8.  But the Greeks ask for a resurrection of the dead still manifest; and say that, even if these creatures are raised, yet they had not utterly mouldered away; and they require to see distinctly some creature rise again after complete decay.  God knew men’s unbelief, and provided for this purpose a bird, called a Phoenix The story of the Phœnix as told by Herodotus, II. 73, is as follows:  “They have also another sacred bird called the Phœnix, which I myself have never seen, except in pictures.  Indeed it is a great rarity even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phœnix dies.…They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible; that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there buries the body.” The many variations and fabulous accretions of the story are detailed by Suicer, Thesaurus, Φοῖνιξ, and by Bp. Lightfoot in a long and interesting note on Clemens Rom. Epist. ad Cor. xxv.  Cyril borrows the story from Clement almost verbally, yet not without some variations, which will be noticed below.  The legend with all its miraculous features is told by Ovid, Metamorph. xv. 392, by Claudian, Phœnix, and by the Pseudo-Lactantius in an Elegiac poem, Phœnix, included in Weber’s Corpus Poetarum Latinorum, and literally translated in Clark’s Ante-Nicene Library.  See also Tertull. De Resurr. Carn. c. xiii..  This bird, as Clement writes, and as many more relate, being the only one of its kind μονογενὲς ὕπαρχον, Clem. Rom. ubi supra.  Cf. Origen, contra Celsum, iv. 98:  Apost. Const. V. 7:  “a bird single in its kind, which they say is without a mate, and the only one in the creation.”  Pseudo-Lactant. v. 30. “Hoc nemus hos lucos avis incolit unica, phœnix, Unica, sed vivit morte refecta suâ”, arrives in the land of the Egyptians at periods of five hundred years, shewing forth the resurrection, not in desert places, lest the occurrence of the mystery should remain unknown, but appearing in a notable city “By day, in the sight of all” (Clem. R.)  The city was Heliopolis, according to Herodotus and the other ancient authors.  But Milton, Paradise Lost, V. 272— ‘A phœnix gaz’d by all, as that sole bird, When to enshrine his reliques in the Sun’s Bright temple to Ægyptian Thebes he flies.’ Why does Milton despatch his bird to Thebes rather than Heliopolis?” (Lightfoot)., that men might even handle what would otherwise be disbelieved.  For it makes itself a coffin Ovid, Met. xv. 405:  “Fertque pius cunasque suas patriumque sepulcrum.”  See the Commentaries on Job xxix. 18:  I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.  Margin R.V. Or, the phœnix. of frankincense and myrrh and other spices, and entering into this when its years are fulfilled, it evidently dies and moulders away.  Then from the decayed flesh of the dead bird a worm is engendered, and this worm when grown large is transformed into a bird;—and do not disbelieve this, for thou seest the offspring of bees also fashioned thus out of worms The mode of reproduction in bees was regarded by Aristotle as mysterious, having in it something supernatural (θεῖον):  De Generatione Animal. III. 10. 1, 27.  In the story of the phœnix Herodotus makes no mention of the “worm.”, and from eggs which are quite fluid thou hast seen wings and bones and sinews of birds issue.  Afterwards the aforesaid Phoenix, becoming fledged and a full-grown Phoenix, like the former one, soars up into the air such as it had died, shewing forth to men a most evident resurrection of the dead.  The Phoenix indeed is a wondrous bird, yet it is irrational, nor ever sang praise to God; it flies abroad through the sky, but it knows not who is the Only-begotten Son of God.  Has then a resurrection from the dead been given to this irrational creature which knows not its Maker, and to us who ascribe glory to God and keep His commandments, shall there no resurrection be granted?