Delphi Complete Works of Longus

by Longus

  They then held a consultation and Daphnis was at first minded to marry Chloe secretly, and to keep her in concealment, acquainting none save her own mother with the truth. But Dryas would not agree with this plan; he preferred to communicate everything to Daphnis’s father, and undertook the task of obtaining his consent. Accordingly, on the morrow at daybreak, taking with him in his scrip the tokens that he had found with Chloe, he presented himself before Dionysophanes and Clearista, who were sitting with Daphnis and Astylus in the garden. Then requesting their attention, he addressed them in these words:

  “A necessity similar to that which influenced Lamon now urges me to publish circumstances, which hitherto have never been divulged. I am not Chloe’s father, nor was she at first reared by me. Another begat her, and a ewe suckled her in yonder Grotto of the Nymphs, where she lay exposed. I saw this with my own eyes, and was astonished. Influenced by my feelings I adopted her. Her beauty confirms what I say: for she resembles neither myself nor my wife. Moreover, the tokens which I found with her, prove the truth of what I assert; for they are too valuable to belong to any shepherd. Examine them, endeavour to find the maiden’s relatives, and perhaps she will prove worthy of becoming your son’s wife.”

  These last words were not spoken undesignedly by Dryas, nor did they fail to attract the attention of Dionysophanes, who, turning his eyes upon Daphnis, and observing that he changed colour, whilst a tear stole down his cheeks, easily discovered the youth’s love for Chloe. Regard for his own child rather than for the girl induced him to carefully inquire into the story that Dryas had related, and when he had viewed the tokens, the gilt sandals, the anklets, and the head-dress, he called Chloe to him, and told her not to be dispirited, for she had already found a husband, and would probably soon discover her real father and mother. Then Clearista took her and dressed her as became one who was her son’s intended bride. Dionysophanes in the meantime called Daphnis aside and questioned him in regard to Chloe. The youth replied that nothing had passed between them save the exchange of vows and kisses, whereat Dionysophanes was well pleased and bade them join the banquet.

  It now became manifest that beauty is enhanced by adornment. Indeed Chloe, richly attired, with her hair braided and her face shining from the bath, looked far more beautiful than before, and Daphnis himself could barely recognise her. Any spectator, without even knowing her history, would have sworn that she could not be the daughter of Dryas. Nevertheless the latter was invited to the banquet at which he and Nape together with Lamon and Myrtale reclined upon the same couch.

  On the following day victims were again sacrificed to the Gods; libations were prepared, and Chloe hung her pastoral equipments, her pipe, scrip, goatskin cloak, and milkpails in the grotto. She mingled wine with the water of the fountain, beside which she had been suckled, and in which she had so often bathed; and she hung a garland on the ewe’s grave, which Dryas pointed out to her. Then she piped a farewell to her flocks and prayed the Nymphs that her parents might prove worthy of her union with Daphnis.

  When the party grew tired of rural festivities, they resolved to return to the city, in view of trying to discover Chloe’s parents so that the marriage might not be deferred. Accordingly at break of day they prepared for their journey; and before departing Dionysophanes gave Dryas another three thousand drachmas, whilst Lamon and his wife obtained their freedom together with some winter garments, the goats and goatherds, four yoke of oxen, and liberty to reap half the corn, and gather half the grapes annually for their own use. Then the party took the road to Mitylene, with a great train of horses and vehicles. It was night when they reached the city, so that for the time they escaped the notice of the citizens; but early the next day a multitude of men and women flocked to the abode of Dionysophanes, whom the men congratulated on having found his son, the more particularly when they saw how handsome Daphnis was. Meanwhile the women gave Clearista joy, inasmuch as she had not only discovered her son, but had found a maiden worthy to be his bride. Chloe, indeed, obtained the admiration even of her own sex, for her beauty was so perfect that it could not be surpassed. The entire city was in a bustle on account of the youth and the damsel. It was already predicted that the marriage would be a happy one, and many were the wishes that the maiden’s parents might prove to be of a rank commensurate with her charms. Many of the richest matrons prayed to the Gods that she might be reputed to be their daughter.

