e of a gold colour, and the
rest of a purple; his tail is white, intermixed with red, and his eyes
sparkling like stars. When he is old, and finds his end approaching, he
builds a nest with wood and aromatic spices, and then dies. Of his bones
and marrow, a worm is produced, out of which another Phoenix is formed. His
first care is to solemnize his parent's obsequies, for which purpose he
makes up a ball in the shape of an egg, with abundance of perfumes of
myrrh, as heavy as he can carry, which he often essays beforehand; then he
makes a hole in it, where he deposits his parent's body, and closes it
carefully with myrrh and other perfumes. After this he takes up the
precious load on his shoulders, and flying to the altar of the sun, in the
city of Heliopolis, he there burns it.

Herodotus and Tacitus dispute the truth of some of the circumstances of
this account, but seem to suppose it true in general. Pliny, on the
contrary, in the very beginning of his account of it, insinuates plainly
enough, that he looks upon the whole as fabulous; and this is the opinion
of all modern authors.

This ancient tradition, though grounded on an evident falsehood, hath yet
introduced into almost all languages, the custom of giving the name of
phoenix to whatever is singular and uncommon in its kind: _Rara avis in
terris_, says Juvenal,(304) speaking of the difficulty of finding an
accomplished woman in all respects. And Seneca observes the same of a good
man.(305)

What is reported of swans, _viz._ that they never sing but in their
expiring moments, and that then they warble very melodiously, is likewise
grounded merely on a vulgar error; and yet it is used, not only by the
poets, but also by the orators, and even the philosophers. _O mutis quoque
piscibus donatura cycni, si libeat, sonum_,(306) says Horace to Melpomene.
Cicero compares the excellent discourse which Crassus made in the Senate,
a few days before his death, to the melodious singing of a dying swan:
_Illa tanquam cycnea fuit divini hominis vox et oratio._ _De Orat._ l.
iii. n. 6. And Socrates used to say, that good men ought to imitate swans,
who, perceiving by a secret instinct, and a sort of divination, what
advantage there is in death, die singing and with joy: _Providentes quid
in morte boni sit, cum cantu et voluptate moriuntur._ _Tusc. Qu._ l. i. n.
73. I thought this short digression might be of service to youth; and
return now to my subject.

It was in Heliopo