XXXV. How a Man Returning Home After a Long Time From a Foreign Land
XXXV. HOW A MAN RETURNING HOME AFTER A LONG TIME FROM A FOREIGN LAND.
To denote a man returning home after a long time from a foreign land they again delineate the PHŒNIX the bird: for this creature, after an interval of 580 years, 2 when the time of death is about to overtake him, returns to Egypt, and as soon as he pays the debt of nature in Egypt, he is mystically served with funeral rites; and whatever rites the Egyptians pay to the rest of the sacred animals, the same
are due to the Phœnix: 1 for it is said by the Egyptians to rejoice in the sun more than other birds, and because among them the Nile overflows through the heat of this god; of which matter we discoursed with you a short time since.