The enchanting Greek love story of Daphnis
and Chloe is about a boy and
a girl who grew up together and fell in love. Being simple shepherds
and spending almost all their times with the sheep and goat, they don't
even know what love is. The story follows their life and obstacles in their
journey to find the true meaning of love and the joy of it.
It is written by Longus,
a poet about whom nothing else is known, and dates to about mid third century
A.D. In 1961, Mark Chagall (1887-1985),
the originally Russian artist known for painting as poetry, illustrated this
story. Following is from the scene where an old man, sent by the god of Love,
talks to the young couple about their "sickness":
So Philates went on to say"
"Love, my children, is a god, young and beautiful and winged.
That's why he delights in youth and pursues beauty and gives wings to the
soul. And he can do greater things than Zeus himself. He has power over the
elements, he has power over the stars, ... The flowers are all Love's
handiwork. These trees are his creation. He is the reason why rivers run and
winds blow. ... There is no medicine for Love, nothing you can drink and
nothing you can eat and no magic spell that you can say. The only remedies are
kissing and embracing and lying down together ..."
