




216 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
OAK. 
HOSPITALITY. 
Tur ancients believed that the Oak, coeval 
with the earth, afforded food and shelter to the 
first of men. In the remotest antiquity, it was 
the symbol of majesty and strength, and, as 
such, sacred to Jupiter, whom it sheltered at 
his birth, on Mount Lyceus in Arcadia. 
Among the Greeks, the Oak performed an 
important part in their religious ceremonies. 
The Oaks in the grove of Dodona in Epirus, 
near the magnificent temple of Jupiter, gave 
forth the oracles which were there promulgated 
by the priestesses. On the banks of the Ache- 
lous grew those Oaks whose acorns were the 
first food of mortals. The Dodonean Jupiter, 
the Fates, and Hecate, were crowned with Oak- 
wreaths; and the heroes who sailed in the 
Argo chose for the mast of that vessel an Oak 
from the sacred grove of Dodona, which con- 
tinued to counsel the adventurers by oracular 
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