24. This Staff Of Office Cut From Tree As 'tis

24

Priapus

Hoc sceptrum, quod ab arbore est recisum,

nulla iam poterit virere fronde,

sceptrum, quod pathicae petunt puellae,

quod quidam cupiunt tenere reges,

cui dant oscula nobiles cinaedi,

intra viscera furis ibit usque

ad pubem capulumque coleorum.

This staff of office cut from tree as 'tis,

No more with leafage green for aye to bloom;

Staff by the pathic damsels fondly loved,

Which e'en the kings delight in hand to hold

And oft by noble catamites bekissed--

This staff in robbers' vitals deep shall plunge

Up to its bushy base and bag of balls.

This staff of office, which, severed from the tree, can now shoot forth no verdure; sceptre, which pathic maidens crave, and some kings love to hold; to which patrician paederasts give kisses; shall go right into the very bowels of the thief, as far as the hair and the bag of balls.

[1. 'Patrician' and 'notorious' are alternative renderings of 'the Latin word "oscula".

2. The whole of Priapus's member to the very hair of the pudendum and the scrotum would be thrust into the thief.]