DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0473
Diana and the Oak 403
change from oak to beech seems to have taken place on the hill
called Corne near Tusculum, where Diana was worshipped in a
remarkable grove of beeches1. But outside Rome the most famous
pres de lui, murmurait et blasphemait; Dieu le changea immediatement en ours. D'apres
une autre tradition [des Pyrenees] (cf. [E.] Rolland, Faune popidaire de la France [Paris
1877 i. 42 f.]), un homme, en battant le fer chaud sur l'enclume, en fit jaillir les etincelles
jusqu'aux yeux du bon Dieu lui-meme, qui ne manqua point de le maudire, le con-
damnant a devenir ours, avec la condition qu'il pourrait monter a son gre sur tous les
arbres, a l'exception du hetre. Devenu ours, l'homme songea alors a deraciner cet arbre :
" Ous bos esta, et ous seras, | En tout arbre puyeras, | Sous qu'en hau nou pouderas. |
Arringa lou que harey." ' [i.e. 'Ours tu veux etre, ours tu seras, | a tout arbre tu grim-
peras, | hormis au hetre.' | 'Eh bien je le deracinerai.']. In the Luxemburg Ardennes
and in Lorraine it is believed that the beech is never struck by lightning (P. Sebillot
Le Folk-Lore de France Paris 1906 iii. 381, cp. R. Folkard Plant Lore, Legends, and
Lyrics London 1884 p. 250). A list of 253 trees venerated in the department of Oise,
which was drawn up in 1854, included 74 elms, 27 oaks, 24 thorns, 15 walnuts, 14 beeches,
14 limes, etc. (P. Sebillot op. cit. iii. 424). It will be observed that the beech stands next
to the oaks in the list of lucky trees preserved by Macrob. Sat. 3. 20. 2 ait enim Veranius
de verbis pontificalibus (frag. 3 Funaioli) : ' felices arbores putantur esse quercus, aesculus,
ilex, suberies (so L. Jan for snberius cod. P.), fagus, corylus, sorbus, ficus alba, pirus,
malus, vitis, prunus, cornus, lotus.' Iupiter Fagutalis was worshipped on the Fagutal
(Varr. de ling. Lat. 5. 152 P'agutal a fago, unde etiam Iovis Fagutalis, quod ibi sacellum,
Paul, ex Fest. p. 87, 6 Mtiller, p. 77, 13 f. Lindsay Fagutal sacellum Iovis, in quo fuit
fagus arbor, quae Iovis sacra habebatur, Plin. nat. hist. 16. 37 silvarum certe distingue-
batur (sc. Roma) insignibus, Fagutali love etiam nunc ubi lucus fageus fuit, etc.), where
his cult is known to have lasted on till the year 109 a.d. (Corp. inscr. Lat. vi no. 452
= Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 3620 [Laribus AJugust. vici Iovis Fagutal[is et j Genis
Caesarum, i]mp. Nerva divi Nervae f. Traianfo | Aug. Germanico Dacjico pont. max.
trib. pot. xiii imp. vi [cos. v, | permissu]......Pollionis trib. pleb., aed(iculam) reg. iii
vetusta[te | dilapsam a solo majgistri anni exxi sua inpensa restitu[er.] | .......Phoebus,
A. Nonius A. 1. Onesimus, | .........Callistus, L. Valerius L. 1. Eutichus): see H. Jordan—
C. Huelsen Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alterthum Berlin 1907 i. 3. 256 f.
1 Plin. nat. hist. 16. 242 est in suburbano Tusculani agri colle, qui Corne appellatur,
lucus antiqua religione Dianae sacratus a Latino (so J. Hardouin for Latio codd.), velut
arte tonsili coma fagei nemoris. in hoc arborem eximiam aetate nostra amavit Passienus
Crispus bis cos. (cp. Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 7061), orator, Agrippinae matrimonio et
Nerone privigrio clarior postea, osculari conplectique earn solitus, non modo cubare sub
ea vinumque illi adfundere. vicina luco est ilex, et ipsa nobilis xxxiv pedum ambitu
caudicis, decern arbores emittens singulas magnitudinis visendae silvamque sola faciens.
No doubt the big beech was a beauty : Theophr. hist, plant. 5. 8. 3 expressly comments
on the enormous size of beech-trees in the lowlands of Latium. Nevertheless it is simply
inconceivable that C. Passienus Crispus, a Roman of exceptional ability and distinction,
the husband first of Domitia and then of Agrippina the younger (Suet. v. Pass. Crisp.),
should have behaved thus towards a mere tree—kissing it, embracing it, lying beneath it,
pouring wine over it,—unless he in some sense identified the tree with the goddess
(Frazer Golden Bough3: The Magic Art. i. 40 n. 4). Presumably he regarded himself,
not only as her protector (cp. Hdt. 7. 31), but actually as her husband. This would be
in strict accordance with local usage ; for six or seven miles away, as the crow flies, the
rex Nemorensis was even then playing a similar part. Diana's tree in the grove near
Tusculum was, I take it, comparable with Diana's tree in the grove at Nemi. And, if
Caligula posed as the priestly king of Nemi (Suet. Calig. 35 cited supra p. 147 n. 6 : see
also the imperial house-boats described and illustrated by R. Lanciani New Tales of Old
Rome London 1901 p. 205 ft".), Passienus Crispus, his brother-in-law and intimate (Suet.
