Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. In spring with vari-coloured wreaths I'm crown'd,
  2. In fervid summer with the glowing grain,
  3. Then with green vine-shoot and the luscious bunch,
  4. And glaucous olive-tree in bitter cold.
  5. The dainty she-goat from my pasture bears
  6. Her milk-distended udders to the town:
  7. Out of my sheep-cotes ta'en the fatted lamb
  8. Sends home with silver right-hand heavily charged;
  9. And, while its mother lows, the tender calf
  10. Before the temples of the Gods must bleed.