Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. Never this mentule of mine riseth erect from my groin.
  2. Yet though lifeless now and a pole to no one of service,
  3. Build me an altar and it shall be of service to all.
  1. Right through the middle of lads and of lasses a passage shall pierce
  2. This yard, yet shall it touch bearded ones only aloft.
  1. Dodona is hallowed, Jupiter, to thee;
  2. To Juno Samos and to Dis Mykenae;
  3. While Taenarus' billowy seas confess the King.
  4. Pallas preserveth the Cecropian towers;
  5. Pythius Delphos, navel of the world;
  6. Delia the Cretan Isle and Cynthian hills;
  7. Faunus hath Maenalos and Arcadian groves.
  8. Rhodos is happy protégé of Sol;
  9. Gades and Tibur dank of Hercules;
  10. Snowy Cyllene of the swift-paced God
  11. And seething Lemnos of the limping Sire;
  12. Ennéan matrons unto Ceres flock,
  13. To the raped Goddess oystery Cyzicus;
  14. Gnidos and Paphos lovely Venus hail
  15. While mortals dedicate Lampsacus to thee.