Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 2.djvu/90

 like a chaste widow?’ Wiping his eyes the lad, in carefully chosen words took oath that Ascyltos had used no force against him. (The truth of the matter is, that I was so distraught with my own misfortunes that I knew not what I was saying. “Why recall past memories which can only cause pain,” said I to myself. I then directed all my energies towards the recovery of my lost manhood. To achieve this I was ready even to devote myself to the gods; accordingly, I went out to invoke the aid of Priapus.) Putting as good a face upon the matter as I could I knelt upon the threshold of his shrine and invoked the God in the following verses:

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