Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. And seething Lemnos of the limping Sire;
  2. Ennéan matrons unto Ceres flock,
  3. To the raped Goddess oystery Cyzicus;
  4. Gnidos and Paphos lovely Venus hail
  5. While mortals dedicate Lampsacus to thee.
  1. Though I be agèd now, though head and chin
  2. Now show them hoary-hue'd with grizzling hair,
  3. Still can I perforate those caught by me,
  4. Tithonus, Priam, Nestor--every one.
  5. You see how mightily my rage ye rouse
  6. Who hem me ever with a bullfinch hedge
  7. Forbidding robbers from approaching me.
  8. This is to hurt while helping, this is but
  9. To scare the birdies from the birder's snare.