THE PHOENIX POEM

FROM AVE PHOENICE

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus, known as Lactantius
c.250-c.325


POEM ABOUT THE PHOENIX

It is, in the East, a fortunate site
Where from the eternal sky opens the immense door.
The Sun here rises not in winter, Nor in summer, but on the bright days of spring.
.

A plateau unfolds its open plains there:
No mound rises there, no valley is hollowed there,
But the mountains at home, which we consider so high
By two times six cubits this plateau exceeds them.
When the universe was blazing, burned by Phaeton,
This place alone remained sheltered from these flames ;
And when the flood had covered the world,
He emerged from the Deucalionian waters.
There the grove of the Sun is green and, full of trees,
A sacred wood adorned with immortal foliage,
We do not see the coming of pale illnesses,
Nor sad old age and merciless death,
Nor fear or murder and the bitter love of gain.
We never knew Venus and her furies there ;
There, no painful mourning, no black poverty,
Neither bitter worries nor criminal hunger.
There, never a storm and never a hurricane,
Never frost covering the earth with white frost;
Point of dark cloud spreading its fleece,
Shower point falling from the vault of the sky.
But in the center springs a spring of living water,
Limpid and always calm, abundant in fresh waters,
Who, suddenly overflowing during each month,
Floods the grove twelve times a year.
There trees erect on their slender trunks,
Bear ripe fruits that never fall.
In these woods lives the unique bird, the phoenix
Unique, but always recreated by his death
Illustrious satellite, he serves his master Phoebus,
Function he received from Mother Nature.
It is he who also marks the hours that fly away,
Night and day, by sounds that never deceive.
He is a priest of the woods and guardian of the grove,
And the only one who knows, O Phoebus, your mysteries.
When he has traveled through the thousand years of his life,
That his long existence has made his body heavy,
In order to recreate its declining era,
Forsaking the abode of his happy grove,
Anxious to be reborn, he leaves these holy places
And win our world where death rules.
Lively despite the years, he flies to Syria
Which received from the bird its name of Phoenicia.
Flying over the deserts, he reaches the forest
Which hides in its ravines a wood full of mystery.
Then it elects, raising its top, a tall palm tree
To whom the bird gave its Greek name of Phoenix.
No wicked animal creeps into its branches,
Neither the shiny serpents nor the rapacious birds.
Aeolus then shuts up the winds in its skins,
Lest in contact with them the pure air tarnish,
And that a cloud, in the sky, formed by the Notus,
Don't block the sun and harm the bird.
This one builds its nest or its sepulcher.
Because if he dies, it is to live, and it is he who creates himself.
He then goes to seek in the rich forest
The perfumes of Arabia and the juices of Assyria,
Those who come from India and those whom the Pygmy
Harvest in his country and those of Sabée :
The cinname and the amome with the perfumed breath,
He assembles them with the balsamic leaves;
Cassia has a sweet smell and fragrant acanthus,
And the tears of incense falling in heavy drops,
He joins them to the still tender ears of nard,
With the panacea and the essence of myrrh.
He installs in this nest his body which will change,
And on this bed of life he surrenders to rest.
At the first glow of dawn
Whose rosy rays make the stars pale,
Twelve times he immerses himself in a sacred wave,
Twelve times he sprinkles living water around him.
He takes off and settles on top of the big tree
Which single-handedly dominates the entire grove,
And, turned towards Phoebus and its new dawns,
He waits for his rays and the rising star.
Then when the sun hits the splendid threshold
And the reflection of the first light,
The bird then begins a religious song,
Calling with his voice the new clarity.
Neither Philomel nor the harmonious flute
Of their cirrhian sounds do not equal its accents ;
Neither the dying swan nor the sonorous strings
From the lyre of Hermes could not imitate it.
But after Phoebus unleashed his steeds,
And that, always rising, he unveils his disc,
In his honor the bird flaps its wings three times,
Saluting the sun three times, he is silent.
Then, from its beak, it spreads over its limbs
The juices whose perfumes will perfume his death
Among so many scents, finally, it makes the spirit ;
Without fear, he entrusts them with such a noble trust.
His body, however, ravished by a vital death,
Heats up and its heat causes a flame to spring up.
A ray of the ether in turn comes to reach it:
It burns and soon it is reduced to ashes.
These ashes, nature, by making them moist,
Condenses them, infuses them with a germ, fertilizes them.
It is said that a larva without limbs emerges
And this embryo is the color of milk.
It grows in its sleep for a fixed time
Then, picking up, takes the form of an egg.
As one sees changing the rustic chrysalis
Suspended by its thread, in a beautiful butterfly,
Thus the bird resumes its first figure
And, breaking its cocoon, becomes the phoenix again.
There is no food for him in our world;
Young, no one is committed to the care of feeding him.
He tastes nectar the ambrosiac shower
What makes the sky full of stars fall towards him.
Such are, in perfumes, the only dishes that the bird
Absorbs while waiting for its full growth.
But when the first adolescence blooms for him,
He flies back to his own country again,
Not without having formed paternal remains,
Of bones and ashes and other relics,
A globe that he envelops with a filial beak
In an ointment of myrrh and balsam and frankincense.
In his greenhouse he takes it to Heliopolis.
He offers it on the altar of the august sanctuary.
He requires the looks and the tributes of all,
So much splendor is it, so great is its prestige!
Its scarlet color is the one that summer
Gives in its best days to very ripe pomegranates,
The one that Flore lends to country poppies,
When, under the two vermeils, she half-opens her dress.
All that red ennobles her throat and chest
And covers his head and his neck and his back.
It deploys, raised with tawny golden reflections,
A tail where crimson moires glow.
Iris has mottled her wing feathers
Like a rainbow that colors a cloud.
Sparkling white with emerald reflections,
Its beak is both ivory and diamond.
Her eyes are large, shining like two amethysts,
Whose center projects a bright flame
Embracing the contours of her new head,
Its radiant nimbus reproduces the sun.
The Tyrian purple has twice dyed its paws ;
Its claws have the fiery glow of vermilion.
In his face we believe we see and that of the peacock
And that of the bird that lives on the banks of the Phase.
By its size it equals, bird or mammal,
The colossal wader of the Arabian deserts.
Yet he is not slow like these birds
Who, heavy with their large bodies, walk with small steps;
But, alert and light, full of royal grandeur,
Like the bird presents itself to the gaze of mortals.
All of Egypt rushes to see this marvel,
And the Joyeuse crowd cheers the rare bird.
In the sacred marble one carves his image
And we engrave again the day of his coming.
All the winged beings form an assembly
Hence the love of slaughter and fear are banished.
Surrounded by this chorus of birds, it takes flight,
And the crowd escorts him, happy and recollected.
But when they reached the ethereal plains,
The cohort returns; he returns to his lodgings.
O fortunate destiny! O blessed death
That God gives to the bird to be born of itself!
Whether male or female or neither,
Happy to be, unaware of the bonds of Venus!
His Venus is death; death, his only love;
In order to be able to be born, he longs to die
He is his own son, his heir, his father.
It is both nurturing and nurturing;
He is he and not he, the same and not the same,
Conquering through death eternal life.

