Making change happen : the adaptation and transformation of Ovid's Metamorphoses in Longus' Daphnis and Chloe

This paper aims to explore the connections and parallels between Longus' Daphnis and Chloe and Ovid's Metamorphoses. The conclusions reached should provide fertile ground for further studies in the intertextual play between novels and Latin poetry. To reach these conclusions, there will be a multi-pronged approach at analyzing the questions and implications raised by the potential connections. First Longus' novel will be situated within a context of Greek literature under the Roman Empire that consciously utilized Vergilian poetry. Having done that, I will turn to the similar methods that each author uses to play with genre and the visual worlds in his work, a process that shows that Longus was using Ovid as a definite model/kindred spirit for his novel's approach to these topics. Following that, there will be an extended examination of specific episodes in Daphnis and Chloe through which Longus reveals his knowledge of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Finally, this paper will attempt to situate the arguments and conclusions that are made in the context of the current debates over the readership of the novel to present a strong case for bilingualism in the ancient world.