CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CE. QUE/’RCUS. 1723 
acquainted the inhabitants that Jupiter had consecrated the ground, which 
would in future give oracles. All the trees in the grove became endowed with 
the gift of prophecy ; and the sacred oaks, not only spoke and delivered oracles 
while in a living state, but, when some of them were cut down to build the 
ship Argo the beams and mast of that ship frequently spoke, and warned 
the Argonauts of approaching calamities. (See Hom. Odys., xiv.; Lucan, vi. 
427.; Apoll., book 1., &c.) After giving the account above related, Herodotus 
adds what he calls the explanation of it. He says that some Pheenician 
merchants carried off an Egyptian priestess from Thebes into Greece, where 
she took up her residence in the Forest of Dodona, and erected there, at the 
foot of an old oak, a small temple in honour of Jupiter, whose priestess she 
had been at Thebes. The town and temple of Dodona are said by others to 
have been built by Deucalion, immediately after the great flood, when, in grati- 
tude for his preservation, he raised a temple to Jupiter, and consecrated the 
oak grove to his honour. This grove, or rather forest, extended from Dodona 
to Chaonia, a mountainous district of Epirus, so called from Chaon, son of 
Priam, who was accidentally killed there by his brother Helenus. The forest 
was, from this, sometimes called the Chaonian Forest ; and Jupiter, Chaonian 
father. (See Virgil, Ovid, &c.) The oracle of Dodona was not only the most 
celebrated, but the richest, in Greece, from the offerings made by those who came 
to it, to enquire into futurity. The prophecies were first delivered by doves, 
which were always kept in the temple, in memory of the fabulous origin assigned 
to the oracle: but, afterwards, the answers were delivered by the priestesses ; or, 
according to Suidas, Homer, and others, by the oaks themselves ; hollow trees, 
no doubt, being chosen, in which a priest might conceal himself. During the 
Thracian war, a deputation of Beotians consulting the oracle, the priestess 
told them that, “if they would meet with success, they must be guilty of an 
impious action:” when, in order to fulfil the oracle, they seized_her, and 
burnt her alive. After this, the Dodonian oracles were always delivered to 
the Beeotians by men. The oracular powers of the Dodonian oaks are fre- 
quently alluded to, not only by the Greek and Latin poets, but by those of 
modern times. Cowper says, addressing the Yardley Oak, — 
“Oh! couldst thou speak 
As in Dodona once thy kindred trees 
Oracular, 1 would not curious ask 
The future, best unknown ; but, at thy mouth 
Inquisitive, the less ambiguous past ! 
By thee I might correct, erroneous oft, 
The clock of history ; facts and events 
Timing more punctual, unrecorded facts 
Recovering; and misstated, setting right.” 
And Wordsworth, in his lines addressed to a Spanish oak, celebrated as 
having been the place of meeting of the ancient lawgivers of Biscay, exclaims,— 
** Oak of Guernica! tree of holier power 
Than that which in Dodona did enshrine 
(So faith too fondly deem’d) a voice divine, 
Heard from the depths of its aerial bower, 
How canst thou flourish at this blighting hour? 
Stroke merciful and welcome would that be 
Which would extend thy branches on the ground, 
If never more within their shady round 
Those lofty-minded lawgivers shall meet, 
Peasant and lord, in their appointed seat ; 
Guardians of Biscay’s ancient liberty.”” 
Milo of Croton was a celebrated athlete, whose strength and voracity 
were so great, that it was said he could carry a bullock on his shoulders, kill 
it with a blow of his fist, and afterwards eat it up in one day. In his old age, 
Milo attempted to tear an old oak up by the roots; but the trunk split, and 
the cleft part uniting, his hands became locked in the body of the tree; and, 
being unable to extricate himself, he was devoured by wild beasts. (Ovid 
Met., xv. ; Strab., xvi.; Paus., vi. c. 11., &c.) 
The oak was considered by the ancients as the emblem of hospitality ; be- 
cause, when Jupiter and Mercury were travelling in disguise, and arrived ‘at 
