Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. Who erstwhile ruddy, in my doughtiness wont
  2. To kill with poking thieves however doughty.
  3. My side has failed me and poor I with cough
  4. The perilous spittle ever must outspew.
  1. Well-known darling of folk in the Circus Maximus far famed,
  2. Quinctia, tremulous hips trainèd and artful to wag,
  3. Cymbals and castanets (the wanton arms) to Priapus
  4. Offers and tambourine struck with the hand to self drawn.
  5. Wherefore prays she that aye she please her mob of admirers;
  6. Let one and all stand stiff after the wont of her god.
  1. Thou, of unrighteous thought, that hardly canst
  2. Refrain from robbing this my garden-plot,
  3. With foot-long fascinum shalt bulghar'd be:
  4. Yet if so mighty grievous punishment
  5. Profit thee naught, at higher stead I'll strike.