I. Prologue

A. Lesbos—cf. Sappho

1. Painting told a love story—most beautiful thing I have ever seen

a) Description of nature

b) Excellent technique with romantic subject

(1) Women having babies

(2) Exposing babies!

(3) Sheep and goats suckling them

(4) Shepherds picking them up…

c) Longs to write verbal equivalent—“source of pleasure for the human race—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…But as for me I hope that the god will allow me to write of other people’s experiences, while retaining my own sanity”

d) Ecphrasis—but think of it as decorative; story on a vase

(1) Another ecphrasis—temple of Dionysus in Book 4

II. Book I

A. Description of beautiful country estate by the sea

B. Finding the babies

1. Goatherd Lamon finds baby suckled by goat—has compassion for the kid it has left behind, [just as goat has compassion for baby]

2. Baby dressed well. Shepherd thinks about leaving it and taking treasure, then ashamed and brings it home to his wife; they let goat nurse it and give it pastoral name of Daphnis

3. Description of beautiful cave sacred to Nymphs—statues inside suggestive of dancing—water came gushing from mouth, moisture made grass grow thick and soft; two years later, shepherd Dryas finds ewe offering teats to baby—lots of mutual licking—tokens beside it

4. Taught by ewe’s example, like the goatherd, to pity child and love it [guardianship--diametric opposite of Medea], took it home to wife and gave it pastoral name of Chloe

5. Symmetrical descriptions

6. Noticeably better looking than ordinary country people—class

C. Years later when babies are pubescent

1. When D was 15, and C was 13, Dryas and Lamon had identical dreams—winged boy hit both children with a single arrow

2. They were disappointed that each would be herdsfolk, since they’d raised them to read and be specially educated , but they followed the will of the gods.

3. Children are given their herding jobs—described in detail 23 and love animals more than most because they knew of their origins

4. Description of Spring—reverdie—gambolling of lambs, etc—children follow example of birds—they sing, of lambs—they dance, of bees—they gather flowers

5. They did everything together and shared work [cf. Love story of Adam and Eve] Toys: weaving cage for locust, making pan pipe; shared food, milk and wine

D. Love made something flare up—

1. she wolf was carrying off animals to feed her cubs—[love motivates her too—also the bull and wolf, later]. Shepherds make traps that don’t capture wolf, but kill many goats and sheep [humor]. Daphnis chases goat pursuing one with broken horn and with it falls in. Chloe gets cowherd to pull him out with her breastband, give the goat that fell with him to cowherd. Plan to lie to parents that wolf got the goat

2. They go to nymph sanctuary and he washes in spring—Chloe finds his body beautiful; washes his back and finds flesh soft and yielding, also finds her own flesh soft too. She wants to see him washing again. 26 [innocent tease; flesh and washing; cleanliness, innocence vs. dirty old man]

3. Chloe finds him beautiful when he pipes to the goats, thought beauty caused by the music; persuades him to have another wash. [doesn’t “know” her feelings. Admiration was the beginning of love. [love and ignorance—distress and desire for something you don’t know what it is—sehnsucht, longing—the platonic need for the ideal—an intimation of immortality]

4. Never heard the world ‘love’—NB didn’t know what was wrong with her. Sick at heart, couldn’t control eyes, no interest in food, couldn’t sleep

5. Soliloquy—I don’t know what’s wrong—Daphnis’ beauty hurts her—“if only I were his pipe, so that he’d breathe into me. She tried to find a name for love.—quote Socrates on desire [next transition: theme makes for plot transition]

E. Dorcon, the older cowherd “knew” the word

1. and he was in love with Chloe. He brings both gifts to become their friends, and then only Chloe, gifts which she gives Daphnis. [contrast: uninnocent, conniving love; youth vs. adult]

2. Dorcon and Daphnis have beauty contest for prize of kissing Chloe—also a speech contest. Dorcon puts Daphnis down for being beardless, but Daphnis says that makes him more kissable. [beauty of youth vs. maturity] “If you have to kiss someone, you can kiss my mouth, but all you can kiss of him is the hair on his chin.” 30 [smooth transitions—kiss to kiss]

3. Chloe kisses him and he “reacted as if he had been stung rather than kissed…as if he had just got eyes for the first time” emphasis on virginity, innocence and new knowledge

4. Daphnis gets love sick—the kiss is something quite new...I want to kiss her again…he’s withering away

5. Dorcon gives flowers to Dryas and tries to get her father to give her in marriage. Dryas is tempted but refuses

6. Dorcon, disappointed decides to “lay hands” on chloe. Dresses in a wolf skin—the wolf killed by a bull defending cows—and waits by the spring.

