26

To Priapus

Deliciae populi, magno notissima circo
Quintia, vibratas docta movere nates,
cymbala cum crotalis, pruriginis arma, Priapo
ponit et adducta tympana pulsa manu.
pro quibus, ut semper placeat spectantibus, orat,
tentaque ad exemplum sit sua turba dei.

Well-known darling of folk in the Circus Maximus far famed,
Quinctia, tremulous hips trainèd and artful to wag,
Cymbals and castanets (the wanton arms) to Priapus
Offers and tambourine struck with the hand to self drawn.
Wherefore prays she that aye she please her mob of admirers;
Let one and all stand stiff after the wont of her god.

Quinctia, the people's darling, renowned in the Great Circus, cunning to flirt her tremulous buttocks to and fro, the cymbals and the castanet, the weapons of wantonness,[1] dedicates to Priapus, and the tambour, struck by the hand towards her drawn. And she prays for them, that she may always find favour with her spectators; and that her crowd of admirers may be 'rigid'[2], after the manner of the god.

[1. So called because the songs and dances to which the cymbals and castanets were accompaniments were of a loose and wanton character, inciting the spectators to venery.

2. This was looked on as a mark of the dancer's success in arousing the spectators' passions by her lascivious movements and postures.]