  Now it happened that Dionysophanes, fatigued with anxious thought, fell into a deep slumber, in which he beheld the following vision. It seemed to him that he saw the Nymphs requesting the god of Love to give his consent to the marriage. Cupid slackened the string of his bow, placed it by the side of his quiver, and then addressing Dionysophanes, told him to invite the chief citizens of Mitylene to a banquet, and, after filling the last goblet, to display to them the tokens which had been found with Chloe, and then to begin the hymeneal song. Accordingly, on the morrow, Dionysophanes ordered a splendid feast to be prepared, in which all the delicacies that the sea, the earth, the lakes, and the rivers could produce were to be collected together. All the chief citizens of Mitylene were his guests. When night was come and when the goblet had been filled to pour out the libation to Mercury, a slave brought forward the tokens in a silver basin, and holding them in his right hand carried them round and exhibited them to the guests.

  Nobody acknowledged them, until one Megacles, who by reason of his advanced age was honoured with the highest couch, cried out in a loud voice:

  “What do I behold! What has been the fate of my daughter! Is she then alive? Or did some shepherd find these things, and carry them away? Tell me, I pray you, Dionysophanes, how did you come by these tokens of my child? Now that you have found your son, do not enviously begrudge me the discovery of my daughter.”

  Dionysophanes desired him first of all to give them an account of the exposure of his daughter; whereupon in the same loud and eager tone he replied:

  “Formerly my means were scanty, for I had expended my fortune in fitting out galleys and equipping choruses. While I was in this situation I had a daughter born to me. Loath to bring her up to the miseries of poverty, and knowing that there are many who are willing to adopt the children of others, I arrayed her with those very ornaments and exposed her. She was carried to the Grotto of the Nymphs and committed to their protection. From that time forward wealth began to pour in upon me every day; but I had no heir to enjoy it, for fortune denied me even another daughter. The Gods, too, seemed ever bent on mocking me by sending me visions at night, which seemed to signify that a ewe would make me a father.”

  Loud as had been the tone in which Megacles had spoken, yet louder was the voice in which Dionysophanes replied. Springing from his couch and leading in the richly attired Chloe, he exclaimed:

  “This is the child whom you exposed. This maiden, through the providence of the Gods, was suckled by a ewe, and preserved for you; as Daphnis, indeed was reared by a goat, and saved for me. Take the tokens, and your daughter: take her, and bestow her as a bride on Daphnis. Both were exposed; both have been again found by their parents; both have been under the peculiar protection of Pan, the Nymphs, and the God of Love.”

  Megacles immediately assented, clasped Chloe to his bosom, and sent for Rhode, his wife, that she might share his joy. That night they slept in the house of Dionysophanes, for Daphnis had sworn by the Gods that he would not part with Chloe even to her own father.

  The next morning they all agreed to repair once more into the country. Daphnis and Chloe proposed this course for they were already tired of the city; and, they had formed a scheme for celebrating their nuptials in a pastoral manner.

  Upon their arrival at Lamon’s abode, they began by introducing Dryas to Megacles and Nape to Rhode; and then, while preparations were being made for a splendid festival, Megacles led Chloe to the grotto, and again devoted her to the guardianship of the Nymphs. Amongst other things he suspended the tokens as offerings to the deities; and he increased th
e six thousand drachmas which Dryas now possessed to ten thousand.

  As the day was beautifully serene, couches of green leaves were, by the orders of Dionysophanes, spread in the grotto, and all the villagers were invited to the feast. Lamon and Myrtale, Dryas and Nape, Dorcon’s kinsmen, Philetas with his sons, Chromis and Lycaenium were among the guests. Even Lampis was there, having been forgiven. All the amusements were of a rustic and pastoral character. The reaping song was sung; and all the jokes of the vintage season were repeated. Philetas played on the pipe and Lampis on the flute, whilst Lamon and Dryas danced, and Chloe and Daphnis exchanged kisses. The goats came and grazed near them, as if they also were desirous of partaking of the festival. This was not to the liking of the dainty city folks, but Daphnis summoned each of the herd by name, and gave them all some leaves, which they ate out of his hand, whilst he held them by the horns and kissed them.

