Proserpine and Midas Part 7

Rounded off handsomely, like human ears [?]

_Mid._ (_feeling his ears_) They're long & thick; I fear 'twould give me pain; And then if vengeful Phoebus should command Another pair to grow--that will not do.

_Zopyr._ You wear a little crown of carved gold, Which just appears to tell you are a king; If that were large and had a cowl of silk, Studded with gems, which none would dare gainsay, Then might you--

_Mid._ Now you have it! friend, I will reward you with some princely gift.

But, hark! Zopyrion, not a word of this; If to a single soul you tell my shame You die. I'll to the palace the back way And manufacture my new diadem, The which all other kings shall imitate As if they also had my a.s.ses['] ears.

(_Exit._)

_Zopyr._ (_watching Midas off_) He cannot hear me now, and I may laugh!

I should have burst had he staid longer here.

Two long, smooth a.s.ses' 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? [43]

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._

_Asphal._ Know you, Zopyrion?--

_Zopyr._ 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._)

_Asph._ 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 cl.u.s.ters of his crown of grapes.--

_Zopyr._ A crown of grapes! but can that hide his ears[?]

_Asph._ His ears!--Oh, no! they stick upright between.

When Midas saw him--

_Zopyr._ Whom then do you mean?

Did you not say-- [44]

_Asph._ I spoke of old Silenus; Who having missed his way in these wild woods, And lost his tipsey company--was found Sucking the juicy cl.u.s.ters 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-fas.h.i.+oned diadem [Footnote: Another halting line. Cf. again, p. [47], 1. 3; p. [55], 1. 11; p. [59], 1.1; p. [61], 1. 1; p. [64], 1. 14.]

That Midas wears?--

_Zopyr._ Ha! he has got it on!-- Know you the secret cause why with such care He hides his royal head? you have not seen--

_Asph._ Seen what?

_Zopyr._ Ah! then, no matter:-- (_turns away agitated._) I dare not sneak or stay[;]

If I remain I shall discover all.

_Asp._ I see the king has trusted to your care Some great state secret which you fain would hide.

I am your friend, trust my fidelity, If you're in doubt I'll be your counsellor. [45]

_Zopyr._ (_with great importance._) Secret, Asphalion! How came you to know?

If my great master (which I do not say) Should think me a fit friend in whom to pour The weighty secrets of his royal heart, Shall I betray his trust? It is not so;-- I am a poor despised slave.--No more!

Join we the festal band which will conduct Silenus to his woods again?

_Asph._ My friend, Wherefore mistrust a faithful heart? Confide The whole to me;--I will be still as death.

_Zopyr._ As death! you know not what you say; farewell[!]

A little will I commune with my soul, And then I'll join you at the palace-gate.

_Asph._ Will you then tell me?--

_Zopyr._ Cease to vex, my friend, Your soul and mine with false suspicion, (_aside_) Oh!

I am choked! I'd give full ten years of my life To tell, to laugh--& yet I dare not speak.

_Asph._ Zopyrion, remember that you hurt [46]

The trusting bosom of a faithful friend By your unjust concealment. (_Exit._)

_Zopyr._ Oh, he's gone!

To him I dare not speak, nor yet to Lacon; No human ears may hear what must be told.

I cannot keep it in, a.s.suredly; I shall some night discuss it in my sleep.

It will not keep! Oh! greenest reeds that sway And nod your feathered heads beneath the sun, Be you depositaries of my soul, Be you my friends in this extremity[:]

I shall not risk my head when I tell you The fatal truth, the heart oppressing fact,

(_stooping down & whispering_)

(_Enter Midas, Silenus & others, who fall back during the scene; Midas is always anxious about his crown, & Zopyrion gets behind him & tries to smother his laughter._)

_Silen._ (_very drunk_) Again I find you, Bacchus, runaway!

Welcome, my glorious boy! Another time Stray not; or leave your poor old foster-father In the wild mazes of a wood, in which I might have wandered many hundred years, Had not some merry fellows helped me out, And had not this king kindly welcomed me, I might have fared more ill than you erewhile In Pentheus' prisons, that death fated rogue.

_Bac._ (_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 a.s.s. [49]

_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 a.s.s.

_Mid._ Search through the crowd; it is a woman's voice That dares belie her king, & makes her life A forfeit to his fury.