[1] In Ovid's Fasti, at the Liberalia festival, Priapus tried to rape the nymph Lotis when everyone had fallen asleep, but she was awakened by a sudden cry of Silenus's donkey and ran off, leaving Priapus in embarrassment as everyone else woke up too and became aware of his intentions.

[2] In another work of his however, the Metamorphoses, Lotis escaped Priapus only when she was changed into a lotus, either a plant or the lotus tree; later, Dryope picked a flower off the tree Lotis had become, and was transformed into a black poplar.

[4] In Book 6 of the Fasti Ovid tells much the same story, but with the goddess Vesta rather than Lotis as the intended victim.

[citation needed] Ovid suggests that Priapus later kills the donkey.

Bellini keeps Priapus's aroused state visible under his clothes,[8] Palumba has it out in the open, as Parmigianino originally did, but this has been altered subsequently,[9] as very explicit details often were in art.