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of our departure from here, the person being determined. The earth is sown and sprouts, * that the things buried after the cutting will rise again. A locust dies, having buried the offspring cast from it in the earth, and after a time the earth gives back what was buried; the seeds of the crops are sown and first die, 83.5 then are brought to fruition; “for unless it dies, it is not brought to life.” God made seals of the resurrection in us through the ten and ten nails, testifying concerning our hope. But also as through a crown upon the head, through the hair he proclaimed our resurrection. For what seems to be a dead body in us, that is, hair and nails, being cut every time, flourish again, signifying the hope of the resurrection. 84.1 And it is possible to say countless things from examples for the full conviction of the unbelievers. But the wood-pigeon, the bird, did not persuade them, nor the dormouse, the animal. For the one dies for six months and the wood-pigeon for forty days, and again after their seasons 84.2 they come back to life. And beetles, when they are about to die, hide themselves in a ball of dung, having buried such a ball in the earth and covered it over, and thus from their own moisture they are found again, 84.3 coming back to life from their own remains. But concerning the phoenix, the Arabian bird, it is superfluous for me to speak. For it has already come to the hearing of many, both believers and unbelievers. The story concerning it appears as follows: when it has completed its five-hundredth year and knows the time of its death is at hand, it makes a nest of spices and carrying it comes to a city of the Egyptians, called Heliopolis, which is interpreted as On from the Egyptian and Hebrew dialect, 84.4 and with its own claws having struck its own breast many times, bringing forth fire from its body it sets fire to the material placed in the spot and thus offers itself as a whole burnt offering and all its flesh with 84.5 its bones is turned to ash. But by God's providence a cloud is sent and it rains and extinguishes the flame that consumed the body of the bird, the bird already being dead and thoroughly roasted; 84.6 but when the flame is extinguished, remains of its flesh are still left raw and, having disappeared for one day, it produces a worm; the worm grows wings, having become a fledgling, and on the third day it matures, and having matured it shows itself to those who minister in the place and again runs back to its own homeland and rests. 85.1 But it occurs to me to marvel concerning the altogether deceived mind of the unbelieving Greeks and other barbarians, how in their own myths they are not ashamed to signify resurrection in every way and often to sing about resur85.2 rection, as their myths record that Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, died for her husband Admetus and was raised by Heracles after three days and brought up from the innermost shrines, and Pelops the son of Tantalus after he was cut up into meat 85.3 for their falsely-named gods by his own father; Amphiaraus the son of Oicles, restored to life by Asclepius, Glaucus the son of Minos, restored to life by Polyidus the son of Coeranus with a certain herb, Castor through Polydeuces his brother, who willingly chose to exchange life with him every other 85.4 day, and Protesilaus for Laodamia. But also that Sisyphus and Tantalus and the daughters of Caucasus, whom they have called Erinyes, and Tiresias along with them have been cast into Tartarus to pay the penalty there, one by a rock, another under a wheel, and that others have been punished in other ways and still exist in punishment, as not having departed into 85.5 non-existence, but existing in bodies. For if they did not have bodies,

