The following text, surmised to be a lost appendix to the well known De Bello Gallico, presents some general facts about the practice of forestry in Northern Europe for an audience of the Republic far removed from such mundane concerns (until, of course, their country burns down around them…).
C. Julius Caesar (?), De Silvis. Edited by Dani Bostick.
1.3 The best part of Gaul is Finland which is inhabited by the most intelligent citizens of all because they most often rake leaves and keep four rakes under every tree. For this reason the Finnish people also surpass everybody in safety, because almost every day they clean their forest with these rakes either when leaves fall from trees or when there is dirt of another kind.
1.3 Optima pars Galliae est Finlandia quam cives intellegentissimi omnium colunt propterea quod saepissimeque folias conradunt atque quattuor pectines sub omni arbore ponunt. Qua de causa Finlandi quoque omnes sapientia praecedunt, quod fere cotidie pectinibus silvas purgant, cum aut foliae ex arboribus cadunt aut illuvies alterius generis est.
1.4 This technique is thought to have originated in Canada, where there are many forests, and brought to Finland, but now those who want to learn more about it do not go there for the sake of learning about it. You see, the entire nation of the Finnish people is extremely devoted to learning and on that account foreign teachers come to Finland so that they might learn to teach well, but they never ask how to keep forests clean on account of their stupidity.
1.4 Haec disciplina in Canada reperta atque in Finlandiam translata esse existimatur, sed nunc, qui diligentius eam rem cognoscere volunt, plerumque illo discendi causa non proficiscuntur. Nam natio est omnis Finlandorum admodum dedita eruditioni, atque ob eam causam barbari magistri veniunt ut bene docere discant, sed ob stultitiam quomodo silvae purgentur numquam rogant.
“The oak’s pollution”: A riddle in Euripides’ Erekhtheus about the transgression of the Thebans against the oracle in Dodona. The proverb “Boiotian prophets” also comes from this.
Does anyone know what the Thebans did to Dodona? Herodotus talks about the oracle being founded by women abducted from Egyptian Thebes…
Suda, s.v. Δωδώνη
“Dodonê: A city in Pelasgian Thesprotia. An oak tree stood in it near which there was an oracle of women prophets. When people approached for prophecies, the oak tree moved, making sounds. Then the women intoned that “Zeus says these things”. A statue stood in a high place, holding up a staff. A cauldron stood near it too. The statue used to hit the cauldron and it would issue a melodious ring. But the voices of the demons are senseless.”
The oracle is mentioned in the Iliad and the Odyssey 19.296-299:
“He was claiming that he went to Dodona so he might hear
The will of Zeus from the high-leafed divine tree
How he might making his homecoming to his dear paternal land
When he has been away for long already, either openly or secrely”
From Fritz Graf’s entry on Dodona in Brill’s New Pauly:
“Our literary sources only partly concur with this. Hom. Il. 16,233-235 is familiar with the Selli, barefooted and living on the ground, as guardians of the oracle, Od. 19,296-299 with the (talking) oak as the source of knowledge about Zeus’ will (similarly Hes. fr. 240,8; 319; Aesch. PV 832). The oak’s ability to speak is presupposed in the myth of the talking beam made of Dodonian oak which was part of the ship Argo (Apollod. 1,110). Soph. Trach. 171f. indicates two doves on the Sacred Oak as the source of the oracle; likewise, the myths of the sanctuary’s origins link the Sacred Oak with a (talking) dove (Proxenos FGrH 703 F 7; Philostr. Imag. 2,33; Schol. Il 16,234). Hdt. 2,54-57 on the other hand interprets the doves allegorically as priestesses, and in several later sources ‘dove’ (peleiás) is explained as a term for the priestesses of D.
If the early testimonies speak of oak and doves as the givers of signs, that tallies with the ancient view that D. gave oracles in signs and not in words (Str. 7 fr. 1 Chr.), but is not consistent with extant texts and other information on oracles in prose (Dem. Or. 21,53) or hexameters (Paus. 10,12,10). This suggests an originally very archaic and perhaps pre-Greek oracle (Zeus Pelasgikos: Hom. Il. 16,233; Pelasgians: Hdt. 2,54), that was cared for by a priesthood characterized by its particularly marginalized ritual and that expressed itself through natural signs (oak), later switched to priestesses (thus Str. 7,7,12) and provided answers in textual form, in keeping with Greek practice elsewhere.”
There is an Oak in Dodona now. Probably not the original!
