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consisted of oaks that were consecrated -to 

 Jupiter: this was one of the most ancient 

 oracles of which we have any particular 

 account. Herodotus gives two accounts of 

 the rise of this oracle, one of which clears 

 up the mystery of the fable, viz. that some 

 Phoenician merchants carried off a priestess 

 of Thebes into Greece, where she took up 

 her residence in the forest of Dodona, and 

 there, at the foot of an old oak, erected 

 a small chapel in honour of Jupiter, whose 

 priestess she had been at Thebes; and this 

 was the first temple that was ever seen in 

 Greece. Suidas informs us 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 pretended sense of the oracle, for 

 the distance the suppliants 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 



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