoral ideal.
Throughout the ages the critical reception of
the work has varied widely; Goethe called Daphnis
and Chloë a masterpiece, and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning referred to it as “an obscene text.” But
the story is no more obscene than any of the Greek
romances of its kind, and more restrained than
some. The author proposed to write of love as a
means of both comforting and instructing his
readers. In his Prologue he hopes his story will be
“something to heal the sick and comfort the afflicted,
to refresh the memory of those who have
been in love and educate those who have not. For
no one has ever escaped Love altogether, and no
one ever will.” Aided by the straightforward language,
which retains its beauty even in translation,
the story of Daphnis and Chloë continues to appeal
to modern readers by its focus on that most universal
and ageless of themes, the triumph of love.
An English Version of a Work by Longus
Longus: Daphnis and Chloe. Translated by Paul
Turner. New York: Penguin Books, 1989.
Works about Longus
MacQueen, Bruce D. Myth, Rhetoric, and Fiction: A
Reading of Longus’s Daphnis and Chloe. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
McCulloh, William E. Longus. New York: Twayne
Publishers, 1970.