This is a story written by Longus between the 3rd and 5th century A.D. This version is a translation into English by George Thornley, published in 1657.

A boy and a girl, by coincidence, were both abandoned at birth but discovered and reared by two pastoral families as their own. As two young people, they work side by side on the island of Lesbos as a goatherd and shepherd. This is the story of how they fall in love and how poor Daphnis faces and recovers from a number of challenges. Scattered in between the events are short side stories about adventures of the Roman gods, which are told to Daphnis and Chloe by incidental characters in the story.

I found this book to be a both delightful and fascinating. It is a Greek story that provides a glimpse into everyday life of ordinary folk in an era when, for example, religious devotion and sacrifice to the appropriate gods was how you lived. And the description of how hard Daphnis falls for Chloe is poetic, sweet, and slightly erotic.

George Thornley used the subtitle "A Most Sweet, and Pleasant Pastorall ROMANCE for Young Ladies." For our era, "young adult" would be more appropriate. Nevertheless, this Greek story translated into the English of Shakespeare's era is an easy and pleasant read. ( )

A classic, but one that doesn't move neatly on a straight line into our own times. It has been rewritten under many guises; here, then, is the original, by way of a marvellous translation; but this is a book to be studied, not consumed. It isn't throwaway fiction, but I fear I treated it as such. ( )