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ἡμῶν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπαλλαγῆς ὁριζομένου τοῦ προσώπου. σπείρεται ἡ γῆ καὶ βλαστάνει, * ὅτι τὰ τεθαμμένα μετὰ τὴν τομὴν ἀναστήσεται. ἀκρὶς τελευτᾷ, θάψασα τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀποβληθὲν κύημα ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ μετὰ καιρὸν ἡ γῆ ἀποδίδωσι τὰ τεθαμμένα· τὰ σπέρματα τῶν γενημάτων σπείρεται καὶ πρῶτον ἀποθνῄσκει 83.5 ἔπειτα τελεσφορεῖται· «ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ ἀποθάνῃ, οὐ ζωογονεῖται». σφραγῖδας ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησε διὰ τῶν ὀνύχων δέκα καὶ δέκα ἀναστάσεως, μαρτυρούσας περὶ τῆς ἡμῶν ἐλπίδος. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς διὰ στεφάνου ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς διὰ τῆς τριχὸς τὴν ἡμῶν ἀνάστασιν ἐκήρυξε. τὸ γὰρ δοκοῦν ἐν ἡμῖν νεκρὸν σῶμα, τουτέστι τρίχες καὶ ὄνυχες, καθ' ἑκάστην τεμνόμεναι καὶ τεμνόμενοι αὖθις θάλλουσι, σημαίνουσαι τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὴν ἐλπίδα. 84.1 Καὶ ἀμύθητα ἔστιν εἰπεῖν εἰς πληροφορίαν τῶν ἀπίστων ἐξ ὑποδειγμάτων. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔπεισε τούτους ἡ φάττα τὸ ὄρνεον οὐδὲ ὁ μυωξὸς τὸ ζῷον. ἀποθνῄσκει γὰρ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἑξάμηνον καὶ ἡ φάττα ἡμέρας τεσσαράκοντα, καὶ αὖθις μετὰ τοὺς καιροὺς αὐτῶν 84.2 ἀναβιοῦσι. κάνθαροι δὲ μέλλοντες τελευτᾶν ἐπὶ σφαῖραν τῆς κόπρου ἑαυτοὺς κρύβουσι, θάψαντες τὴν τοιαύτην σφαῖραν ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ καταχώσαντες, καὶ οὕτως ἐκ τῆς αὐτῶν ἰκμάδος αὖθις εὑρίσκονται, 84.3 ἀναβιοῦντες ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν λειψάνων. περὶ δὲ τοῦ φοίνικος τοῦ Ἀραβικοῦ ὀρνέου περισσόν μοι τὸ λέγειν. ἤδη γὰρ εἰς ἀκοὴν ἀφῖκται πολλῶν πιστῶν τε καὶ ἀπίστων. ἡ δὲ κατ' αὐτὸν ὑπόθεσις τοιάδε φαίνεται· πεντακοσιοστὸν ἔτος διατελῶν ἐπὰν γνοίη τὸν καιρὸν τῆς αὐτοῦ τελευτῆς ἐνστάντα, σηκὸν μὲν ἐργάζεται ἀρωμάτων καὶ φέρων ἔρχεται εἰς πόλιν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων Ἡλιούπολιν οὕτω καλουμένην, Ὢν δ' ἑρμηνευομένην ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς διαλέκτου καὶ Ἑβραΐδος, 84.4 καὶ ταρσοῖς ἰδίοις τὰ στήθη τὰ ἑαυτοῦ μαστίξας πολλά, πῦρ ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ προφερόμενος ἐμπίπρησι τὴν ὑποκειμένην ὕλην τῷ τόπῳ καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτὸν ὁλοκαυτοῖ καὶ πάσας τὰς σάρκας αὐτοῦ σὺν 84.5 ὀστέοις ἐκτεφροῦται. ἐκ θεοῦ δὲ οἰκονομίας νέφος ἀποστέλλεται καὶ ὑετίζει καὶ κατασβεννύει τὴν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ὀρνέου καταδαπανήσασαν φλόγα, νεκροῦ μὲν ἤδη ὄντος τοῦ ὀρνέου καὶ ὀπτηθέντος ἀκρότατα· 84.6 σβεσθείσης δὲ τῆς φλογὸς λείψανα τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ ἔτι ὠμὰ περιλείπεται καὶ πρὸς μίαν ἡμέραν ἀφανισθέντα σκώληκα γεννᾷ· ὁ σκώληξ πτεροφυεῖ νεοττὸς γενόμενος, τῇ δὲ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἁδρύνεται καὶ ἁδρυνθεὶς τοῖς τῷ τόπῳ ἐξυπηρετουμένοις ἑαυτὸν ἐμφανίζει καὶ αὖθις ἀνατρέχει εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν πατρίδα καὶ ἀναπαύεται. 85.1 Θαυμάσαι δέ μοι ἔπεισι περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀπίστων Ἑλλήνων καὶ ἄλλων βαρβάρων ἠπατημένης κατὰ πάντα διανοίας, ὡς ἐν τοῖς αὐτῶν μύθοις οὐκ αἰσχύνονται ἀνάστασιν πάντῃ σημαίνειν καὶ περὶ ἀνα85.2 στάσεως πολλάκις ᾄδειν, ὡς οἱ μῦθοι αὐτῶν ἀναγράφουσιν Ἄλκηστιν μὲν τελευτήσασαν τὴν Πελίου ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς Ἀδμήτου καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέος μετὰ τριήμερον ἐγηγερμένην καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀδύτων ἀνενηνεγμένην, Πέλοπά τε τὸν Ταντάλου μετὰ τὸ κρεωνομηθῆναι 85.3 τοῖς ψευδωνύμοις αὐτῶν θεοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου πατρός· Ἀμφιάρεως ὁ τοῦ Οἰκλέους ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ ἀναζωογονηθείς, Γλαῦκος ὁ Μίνωος ὑπὸ Πολυείδου τοῦ Κοιράνου βοτάνῃ τινὶ ἀναζωοποιηθείς, Κάστωρ διὰ Πολυδεύκην τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, ὃς ἑκὼν αὐτῷ τὴν ζωὴν παρ' 85.4 ἡμέραν ἀλλάσσειν εἵλετο, καὶ ὁ Πρωτεσίλαος διὰ Λαοδάμειαν. ἀλλὰ καὶ Σίσυφον καὶ Τάνταλον καὶ τὰς Καυκάσου θυγατέρας, ἃς Ἐριννύας κεκλήκασι, καὶ Τειρεσίαν ἅμα τούτοις κατατεταρταρῶσθαι δώσοντας δίκην ἐκεῖσε, τὸν μὲν διὰ πέτρας τὸν δὲ ὑπὸ τροχόν, καὶ ἄλλους ἄλλως τετιμωρῆσθαι καὶ ἔτι ὑπάρχειν ἐν τιμωρίᾳ, ὡς μὴ εἰς 85.5 ἀνυπαρξίαν κεχωρηκότας, ὑπάρχοντας δὲ ἐν σώμασιν. εἰ μὴ γὰρ σώματα εἶχον,