BOOK XII. I. 2—II. 5

...of trees before earth’s other products, and to bring forward origins for our customs.

Trees sacred to deities.

II. Once upon a time, trees were the temples of the deities. In conformity with primitive ritual, simple country places even now dedicate a tree of exceptional height to a god; nor do we pay greater worship to images shining with gold and ivory than to the forests and to the very silences that they contain. The different kinds of trees are kept perpetually dedicated to their own divinities—for instance, the winter-oak to Jupiter, the bay to Apollo, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus, and the poplar to Hercules. Nay, more, we also believe that the Silvani and Fauns and various kinds of goddesses are, as it were, assigned to the forests from heaven as their own special divinities.

Uses of trees.

Subsequently, it was trees with juices more succulent than corn that gave mellowness to man. From trees are obtained olive oil to refresh the limbs, and draughts of wine to restore strength, and in fine, all the flavors that come by the spontaneous generosity of the year—fruits that are even now served as a second course, in spite of the fact that battle must be waged with wild beasts to obtain them, and that fishes fattened on the corpses of shipwrecked mariners are in demand. Moreover, there are a thousand other uses for those trees which are indispensable for carrying on life. We use a tree to furrow the seas and to bring the lands nearer together; we use a tree for building houses. Even the images of the deities were made from trees, before men had yet thought of paying a price for the corpses of huge animals, or arranged that—inasmuch as the privilege of luxury had originated from the gods—we should behold the countenances of the deities and the legs of our tables made of the same ivory.