C. xviii. This and the two following poems are found in the Catalecta of Vergilius, but they are assigned to Catullus by many of the best critics, chiefly on the authority of Terentianus Maurus.
v. 2. Cf. Auct. Priapeiorum, Eps. lv. v. 6, and lxxvii. v. 15.
v. 3. Ostreosior. This Epithet, peculiarly Catullian, is appropriate to the coasts most favoured by Priapus; oysters being an incentive to lust.
C. xx. v. 19. The traveller mocks at Priapus' threat of sodomy, regarding it as a pleasure instead of as a punishment. The god, in anger, retorts that if that punishment has no fears for him, a fustigation by the farmer with the self-same mentule used as a cudgel may have a more deterrent effect. Cf. Auct. Priap. Ep. li. v. 27, 28:
Nimirum apertam convolatis ad poenam:
Et vos hoc ipsum, quod minamur, invitat.
Without doubt, ye flock to the open punishment [so called because the natural parts of Priapus were always exposed to view], and the very thing with which I threaten, allures you.
And also Ep. lxiv.,
Quidam mollior anseris medulla,
Furatum venit hoc amor poenae.