POEM OF THE PHOENIX

It is not well known to which era the poem of the Phoenix belongs or who its author was.
author. Surely translations into Spanish have been done, but it seemed useful to me
make another one available. For this, I based it on the text that is in: Minor Latin
Poets (ed. J. Wight Duff – Arnold M. Duff). Cambridge, Mass. & London, Harvard
Univ. Press & William Heinemann, 1978.

There is a fertile place, secluded and where the east begins,

where the largest door of the eternal sky opens;
mas no cerca del nacimiento del verano ni del invierno
sino donde el Sol derrama la luz desde el eje primaveral.
In that place, a plain shows its open expanse;
There are no heights in that place nor do concave valleys open up. 5
but that place two times six cubits exceeds the mountains
ours, whose peaks we consider high.
There is the Sun's forest, covered with many trees,
sacred forest that greens with the honor of eternal foliage. 10
When the sky burned in other times because of those fires
of Phaethon,1the place remained inviolate; also,
on the days when the flood filled with all its waters
the world, that place surpassed the waves of Deucalion.2
Neither the bloodless Diseases nor the sick go there 15
Old age neither cruel Death nor harsh Fear nor Crime
infamous in Ambition, foolish in its desire for goods,
neither the Wrath nor the Fury, which always burns in the massacres;
neither the bitter Mourning nor the Misery, filled with rags,
neither the sleepless worries nor the violent hunger.3 20
The horrible storm and the furious force are not there
neither the wind nor the frost covers the earth with icy dew;
no cloud spreads its fleeces over the fields
the turbulent humor of the water rushes down from above.
But there is a fountain in the middle, which they call Viva,4 25
very clear, very gentle, very abundant in sweet waters;
this source bursts once for every period of months
and twelve times she waters the whole forest with her waves.
There arises a type of tree that has a massive trunk.
and that bears sweet fruits that will never fall to the ground. 30
This forest, this woods, is home to a unique bird, the Phoenix;
unique, for it lives after being remade with its death.
Obediently and dutifully serves this memorable servant to Phoebus:
this trade was granted to him by Mother Nature.
As soon as the dawn of the color of mud rises in its blush, 35
when the pink light begins to drive away the stars,
twelve times he immerses his body in the compassionate waves,
Twelve times she sips the water she takes from the living fountain.
1
Son of the Sun; guiding his father's chariot, he was close to provoking a conflagration of heaven and earth.
2
Deucalion and Pyrrha were the two who survived the universal flood.
3
These personifications are inspired by Virgil: Aeneid 6, 274 ss.
4
It's not very clear what they mean by 'vivum nomine dicunt.' If no one lives in those places, it cannot be.
to name things.

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 It rises and then perches at the highest point of a high place.
tree, which from above can look over the whole forest 40
y, turning his face towards the new birth of the Sun,
awaits its rays and the brightness that rises at dawn.
And when the Sun pushes the threshold of the shining door
and the soft auras of the first light of day shine,
she begins to pour out the modulations of her song 45
sacred and to call the new light with her admirable voice,
a voice that even the melodies of the nightingale could not match
nor the musical flute with its accents of Cirra1imitate;
I could not imagine that it would echo the swan's song.
in his death, not even the melodious strings of the lyre of Cilene.2 50
After Phoebus released his horses to the open fields
from Olympus and, in his journey, he discovered his entire sphere,
she clapped three times with repeated strokes of her wings
and in silence, three times he revered the fiery head.3
And it is she herself who discriminates the hours of the night. 55
and of the day with its voices, which are impossible to describe;
she is like a priest and like a minister of the forest
sacred and it is the only one that knows your secrets, oh Phoebus.
But after a thousand years of his life had passed
and that the passage of time made her heavy for herself, 60
to repair your age wearied by the space of your years
leaves the accustomed and sweet bed of his forest;
For his eagerness to be reborn, he leaves those holy places of his.
and he heads to this world, where Death has its kingdom.
Yamuydolwom
ogsw
htiecardtnelw
sfi,tdafrsS
ia,yir 65
to which she herself gave the old name of Phoenicia,4
and crossing remote places, it heads towards safe forests,
there where in wooded mountains lies a remote forest.
Then she chooses a tall palm tree, with an aerial crown,
which bears the name in Greek of Phoenix, for the bird; 70
until she cannot slide any kind of animal,
harmful, neither a slippery snake nor any bird of prey.
Then Aeolus locks the winds in his vaulted chamber.
dens5so that they do not damage the purple with their breaths
air and so that the frozen clouds of Noto do not take away 75
From the emptiness of the sky, the rays of the sun disturb the bird.
Then she makes for herself either a nest or a tomb:
Well, die to live, if she creates herself.
For this nest, gather juices and scents from the fertile jungle,
those collected by the Assyrian and the affluent Arab;6also 80
take those collected by the pygmy peoples or India

1
Greek city dedicated to the worship of Apollo.
2
Greek city dedicated to the worship of Hermes, who, according to mythology, was the creator of the lyre.
3
Igniferous head, the head of the Sun.
4
In reality, Phoenicia can be seen as a borderland with Syria, but here it seems to be understood as
part of it.
5
Allusion to book X of the Odyssey.
6
It refers to the spices of the East.

