Daphnis and Chloe Book

This was my first classical novel, having only read plays/poems beforehand. Daphnis and Chloe has been cited by many booktubers (whose opinions on classical literature I trust) as a great place to start with literature from antiquity, and the premise of this book was too good to pass up.

Daphnis and Chloe is a very sweet tale of Daphnis (a 15-year-old goatherd) and Chloe (a 13-year-old shepherdess) who fall in love without understanding what 'Love' is. Through a series of bizarre and comedic mishaps (and with a little help from Pan and the Nymphs), they learn about love and find their true happiness - as well as something about themselves to boot!

This was very easy to read, which was a great surprise. I usually approach classical literature with some trepidation, but Longus' novel was intensely readable. I put this all down to the excellent translation by Ronald McCail, and would recommend picking up this particular Oxford World's Classics edition. The only thing that I found a little disrupting to my reading experience was having to constantly refer to the notes throughout (there were a lot). It made reading a little disjointed at times. However, having read it once, if I do go back to this text I won't have to refer to the notes the second time around, which should make for a more fluid reading experience. However, the notes are well worth reading as they provide some great background information on certain words and passages.

Overall I highly enjoyed this read. It was fun and ,despite the subject matter, not crude in the slightest. This has made me more excited to read more classical literature. So classical lit fans, feel free to chuck recommendations at me!