  And indeed, not only upon that day but during the remainder of their lives, did Daphnis and Chloe lead a pastoral life, gathering together large herds and flocks, paying especial worship to the Nymphs, to Pan, and to the God of Love, and finding no food more delicious than the fruits of autumn, and the milk of their flocks. And, moreover, they caused their first child, a boy, whom they named Philopoemen, to be suckled by a goat; and their second, a girl, whom they called Agele, to be reared by a ewe. In this wise they lived in the fields to a good old age. They adorned the Grotto of the Nymphs; erected statues; raised an altar to Cupid the Shepherd; and in place of the pine reared a temple and dedicated it to Pan the Warrior.

  But all this came to pass long afterwards. On the occasion we are now speaking of, all the guests conducted them to the bridal chamber when night had fallen, some playing on pipes, some on flutes, and others carrying lighted torches; and on arriving at the door they began to sing the nuptial hymn in harsh and rugged tones, which resounded like a chorus of labourers breaking up the soil with mattocks. Meantime Daphnis and Chloe retired to rest, and, wakeful like the owls, kissed and embraced one another all night long. Then it was that Daphnis bethought himself of the teachings of Lycaenium, and that Chloe, for the first time in her life, realised that their caresses in the woods and fields had been but so much child’s play.

  THE END

  DAPHNIS AND CHLOE: 1896 Athenian Society Translation

  Anonymous Translattion, 1896

  CONTENTS

  PROËM

  BOOK ONE

  BOOK TWO

  BOOK THREE

  BOOK FOUR

  ‘Daphnis and Chloe’ by Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre

  PROËM

  While hunting in a grove sacred to the Nymphs, in the island of Lesbos, I saw the most beautiful sight that I have ever seen: a picture representing a history of love. The grove itself was pleasant to the eye, covered with trees, full of flowers, and well-watered: a single spring fed both trees and flowers. But the picture itself was even more delightful: its subject was the fortunes of love, and the art displayed in it was marvellous: so that many, even strangers, who had heard it spoken of, visited the island, to pay their devotion to the Nymphs and examine the picture, on which were portrayed women in childbirth or wrapping children in swaddling clothes, poor babes exposed to the mercy of Fortune, beasts of the flock nurturing them, shepherds taking them up in token of adoption, young people binding one another by mutual vows, pirates over-running the seas, and enemies invading the land.

  Many other subjects, all of an amatory nature, were depicted, which I gazed upon with such admiration that I was seized with the desire to describe them in writing. Accordingly, I diligently sought for someone to give me an explanation of the details: and, when I had thoroughly mastered them, I composed the four following books, as an offering to Love, the Nymphs, and Pan, and also as a work that will afford pleasure to many, in the hope that it may heal the sick, console the sorrowful, refresh the memory of him who once has loved, and instruct him who has never yet felt its flame. For no one has yet escaped, or ever will escape, the attack of Love, as long as beauty exists and eyes can see. May God grant that, unharmed ourselves, we may be able to describe the lot of others!

  BOOK ONE

  1.1 There is in Lesbos a flourishing and beautiful city, named Mitylene. It is intersected by numerous canals, formed by the waters of the sea, which flows in upon it, and adorned with several bridges of white polished stone: to look at it, you would say that it was not a single city, but a number of islands. About two hundred stades distant from the city, a wealthy man possessed a very fine estate: mountains abounding in game, fruitful cornfields, hillocks covered with vine shoots, and ample pasturage for cattle; the sea washed a long stretch of soft sandy beach.

  1.2 On this estate a goatherd named Lamon, while feeding his flock, found a child being suckled by a goat. There was a thicket of shrubs and briars, over which the ivy straggled, and beneath, a couch of soft grass, whereon the infant lay. Hither the goat often ran and wandered out of sight, and abandoning its own kid, remained by the side of the child. Lamon, pitying the neglected kid, observed the direction in which the goat went: and, one day at noon, when the sun was at its height, he followed and saw it cautiously entering the thicket and walking round the child, so as not to tread on and hurt it, while the latter sucked vigorously at its teat as if it had been its mother’s breast. Astonished, as was natural, he approached closer, and found that it was a little boy, beautiful and well-grown, and wrapped in handsomer swaddling clothes than suited a child thus exposed: it had on a little purple tunic fastened with a golden clasp, and by its side was a little dagger with an ivory hilt.

