pPant "bore, Iseger^ti/, and. "bqric/", 473 



and told fortunes by means of the awns of these Oats, which they 

 caused to wriggle about by liolding tliem in a damp hand, or breath- 

 ing upon them. In these jugglers' hands the Wild Oat became a 

 magical plant, figuring at their will as the leg of an enchanted 



spider, Egyptian fly, or some other wonderful insecfl. To dream 



of a field of ripe (3ats just ready for the sickle is a most favour- 

 able omen, under all circumstances. 



Old Man, — See Southernwood. 



OLEANDER.— The banks of the Meles, the rivulet sacred 

 to Homer, are in some parts thickly set with Neyium Oleander, a 

 plant which bears a funereal and sinister characfler, and in Italy is 

 considered as ill-omened and as bringing disgrace and misfortune. 

 In Tuscany and Sicily, it is customary to cover the dead with 

 Oleander-blossoms, and in India chaplets of these flowers are 

 placed on the brows of the departed : the blossoms are also in that 

 country much used in the decoration of temples. The Hindus call 

 the shrub the " Horse-killer," from a notion that horses inadver- 

 tently eating of its foliage are killed by it. The Italians bestow a 

 similar name on the plant — Ainmazza VAsino, Ass-bane. Gerarde 

 remarks that the flowers and leaves prove fatal to many quad- 

 rupeds, and that sheep and goats drinking water wherein the leaves 

 have fallen are sure to die. In England, the plant is known as the 

 Rose Bay and Laurel Rose. In Tuscany, it is called Mazza di San 

 Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Staff), and there is a legend that this staff 

 commenced to blossom dire(ftly St. Joseph took it in his hands. 



OLIVE. — The legend runs, that in the days of Cecrops, king 

 of Attica, the two rival deities, Neptune and Minerva, strove for 

 the worship of the Athenians. Each claimed priority of right: 

 Neptune, by a salt spring, which his trident had opened in the 

 rock of the Acropolis; Minerva, by pointing to the Olive-tree, 

 which at her command had sprung from the soil. The gods in 

 council decided that the latter was the earlier, as well as the more 

 useful, gift; and so Minerva became the tutelary deity of the city, 

 and the early Athenian rulers endeavoured to turn the attention 

 of the citizens from warlike and seafaring pursuits, to the cultiva- 

 tion of the soil and the peaceful arts. On the coins of Attica, 

 before the time of Pericles, an Olive-branch appeared with the 

 moon and owl. Goats were sacrificed to Minerva, because they 

 were thought to do special injury to the Olive-tree, and the goddess 

 is styled by Virgil Oka inventrix. There was a deeper meaning 

 attached to this Attic legend, the realisation of which appears as 

 far off as it was in the days of Cecrops : still the Olive-branch 

 remains the emblem of that period of peace and plenty which the 



world still hopes for. The most sacred of the Athenian Olives 



grew in the temple of Minerva since the time of the dispute between 

 Minerva and Neptune: it was burnt by Xerxes with the temple; 

 but it was stated to have shot up again suddenly, after having 



