54

Priapus

CD si scribas temonemque insuper addas,
qui medium vult te scindere, pictus erit.

E, D, an thou write, conjoining the two with a hyphen,
What middle D would bisect this shall be painted to view.

If thou writest E and D then addest a joining line, that which wishes to cleave through the middle of D [thee] will be represented.[1]

[1. If you write the letters E D and place a dash between them, thus E-D, a mentule will be represented, which wishes to cleave through the middle of D. The ambiguity is in writing the letter D, instead of the Latin word Te (thee), in the second verse. The shape of the mentule is not strikingly apparent at first sight, but the top and bottom strokes of the letter E may be taken as forming the testicles, whilst the middle stroke of the E, continued by the dash thus E-, represents the mentule itself. The D (Te) stands for the anus to be cleaved by the mentule.]