Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. Gades and Tibur dank of Hercules;
  2. Snowy Cyllene of the swift-paced God
  3. And seething Lemnos of the limping Sire;
  4. Ennéan matrons unto Ceres flock,
  5. To the raped Goddess oystery Cyzicus;
  6. Gnidos and Paphos lovely Venus hail
  7. 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.
  10. The way is closèd nor prone-fallen thief
  11. Can with his backside expiate his crime.
  12. Thus I who erstwhile ever, ever and aye
  13. Buttocks of plundering wights was wont to cleave,