ZOPYRION.
(watching Midas off)
He cannot hear me now, and I may laugh!
I should have burst had he staid longer here.
Two long, smooth asses’ ears that stick upright;
Oh, that Apollo had but made him bray!
I’ll to the palace; there I’ll laugh my fill
With—hold! What were the last words that Midas said?
I may not speak—not to my friends disclose
The strangest tale? ha! ha! and when I laugh
I must not tell the cause? none know the truth?
None know King Midas has—but who comes here?
It is Asphalion: he knows not this change;
I must look grave & sad; for now a smile
If Midas knows it may prove capital.
Yet when I think of those—oh! I shall die,
In either way, by silence or by speech.
Enter Asphalion.
ASPHALION.
Know you, Zopyrion?—
ZOPYRION.
What[!] you know it too?
Then I may laugh;—oh, what relief is this!
How does he look, the courtiers gathering round?
Does he hang down his head, & his ears too?
Oh, I shall die! (laughs.)
ASPHALION.
He is a queer old dog,
Yet not so laughable. ’Tis true, he’s drunk,
And sings and reels under the broad, green leaves,
And hanging clusters of his crown of grapes.—
ZOPYRION.
A crown of grapes! but can that hide his ears[?]
ASPHALION.
His ears!—Oh, no! they stick upright between.
When Midas saw him—
ZOPYRION.
Whom then do you mean?
Did you not say—
ASPHALION.
I spoke of old Silenus;
Who having missed his way in these wild woods,
And lost his tipsey company—was found
Sucking the juicy clusters of the vines
That sprung where’er he trod:—and reeling on
Some shepherds found him in yon ilex wood.
They brought him to the king, who honouring him
For Bacchus’ sake, has gladly welcomed him,
And will conduct him with solemnity
To the disconsolate Fauns from whom he’s strayed.
But have you seen the new-fashioned diadem[[2]]
That Midas wears?—
ZOPYRION.
Ha! he has got it on!—
Know you the secret cause why with such care
He hides his royal head? you have not seen—