Nec satis hoc Baccho est, ipsos quoque deserit agros               85

cumque choro meliore sui vineta Timoli

Pactolonque petit, quamvis non aureus illo

tempore nec caris erat invidiosus harenis.

hunc adsueta cohors, satyri bacchaeque, frequentant,

at Silenus abest: titubantem annisque meroque               90

ruricolae cepere Phryges vinctumque coronis

ad regem duxere Midan, cui Thracius Orpheus

orgia tradiderat cum Cecropio Eumolpo.

qui simul agnovit socium comitemque sacrorum,

hospitis adventu festum genialiter egit               95

per bis quinque dies et iunctas ordine noctes,

et iam stellarum sublime coegerat agmen

Lucifer undecimus, Lydos cum laetus in agros

rex venit et iuveni Silenum reddit alumno.

     Huic deus optandi gratum, sed inutile, fecit               100

muneris arbitrium gaudens altore recepto.

ille male usurus donis ait 'effice, quicquid

corpore contigero, fulvum vertatur in aurum.'

adnuit optatis nocituraque munera solvit

Liber et indoluit, quod non meliora petisset.               105

laetus abit gaudetque malo Berecyntius heros

pollicitique fidem tangendo singula temptat

vixque sibi credens, non alta fronde virentem

ilice detraxit virgam: virga aurea facta est;

tollit humo saxum: saxum quoque palluit auro;               110

contigit et glaebam: contactu glaeba potenti

massa fit; arentis Cereris decerpsit aristas:

aurea messis erat; demptum tenet arbore pomum:

Hesperidas donasse putes; si postibus altis

admovit digitos, postes radiare videntur;               115

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.

Translation

It was not enough for Bacchus; he also abandoned his fields, and with a better band, he sought the vineyards of his own Timolus and Pactolus. However, at that time, it was neither a golden river nor envied for its valuable sands. This usual band, the Satyrs and the Bacchantes, attended him in large numbers, but Silenus was absent. Staggering from age and wine, the Phrygian rustics captured him and, crowning him with garlands, led him to King Midas. They led him to their king Midas, to whom with the Cecropian Eumolpus, Thracian Orpheus had shown all the Bacchic rites, hospitably celebrated a festival for the arrival. For five days and nights, they celebrated in order, and then, on the eleventh day, Silenus was returned to the light-bringer. After five days in order and nights together, now the train of stars had already gathered at the Morning Star on the eleventh. Lydos, happy, came to the fields, and the king returned Silenus to his young pupil. To him, the god joyfully granted the choice of a gift—one that was pleasing but ultimately useless—for having received great joy. He, about to misuse his gift, said, “Make whatever I touch with my body be turned into gold.” He agreed to the wish and granted the gifts that would bring harm, grieving that he had wished for such a thing. The Berecyntian hero departed happy and rejoicing in his folly. He tested the promised gift by touching everything, and hardly believing himself, he draws down a green twig/ from a tall leafy holm oak: the twig had been made golden. He lifted a rock from the ground; the rock also turned to gold. He touched a clod of earth; at his powerful touch, the clod became a nugget of gold. He picked dry ears of Ceres’ grain; the harvest turned golden. He held an apple plucked from a tree; you would think the Hesperides had gifted it. If he pressed his fingers against the tall doors, the doors seemed to shine with golden light. Even when he washed his palms in the flowing waters, the water seemed to deceive Danaë. He could hardly contain his own hopes, imagining everything turning to gold. His attendants set before him tables laden with food, not lacking roasted grain. Then indeed, if he touched Ceres' gifts with his right hand, the wheat turned hard, or if he was about to eat the feast with eager teeth, a golden sheet covered his feast as his teeth bit into it. He had mixed wine with pure water, and you would see the molten gold flowing through his open mouth.

Image source: https://popular-archaeology.com/article/unearthing-the-city-of-king-midas/