Priapeia
Priaepia
by divers poets in English verse and prose. Translated by Sir Richard Burton and Leonard C. Smithers
- Nor hang a buckle on Priapus' yard.
- The Gods and Goddesses deny thy teeth
- A bait, a whetting, neighbour cunnilinge!
- Thro' whom my girl (once strong and never false,
- But with her swift untiring paces wont
- To visit us), that hapless Labdacé,
- Swears for her ditches she can hardly crawl.
- Although with yard distent (Priapus!) weighted
- (Wherewith our poet did reprove thee here
- In verse), on no wise deign thereat to blush;
- Thou be not heavier than our poet hung.
- Know that this crass coarse yard nor lengthens nor stands as becomes it;
- Though an thou handle the same unto fair growth will it grow.
- Woe's me! how lustful girls are gulled by its seeming dimensions
- Than which bigger of bulk never a prickle was seen.
- Usefuller Tydeus was albeit (an trust we to Homer)
- In his diminutive frame dwelt a pugnacious soul.
- Yet from this strangeness and shame could nothing ever avail us
- And such damage I deem better it were to repel.
- While there is life 'tis fitting to hope, O rustical guardian!