Fab. XXXVI. Of the Husbandman and the Wood. NEer a vail: Commons, was a mighty Grove, Protected by the(<) Hama-dryades, Which then had Manfion in thofe long-liv'd Trees; There flouriOi'd < Efcuks the Delight of Jove, And PbtbkfW LoVe; And there were Plants had Senfe, and feme could feed, And fruitful Palms did Male and Female breed ; Wool-bearing Stocks grew there,and fome of old Whofe Leaves were Spangles,and the Branches Gold; In aged Trees InduilriousBees Built FortrefTes, And did their waxen Kingdoms frame, And fbme, they fame, (came. From whofe hard Womb Man's knotty Of-lpring This wealthy Grove, the Royal Cedar grac'd, Whofe Head was fix'd among the wandring Stars, Above loud Meteors arid Elements Wars, His Root in th' Adamantine Centre fall:; This all furpaft Crown'd Libanus ; about him Elmy Peers, Ajh, Fir, md Pine /had flourilh'd many years, By him prote&ed both from Heat and Cold. Eternal Plants, at leaft ten Ages old, All of one mind, Their ftrength conioyn'd, And icorn'd the Wind: Here ni, (liven.and The laft of which we e ot HomtdrjMiis; andthefewere lieved to live and die with the T in their protection, according to A ianis hit j njferedfor hit Sire who aurft prt- vtke The Dryades ij cutting isun their Ok'. The Njmfh full (ft fetitim'd him with To fpgrt her Trie if equal bWth and JlUrt ; Since both their livtt didflwriji in that bole. But mi intre&ts could his r*fb youth central; fVh he-vs it dMn.The Njmfb riveng'd her Fall, T him and to his Ijfue tragical. (b) Plinj in his Natural Hiftory, lib.ra. c. I. Arborumgenera Nmii-bus fuis dicnto perfetm fervantur, nt Jovi EIchIms , Apollini Lauras , Mi-nenrac Olea, Veneri Mjrtus, Herculi Pefulus. The Ceremony of dedicating this and that kind of Tree to feveral Gods vtat nlwaiesobferved ; for the Ef-culus is ccnficrated to Jupiter, the Lv-rel to Apollo , the Olive-tree to Minerva, the Myrtle to Venus , ani the /-plar to Hercules. (0 The Laurel.