Pliny: Natural History, Vol. IV

arbores ante alia dicere ac moribus primordia ingerere nostris.

3 II. Haec fuere numinum templa, priscoque ritu simplicia rura etiam nunc deo praecellentem arborem dicant; nec magis auro fulgentia atque ebore simulacra quam lucos et in iis silentia ipsa adoramus. arborum genera numinibus suis dicata perpetuo servantur, ut Iovi aesculus, Apollini laurus, Minervae olea, Veneri myrtus, Herculi populus; quin et Silvanos Faunosque et dearum genera silvis ac sua
4 numina tamquam e caelo attributa credimus. arbores postea blandioribus fruge sucis hominem mitigavere: ex his recreans membra olei liquor viresque potus vini, tot denique sapores anni sponte venientes, et mensae, depugnetur licet earum causa cum feris et pasti naufragorum corporibus pisces expetantur,
5 etiam nunc tamen secundae. mille praeterea sunt usus earum sine quis vita degi non possit. arbore sulcamus maria terrasque admovemus, arbore ex- aedificamus tecta; arborea et simulacra numinum fuere nondum pretio excogitato beluarum cadaver atque ut, a diis nato iure luxuriae, eodem ebore

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, and 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 Jove, the bay to Apollo, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus, the poplar to Hercules; nay, more, we also believe that the Silvani woodland deities and Fauni rural spirits and various kinds of goddesses are as it were assigned to the forests from heaven and as their own special divinities.

Uses of trees.

Subsequently it was the trees with juices more succulent than corn that gave mellowness to man; for from trees are obtained olive oil to refresh the limbs and draughts of wine to restore the strength, and in fine all the savours that come by the spontaneous generosity of the year, and the fruits that are even now served as a second course, in spite of the fact that battle must be waged with the 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.