SOURCE: Salemi, Joseph S. “‘Priapus’ by Pietro Bembo: An Annotated Translation.” Allegorica 5, no. 1 (Summer 1980): 81-94.

The following excerpt is taken from the introduction to Salemi's English translation of the erotic poem “Priapus.” The critic focuses on the lascivious imagery to demonstrate that Bembo was working within an established tradition.

Of all the literary productions in both Latin and Italian of Pietro Bembo, none is so notorious as the poem “Priapus.” Although by no means as pornographic as some other Renaissance effusions, the imagery of “Priapus” is still offensive enough to repel many readers who might otherwise appreciate the beauty, wit, and craftsmanship of a poem that Fred J. Nichols has called “by far the most elegant accomplishment of Renaissance Latin in this particular area of literary endeavor.”¹

A scion of the Venetian nobility, Pietro Bembo was an outstanding—as well as protean—figure of Renaissance Italian history. Courtier...