---

FROM AVE PHOENICE
Est locus in primo oriente remotus
qua patet aeterni maxima porta poli
nec tantum aestiuos hyemisque propinquus ad ortus in quo sol uerno fundit ab axe diem.


illic planicies tractus diffundit apertos
nec tumulus crescit nec caua uallis hiat
sed nostros montes: quorum iuga celsa putantur
per bis sex ulnas eminet ille locus
hic solis nemus est: et consitus arbore multa
lucus perpetuae frondis honor uirens
cum phaetontaeis flagrasset ab ignibus axis
ille locus flammis inuiolatus erat
et cum diluuium mersisset fluctibus orbem
deucalionaeas exuperauit aquas.
non hunc exangues morbi non aegra senectus
nec mors crudelis nec metus asper adit
nec scelus infandum nec opum uesana cupido
aut metus aut ardens caedis amore furor.
luctus acerbus abest and aegestas obsita pannis
et curae in estes et uiolenta fames.
Non ibi tempestas nec uis horrida uenti
nec rigido terram rore pruina tegit.
nulla super campos tendit sua uellera nudes
nec cadit ex alto timidus humor aquae.
sed fons in medio est quem uiuum nomine dicunt
perspicuus lucens dulcibus uber aquis.
qui semel erumpens per singula tempora mensum
duodecies undis irrigat omne nemus.
hic genus arboreum procero stipite surgens
non lapsura solo mitia poma gerit.
hoc nemus hos lucos auis incolit unica phoenix
unica sic uiuit dead refecta sua
paret et obsequitur phoebei memoranda satellites
hoc natura parens munus habere dedit.
lutea cum primum surgens aurora rubescit
cum primum rosea sidera luce fugat.
ter quater illa pia immergit corpus in undas
ter quater e uiuo gurgite libat aquam
tollitur ac summo consedit in arboris altae
uertice quae totum despicit una nemus
et conuersa nouos Phoebi nascentis ad ortus
X-ray expectation and exorian iubar
ast ubi sol pepulit fulgentis lumina portae
and primum emicuit luminis aura leuis
incipit illa sacri modulamina fundere cantus
and mira lucem uoce ciere nouam.
quam nec aedoniae uoces nec tibia possit
musica cyrrhaeis assimilare modis
sed neque dolor moriens imitare ours putatur
nec cylleneae fila canorae lyrae
postquam Phoebus equs in aperta refudit Olympi
attack orbem totum pertulit usque
illa ter alarum alarum repetito uerbere plaudit
non errabilibus nocte cieque sonis.
attack eadem celeres etiam discriminat horas
igniferumque caput ter uenerata silet
antis nemorum luce ueneranda sacerdos
and sola arcanis conscia Phoebe tuis
quae postquam uitae iam mille peregerit annos
at se reddiderint tempora longa grauem.
ut reparet lassum spatiis urgentibus euum
assueti nemoris dulce cubile fugit.
cumque renascendi studio loca sancta reliquit
tunc little hunc orbem mors ubi regna tenet
headed in Syeriam celeres longaeua uolatus
phoenicis nomen cui dedit ipsa uetus.
secretosque little deserta per auia lucos
hic ubi per saltus silua remota latet
tum legit aereo sublimem uertice palmam
quae gratum phoenix ex aue nomen habet.
quam nec dente potens animal perumpere possit
lubricus aut serpents aut auis ulla rapax.
tum uentos claudit pendentibus Aeolus antris
ne uiolent flabris aera purpurum
neu concreta notho per inania coeli.
summoneat radios solis and obsit aui.
built india sibi seu nidum siue sepulcrum
nam perit ut uiuas se tamen ipsa creat
colligit hinc succos et odores diuite silua
quos legit Assyrus quos opulentus Arabs.
quos aut Pygmeae gentes aut India carpit
aut molli generat terra Sabaea sinu.
cinama dehinc auramque procul spirantis amomi
congerit and mixto balsama cum folio.
non casiae mitis non olentis uimen achanti
