An Ancient Custom

P. Oxy. XV 1796 (2nd century AD), lines 9-11 (tr. D.L. Page): This is an immemorial law, surviving still from our lords of old:— to set those trees side by side upon hills, to bind the watery mound and ward famine off. ὠγύγιος̣ νόμος οὗτος ἀπ’ ἀρχαίων ἔτ’ ἀνάκτων θέσθαι δένδρεα κεῖνα παρ’ ἀλλήλοισι κολώναις, χώματος εὐύδροιο πέδην ἀλκ̣τῆρά τε λιμοῦ.