[117] For the palm at the birth cf. Theogn. 5 “Φοῖβε ἄναξ ὅτε μέν σε θεὰ τέκε πότνια Λητὼ”
“φοίνικος ῥαδινῇς χερσὶν ἐφαψαμένη”,. The sacred palm in the precinct of Apollo at Delos is mentioned in Od. 6.162; it was reputed to be alive in the time of Cicero ( Leg.i. 1) and Pliny (N. H. xvi. 89). The palm-tree was one of the types on Delian coins (Head Hist. Num. p. 413). According to Eur. Hec.458, Eur. Ion919, Eust. 1557, Leto clasped the palm with one hand, a laurel with the other. Euripides (I. T. 1097) adds an olive to the other trees. In the Delian hymn (B. C. H. xviii. p. 345 f., Smyth Melic Poets p. 533) the olive alone takes the place of the palm: “ὃν ἔτικτε Λατὼ μάκαιρα πα[ρὰ λίμνᾳ] κλυτᾷ χερσὶ γλαυκᾶς ἐλαίας θιγοῦς᾿”. Cf. also Var. Hist. v. 4, Hyg. Fab.140, Catull. 34. 7. See Crusius die delph. Hymnen 1894 p. 74. In the Ephesian account of the birth, an olive, still shown in the time of Tacitus, helped Leto ( Tac. Ann.iii. 61). The names “Ἐλαία” and “Φοῖνιξ” were given to two streams near the temple of Apollo at Tegyra (see on 16).
The legend suggests a Greek belief in the efficacy of the palm or olive to ensure a safe or quick delivery. Traces of the custom have survived in modern Greece, where an olive-branch, called the Virgin's hand, and sacred to Eleutherios St.or Panaghia Vlastike, is sometimes grasped by women (Bent Cyclades p. 182, Rodd Customs and Lore of Modern Greece p. 141). So Swedish women used to twine their arms round a venerated tree (Mannhardt B. K. p. 51). See also Frazer G. B. i. p. 196. Γοῦνα δ᾽ ἔρεισε: for this position see Frazer on Paus.viii. 48. 7: “we may infer that in antiquity Greek women were often, perhaps generally, delivered on their knees.” He quotes Ploss das Weib^{2} p. 175 to shew that the attitude is still adopted in Greece and elsewhere.
