Metamorphoses XI.116-228
Midas encounters the repercussions of his gift. Apollo and Neptune first help with the foundation of Troy, then attack it; Thetis is prophesied to birth a son greater than his father.
ille etiam liquidis palmas ubi laverat undis,
unda fluens palmis Danaen eludere posset;
vix spes ipse suas animo capit aurea fingens
omnia. gaudenti mensas posuere ministri
exstructas dapibus nec tostae frugis egentes: 120
tum vero, sive ille sua Cerealia dextra
munera contigerat, Cerealia dona rigebant,
sive dapes avido convellere dente parabat,
lammina fulva dapes admoto dente premebat;
miscuerat puris auctorem muneris undis: 125
fusile per rictus aurum fluitare videres.
Attonitus novitate mali divesque miserque
effugere optat opes et quae modo voverat, odit.
copia nulla famem relevat; sitis arida guttur
urit, et inviso meritus torquetur ab auro 130
ad caelumque manus et splendida bracchia tollens
‘da veniam, Lenaee pater! peccavimus’ inquit,
‘sed miserere, precor, speciosoque eripe damno!’
mite deum numen: Bacchus peccasse fatentem
restituit pactique fide data munera solvit 135
‘ne’ ve ‘male optato maneas circumlitus auro,
vade’ ait ‘ad magnis vicinum Sardibus amnem
perque iugum nitens labentibus obvius undis
carpe viam, donec venias ad fluminis ortus,
spumigeroque tuum fonti, qua plurimus exit, 140
subde caput corpusque simul, simul elue crimen.’
rex iussae succedit aquae: vis aurea tinxit
flumen et humano de corpore cessit in amnem;
nunc quoque iam veteris percepto semine venae
arva rigent auro madidis pallentia glaebis. 145
Ille perosus opes silvas et rura colebat
Panaque montanis habitantem semper in antris,
pingue sed ingenium mansit, nocituraque, ut ante,
rursus erant domino stultae praecordia mentis.
nam freta prospiciens late riget arduus alto 150
Tmolus in ascensu clivoque extensus utroque
Sardibus hinc, illinc parvis finitur Hypaepis.
Pan ibi dum teneris iactat sua sibila nymphis
et leve cerata modulatur harundine carmen
ausus Apollineos prae se contemnere cantus, 155
iudice sub Tmolo certamen venit ad inpar.
Monte suo senior iudex consedit et aures
liberat arboribus: quercu coma caerula tantum
cingitur, et pendent circum cava tempora glandes.
isque deum pecoris spectans ‘in iudice’ dixit 160
‘nulla mora est.’ calamis agrestibus insonat ille
barbaricoque Midan (aderat nam forte canenti)
carmine delenit; post hunc sacer ora retorsit
Tmolus ad os Phoebi: vultum sua silva secuta est.
ille caput flavum lauro Parnaside vinctus 165
verrit humum Tyrio saturata murice palla
instructamque fidem gemmis et dentibus Indis
sustinet a laeva, tenuit manus altera plectrum;
artificis status ipse fuit. tum stamina docto
pollice sollicitat, quorum dulcedine captus 170
Pana iubet Tmolus citharae submittere cannas.
Iudicium sanctique placet sententia montis
omnibus, arguitur tamen atque iniusta vocatur
unius sermone Midae; nec Delius aures
humanam stolidas patitur retinere figuram, 175
sed trahit in spatium villisque albentibus inplet
instabilesque imas facit et dat posse moveri:
cetera sunt hominis, partem damnatur in unam
induiturque aures lente gradientis aselli.
ille quidem celare cupit turpique pudore 180
tempora purpureis temptat relevare tiaris;
sed solitus longos ferro resecare capillos
viderat hoc famulus, qui cum nec prodere visum
dedecus auderet, cupiens efferre sub auras,
nec posset reticere tamen, secedit humumque 185
effodit et, domini quales adspexerit aures,
voce refert parva terraeque inmurmurat haustae
indiciumque suae vocis tellure regesta
obruit et scrobibus tacitus discedit opertis.
creber harundinibus tremulis ibi surgere lucus 190
coepit et, ut primum pleno maturuit anno,
prodidit agricolam: leni nam motus ab austro
obruta verba refert dominique coarguit aures.
