Daphnis and Chloe is the most acclaimed of the early Greek novels. Its popularity is enhanced by the splendid illustrations it has generated — from High Victorian to Bonnard and Maillol, and of course musically in the ballet of Ravel. There are numerous translations of the prose text of Longus, but the reader may sense that something is missing, that some poetic charm in the original has been lost. Accordingly, John Watson has devised a metrical version in which, it is hoped, the original vivacity is restored. Here is the earliest archetype of young love and erotic awakening. Here are dangers averted with fresh dangers following, hopes confounded only to be rekindled, and Fortune — or the gods — intervening eventually to bring ultimate happiness.
