Longus

Longus in Wikipedia

Longus, sometimes Longos (Greek: Λόγγος), was a Greek novelist and romancer, and author of Daphnis and Chloe. Very little is known of his life, and it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos (setting for Daphnis and Chloe) during the 2nd century AD It has been suggested[by whom?] that the name Longus is merely a misinterpretation of the last word of Daphnis and Chloe 's title Λεσβιακῶν ἐρωτικῶν λόγοι δ'[clarification needed] in the Florentine manuscript; Seiler[citation needed] also observes that the best manuscript begins and ends with λόγου (not λόγγου) ποιμενικῶν. If his name was really Longus, he was probably a freedman of some Roman family which bore that name as a cognomen.

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Longus in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

(Αόγγος). A writer who probably lived in the third century A.D. He was the author of a Greek pastoral romance, Daphnis and Chloe, in four books. It is considered the best of all ancient romances which have come down to us, on account of its deep and natural feeling, its grace of narrative, and the comparative purity and ease of its language. It has suggested many imitations by Italian, French, German, and English writers, the more famous being Bernardin de St. Pierre's Paul et Virginie. The rare translation by John Day of the French version of Amyot was reprinted in 1890. The Greek text is edited by Hirschig with a Latin version in the Erotici Scriptores of the Didot collection (Paris, 1856). Translation by Smith (London, 1855). See Novels and Romances.

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