9.  But since the sign of the Phoenix is remote and uncommon, and men still disbelieve our resurrection, take again the proof of this from what thou seest every day.  A hundred or two hundred years ago, we all, speakers and hearers, where were we?  Know we not the groundwork of the substance of our bodies?  Knowest thou not how from weak and shapeless and simple μονοειδής. elements we are engendered, and out of what is simple and weak a living man is formed? and how that weak element being made flesh is changed into strong sinews, and bright eyes, and sensitive nose, and hearing ears, and speaking tongue, and beating heart, and busy hands, and swift feet, and into members of all kinds For a similar argument, see Lactant. De Resurr. c xvii.? and how that once weak element becomes a shipwright, and a builder, and an architect, and a craftsman of various arts, and a soldier, and a ruler, and a lawgiver, and a king?  Cannot God then, who has made us out of imperfect materials, raise us up when we have fallen into decay?  He who thus flames a body out of what is vile, cannot He raise the fallen body again?  And He who fashions that which is not, shall He not raise up that which is and is fallen?