Herdsman

The herdsman obeyed the summons, but upon looking for a rope for the purpose of drawing Daphnis out, none was to be found: upon which Chloe unfastened the cord which bound her hair, and gave it to the herdsman who let one end of it down to Daphnis.

Then the herdsman and Chloe, holding the other end of the cord, placed themselves at the edge of the pit, and pulled as strongly as they could, whilst Daphnis climbed up as well as he was able, and at last was extricated from his prison.

Dorcon, the herdsman, who had extricated Daphnis and the goat from the pit, a young fellow upon whose chin the first down was just sprouting, had already, on the occasion of that meeting, become enamoured of Chloe, and his passion for her increased day by day.

"I," he said, "am taller than Daphnis. I keep oxen, whilst he keeps goats; and just as an ox is more valuable than a goat, so is a herdsman, like myself, superior to a goat-herd."

He promised that, if he were so happy as to obtain her as his wife, he was prepared to offer him the handsomest gifts which a herdsman could bestow — a yoke of oxen fit for the plough, four hives of bees, fifty young apple trees for planting, the hide of an ox already tanned as well as a weaned calf annually.

Dorcon, being thus disappointed for the second time and having given his cheeses away to no purpose, conceived a plan of carrying off Chloe by force, whenever he might find her alone; and having observed that she and Daphnis alternately conducted the flocks to drink, he contrived a scheme which would naturally strike the invention of a herdsman.

I give you this pipe with which I obtained the prize in contending with many a shepherd and many a herdsman; give me in return for this gift but one kiss, while yet I live.

However, as soon as Daphnis and Chloe came in view of the animals and called to them in their usual manner and sounded their pipes, the sheep sprang up and began to browse, while the goats skipped about as if exulting in the return of their herdsman.

The neighbours who had reached the spot, seconded this demand, to which the Methymnaeans consented, and Philetas, the herdsman, was appointed umpire in the business.

Chloe can bear witness to my skill as a herdsman; fifty she-goats were given to my charge, and their number is now fully doubled.