  1.3 At first he was minded to take up the tokens, without troubling about the child: but afterwards, feeling ashamed at the idea of being outdone by the goat in humanity, he waited till night, and took everything to his wife Myrtale, the tokens, the child, and the goat. When she expressed her astonishment that goats should bring forth little children, he told her everything: how he had found the child lying exposed, and being suckled by the goat, and how he had felt ashamed to leave it to die. His wife agreed with him, and they resolved to hide the tokens, to bring up the child as their own, and to let the goat suckle him. Further, they decided to call him Daphnis, that the name might have a more pastoral sound.

  1.4 When two years had passed, a shepherd belonging to the neighbourhood, named Dryas, while feeding his flocks, made a similar discovery and saw a similar sight. In his district there was a cave sacred to the Nymphs: a large rock hollowed out within, and circular without. Inside were statues of the Nymphs, carved in stone, with feet unshod, arms bared up to the shoulders, hair falling down over the neck, a girdle around the waist, and a smile on the face: to judge from their attitude, you would have said they were dancing. The dome of the grotto was the centre of this mighty rock. Water, gushing from a fountain, formed a running stream; a beautiful meadow extended in front of the cave, the soft and abundant herbage of which was nourished by the moisture of the stream. Within were to be seen hanging up milk-pails, flutes, pipes, and reeds, the offerings of the older shepherds.

  1.5 A sheep, which had recently lambed, went so often to this grotto, that more than once she was thought to be lost. Dryas, wishing to punish her and make her stay with the flock to feed, as before, twisted a bough of pliant osier into a collar in the form of a running noose, and went up to the rock, in order to snare her. But when he drew near he beheld quite a different sight from what he had expected: he saw the sheep giving her teat, just like a human being, for a copious draught of milk, to a child, which, without a cry, eagerly shifted its clean and pretty mouth from one teat to the other, while the sheep licked its face, after it had had enough. It was a female child, and by its side also lay swaddling clothes and tokens, a cap interwoven with gold, gilded shoes, and gold-embroidered anklets.

  1.6 Thinking that what he had found was sent from Heaven, and being moved to pity by the example of the sheep, he took the child up in his arms, put the tokens in his wallet, and prayed to the Nymphs that
he might be permitted to bring up their suppliant happily. Then when it was time to drive back his flock, he returned home, told his wife what he had seen, showed her what he had found, and bade her adopt and bring up the child as her own, without telling anyone what had happened. Nape - that was his wife’s name - immediately took up the child and caressed her, as if afraid of being outdone in kindliness by the sheep: and, that it might be more readily believed that the child was her own, she gave it the pastoral name of Chloe.

  1.7 The two children soon grew up, more beautiful than ordinary rustics. When the boy was fifteen years of age, and the girl thirteen, Lamon and Dryas both dreamed the following dream on the same night. They dreamed that the Nymphs of the grotto with the fountain, in which Dryas had found the little girl, delivered Daphnis and Chloe into the hands of a saucy and beautiful boy, who had wings on his shoulders and carried a little bow and arrow: and that this boy touched them both with the same arrow, and bade them tend, the one goats, the other sheep.

  1.8 When they saw this vision, they grieved to think that Daphnis and Chloe were destined to tend sheep and goats, since their swaddling clothes seemed to give promise of better fortune: for which reason they had brought them up more delicately than shepherds’ children, had taught them to read, and given them all the instruction possible in a country place. They resolved, however, to obey the gods in regard to those who had been saved by their providence. Having communicated their dreams to each other, and offered sacrifice, in the cave of the Nymphs, to the winged boy (whose name they did not know), they sent the maiden and the lad into the fields, having instructed them in all that they had to do: how they ought to feed their flocks before midday, and when the heat had abated: when they should drive them to drink, and when drive them back to the fold: when they should use the shepherd’s crook and when the voice alone. They undertook this duty as joyfully as if they had been entrusted with some important office, and were fonder of their goats and sheep than shepherds usually are: for Chloe felt she owed her life to a ewe, while Daphnis remembered that when exposed, he had been nurtured by a goat.