“Once we had organized everything, we went by the road that naturally leads to the Prasiakan land. And when I was ready to go, around the sixth hour, a wonder appeared in the sky in the third month, named Dios. First, a wind arose suddenly with a force that knocked the tents to the ground along with those of us who were standing around [the Armenian version goes on to describe a great deal of snow that killed many men]. After thirty days the road was passable and we departed. After five days we conquered Prasaikê along with Poros and all this stuff. His city overflowed with goods which I have already described to you.
When this happened and I was setting everything in perfectly good order, many of the Indians came to me willingly and were saying, “King Alexander, you will take cities, and palaces, mountains, and tribes, place where no living man or king has ever gone…” And then some very smart men came out and were saying to me “King, we have something beyond belief to show you. For we will show you plants that talk like men….” Then they led us to some preserve, a guard [for them]…and a temple of the sun and the moon. There are two trees there that talked. They were close in size to the cypress. The trees were in a circle, similar to the Egyptian chestnut tree and with similar fruit. They claimed that one was male with male offspring and one was female with female offspring—and that the name of one was the sun and the name of the female was the moon.
The trees had been draped with the skins of all sorts of animals (female skins on the female tree; male skins on the male tree). Near them there was neither iron, nor bronze, nor tin, nor clay for pottery. When I asked them what these hides seemed to be, they said they were from lions and leopards It is not possible to conduct a burial here without the priest of the sun and the moon. They use the skins of the beasts for ceremonial purposes.
I set out to learn about the origin of the trees. They said “When it is the first part of dawn and the sun is rising, a voice issues from the tree. And when the sun is at the middle of the sky and then again when it is about to set, a third time. The same thing occurs with the moon.” Men who appeared to be priests approached me saying “Enter cleansed and fall to your knees.” I took with me my friends Parmenion, Krateros, Iollas, Makhêtês, Thrasuleon, Theodektês, Diiphilos, Neokles, altogether ten. And the priest was saying “King, it is not permitted for iron to enter the shrine.” I ordered my men to put aside their swords. Unarmed men came from my army and I ordered them all to observe the place in a circle. Then I selected some men from the Indians to accompany us so they might interpret for me. I prayed to the Olympian Ammon, Athena the bringer of victory, and the other gods.
Just as the sun went down an Indian voice issued from the tree. It was interpreted by the Indians who were present with us. Because of fear, they were unwilling to translate it. I became agitated and berated them one by one. Eventually the Indians said this: “You will die soon at the hands of your friends.” Even though I and those with me were thunderstruck, I desired to get another oracle from the moon as it rose into sight. Now armed with knowledge of the future I entered and asked if I should embrace my mother Olympias and my relatives. Again then as my friends stood around the tree issued a voice to me, but this time in Greek, “King Alexander, you must die in Babylon. You will be slain by your own people and you will not return to your mother Olympias.”
“Even as my friends and I were distraught by this, I desired to bestow the finest garlands upon the gods. Then the priest was saying “It is not possible to do this. But if you will force it, do what you want. For there is no law written for a king.”
As I was laying in deep grief and disturbed, Parmenion and Philip encouraged me to go to sleep. But I was not able to sleep, I got up and left near dawn with my ten friends, the priest and the Indians and again when to the shrine giving out orders. I went to the shrine with the priest and once I placed my hand on the tree I questioned it asking “if the years of my life are done, I wish to learn this from you, whether I will return to Macedonia and greet my mother and my wife and die after.” Again, at the breaking of dawn when a ray of light it the top of the tree, a voice issued from it saying, “The years of your life are at end. You will not return to your mother Olympias, but you will die in Babylon. After a short time, your mother and wife will died badly at the hands of your friends. Your brother too, killed by those around you. Do not ask about these things any longer: you will not hear anything more about what you ask.”
“Therefore, when a man has said many things well about the origins of words, it is better to regard him well rather than to find fault with someone who has not been able to contribute anything. This is especially true since the art of etymology claims that it is not possible to find the origin of all words—just as it is not possible to say why a useful medicine is good for healing. Just so, if I do not know about the roots of a tree, I am able still to say that a pear is from a branch and a branch is from a tree whose roots I do no see.”
Igitur de originibus verborum qui multa dixerit commode, potius boni consulendum, quam qui aliquid nequierit reprehendendum, praesertim quom dicat etymologice non omnium verborum posse dici causam, ut qui ac qua re res utilis sit ad medendum medicina; neque si non norim radices arboris, non posse me dicere pirum esse ex ramo, ramum ex arbore, eam ex radicibus quas non video.