Ultus abit Tmolo liquidumque per aera vectus
angustum citra pontum Nepheleidos Helles 195
Laomedonteis Latoius adstitit arvis.
dextera Sigei, Rhoetei laeva profundi
ara Panomphaeo vetus est sacrata Tonanti:
inde novae primum moliri moenia Troiae
Laomedonta videt susceptaque magna labore 200
crescere difficili nec opes exposcere parvas
cumque tridentigero tumidi genitore profundi
mortalem induitur formam Phrygiaeque tyranno
aedificat muros pactus pro moenibus aurum.
stabat opus: pretium rex infitiatur et addit, 205
perfidiae cumulum, falsis periuria verbis.
‘non inpune feres’ rector maris inquit, et omnes
inclinavit aquas ad avarae litora Troiae
inque freti formam terras conplevit opesque
abstulit agricolis et fluctibus obruit agros. 210
poena neque haec satis est: regis quoque filia monstro
poscitur aequoreo, quam dura ad saxa revinctam
vindicat Alcides promissaque munera dictos
poscit equos tantique operis mercede negata
bis periura capit superatae moenia Troiae. 215
nec, pars militiae, Telamon sine honore recessit
Hesioneque data potitur. nam coniuge Peleus
clarus erat diva nec avi magis ille superbus
nomine quam soceri, siquidem Iovis esse nepoti
contigit haut uni, coniunx dea contigit uni. 220
Namque senex Thetidi Proteus ‘dea’ dixerat ‘undae,
concipe: mater eris iuvenis, qui fortibus annis
acta patris vincet maiorque vocabitur illo.’
ergo, ne quicquam mundus Iove maius haberet,
quamvis haut tepidos sub pectore senserat ignes, 225
Iuppiter aequoreae Thetidis conubia fugit,
in suaque Aeaciden succedere vota nepotem
iussit et amplexus in virginis ire marinae.
When he bathed his hands in water, the water flowing over his hands could cheat a Danaë. His mind itself could scarcely grasp its own hopes, dreaming of all things turned to gold. As he rejoiced, his slaves set a table before him loaded with meats; nor was bread wanting. Then indeed, if he touched the gift of Ceres with his hand, the gift of Ceres went stiff and hard; or if he tried to bite a piece of meat with hungry teeth, where his teeth touched the food they touched but yellow plates of gold. He mingled pure water with the wine of Bacchus, giver of his gift; but through his jaws you would see the molten gold go trickling.
Amazed by this strange mishap, rich and yet wretched, he seeks to flee his wealth and hates what he but now has prayed for. No store of food can relieve his hunger; his throat is parched with burning thirst, and through his own fault he is tortured by hateful gold. Lifting his hands and shining arms to heaven, he cries: “Oh, pardon me, Lenaeus, father! I have sinned. Yet have mercy, I pray thee, and save me from this curse that looks so fair.” The gods are kind: Bacchus restored him to his former condition when he confessed his fault, and he relieved him of the boon which he had given in fulfilment of his pledge. And “That you may not remain encased in gold which you have so foolishly desired,” he said, “go to the stream which flows by mighty Sardis town, take your way climbing the slope up the tumbling stream until you come to the river’s source. There plunge your head and body beneath the foaming fountain where it comes leaping forth, and by that act wash your sin away.” The king went to the stream as he was bid. The power of the golden touch imbued the water and passed from the man’s body into the stream. And even to this day, receiving the seed of the original vein, the fields grow hard and yellow, their soil soaked with water of the golden touch.
But Midas, hating wealth, haunted the woods and fields, worshipping Pan, who has his dwelling in the mountain caves. But stupid his wits still remained, and his foolish mind was destined again as once before to harm its master. For Tmolus, looking far out upon the sea, stands stiff and high, with steep sides extending with one slope to Sardis, and on the other reaches down to little Hypaepae. There, while Pan was boasting to the gentle nymphs of his pipings and playing airy interludes upon his reeds close joined with wax, he dared speak slightingly of Apollo’s music in comparison with his own, and came into an ill-matched contest with Tmolus as the judge.
