Mĭdas

, a king of Phrygia, son of Gordius, or Gorgius. In the early part of his life, according to some traditions, he found a large treasure, to which he owed his greatne and opulence. The hospitality he showed to Silenus the preceptor of Bacchus, who had been brought to him by some peasants, was liberally rewarded; and Midas, when he conducted the old man back to the god, was permitted to choose whatever recompence he pleased. He had the imprudence and the avarice to demand of the god that whatever he touched might be turned into gold. His prayer was granted, but he was soon convinced of his injudicious choice; and when the very meats which he attempted to eat became gold in his mouth, he begged Bacchus to take away a present which must prove so fatal to the receiver. He was ordered to wash himself in the river Pactolus, whose sands were turned into gold by the touch of Midas. Some time after this adventure, Midas had the imprudence to support that Pan was superior to Apollo in singing and playing upon the flute, for which rash opinion the offended god changed his ears into those of an a , to show his ignorance and stupidity. This Midas attempted to conceal from the knowledge of his subjects, but one of his servants saw the length of his ears, and being unable to keep the secret, and afraid to reveal it, apprehensive of the king’s resentment, he opened a hole in the earth, and after he had whispered there that Midas had the ears of an a , he covered the place as before, as if he had buried his words in the ground. On that place, as the poets mention, grew a number of reeds, which, when agitated by the wind, uttered the same sound that had been buried beneath, and published to the world that Midas had the ears of an a . Some explain the fable of the ears of Midas by the supposition that he kept a number of informers and spies, who were continually employed in gathering every seditious word that might drop from the mouths of his subjects. Midas, according to Strabo, died of drinking hot bull’s blood. This he did, as Plutarch mentions, to free himself from the numerous ill dreams which continually tormented him. Midas, according to some, was son of Cybele. He built a town, which he called Ancyræ. Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 11 , fable 5.— Plutarch , de Supers titi one .— Strabo , bk. 1 .— Hyginus , fables 191, 274.— Maximus Tyrius , ch. 30 .— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 4 .— Valerius Maximus , bk. 1 , ch. 6 .— Hero dot us , bk. 1 , ch. 14 .— Ælian , Varia Hist or i a , bks. 4 & 12.— Cicero , De Div in at i one , bk. 1 , ch. 36 ; bk. 2 , ch. 31 .