466 pPant "bore, 'l5>egc't|t)/, anil l^ijric/. 



We have seen how Acorns formed the earhest food of mankind, 

 and in ancient Rome the substitution of Corn was attributed to the 

 bounty of Ceres, who, through the instrumentahty of Triptolemus, 

 taught the inhabitants of the earth its use and cultivation. 



" The Oak, whose Acorns were our food before 

 That Ceres' seed of mortal man was known, 

 Which first Triptoleme taught how to be sown. — Spenser. 



To commemorate this gift, Oak was worn in the festivals in 

 honour of Ceres, as also by the husbandmen in general at the 

 commencement of harvest. In the Eleusinian mysteries. Oaken 

 chaplets were worn. 



*' Then crowned with Oaken chaplets, marched the priest 

 Of Eleusinian Ceres, and with boughs 

 Of Oak were overshadowed in the feast 

 The teeming basket and the mystic vase." — Tight. 



A Roman who saved the life of another was adjudged a crown 

 of Oak-leaves : thus Lucan writes : — 



" Straight Lselius from amidst the rest stood forth — 

 An old centurion, of distinguished worth ; 

 The Oaken wreath his hardy temples wore, 

 Mark of a citizen preserved he bore." 



This civic crown of Oak conferred many notable tokens of 

 honour upon its possessor, who was exempted from all civil bur- 

 dens, and enjoyed many rights. At Roman weddings, boughs of 

 Oak were carried during the ceremonies as emblems of fecundity. 



" With boughs of Oak was graced the nuptial train ; 

 And Hecate (whose triple form surveys 

 And guards from rapine the nocturnal path) 

 Entwined with boughs of Oak her spiral snakes." — Tight. 



Like the Greeks and Romans, the Scandinavians, in their 

 mythology, traced the origin of mankind from either the Ash or 

 the Oak. By the Teutons and Celts the Oak was invested with 

 a mystical sacred character, and it was connecfted with the 

 worship of their god Teutates. Among the German people, who 

 consecrated the Oak to the god Thunar, the cultus of the sacred 

 tree lingered for a long time, even after Boniface, the apostle of 

 the Germans, at Geismar, on the Weser, had caused the Oak 

 consecrated to the god of thunder to be uprooted. After the 

 establishment of Christianity, the Oak was long supposed to be 

 the abiding-place of the terrible Northern god, and was, conse- 

 quently, regarded with superstitious awe. Bishop Otho, of Bamberg, 

 in the year 1128, found at Stettin pagan temples, situate near an 

 Oak and a fountain, which had been objects of worship, and were 

 still regarded with superstitious awe, as being consecrated to a 

 god. As the good bishop could not induce the people to cut 

 down these sacred Oaks, he persuaded them that they were inha- 

 bited by evil spirits and demons; and, in course of time, the people 



