_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 clusters 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 clusters 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-fashioned diadem
[Footnote: Another halting line. Cf. again, p. [47], 1. 3;
p. [55], 1. 11; p. [59], 1.1; p. [61], 1.
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