He spoke and as he poised a slanting stroke, 
Sighs heaved, and tremblings shook the frighted oak ; 
Its leaves looked sickly, pale its acorns grew, 
And its long branches sweat a chilly dew. 
But when his impious hand a wound bestowed, 
Blood from the mangled bark in torrents flowed. 
When a devoted bull of mighty size, 
A sinning nation’s grand atonement dies ; 
With such a plenty from the spouting veins, 
A crimson stream the turfy altars stains. 
The wonder all amazed ; yet one more bold, 
The fact dissuading strove his axe to hold. 
But the Thessalian, obstinately bent, 
Too proud to change, too hardened to repent, 
On his kind monitor, his eyes, which burned 
With rage, and, with his eyes, his weapon turned ■, 
Take the reward, says he, of pious dread ; 
Then with a blow lopped off his parted head. 
No longer checked, the wretch his crime pursued, 
Doubled his strokes, and sacrilege renewed ; 
When from the groaning trunk a voice was heard, 
“ A Dryad I, by Ceres’ love preferred, 
With the circle of this clasping rind 
Coeval grew, and now in ruin joined ; 
But instant vengeance shall thy sin pursue, 
And death is cheered with this prophetic view.” 
At last the oak with cords enforced to bow, 
Strained from the top, and sapped with wounds below, 
The humbler wood, partaker of its fate, 
Crushed with its fall, and shivered with its weight. 
“ But a sad revenge follows it, as the poet will tell you ; and one might fill a just volume with the . 
histories of groves that were violated by wicked men who came to fatal periods, especially those upon 
which the misletoe grew, than which nothing was reputed more sacred ; for amongst such oaks the Druids 
usually dwelt, a and with whose leaves they adorned and celebrated their religious rites. ‘The Druids’ says Pliny, 
Lib. XVI. Cap. XLIV. ‘for so they call their divines, esteem nothing more venerable than misletoe, and the 
oak upon which it grows . 5 Indeed they did nothing of importance without some leaves or branches of this 
tree. The misletoe was not to be gathered, but cut by the priest with a golden axe, praying for a blessing 
upon the divine gift ; after this two white bulls were offered up as a sacrifice . 55 
Evelyn’s Sylva. 
The following is a just and noble description of 
iEsculus imprimis, quae quantum vertice ad auras 
.Ethereas, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. 
Ergo non byemes illam, non flabra, neque imbres 
Convellunt; immota manet, multosque per annos 
Multa virum volvens durando saecula vincit. 
Turn fortes late ramos et brachia tendens 
Hue illuc, media ipsa ingentem sustinet umbram. 
Virg. Georg. Lib. ii. 291. 
There are occasions when strength is injurious t 
laid low by the storm which spares his subjects. 
n aged oak : 
Chief, sesculus, whose head as high aspires, / 
Low as his root to central night retires. 
Vainly the wintry blast invades his brow, 
Vainly the torrent floods his base below : 
Unmoved he sees round ages ages rolled, 
Sees nations perish, and the world wax old, 
Wide spreads his vigorous branches o’er the plains, 
And on his central trunk th’o’ershadowing mass sustains. 
Sotheby's Translation. 
its possessor ; and the monarch of the forest is often 
Merciful Heaven, 
Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt, 
Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak, 
Than the soft myrtle. 
Measure for Measure, Act ii. Scene 2. 
The oracle which advised the Athenians to rely on wooden walls has long been thought applicable to 
this country ; and these elegant lines of Pope point out the use of the oak in commerce. 
Let India boast her plants, nor envy we 
The weeping amber, and the balmy tree, 
While by our oaks the precious loads are borne, 
And realms commanded, which those trees adorn. 
Windsor Forest. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Oak bark is a powerful astringent, and united with bitters and 
aromatics has been recommended in intermittents. A decoction or infusion of oak bark is a very good 
gargle in relaxed sore throat. 
Off. Prep. Decoctum Quercus, L. E. 
Extractum Corticis Quercus, D. 
In the language of Flowers, the Oak is the emblem of hospitality, and the Oak Leaf of bravery and 
humanity. 
Nemora alta remolis Incolitis lucis. Lucan. 
