Daphnis, Chloe, and the Eroticism of Procreation vs. Recreation
Then, upon reading the Delicious Tacos short story “Angel of the Morning”, in which the protagonist attempts to seduce a lady by playing the “Daphnis and Chloe” Concerto by Maurice Ravel, I knew I had to visit this piece of fiction posthaste. The purpose of this review is not only to show appreciation for a fine early novel, there are many books on it already, but to discuss why, in our current year, we in the West need to read and study popular culture from 1700 years ago.
Daphnis and Chloe is an early romance novel, and may be considered a forerunner of erotic fiction. It will seems quaint to a society that has instant access to any pornography at our fingertips, but for many centuries it was considered quite taboo. For those unfamiliar, the setting is pre-Christian pagan Greece. The subject of the European identity in the face of Christianity has flared up recently, with Tara McCarthy, for example, claiming that the greatness of Europe, in fact the greatest period of European supremacy, was pre-Christian (for more details see here). As Christianity ascended within the ranks of the Roman Empire around the same time Daphnis and Chloe was written, it is an interesting document to compare the mythology and ethics proposed herein, compared to Christianity.
The striking example here is that both Daphnis and Chloe were abandoned in the wilderness by their parents. This is a common trope in pagan stories and was common practice particularly of those in pursuit of careers. The abandonment of children was one of the key battles between Christianity and European Pagans, the others being human sacrifice and the elimination of concubines. In this romanticized novel, Daphnis and Chloe are nursed to health by a mother sheep and goat, and raised by Shepherds and goatherds. In reality, abandoned children die of exposure or starvation.
Another aspect of Daphnis and Chloe which may have rendered it controversial was its acknowledgement of homosexuality. Daphnis, the lead male, cleans up the estate in preparation for a visit from the lord and his son. One of the hangers on in the Lord’s entourage, Gnathon, is a homosexual, is described as:
“…a fellow who had only learnt to eat, to drunk until he was drunk, and when he was drunk, to copulate, who was nothing but a mouth and a stomach and what lies under the stomach…”
The character of Gnathon paints a clear picture on the pre-Christian Greek view of homosexuality, that it was allowed but not encouraged.
Pagan culture did however have many positive and valuable qualities, and are illustrated quite well here. The most striking one is that your kin, the people in your village, have redeeming value. Daphnis competes with a slightly older farmer Dorcon for the chance to have Chloe’s hand. They basically have a rap battle to comedic effect. Dorcon states of Daphnis:
“This fellow’s quite short, and he’s as beardless as a woman and as dark as a wolf…”
To which Daphnis retorts:
“I haven’t got a beard, but neither does Dionysus. I’m dark, but so are hyacinth’s, and Dionysus is superior to the Satyrs, and so are hyacinths to lilies. But this fellow’s as red as a fox, and he’s got a beard like a he-goat, and his skin is white like a town-lady’s And if you have to kiss someone, you can kiss my mouth, but all you can kiss of him is the hair on his chin.”
Chloe chooses Daphnis, and Dorcon later tries more underhanded means of getting his hands on Chloe, namely he dresses up as a wolf and attacking her (to no avail). But when foreign pirates attack and plunder the village, Dorcon takes them on and is fatally assaulted, and in his dying breath he says to Chloe:
“You must save your Daphnis and avenge me and destroy them (pirates). I’ve trained the cows to follow the sound of the pan-pipe and to go wherever they hear it playing…So quick, take this pipe and play the tune on it that I once taught Daphnis, and Daphnis taught you. After that it’s up to the pipe and the cows out there. And you can have the pipe itself as a present — I’ve won a lot of contests with it against cowherds and goatherds too. And in return, please kiss me while I’m still alive, and weep for me when I’m dead, and if you see someone else grazing my cows, remember me.”
That touching soliloquy redeems this previously jealous lover, and affirms the notion that kinfolk in your community have value, even if they are jealous and unrequited lovers. Even rascally Gnathon, his advances thoroughly rebuffed by Daphnis, acts to redeem himself by rescuing Chloe from another jealous suitor and returning her to Daphnis. The ultimate redemption is of the Lord himself, who acknowledges that is was he who abandoned Daphnis as a baby and sought his forgiveness. These examples illustrate the necessity of small community networks to be resilient and forgiving to those of your kin, on the off chance that they can do you a good turn in the end.
The only group of people without redeeming value were the marauding pirates. They assaulted and murdered villagers and stole all the livestock. Only with the considerable help and threats from the god Pan did the Pirates give up the livestock and return to their home village. Our Current Year climate have considerably inverted this ethos to a blatant and dangerous xenophilia, exemplified by the fact that our judges and large, well-funded NGOs wantonly support endless free immigration from hostile nations. Nowadays, pirates don’t need to directly steal our crops, they just need someone to fill out paperwork for their EBT card, Section 8 housing, Obamacare. As such, the world of Daphnis and Chloe provide an astringent reminder of the natural order of human biodiversity.
The Current year also has a mythos and an ethos, and it is in contrast with the modern day mythos that Daphnis and Chloe stand head and shoulders above, and those necessary for the modern reader. The underlying animating force behind Daphnis and Chloe is procreation, whereas Marvel / DC mythology is merely recreation. I no longer watch comic book movies on principle, but I saw a youtube explainer on Deadpool, where, despite being an immortal, world-saving, wisecracking badass, he couldn’t muster the courage to approach a girl. Consider the image of Peter Parker walking away from Mary Jane (again and again and again). What is the purpose of this, as it clearly has no logic? It is to hypnotize and persuade a young male audience to minimize their desire to find and attract a mate. These battles are just a good air conditioned way to kill time in the summer, and see you next summer fam for another episode. It is all recreation. Procreation, on the other hand, requires courtship and even a bit of courage. Daphnis, upon hearing he may have lost the chance to court Chloe, contemplates suicide, a universal concern for young men.
The basis of the affection Daphnis and Chloe have for each other is the time they spend together from a young age working the fields. The challenge that pornography brings to humanity, and to men in particular, is the false sense of intimacy, and false sense of security it provides for us. If a man is capable of attracting a lady of modest looks, watching a lot of pornography will convince him he is entitled to better than mere modesty. There may be a student in your class with 10 extra pounds, or a co-worker that is cute but has cankles.
Further, by pleasuring himself so artificially, he will reduce his thirst for carnal intimacy and not even act in his own best interest to improve himself. He may lose just a little of the discipline he needs to get to the gym, or eat better. Stop watching pornography for 1 month and your entire perspective on female beauty shifts dramatically. There are a lot of men making a lot of money convincing other men how to attract ladies, it’s often well over-complicated and often demeaning to women. All a man needs is his thirst level, and to pay close attention at all times. Did your co-worker bring you a gift for no reason? Did your colleague, the one you thought was 3/10 while watching pornography, transfer to Vienna and invite you to come visit? The lay minister at your church, the one with a mantilla that says the rosary during the Eucharist and kneels to receive the Eucharist on her tongue, did she blush when you made eye contact with her? Your Chloe is out there, at work or on the train, at the grocery store. But you’ll never find her while binge-watching GoT or cruising the internet for sex dolls. So, I would encourage you to pick up Daphnis and Chloe to revisit the eroticism of procreation, or if you want something more recent and risque, try some Delicious Tacos.