8 



HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



that the answer was given by an oak. Homer has also de- 

 livered the same account ; and as it was generally believed 

 to proceed from the trunk, it is easy to conceive that the 

 priestess had nothing more to do than to hide herself in 

 the hollow of this oak, and from thence to give the pre- 

 tended sense of the oracle ; for the distance the supplicants 

 were obliged to keep was an effectual means to prevent 

 the cheat from being discovered. During the war between 

 the Thracians and Boeotians, the latter sent deputies to 

 consult this oracle of Dodona, when the priestess gave 

 them this answer, of which she doubtless did not foresee 

 the consequence, " If you would meet with success, you 

 must be guilty of some impious action." The deputies 

 suspecting that she prevaricated with them in order to 

 serve their enemies, from whom she was descended, re- 

 solved to fulfil the decree of the oracle ; and therefore 

 seized the priestess and burnt her alive, alleging, that this 

 act was justifiable in whatever light it was considered ; 

 that if she intended to deceive them, it was fit she should 

 be punished Tor the deceit ; or, if she was sincere, they 

 had only literally fulfilled the sense of the oracle. 



On Mount Lycaeus, in Arcadia, was a temple of Jupiter 

 with a fountain : when rain was wanted, it was thought 

 that it would be obtained of the god by throwing into the 

 fountain a branch of the oak-tree. 



Socrates swore by the oak, perhaps because this tree 

 was consecrated to Jupiter. 



The veneration that the ancients had for the oak, gave 

 rise to the. Greek and Latin proverb, " Speak to the oak ;" 

 which signified, speak in good security. They had also 

 another proverb on the oak : when they spoke of persons 

 they did not know the birth of, it was said they were born 

 of an oak, because the ancients often exposed children in 

 the hollow of trees. 



