SOURCE: "The Plays," in John Lyly: The Humanist as Courtier, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962, pp. 159-256.

In the following excerpt, Hunter investigates the "debate-theme" of Midas, Endimion, and Gallathea.

Midas

The basic plot of Midas is taken from Lyly's favourite classical authority, Ovid, who tells two stories of Midas: first, how he desired the gift of the golden touch, how he came to repent it and was absolved; and, second, how Midas was fitted with asses ears for preferring the music of Pan to that of Apollo. Lyly … places this story inside a debate structure. He shows that Midas' judgment that gold is the best of gifts results from a dispute between War (Martius), Wealth (Mellacrites) and Love (Eristus), here presented as the counsellors of their monarch. These three appear throughout the play as the modes of temptation to which a sovereign is most subject, and serve to give...