Epigram 9.312 - Diodorus Zonas

Refrain, sirrah, from cutting the oak, 

the mother of acorns; 

refrain, 

and lay low the old stone-pine,

or the sea-pine, 

or this rhamnus with many stems, 

or the holly-oak, 

or the dry arbutus. 

Only keep thy axe far from the oak, 

for our grannies tell us that

oaks were the first mothers.

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Diodorus Zonas [Zonas of Sardis] (1st century BC) Italy

Translated by William R. Paton

Source: The Greek anthology, Vol III, Translated by W. R. (William Roger) Paton, W. Heinemann, 1916

Refers to the legend that men were sprung from oaks or rocks, e.g. "But tell me of your family, since you did not spring from a tree or a stone as in the ancient tales." Homer's Odyssey XIX 163.