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PRIAPUS, son of Venus and Bacchus, was the god of gardens. His symbol is the phallus. He was represented as a misshapen little man with enormous genitals. When the nymph Lotis, with whom he was in love, refused him, he determined to take her by force. While she slept one night, Pirapus approached her stealthily, but just as he was about to grasp her, Silenus's ass brayed, and the nymphs and gods awoke. They laughed when they saw Priapus's condition (Fasti I.415-440).

Priapus cannot devise a more beautiful garden than Januarie's, MerchT 2034-2037. The Dreamer finds himself in Venus's temple where he sees Pirapus as he was when the ass brayed, PF 253-259. [Januarie: May]

The name occurs medially, MerchT 2034; PF 253.

E. Brown, Jr., "Hortus Inconclusus: The Significance of Priapus and Pyramus and Thisbe in The Merchant's Tale." ChauR 4 (1970): 31-40; ibid., "Priapus and The Parlement of Foulys." SP 72 (1975): 258-274; Ovid, Fasti, ed. and trans. J.G. Frazer, 30-33.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.
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