BOOK XII. I. 2-II. 5 



of trees before earth's other products, and to bring 

 forvvard origins for our customs. 



II. Once upon a time trees were the temples of the ^'•^<'« f«<^'?<* 



to cLcxttcs 



deities, and in conformity with primitive ritual simple 

 country places even now dedicate a tree of exceptional 

 height to a god ; nor do we pay greater worship to 

 images shining with gold and ivory than to the forests 

 and to the very silences that they contain. The 

 different kinds of trees are kept pei-petually dedicated 

 to their own divinities, for instance, the wdnter-oak 

 to Jove, the bay to Apollo, the oHve to Minerva, the 

 myrtle to Vemis, the poplar to Hercules ; nay, more, 

 we also beheve that the Silvani and Fauns and various 

 kinds of goddesses are as it were assigned to the 

 forests from heaven and as their own special divinities. 

 Subsequently it was the trees with juices more suc- usesof 

 culent than corn that gave mellowness to man ; for ''''^^^' 

 from trees are obtained oHve oil to refresh the limbs 

 and draughts of wine to restore the strength, and in 

 fine all the savours that come by the spontaneous 

 generosity of the year, and the fruits that are even 

 now served as a second course, in spite of the fact 

 that battle must be waged with the wild beasts to 

 obtain them and that fishes fattened on the corpses 

 of shipwrecked mariners are in demand. Moreover, 

 there are a thousand other uses for those trees which 

 are indispensable for carrying on hfe. We use a 

 tree to furrow the seas and to bring the lands nearer 

 togethcr, we use a tree for building houses ; even 

 the images of the deities were made from trees, 

 before men had yet thought of paying a price for the 

 corpses of huge animals, or arranged that inasmuch 

 as the privilege of luxury had originated from the 

 gods, we should behold the countenances of the deities 



