Priapeia
Priaepia
by divers poets in English verse and prose. Translated by Sir Richard Burton and Leonard C. Smithers
- Gades and Tibur dank of Hercules;
- Snowy Cyllene of the swift-paced God
- And seething Lemnos of the limping Sire;
- Ennéan matrons unto Ceres flock,
- To the raped Goddess oystery Cyzicus;
- Gnidos and Paphos lovely Venus hail
- While mortals dedicate Lampsacus to thee.
- Though I be agèd now, though head and chin
- Now show them hoary-hue'd with grizzling hair,
- Still can I perforate those caught by me,
- Tithonus, Priam, Nestor--every one.
- You see how mightily my rage ye rouse
- Who hem me ever with a bullfinch hedge
- Forbidding robbers from approaching me.
- This is to hurt while helping, this is but
- To scare the birdies from the birder's snare.
- The way is closèd nor prone-fallen thief
- Can with his backside expiate his crime.
- Thus I who erstwhile ever, ever and aye
- Buttocks of plundering wights was wont to cleave,