Priapeia

Priaepia

by divers poets in English verse and prose. Translated by Sir Richard Burton and Leonard C. Smithers

  1. Let him draw nigh: the laxer shall he go.
  1. Aye in this prickle of ours the bonniest boon to be found is,
  2. Loose for my daily use never a woman can be.
  1. Will ever Telethusa, posture-mime,
  2. Who with no tunic veiling hinder cheeks
  3. Higher than her vitals heaves with apter geste
  4. Wriggle to please thee with her wavy loins?
  5. So thee, Priapus, not alone she'll move
  6. E'en Phaedra's stepson shall her movement rouse.
  1. Thunders are under Jove; with the trident weaponed is Neptune;
  2. Forceful is Mars with brand, spear, O Minerva, is thine;
  3. Liber engages in fray, confiding on sheaflets of Thyrsi;
  4. By th' Apollinean hand shafts (they assure us) are shot;
  5. Hercules' right is armed with the club that cannot be conquer'd;
  6. But a distended yard makes me an object of awe.
  1. Wealth is my loss! Do thou vouchsafe lend aid to my prayer,
  2. Nor, by thy signal shown, me, O Priapus, betray:
  3. Whatso before thee I laid, of home-grown apples the firstlings,
  4. (Prithee, be pleased not to tell!) from Via Sacra be ta'en.
  1. An fro' me woman shall thieve or plunder me man or a man-child,