89

To Priapus

also by Caius Valerius Catullus

Hunc lucum tibi dedico consecroque, Priape,
qua domus tua Lampsaci est quaque cella, Priape.
Nam te praecipue in suis urbibus colit ora
Hellespontia, ceteris ostrior oris.

This grove to thee devote I give, Priapus!
Whose home be Lampsacus and holt, Priapus!
For thee in cities worship most the shores
Of Hellespont the richest oystery strand.

This grove I dedicate and consecrate to thee, Priapus, who hast thy home at Lampsacus, and eke thy wood lands, Priapus; for thee especially in its cities worships the coast of the Hellespont, richer in oysters[1] than all other shores.

End of the Epigrams

[1. Oysters being an incentive to lust. Juvenal writes: 'She knows no difference 'twixt head and privities who devours immense oysters at midnight.']