Priapeia
Priaepia
by divers poets in English verse and prose. Translated by Sir Richard Burton and Leonard C. Smithers
- (Prithee, be pleased not to tell!) from Via Sacra be ta'en.
- An fro' me woman shall thieve or plunder me man or a man-child,
- She shall pay me with coynte, that with his mouth, this with arse.
- Whoso of violets here shall pluck or rose,
- Or furtive greens or apples never bought,
- May he in want of woman or of boy
- By the same tension you in me behold
- Go burst, I ever pray, and may his yard
- Against his navel throb and rap in vain.
- Here has the bailiff, now of this plentiful garden the guardian,
- Bidden me care for the place he to my service entrusts.
- Thief! thou shalt suffer the pain albeit crying in anger--
- 'What! for a cabbage all this? This for a cabbage I bear?'
- This staff of office cut from tree as 'tis,