Phrygia, the same who, as already related, gave judgment against
Apollo. Upon one occasion Silenus, the preceptor and friend of Dionysus,
being in an intoxicated condition, strayed into the rose-gardens of this
monarch, where he was found by some of the king's attendants, who bound him
with roses and conducted him to the presence of their royal master. Midas
treated the aged satyr with the greatest consideration, and, after
entertaining him hospitably for ten days, led him back to Dionysus, who was
so grateful for the kind attention shown to his old friend, that he offered
to grant Midas any favour he chose to demand; whereupon the avaricious
monarch, not content with his boundless wealth, and still thirsting for
more, desired that everything he touched might turn to gold. The request
was {129} complied with in so literal a sense, that the now wretched Midas
bitterly repented his folly and cupidity, for, when the pangs of hunger
assailed him, and he essayed to appease his cravings, the food became gold
ere he could swallow it; as he raised the cup of wine to his parched lips,
the sparkling draught was changed into the metal he had so coveted, and
when at length, wearied and faint, he stretched his aching frame on his
hitherto luxurious couch, this also was transformed into the substance
which had now become the curse of his existence. The despairing king at
last implored the god to take back the fatal gift, and Dionysus, pitying
his unhappy plight, desired him to bathe in the river Pactolus, a small
stream in Lydia, in order to lose the power which had become the bane of
his life. Midas joyfully obeying the injunction, was at once freed from the
consequences of his avaricious demand, and from this time forth the sands
of the river Pactolus have ever contained grains of gold.

Representations of Dionysus are of two kinds. According to the earliest
conceptions, he appears as a grave and dignified man in the prime of life;
his countenance is earnest, thoughtful, and benevolent; he wears a full
beard, and is draped from head to foot in the garb of an Eastern monarch.
But the sculptors of a later period represent him as a youth of singular
beauty, though of somewhat effeminate appearance; the expression of the
countenance is gentle and winning; the limbs are supple and gracefully
moulded; and the hair, which is adorned by a wreath of vine or ivy leaves,
falls over the shoulders in long curls. In one hand he bears the Thyrsus,