BACCHUS.
(to Midas.) To you I owe great thanks & will reward
Your hospitality. Tell me your name
And what this country is.
MIDAS.
My name is Midas—
THE REEDS.
(nodding their heads).
Midas, the king, has the ears of an ass.
MIDAS.
(turning round & seizing Zopyrion).
Villain, you lie! he dies who shall repeat
Those traitrous words. Seize on Zopyrion!
THE REEDS.
Midas, the king, has the ears of an ass.
MIDAS.
Search through the crowd; it is a woman’s voice
That dares belie her king, & makes her life
A forfeit to his fury.
ASPHALION.
There is no woman here.
BACCHUS.
Calm yourself, Midas; none believe the tale,
Some impious man or gamesome faun dares feign
In vile contempt of your most royal ears.
Off with your crown, & shew the world the lie!
MIDAS.
(holding his crown tight)
Never! What[!] shall a vile calumnious slave
Dictate the actions of a crowned king?
Zopyrion, this lie springs from you—you perish!
ZOPYRION.
I, say that Midas has got asses’ ears?
May great Apollo strike me with his shaft
If to a single soul I ever told
So false, so foul a calumny!