The worship of Priapus among the Romans was derived from the Egyptians, who, under the form of Apis, the sacred Bull, worshipped the generative power of nature; and, as the syllable _pri_ or _pre_ signifies, in the Oriental tongue, _principle_, production, or natural or original source, the word _Priapus_ may be translated _principle of production_ or of _fecundation of Apis_. The same symbol also bore among the Romans the names of _Tutunus_, _Mutinus_, and _Fascinum_. Among the many places where this divinity was worshipped, Lampsacus,[15] in Asia Minor, was the most noted on account of the obscene rites there practised. The Priapi were of different forms; some having only a human head and the Phallus; some with the head of Pan or of a faun--that is, with the head and ears of a goat.[16] Others, with their indecent attribute, were placed in the public roads, and were then confounded with the divinities _Mercury_ and _Terminus_, who presided over boundaries. Scaliger says that he saw at Rome, in the palace of a cardinal,[17] a similar statue, whose phallus had served as a sign post.[18] All the human part of these Priapi were invariably painted red.[19] When furnished with arms, which he was when representing Terminus, Priapus held in one hand a reaping hook, and, like Osiris, grasped with the other the characteristic feature of his divinity, which was always of a monstrous size and in a state of energy. In the towns, Priapus had public chapels, whither such devotees as were suffering from maladies connected with his attributes repaired for the purpose of offering to him _ex-votos_ representing the parts afflicted; these ex-votos being sometimes paintings and, at others, little figures made of wax or of wood, and occasionally, even of marble. Females as superstitious, as they were lascivious, might be seen offering in public to Priapus, as many garlands as they had had lovers. These they would hang upon the enormous phallus of the idol, which was often hidden from sight by the number suspended by only one woman. Others offered to the god as many phalli, made of the wood of the willow tree, as they had vanquished men in a single night. St. Augustine informs us that it was considered by the Roman ladies as a very proper and pious custom to require young brides to seat themselves upon the monstrous and obscene member of Priapus: and Lactantius says, "Shall I speak of that _Mutinus_, upon the extremity of which brides are accustomed to seat themselves in order that the god may appear to have been the first to receive the sacrifice of their modesty?"[20] These facts prove that the worship of Priapus had greatly degenerated with the Romans, since, losing sight altogether of the object typified, they attach themselves to the symbol alone, in which they could see only what was indecent; and hence religion became a pretext for libertinism.[21]