Daphnis and Chloe

Daphnis and Chloe is one of the earliest romantic novels known. It describes how two naive children of rural herders grew up as lovers and overcame severe obstacles to achieve a happy married life in the country. The original manuscript was by a Greek Sophist, Longus (circa 300 A.D.). A French version by Jacques Amyot (1513-1593) appeared in 1559 and in 1810, Paul Louis Courier (1772-1825) found the original manuscript in a Florence, Italy, library and republished it.