Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. These tablets, sacred to the Rigid God,
  2. From Elephantis' obscene booklets drawn,
  3. Lalage offers and she prays thee try
  4. To ply the painted figures' every part.
  1. All the conditions (they say) Priapus made with the youngling
  2. Written in verses twain mortals hereunder can read:
  3. 'Whatso my garden contains to thee shall be lawfullest plunder
  4. If unto us thou give whatso thy garden contains.'
  1. Though I be wooden Priapus (as thou see'st),
  2. With wooden sickle and a prickle of wood,
  3. Yet will I seize thee, girl! and hold thee seized
  4. And This, however gross, withouten fraud
  5. Stiffer than lyre-string or than twisted rope
  6. I'll thrust and bury to thy seventh rib.
  1. Oft in my speech one letter is lost; for Predicate always
  2. Pedicate I pronounce. Reason--a trip of the tongue!
  1. Matrons avoid this site, for your chaste breed
  2. 'Twere vile these verses impudique to read.
  3. They still come on and not a doit they heed!
  4. O'ermuch these matrons know and they regard