Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. Or hath the God with the wings rod hidden under his robe?
  2. When did Bacchus endue with dress his willowy Thyrsus?
  3. Who ever spied thee, Love! wilfully hiding thy torch?
  4. Ne'er be reproach to myself this mentule ever uncover'd:
  5. Lacking my missile's defence I shall be wholly unarm'd.
  1. Why laugh such laughter, O most silly maid?
  2. My form Praxiteles nor Scopas hewed;
  3. To me no Phidian handwork finish gave;
  4. But me a bailiff hacked from shapeless log,
  5. And quoth my maker, 'Thou Priapus be!'