The old judge took his seat upon his own mountain-top, and shook his ears free from the trees. His dark locks were encircled by an oak-wreath only, and acorns hung around his hollow temples. He, looking at the shepherd-god, exclaimed: “There is no delay on the judge’s part.” Then Pan made music on his rustic pipes, and with his rude notes quite charmed King Midas, for he chanced to hear the strains. After Pan was done, venerable Tmolus turned his face towards Phoebus; and his forest turned with his face. Phoebus’ golden head was wreathed with laurel of Parnasus, and his mantle, dipped in Tyrian dye, swept the ground. His lyre, inlaid with gems and Indian ivory, he held in his left hand, while his right hand held the plectrum. His very pose was that of an artist. Then with trained thumb he plucked the strings and, charmed by those sweet strains, Tmolus ordered Pan to lower his reeds before the lyre.
All approved the judgment of the sacred mountain-god. And yet it was challenged and called unjust by Midas’ voice alone. The Delian god did not suffer ears so dull to keep their human form, but lengthened them out and filled them with shaggy, grey hair; he also made them unstable at the base and gave them power to move. Human otherwise, he was punished in this, that he wore the ears of a sluggard ass. Anxious for concealment, he tried to disembarrass his temples of their foul dishonour by a purple turban, but the slave who trimmed his hair beheld his shame. And he, since he dared not reveal the disgraceful sight, yet eager to tell it out and utterly unable to keep it to himself, went off and dug a hole in the ground and into the hole, with low, muttered words, he whispered of his master’s ears which he had seen. Then by throwing back the earth he buried the evidence of his voice and, having thus filled up the hole again, he silently stole away. But a thick growth of whispering reeds began to spring up there, and these, when at the year’s end they came to their full size, betrayed the sower, for, stirred by the gentle breeze, they repeated his buried words and exposed the story of his master’s ears.
His vengeance now complete, Latona’s son retires from Tmolus and, cleaving the liquid air, without crossing the narrow sea of Helle, daughter of Nephele, he came to earth in the country of Laomedon. Midway between the Sigean and Rhoetean promontories was an ancient altar sacred to the Panomphaean Thunderer. There Apollo saw Laomedon beginning to build the walls of his new city, Troy; and, perceiving that the mighty task was proceeding with great difficulty, and demanded no slight resources, he, together with the trident-bearing father of the swollen sea, put on mortal form and built the walls for the Phrygian king, having first agreed upon a sum of gold for the walls. There stood the work. But the king repudiated his debt and, as a crowning act of perfidy, swore that he had never promised the reward. “But you shall not go unpunished,” the sea-god said, and he set all his waters flowing against the shores of miserly Troy. He flooded the country till it looked like a sea, swept away the farmers’ crops and whelmed their fields beneath his waters. Nor was this punishment enough; the king’s daughter also must be sacrificed to a monster of the deep. But while she was bound there to the hard rocks, Alcides set her free, and then demanded his promised wage, the horses that were agreed upon. But the great task’s price was again refused, and so the hero took the twice-perjured walls of conquered Troy. Nor did Telamon, the partner of his campaign, go without reward, and Hesione was given him. For Peleus1 was honoured with a goddess for his bride, and was not more proud of his grandfather’s name than of his father-in-law; since it had fallen to not one alone to be grandson of Jove, but to him alone had it fallen to have a goddess for his wife.
For old Proteus had said to Thetis: “O goddess of the waves, conceive: thou shalt be the mother of a youth who, when to manhood grown, shall outdo his father’s deeds and shall be called greater than he.” Because of this, lest the earth should produce anything greater than himself, though he had felt the hot fires of love deep in his heart, Jove shunned the arms of Thetis, goddess of the sea, and bade his grandson, the son of Aeacus, assume the place of lover in his stead, and seek a union with this virgin of the deep.
Peleus also had assisted Hercules in this exploit.