Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. Again arrested shalt be irrumate;
  2. And, shouldst attempt to plunder time the third,
  3. This and that penalty thou shalt endure,
  4. Being both pedicate and irrumate.
  1. We all show special notes of bodily shape:
  2. Long-haired is Phoebus, arm-strong Hercules,
  3. And tender Bacchus owneth virginal form;
  4. Pallas hath grey-blue eyes, Venus a cast;
  5. Th' Arcadian Fauns thou seest bloody-browed
  6. And the Gods' Messenger shows proper feet;
  7. The Guard of Lemnos moves unequal steps;
  8. Ever untrimmed is Aesculapius' beard;
  9. None hath a broader breast than bully Mars;
  10. But, an Priapus' rank 'mid these remain,
  11. There be no better-membered deity.
  1. Why on memorial tablet do they limn
  2. (You ask) the member which begets us all?
  3. Whenas by accident my yard was hurt
  4. And I (unhappy!) feared the surgeon's hand
  5. To such legitimate almighty gods--