98 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
lime tree, nor yet the beech and the virgin laurel, and 
the brittle hazel and the oak adapted for making spears, 
and the fir with knots, and the holm bending beneath 
its acorns, and the genial plane tree and the parti-col- 
ored maple, and the tine tree with its azure berries ; 
you, too, the ivy tree with your creeping tendrils, and 
the elms clothed with vines; the ashes too, and the 
pitch trees and the bending palms, the reward of the 
conqueror; the pine with its tufted foliage and bristling 
at the top, pleasing to the mother of the gods. Such a 
grove of trees had the bard attracted round him, and he 
sat in the midst of an assembly of wild beasts and a 
multitude of birds.” 
One of the famous oracles consulted by the priests 
was the Talking Oak of Dodona. It possessed miracu- 
lous power. A staff cut from one of its branches always 
guided the traveler in paths of safety, and conducted 
him to desired havens. Mercury’s wonderful cane must 
have come from the tree, and it is related that the vessel 
in which Jason went in search of the Golden Fleece had 
her figure-head carved from a portion of one of its 
branches, and the success of the voyage was thereby 
assured. 
Some of the groves were sacred to the celestial gods 
and others to lesser deities. The forest of Mount Ida, 
the foster home of Jupiter, was one of these sacred 
groves. The trees here were proof against the elements, 
and vessels built from the timbers could withstand the 
winds and the waves of the sea, and even the wrath of 
Neptune was unable to harm the mariner in these crafts. 
