72 THE GLORY OF THE GARDEN 



head to the waist, but their lower limbs were grown 

 into the shape of trunks and roots of trees, and all 

 their life and power ended when the tree was felled. 

 The class of woodland deities called by the Greeks 

 Satyrs, and by the Romans Fauns, had the legs, 

 feet, and ears of goats, and the rest of their body 

 was human. They were said to preside over all 

 vegetation, so they were treated with great respect 

 by all the countryfolk, and duly propitiated with 

 offerings of all the firstfruits of the earth. 



" But let no impious axe profane the woods, 



Or violate the sacred shades; the gods 

 Themselves inhabit there — some have beheld 



Where drops of blood from wounded Oaks distilled; 

 Have seen the trembling boughs with horror shake; 



So great a conscience did the ancients make 

 To cut down Oaks, that it was held a crime 



In that obscure and superstitious time." 



These woodland deities regarded with favour 

 those who treated them kindly, but often meted 

 out punishment to those who did them violence, 

 as is recorded in the story of Rhecus and Eri- 

 sichthon. The former, seeing an oak about to fall, 

 propped it up, and stayed it in its place, and the 

 grateful nymph who inhabited it rewarded the 

 generous deed by fulfilling any request which 

 Rhecus might like to make. 



Erisichthon, on the other hand, was famous for 

 " lifting up the axe against trees and despoiling 

 forests "; he regarded neither the use nor the beauty 

 of trees, and even felled the Dodonian oak that stood 

 in the grove sacred to Ceres. 



It was said of this famous tree that it towered 

 above the other trees as loftily as the other trees 



