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CLASSIC LIT —
Morality, in Daphnis and Chloe
Representations of Good and Evil
When I first decided to write a piece on Daphnis and Chloe, I had only read the novel once. At the time, the plan was to delineate a clear distinction between good and evil — with good being associated with rural characters, and evil with city-folk. Upon closer inspection, i.e. several re-readings, the distinction became less obvious. Save for the pirates of Pyrrha (1.28), every character mentioned is at least redeemable.
The version of the story I used is from a voluminous anthology — Collected Ancient Greek Novels, originally published in 1989. The collection was edited by B.P. Reardon, the eminent scholar who passed away in 2009. A number of translators took part in the compilation, as there are a great many stories included there. Daphnis and Chloe was translated by a philosopher called Christopher Gill, who is still with us (carry on, old chap).
Prior to a character analysis, some background on the novel itself is appropriate. Tentatively dated to the 2nd century AD, it is attributed to a figure called Longus — of whom we know next to nothing. Some have placed the enigmatic author’s origin on the island of Lesbos, for the fact that this is where the story occurs, but this is mere conjecture.
