4

On Priapus

Quam puero legem fertur dixisse Priapus,
versibus hic infra scripta duobus erit:
'quod meus hortus habet, sumas impune licebit,
si dederis nobis, quod tuus hortus habet'.

All the conditions (they say) Priapus made with the youngling
Written in verses twain mortals hereunder can read:
'Whatso my garden contains to thee shall be lawfullest plunder
If unto us thou give whatso thy garden contains.'

Hereunder is written in two verses the condition which Priapus is said to have made with a boy:

Whate'er my garden has is freely thine,
If to my will thy garden[1] thou'lt consign.

[1. A likening of the lad's posteriors to a garden.]