"There can be no doubt that the pastoral of Longus had a considerable influence on the style and incidents of the subsequent Greek romances, particularly those of Eustathius and Theodorus Prodromus; but its effects on modern pastorals, particularly those which appeared in Italy during the sixteenth century, is a subject of more difficulty.—Huet is of opinion, that it was not only the model of the Astrea of D'Urfé, and the Diana of Montemayor, but gave rise to the Italian dramatic pastoral. This opinion is combated by Villoison, on the grounds that the first edition of Longus was not published till 1598, and that Tasso died in the year 1595. It is true that the first Greek edition of Longus was not published till 1598, but there was a French translation by Amyot, which appeared in 1559, and one in Latin verse by Gambara in 1569, either of which might have been seen by Tasso. But although this argument, brought forward by Villoison, be of little avail, he is probably right in the general notion he has adopted that Daphnis and Chloe was not the origin of the pastoral drama. The Sacrificio of Agostino Beccari, which was the earliest specimen of this style of composition, and was acted at Ferrara in 1554, was written previous to the appearance of any edition or version of Longus. Nor is there any similarity in the story or incidents of the Aminta to those in Daphnis and Chloe, which should lead us to imagine that the Greek romance had been imitated by Tasso.
"It bears, however, a stronger likeness to the more recent dramatic pastorals of Italy. These are frequently founded on the exposure of children who, after being brought up as shepherds by reputed fathers, are discovered by their real parents by means of tokens fastened to them when they were abandoned. There is also a considerable resemblance between the story of Daphnis and Chloe and that of the Gentle Shepherd: the plot was suggested to Ramsay by one of his friends, who seems to have taken it from the Greek pastoral. Marmontel, too, in his Annette and Lubin, has imitated the simplicity and inexperience of the lovers of Longus. But of all modern writers the author who has most closely followed this romance is Gessner. In his Idylls there is the same poetical prose, the same beautiful rural descriptions, and the same innocence and simplicity in the rustic characters. In his pastoral of Daphnis, the scene of which is laid in Greece, he has painted, like Longus, the early and innocent attachment of a shepherdess and swain, and has only embellished his picture by the incidents that arise from rural occupations and the revolutions of the year."
To these observations we may add, that Longus is supposed by some to have furnished to Bernardin de St. Pierre the groundwork for his beautiful tale of Paul and Virginia. Many points of resemblance may certainly be traced between the hero and heroine of the respective works; the description of their innocence—their simple and rustic mode of life, and their occupation and diversions. Among the rest may be mentioned the descriptions of the sensations of love when first arising in Virginia; and the pantomimic dance in which she and Paul take part.
An anonymous and "select" translation of Longus, published at Truro, in 1803, has been taken as the basis of the present version. The passages (and there are many) omitted by the former translator are here given, together with a considerable fragment, first discovered by M. Paul Louis Courier, in 1810, in the Laurentian Library at Florence. It has been the endeavour of the present translator to make his version convey the sense of the original as faithful as possible, except in some few passages ("egregio inspersos corpore nævos") where it has been considered advisable to employ the veil of a learned language.
In reading the work of Longus, we must bear in mind that he was most probably a heathen, or at any rate, that he describes the heathen state of morals.
The following passage from Dr. Nott's Preface to his translation of Catullus will illustrate the principle upon which the present translator has gone, in presenting in an English dress passages entirely omitted in the anonymous version, before referred to:—
"When an ancient classic is translated and explained, the work may be considered as forming a link in the chain of history.—History should not be falsified, we ought therefore to translate him somewhat fairly, and when he gives us the manners of his own day, however disgusting to our sensations and repugnant to our natures they may oftentimes prove, we must not, in translation, suppress or even too much gloss them over, through a fastidious regard to delicacy."[3]
Achilles Tatius was a native of Alexandria, commonly assigned to the second or third century of the Christian æra, but considered by the best critics to have flourished after Heliodorus, to whom he is looked upon as next in point of literary merit, and whom he has more or less imitated in various parts of his works, like him frequently introducing into the thread of his narrative the Egyptian buccaneers. According to Suidas, he became, towards the end of his life, a Christian and a Bishop; a statement which is however considered doubtful, as no mention is made by that lexicographer of his Episcopal see, and Photius, who mentions him in three different places, is silent upon the subject.
In point of style, Achilles Tatius is considered to excel Heliodorus and the other writers of Greek Romance. Photius says of him,—"With regard to diction and composition, Tatius seems to me to excel when he employs figurative language: it is clear and natural; his sentences are precise and limpid, and such as by their sweetness greatly delight the ear."