Pliny's authority, which I infert below*, may 

 be decifive in favour of it's being the oak. 

 But were it not fo, Virgil's defcription is fo 

 ftrongly marked with the character of the oak, 

 that it feems to put the matter out of difpute; 

 and I introduce the quotation, merely to bring 

 together, in a few words, the moft obvious 

 qualities of this mofl noble plant, in one point 

 of view. 



The firft characteriflic, which Virgil men- 

 tions, is it's firmnefs ; or the power and 

 Strength, with which it takes hold of the 

 ground; driving it's tap-root, in the poet's 



* Pliny fpeaking of the different kinds of trees, which were 

 dedicated to different deities, tells us, Jovi efculus, Appoloni 

 laurus, &c. Lib. xii. c. i. Now we know that the oak was 

 Jupiter's tree. On this point I need only quote Phaedrus. 



Olim quas vellent efle in tutela fua 



Divi legerunt arbores; quercus Jovi, 



Et myrtus Veneri placuit 



Pliny alfo in another place, Lib. xvi. c. 6. plainly Uiftinguiflies 

 between thefagus, and the efculus. " Fagi glans triangula cute 

 includitur. Folium tenue, populo fimile, celerrime flavefcens, 

 &c. Glandem, quae proprie intelligitur, ferunt robur, quercus, 

 efculus. Continetur hiipido calyce. Folia, fmuofa lateribus; 

 nee, cum cadunt, flavefcentia, ut fagi. Glans optima in quercu, 

 et grandiflima; mox efculo." From this quotation it is plain, 

 that Pliny confiders the efcvlus as a variety of the oak. 



language, 



