The one [sworn] by a goose or a dog or a plane-tree or a ram or something else of the kind.[1] "Amongst these the greatest oath by all accounts was a dog, then a goose, but they used to say nothing of the gods." Cratinus in Cheirons [says this].[2] The oaths of Socrates, too, [were] of this kind.[3]
This sign concerning an oath, which is customary even now: for many swear by vegetables when displaying the force of an oath.[4]