Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. Nor, by thy signal shown, me, O Priapus, betray:
  2. Whatso before thee I laid, of home-grown apples the firstlings,
  3. (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,
  2. She shall pay me with coynte, that with his mouth, this with arse.
  1. Whoso of violets here shall pluck or rose,
  2. Or furtive greens or apples never bought,
  3. May he in want of woman or of boy
  4. By the same tension you in me behold
  5. Go burst, I ever pray, and may his yard
  6. Against his navel throb and rap in vain.
  1. Here has the bailiff, now of this plentiful garden the guardian,
  2. Bidden me care for the place he to my service entrusts.
  3. Thief! thou shalt suffer the pain albeit crying in anger--
  4. 'What! for a cabbage all this? This for a cabbage I bear?'