Sweet and Pleasant Passion: Female and Male Fantasy in Ancient Romance Novels

I couldn't find much more information about this, but the short excerpt I found did suggest that explicit connections would be drawn between ancient and modern romances:

During the early centuries A.D., a few Greek writers produced what may be viewed as prototypes of the modern romance novel. Of these works, it is Longus's Daphnis and Chloe that most nearly anticipates those present-day romances often called "Harlequins." I, too, will use this convenient term, although Harlequins are only the most notorious of a genre which admits much variation in quality and which, by one account (Thurston 1987), has developed greatly over the decades. (231)