18

To Priapus

Hic quando Telethusa circulatrix,
quae clunem tunica tegente nulla
exstans altius altiusque movit,
crisabit tibi fluctuante lumbo:
haec sic non modo te, Priape, possit,
privignum quoque sed movere Phaedrae.

Will ever Telethusa, posture-mime,
Who with no tunic veiling hinder cheeks
Higher than her vitals heaves with apter geste
Wriggle to please thee with her wavy loins?
So thee, Priapus, not alone she'll move
E'en Phaedra's stepson shall her movement rouse.

Will Telethusa, the posture-dancer, who heaves up her haunches, denuded of tunic, more gracefully and higher than her bosom,[1] ever, with undulating loins,[2] wriggle her thighs[3] for thee in such wise as not only to excite thy desires, O Priapus, but even those of the stepson of Phaedra?

[1. The posture alluded to is that attitude in coition in which the man lies supine, whilst the woman mounts on him and provokes the orgasm by her movements.

2. In the original Latin, flucto, referring here to the wave-like motion of the loins during congress.

3. In the original Latin, crisso, meaning the buckings and wrigglings of a woman's thighs and haunches during congress.]