The hospitality of Midas towards Silenus, the tutor of Bacchus, is rewarded by the grateful deity with a permission to choose whatever recompense he pleases—Midas imprudently demands that whatever he touches may be turned into gold—His prayers are granted; and he is in danger of perishing by hunger, when the indulgent god supplies a remedy—Some time after this adventure Midas has the folly to maintain the superiority of Pan to Apollo in musical skill; for which rash opinion his ears are changed into those of an ass, to denote his ignorance and stupidity.
Fable of Midas
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