26-2
change from oak to beech seems to have taken place on the hill
called Corne near Tusculum, where Diana was worshipped in a
remarkable grove of beeches1. But outside Rome the most famous
pres de lui, murmurait et blasphemait; Dieu le changea immediatement en ours. D'apres
une autre tradition [des Pyrenees] (cf. [E.] Rolland, Faune popidaire de la France [Paris
1877 i. 42 f.]), un homme, en battant le fer chaud sur l'enclume, en fit jaillir les etincelles
jusqu'aux yeux du bon Dieu lui-meme, qui ne manqua point de le maudire, le con-
damnant a devenir ours, avec la condition qu'il pourrait monter a son gre sur tous les
arbres, a l'exception du hetre. Devenu ours, l'homme songea alors a deraciner cet arbre :
" Ous bos esta, et ous seras, | En tout arbre puyeras, | Sous qu'en hau nou pouderas. |
Arringa lou que harey." ' [i.e. 'Ours tu veux etre, ours tu seras, | a tout arbre tu grim-
peras, | hormis au hetre.' | 'Eh bien je le deracinerai.']. In the Luxemburg Ardennes
and in Lorraine it is believed that the beech is never struck by lightning (P. Sebillot
Le Folk-Lore de France Paris 1906 iii. 381, cp. R. Folkard Plant Lore, Legends, and
Lyrics London 1884 p. 250). A list of 253 trees venerated in the department of Oise,
which was drawn up in 1854, included 74 elms, 27 oaks, 24 thorns, 15 walnuts, 14 beeches,
14 limes, etc. (P. Sebillot op. cit. iii. 424). It will be observed that the beech stands next
to the oaks in the list of lucky trees preserved by Macrob. Sat. 3. 20. 2 ait enim Veranius
de verbis pontificalibus (frag. 3 Funaioli) : ' felices arbores putantur esse quercus, aesculus,
ilex, suberies (so L. Jan for snberius cod. P.), fagus, corylus, sorbus, ficus alba, pirus,
malus, vitis, prunus, cornus, lotus.' Iupiter Fagutalis was worshipped on the Fagutal
(Varr. de ling. Lat. 5. 152 P'agutal a fago, unde etiam Iovis Fagutalis, quod ibi sacellum,
Paul, ex Fest. p. 87, 6 Mtiller, p. 77, 13 f. Lindsay Fagutal sacellum Iovis, in quo fuit
fagus arbor, quae Iovis sacra habebatur, Plin. nat. hist. 16. 37 silvarum certe distingue-
batur (sc. Roma) insignibus, Fagutali love etiam nunc ubi lucus fageus fuit, etc.), where
his cult is known to have lasted on till the year 109 a.d. (Corp. inscr. Lat. vi no. 452
= Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 3620 [Laribus AJugust. vici Iovis Fagutal[is et j Genis
Caesarum, i]mp. Nerva divi Nervae f. Traianfo | Aug. Germanico Dacjico pont. max.
trib. pot. xiii imp. vi [cos. v, | permissu]......Pollionis trib. pleb., aed(iculam) reg. iii
vetusta[te | dilapsam a solo majgistri anni exxi sua inpensa restitu[er.] | .......Phoebus,
A. Nonius A. 1. Onesimus, | .........Callistus, L. Valerius L. 1. Eutichus): see H. Jordan—
C. Huelsen Topographie der Stadt Rom im Alterthum Berlin 1907 i. 3. 256 f.
1 Plin. nat. hist. 16. 242 est in suburbano Tusculani agri colle, qui Corne appellatur,
lucus antiqua religione Dianae sacratus a Latino (so J. Hardouin for Latio codd.), velut
arte tonsili coma fagei nemoris. in hoc arborem eximiam aetate nostra amavit Passienus
Crispus bis cos. (cp. Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 7061), orator, Agrippinae matrimonio et
Nerone privigrio clarior postea, osculari conplectique earn solitus, non modo cubare sub
ea vinumque illi adfundere. vicina luco est ilex, et ipsa nobilis xxxiv pedum ambitu
caudicis, decern arbores emittens singulas magnitudinis visendae silvamque sola faciens.
No doubt the big beech was a beauty : Theophr. hist, plant. 5. 8. 3 expressly comments
on the enormous size of beech-trees in the lowlands of Latium. Nevertheless it is simply
inconceivable that C. Passienus Crispus, a Roman of exceptional ability and distinction,
the husband first of Domitia and then of Agrippina the younger (Suet. v. Pass. Crisp.),
should have behaved thus towards a mere tree—kissing it, embracing it, lying beneath it,
pouring wine over it,—unless he in some sense identified the tree with the goddess
(Frazer Golden Bough3: The Magic Art. i. 40 n. 4). Presumably he regarded himself,
not only as her protector (cp. Hdt. 7. 31), but actually as her husband. This would be
in strict accordance with local usage ; for six or seven miles away, as the crow flies, the
rex Nemorensis was even then playing a similar part. Diana's tree in the grove near
Tusculum was, I take it, comparable with Diana's tree in the grove at Nemi. And, if
Caligula posed as the priestly king of Nemi (Suet. Calig. 35 cited supra p. 147 n. 6 : see
also the imperial house-boats described and illustrated by R. Lanciani New Tales of Old
Rome London 1901 p. 205 ft".), Passienus Crispus, his brother-in-law and intimate (Suet.
26-2