7. Her dogs nose him out, bit first the wolf skin, and then through it; Chloe calls Daphnis, then Dorcon comes out of hiding and they bathe and soothe his wounds 33 They didn’t suspect foul play [innocence and ignorance] [Dorcon’s violence breeds violence]

8. Sheep and goats frightened away by sounds and D and C have to track and gather them

9. They were tired and slept well because of fatigue; awoke the next day and both were delighted when seeing one another and miserable apart. “All they knew was this [ignorance] that a kiss had proved fatal to Daphnis, and a wash to Chloe. [symmetry]

F. Inflamed by time of year—end of spring, beginning of summer,

1. everything at its best….you would have thought the very streams were singing as they gently flowed along, that the winds were making music as they breathed among the pines, that the apples were dropping on to the ground because they were in love, and that the sun was making everybody undress because he loved to see beauty” 34-5 [reverdie, pathetic fallacy, humor, buildup to humor and pathos—older perspective, voyeuristic pleasure—the painting]

2. On fire, Daphnis often plunged into streams—interaction with nature

3. Chloe, after tiresome work of milking and making cheese and battling flies, dresses up, shares milk and wine with Daphnis

4. She likes to watch him wash naked, he likes her clothes, they kiss each others clothes and cross dress; he kisses her via the pipe 36

5. She sleeps and he gazes at her; grasshopper escaping from swallow [natural detail] lands in her bosom; she feels swallow and grasshopper and screams, he laughs and then reaches between her breasts and draws out grasshopper; she kisses it and puts it back 37

6. D. tells story while listen to wood-pigeon—cowherd girl and boy having singing contest

G. In autumn – love and pirates

1. pirates land and steal lots of stuff and Daphnis. Dorcon dies with a kiss from Chloe, giving her pipe to call trained cows, which leap into the sea, boat capsizes and sinks, pirates in armor drown, Daphnis half naked, gets out of his clothes, seizes horns of cows which are excellent swimmers. 40

2. She doesn’t tell him she kissed Dorcon. They go to funeral, where cows mourn Dorcon. They go to nymphs’ cave and she washes and lets Daphnis see her body for the first time—after dangerouis adventure and Dorcon’s death

3. Sight of naked Chloe makes Daphnis more sick—worse than pirates—“because as yet he knew nothing of the piracy of love” 41

III. Book 2

A. Fruit season festival—the vintage

1. winepresses, details of vines and cultivation 43

2. “Everyone gave a helping hand” D and C help [country community idyll]

3. Festival in honor of dionysus. Older women go after D. [like Dorcas after Chloe] “which excited him and annoyed Chloe.”Men go after her; they both want to go back to usual surroundings, away from “discordant shouts” [too innocent for adult pleasures]

B. Retreat and love remedies

1. They dutifully bring sacrifices to Nymphs—piety

2. Old man arrives—Philetas. Fully experienced. Describes garden he’s created—flowers and fruits, and birds. Locus Amoenus

3. Tells of finding little mischievous boy in garden and chasing him and being unable to catch him, and the boy “charmed away my anger.” Philetas asks for just one kiss, and boy says though he loves to be kissed, it would be dangerous for old man. Boy is older than time and the universe. He gave Amaryllis to Philetas when he was young; “now its D and C I’m looking after” No flowers and fruits broken in your garden; when I’ve been there everything’s more beautiful. “You’re the only man in the world who, in his old age, has seen this boy.” Philetas reveals to them—“You my children are dedicated love and Love is looking after you.”47

4. They ask what love is. He instructs: Love is a god—delights in youth [Agathon] and pursues beauty [Socrates] and gives wings to the soul…greater than Zeus…flowers are all love’s handework. These trees are his creations [Eryximachus]…the only remedies are kissing and embracing and lying down together with naked bodies” 48 [this is the big hint] By process of elimination they decide to try Philetas’ remedies.