nec thuris lachrymae utraque pinguis abest
his addit teneras nardi pubentis aristas
et sociat myrrhae pascua grata nimis
protinus in strato corpus mutabile nido
uitalique thoro membra quieta locat
oreque dehinc succos membris circumque supraque
iniicit exequiis immoritura am
tunc inter uarios animam commendat odores
depositi tanti nec timet ulla finem.
interea corpus genitali dead peremptum
aestuat et flammas protulit ipse calor
aereoque procul de lumine concipit ignem
flagrat et ambustum solution in cinerem.
hos uelut in massam cineres in morte coactos
conflat and effectum seminis like habet
hinc animal primum sine membris fertur oriri
sed fertur uermis lacteus esse color
creuerit immensum subito cum tempore certo
seque qui teretis colligit in speciem.
india reformatur qualis flees ante figura
and phoenix ruptis pullulat exuuiis.
ac uelut agrestes cum filo ad saxa tenentur
mutari pennae papilione solent.
non illi cibus est nostro concessus in orbe
nec cuiquam implumem pascere cura subest.
ambrosio libat coelesti nectare rores
stellifero teneri who cedere polo.
hos legit his mediis alitur in odoribus ales
therefore maturam proferat effigiem.
ast ubi primaeua coepit florere iuuenta
euolat ad patria iam reditura domos.
ante tamen proprio quicquid of corpore restat
ossaque uel cineres exuuiasque suas.
unguine balsameoque myrrh and thure soluto
condition and in formam conglobat ore pio.
quam pedibus gestans contendit solis ad ortus
inque ara residens promise in aede sacra.
mirandam sese prestat praebetque uehenti
tantus ibi decor is tantus abundat honor.
principio color est qualis sub sidere coeli
mitia quae croceo punica grana legunt.
qualis inest foliis quae fert agreste papauer
cum pedes uestit sole rubente polus.
hoc humeri pectusque decens uelamine fulgent.
hoc caput hoc ceruix summachus terga nitent
caudaque porrigitur fuluo distincta metallo
in cuius maculis purpura mixta rubet.
clarum inter pennas super iris badge
pingere ceu nubem desuper alta solet.
albicat insignis mixto uiriditate smaragdo
and puro cornu gemmea cuspis hiat.
ingentes oculos credas geminosque hiacyntos
quorum of medio lucida flamma micat.
aequatur toto capiti radiata corona
phoebei referens uerticis alta decus.
crura tegunt squammeae flauo distincta metallo
ast ungues roseus pingit honore color.
effigies inter pauonis mixta figuram
cernitur and mixtam phasidis inter auem
magnifice terris Arabum quae gignitur ales.
uix aequare potest seu will seu fit auis.
no tamen est tarda ut uolucres quae corpore magno
incessus pigros per graue pondus habent.
sed leuis and uelox regali plena decorated
talis in aspectu se praebet usque hominum.
conuenit Aegyptus tanti ad miracula uisus
and raram uolucrem turba salutat ouans.
protinus isculpunt sacrato in marmore formam
and signing titulo remque diemque nouo.
contrahit in coetum sese genus omne uolantum.
nec praedae memor est ulla nec ulla metus
alitum stipata choro uolat illa per altum
turbaque prosequitur munere laeta pio.
sed postquam puri peruenit ad aetheris auras
mox repeat ista am conditor ille locis.
a fortunatae exits finisque uolucrem
cui de se nasci praestitit ipse deus!
femina uel mas haec seu neutrum seu sit utrumque
felix quae Veneris foedera nulla colit
mors illi uenus est, sola est in morte uoluptas
ut possit nasci appetit ante mori.
ipsa sibi proles suus is pater and suus heres
nutrix ipsa sui semper alumna sibi
ipsa quidem sed non eadem quia and ipsa nec ipsa est
aeternam uitam mortis adepta bono.