Hither! ye Romans' Either lop off my seminal member, which the neighbouring women, ever itching with desire, exhaust the whole night through--more lecherous than sparrows in the spring--or I shall be ruptured (for where is the limit of their lust?), nor will ye have a Priapus. Ye see that I am spent with venery, jaded, thin and pale, who once, ruddy and vigorous, used to thrust through the stoutest thieves. My strength has faded me; and, wretched with coughing, I spit out noxious saliva.
[1. Either the women exhausted Priapus with their mouths or by riding upon him.
2. Scioppius recounts having seen sparrows in spring copulate so many times in succession that, when trying to fly away, they fell to the ground exhausted.
3. In connection with this epigram may be mentioned the practice of tribadism with phalli amongst the Roman ladies. Giraldus tells us that the Lesbian women used dildoes made of glass, ivory, gold and silken stuffs and linen to satisfy their lechery. Suidas and Aristophanes speak of the use by Milesian women of a leathern penis succedaneum, called "olisbos". Martial and Suetonius hint at the use of a snake for a similar purpose. Petronius makes Oenothea introduce a leathern "fascinum", smeared with oil, pepper and crushed nettle seeds, into the anus of Encolpius as an aphrodisiac.]