5. Teasing…they were reluctant to try the third remedy…they dreamed about doing it first [their shyness] then fell over and lay together but nothing happened and “might perhaps have discovered the real thing, but for…”

C. The Methymnean interruption

1. young men from town out on a pleasure cruise; peasant steals their mooring rope, they land near D and C to hunt; the goats eat the rope they improvised out of “withy”[willow branch]; yacht carried out to sea; Methymneans attack Daphnis and a fight starts; then there’s a trial presided over by Philetas. They accuse D of negligence; he defends himself by stating that their hounds chased goats to seaside and other brief but persuasive arguments 54 Philetas: “the guilty parties were the sea and the wind which came under the jursidiction of another court” [humor]

2. Youths start brawl and peasants chase them away. Chloe leads Daphnis to cave of Nymphs and tends to his wounds with kisses. Youths falsely convince citizens to take revenge by sending small sea force against Mytilene. Daphnis sees raid but not capture of goats and Chloe. He calls on the nymphs and they bring him a dream in which he’s assured that Chloe will be protected by Pan [guardianship]; they reproach him for not worshipping Pan, which he proceeds to do. He weeps and dreams, anxious and hopeful she will be returned.

3. Methymneans stop on the way home to rest and party. Dreadful things happen—sounds of thunder and battle and a wounding. Next day ivy appears on horns of Daphnis’ goats and Chloes herds howl like wolves. Anchor sticks, oars break, dolphins tear planks apart. Trumpet-like sound of pan-pipe:

4. They PANic. Pan appears to general, and he returns Chloe and her flocks, they dance to sweet pastoral panpiping

5. Daphnis sees them, runs to her and faints. Recovers and sends her to family while he sacrifices a goat to pan.

D. Celebration of Chloe’s return; the panpipe

1. http://www.lugodoc.demon.co.uk/pan.htm

2. http://www.panflutejedi.com/syrinximage.html

3. http://www.panflutejedi.com

4. The whole crowd comes to party in the field and then fall asleep. 63 Next day they sacrifice leader of herd to Pan. Pastoral offering to pastoral god. Old folks talk about olden days and their skills [A and Y].

5. Lamon tells story of the Pan pipe. Pan half-goat, half man, syrinx hides in reeds; he couldn’t find her, cut the reeds, put them together into a pipe. [removes tragic element of metamorphosis from story]

6. Philetas playing panflute – description 66

7. http://www.panflutejedi.com/Music/Seraglio.mp3

8. Dryas does dance mimicing the harvest; D+C dance based on Lamon’s story—art show; performances—description of dance retells the story with Daphnis playing Pan and Chloe playing Syrinx, story of creation of the musical instrument that creates the story; —Philetas gives him his big flute and kisses “Chloe as warmly as if she had run away in earnest and he had found her again” 67

E. D and C make oaths of eternal fidelity – a concluding episode

1. after drinking wine which heated their blood

IV. Book 3

A. Mytilenean general Hippasos leads army to Methymneans; they regretted imprudence and were anxious to restore all plunder. 69 After consulting his countrymen they decide to recover plunder and choose peace, ending the war [pacificism]

B. Winter

1. Everything froze solid, snow covered everything, people built fires and stayed indoors

2. Farmers and shepherds slept late and enjoyed holiday, but D and C couldn’t see each other and looked forward to Spring as resurrection from death

3. Ivy bower in front of Dryas’ (and Chloe’s) house where birds came for berries [pan and ivy]; Daphnis comes, he says, to snare them. Tries to think of excuse for being there to see Chloe but gives up. Dryas comes out to chase dog that grabbed his meat, finds Daphnis and invites him in. He and Chloe kiss and she serves him wine. [restraint indoors, with others around—vs. privacy and liberty of outdoors] He’s invited to stay overnight for sacrifice tomorrow. [teenage excitement—the parents] Daphnis got pleasure even to go to bed with Chloe’s father

4. Their purloined conversation—the winter so long, but they have a few visits

C. Echo

1. They are eating and kissing and a fishboat passes by with fishermen singing and creating echo from land, which Chloe doesn’t understand. He tells her the story of Echo who sand with the muses and avoided all males. Pan grew angry with her, sent the goatherds and shepherds to tear her to pieces and spread pieces around the world. Earth concealed the limbs and preserved the music. Pan pursues echo wanting the knowledge of who is invisible imitator is.

