They were the divinities of the woods and fields, and were represented as
having the legs, feet, and ears of goats; the remainder of the body being
human; the lamb and kid were offered to them by the peasants with great
solemnity. {124}
The Sylvans were the children of the foster father of God Bacchus, who
accompanied the latter in all his travels. Bacchus having been well
received and entertained at the court of Midas, King of Phrygia, he
obtained from him the choice of whatever recompense he should name. Midas
demanded the power of turning all that he touched into gold.
"'Give me,' says he, (nor thought he asked too much,)
'That with my body whatsoe'er I touch,
Changed from the nature which it held of old,
May be converted into yellow gold:'
He had his wish: but yet the god repined,
To think the fool no better wish could find.
But the brave king departed from the place,
With smiles of gladness, sparkling in his face:
Nor could contain, but, as he took his way,
Impatient longs to make the first essay;
Down from a lowly branch a twig he drew,
The twig strait glittered with a sparkling hue:
He takes a stone, the stone was turned to gold,
A clod he touches, and the crumbling mould
Acknowledged soon the great transforming power,
In weight and substance like a mass of ore.
He plucked the corn, and straight his grasp appears,
Filled with a bending tuft of golden ears.
An apple next he takes, and seems to hold
The bright, Hesperian, vegetable gold.
His hand he careless on a pillar lays,
With shining gold, the fluted pillars blaze.
And while he wishes, as the servants pour,
His touch converts the stream to Danae's shower."