DBSOBIPTIVE ENUMEEATION OF TEBES. 49 



of by tlie poet; is tlie kulsting of its brandies : 

 bracMa tendit hue illuo. Examine the Ash, the 

 Elm; the Beech, or almost any other tree, and you 

 may observe in what direct and straight Knes the 

 branches in each shoot from the stem. Whereas 

 the limbs of an Oak are continually twisting, hucy 

 illuc, in various contortions ; and, like the course 

 of a river, sport and play ia every possible direc- 

 tion — sometimes in long reaches, and sometimes in 

 shorter elbows. There is . not a characteristic 

 more peculiar to the Oak than this. 



Another peculiai-ity, of which Virgil takes notice 

 in the Oak, is its expansive spread. 



' Media ipsa ingentem sustiuet unibram.' 



By ingentem mnhraon, I do not suppose the poet 

 means a thick, compact, close-woven fohage, like 

 that of the Beech, which the Oak seldom exhibits. 

 In general, except in very luxuriant soils, the 

 foliage of the Oak is light and thin. I should 

 therefore suppose that, instead of a close-woven 

 shade, the poet means an extended one,- which, 

 indeed, is impHed in the expression, just before 

 used, ramos late tendens. This indeed is a just 