2. Chloe kisses him especially ardently because Echo repeats everything he had said as if to testify he was telling the truth 85 [echoing and mirroring cf. 67]

D. Summer comes—marriage dealings; deferred gratifications

1. swim in rivers, bathe in springs—worried about what Lycaenion said, he did not allow Chloe to be naked often

2. Many offers made for Chloe’s hand. Daphnis will try too. His family is reluctant because of the obstacle of class—they want more for him and think that Chloe’s will want more for her. He prays to Nymphs who tell him where to find purse from ship from Methymna for courtship next to rotting corpse of dolphin [all ugliness hides beauty—Silenus]

3. Daphnis gives her parents speech and money. Dryas goes to his parents and offers money for Daphnis instead of asking for money—but hides fact of Daphnis’ gift. Lamon cant plead poverty, but doesn’t want to say he thinks Daphnis is too good to marry Chloe—he’s a slave and has to wait for permission from master who comes in autumn—then Lamon lets slip that Daphnis is “a cut above us.” Daphnis is promised Chloe.

4. They find tree with perfect apple at the top—the perfectly ripe one. “Perhaps this beautiful apple was being kept in reserve for some shepherd who is in love.” She discourages him from climbing so high, but does so and gives it to her with elegant triumphant speech. 93 [just before harvest; this is Chloe]

V. Book 4

A. The master’s coming

1. Lamon cleaning up.

2. The garden

a) Description set piece; formal; fruit trees and vines—grape and ivy

b) Mixture of wild and cultivated flowers and trees 95-6

(1) “Though it had happened naturally this too gave the impression of having been done on purpose”

c) Views and prospects

d) In the middle a temple and altar sacred to Dionysus—pictures inside—Dionysus topoi

3. fattening goats

4. Grapes are stripped; another harvest, before master comes

5. Daphnis enthusiastically getting ready to please the master to secure permission for marriage; gifts to the messenger

B. Reversals and suspense

1. Agony of suspense—apprehensive kisses

2. Lampis is jealous suitor; climbs into Lamon’s garden and destroys the flowers.

a) Description of the mess. They are so upset. Imagine all being hanged by the master 100 Master’s son Astylus comes early and is asked for help; he agrees to lie and say that his horses did it

3. Gnathon, Astylus’ “hanger on,” [described 102] goes after Daphnis,

a) Flatters him and promises his freedom. Drunk, he asks him to present his backside (102) [grossest incident] and D. pertly refuses. Gnathon tries rape but is knocked over.

b) Gnathon plots to get Daphnis given to him.

c) Master—Dionysophanes—and party arrive and admire condition of the estate, promising Lamon his freedom. Daphnis looks beautiful 104 and plays pipes to command his goats to do all kinds of things. Master and wife are delighted

d) Gnathon begs Astylus for Daphnis [slavery]—says he’ll kill himself unless he gets him and makes charming speech about the irresistibility of love

e) Astylus agrees and gets his father to agree to take Daphnis to the city [city, city]

4. Revelation and reunion—Daphnis family

a) Eudromus overhears and tells Lamon and Daphnis. Lamon decides to reveal tokens to put off Gnathon 108

(1) Lamon tells his story, and master evaluates evidence; then tokens are brought out and reveal that Daphnis is their child

b) Astylus runs to Daphnis and frightens him; Daphnis runs to cliff, almost lost. Everybody embracing. Especially Daphnis with his real parents. Given expensive clothes

c) Don’t hold it against me that I exposed you Daphnis—it was most reluctantly. Estate will be his. Gnathon hides; everybody else shows up.

d) Daphnis says goodbye to all his pastoral possessions.

5. More suspense

a) Chloe feels abandoned. Lampis the cowherd kidnaps her; Daphnis is miserable

b) Gnathon decides to repent and rescues Chloe and returns to Daphnis and asks to be his servant. Daphnis forgives him and holds Chloe.

6. Chloe’s family

a) Dryas brings tokens to master showing Chloe’s not his daughter. Dionysophanes asks Daphnis if Chloe’s a virgin. Now everybody saw what beauty was like enhanced by finery [garden: nature and art]. Chloe presents her old possessions as thank offerings. They need to find out about Chloe’s birth before the marriage can proceed; go to the city of Mitylene looking for her real parents

b) Dion. Dreams that Love tells him to have a feast and reveal the tokens. Megacles identifies them and tells story of exposing Chloe. Dion. Brings in Chloe

C. Wedding and marriage

1. They go back to the country. Their wedding “a pastoral affair.” 120 Everybody invited even Lampis, who was forgiven…as long as they lived they spent most of their time in pastoral pursuits and suckled their children by goats and sheep and they grew old together [a forshadowing before the ending of consummation]

2. Escorted to bridal chamber. “For Daphnis did some of the things that Lycaenion had taught him; and then for the first time Chloe realized that what had taken place on the eduge of the wood had been nothing but chldish play.” 121