Note 1272 — PERSIUS.
Lewis Evans translation
Cum Scrobe. Alluding to the well-known story of the barber who discovered the ass's ears of King Midas, which he had given him for his bad taste in passing judgment on Apollo's skill in music; and who, not daring to divulge the secret to any living soul, dug a hole in the ground and whispered it, and then closed the aperture. But the wind that shook the reeds made them murmur forth his secret. Cf. Ov., Met., xi., 180-193.