Daphnis and Chloe

Although the narrator remains anonymous, the use of a first-person perspective in the preface connects the narrative and authorial voices. This creates the impression that it is Longus himself recounting his hunting trip to Lesbos, where he discovered the spectacular painting. Longus also presents the novel as a factual work. The author offers an explanation as to how he came to write the novel, recounting: “I felt a longing to write down what the picture told, and looked about until I found someone to explain it to me. And then I set to work and completed these four books” (3). By introducing the novel as a description of a beautiful painting, the preface establishes the narrative as an exercise in ekphrasis—a description of a work of art.

The preface summarizes the events of the novel, offering a snapshot of what is to come in the following four books. In addition, the preface is connected to the novel’s ending, where Longus describes how the elderly Daphnis and Chloe “beautified the cave, and set up pictures” (85). This reference to pictures brings the narrative full circle, returning to the narrator’s initial discovery of the painting that depicts Daphnis and Chloe’s story—presumably the same picture that Daphnis and Chloe originally set up.

By linking his novel to an impressive work of art, Longus also subtly compliments himself, suggesting that his novel will also be “a miracle of skill” (3). The author continues to praise his tale, claiming that it will:

heal the sick

and cheer the desponding,

bring back memories to those who have loved

and give needful instruction to those who have not. (3)

Longus presents storytelling as possessing miraculous properties of its own and imbues the novel with restorative qualities. Furthermore, the reference to revitalizing abilities alludes to the power of love. In the subsequent books, the power of love is personified as the God of Love (Eros), who can restore the energies of the elderly, as well as inspire intense passion, acts of bravery, and unshakeable loyalty. Therefore, it is the subject matter of the story that makes its telling so powerful, with the tale acting as a conduit of Eros’s power.

The Preface also introduces several features of the “sweet style,” which was employed by both the Ancient Greeks and Romans in romantic works. The sweet style utilizes grammatically symmetrical phrases and incorporates myths and poetry fragments into prose text. Some of these features have been lost from the modern text, through its translation from Greek to English. For example, the Preface’s original Greek text uses parisosis (an equal number of syllables in parallel clauses) and includes rhymes and assonance. These original features situate the novel in a wider landscape of classical literature and many modern editions (including the Oxford’s World Classics edition that this text refers to) preserve the poetic nature of these features by formatting them using poetry lineation. For example:

Out hunting in Lesbos,

in a grove sacred to the Nymphs

I saw a sight

whose like, for beauty, I had never seen—

a painting,

a love story. (3)

Here, in the Preface’s opening lines, Longus writes poetically of intangible elements such as mystical Nymphs and the emotion of love. Longus returns to the use of sweet style throughout the novel in moments of heightened emotion, where strict prose feels too rigid and restrictive for the intensity of the feeling conveyed.