Palæmon was usually represented riding on a dolphin. He was called Portumnus by the Romans, and was believed to have jurisdiction over the ports and shores. Some authorities state that the Isthmian Games held on the isthmus of Corinth were in honor of Neptune instead of Palæmon.
The divinities of the lakes, rivers, fountains, etc., were hoary river gods, slender youths, beautiful maidens, and sometimes children. The famous statue called "Father Nile" is in the Vatican at Rome.
XLII
Bacchus was worshiped very widely throughout the ancient world, and many festivals were held in his honor. The most noted were the Greater and Lesser Dionysia, the Liberalia, and the Bacchanalia. Bacchus is generally represented as crowned with ivy or grape leaves and bearing an ivy-circled wand (the thyrsus). He rides in a chariot drawn by panthers or leopards.
Poems:—
XLIII
As the ass was reverenced in Phrygia, the acquisition of ass's ears may not have been such a disgrace as we imagine.
Ovid thus describes Midas' golden touch:—
"Whose powerful hands the bread no sooner hold,
Than all its substance is transformed to gold;
Up to his mouth he lifts the savory meat,
Which turns to gold as he attempts to eat:
His patron's noble juice of purple hue,
Touch'd by his lips, a gilded cordial grew,
Unfit for drink; and, wonderous to behold,
It trickles from his jaws a fluid gold.
The rich poor fool, confounded with surprise,
Starving in all his various plenty lies."