Prayer to Bacchus

Midas, having received the golden touch and discovered that he cannot eat, prays to Bacchus.

Peccavimus — "we have sinned". The shortest confession in Latin poetry, and what he asks for is not rescue from starvation but pardon. The plural gives the king away: even while begging he says "we".

And Ovid places a devastating detail: splendida bracchia, shining arms. They shine because they are gold. The very thing he asked for is what he now raises to heaven in supplication. The gift was granted literally — and in that literalness turned out to be the punishment.

The card's English does not correspond to this Latin: it contains a plea to be torn from the god's beauty, which is not here.