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 or what is generated in the soft bosom of the land of Sheba.7
Here it piles up the cinnamon and the aroma of the cardamom,
that can be smelled from afar, and the fragrant balm leaves.
Neither the stem of the soft cinnamon nor of the fragrant one is missing. 85
the acanthus of the thick drops of the incense tear.
Add to all this the tender spikes of young nard.
and one, Pancaya,2the power of the myrrh that you produce.
Immediately following your changeable body to the newly prepared
nest; its consumed members lie in the vital bed. 90
With his mouth, he then collects those juices and disperses them.
in their members, to die in their own funeral rites.
Thus he entrusts his soul amid so many aromas
and does not feel fear for the faith of such a valuable deposit.
Meanwhile, her body, which has perished in death 95
vivifying, it fills with warmth and that same warmth causes
a flame; and from afar, from the ethereal light, conceives
a fire: it burns and, once consumed, it dissolves
to ashes. To them, united by the humidity, it melts them.3
like in a dough, which gives a kind of seed. 100
It is said that an animal without limbs is born before.
but it is said that this worm4It is the color of milk.
But, once it has grown, suddenly in a time
it is wrapped in a rounded egg shape;
then it changes its shape and regains its previous form: 105
once such remnants are broken, then the Phoenix arises;
thus field larvae, when they stick with their threads
the stones are often transformed into butterflies.
They do not have the usual food in our world.
no one cares to nurture that featherless being; 110
but immortal dew of celestial nectar falls
these, faint, from the sky bearer of the stars.
he gathers them and the bird feeds in the midst of aromas
like, until it matures its own figure.
And as soon as she began to bloom in her early youth, 115
fly now, with a desire to return, to your ancestral dwellings.
But first, wrap everything that is left of his own.
body –bones, ashes, and its own remains–
in balm oil, in myrrh and in powdered incense
and then, with its pious beak, it gives it a balloon shape. 120
He carries it on his feet and heads towards the city of the Sun5
and, descending onto the altar, places it on the sacred chair.
There she offers herself to be admired by those who see her:

7
Allusions: the pygmies were a fabulous people of very small stature; Saba was the main city of the
Fertile Arabia.
2
Fabulous island of Arabia, famous for its precious stones and myrrh.
3
In these last two verses, I am not clear about who the subject of 'funde' is. The ancient Phoenix was
a burned body. Perhaps the action referred to a moment of transition, before it was consummated.
a total combustion.
4
Perhaps this could be a hint of Christian inspiration in the poem. Saint Isidore of Seville makes the worm
figure of Christ, by the resurrection: worm, because he has risen (Etymologies 7, 2, 43).
5
Heliopolis, in Egypt.

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 so great is the beauty of the bird and great its honor.
To begin with, its color, like that which covers the skin 125
of the soft pomegranates under the stars of the sky;
like that of the leaves of the wild poppies,
when Flora unfolds her garment as the sun turns red.
With such a cloak, her back and beautiful chest shine;
with him his head, neck, and the highest part of his body 130
behind; its tail, backwards, is blond in color
metal y, among its stains, the purple mixes;
light of different colors painting the feathers of their wings,
just as Iris from above usually paints the clouds;
its beak is white, mixed with emerald green 135
and when opened, it resembles a gem of pure ivory;
their huge eyes you would think are two hyacinths1
and in the middle of them, a shining flame leaps;
a radial crown surrounds his entire head: carries
she in this way the honor of the head of Phoebus; 140
their legs are covered with scales of a blonde color
metal but their nails have a beautiful pink color.
Its appearance looks like a mix between a peacock
and the colorful bird of the Fasis river.2Its size can
only matched by the bird that is begotten 145
on Arab soil,3it is either a bird or a beast.
However, she is not slow, like the birds that,
due to their large body and weight, they take weary steps;
on the contrary, it is light and swift, full of royal decorum,
y así se manifiesta siempre a ojos de los hombres. 150
Egypt comes to witness such a remarkable spectacle.
And, with great joy, greets the marvelous bird.
At the point they sculpt their form in sacred marble.
and with a new title they mark this event and the day.4
All kinds of birds gather together, 155
without any of them remembering the prey or fears.5
Fly then through the air, accompanied by the choir
of birds: a multitude joyfully follows in pious ministry.
But, as soon as it reaches the auras of the pious ether,
he/she returns immediately to inhabit his/her own places. 160
Oh you, bird of a fortune and a fortunate ending,
to whom God himself granted to be born from Himself!6
Female or male, or neither one nor the other, or both,
happy is he, for not cultivating any union of loves:
la muerte es su amor y solo en la muerte es su placer 165

1
It refers to the stone, not to the flower.
2
The pheasant. Its Greco-Latin name, Phasianus, comes from the Phasis, a river in a region of Asia Minor.
called Colchis (it was the land of the famous Medea).
3
The ostrich.
4
That is to say, they inscribe the date of the return newspaper.
5
That is, the weaker birds do not fear the predators, because they do not think at that moment about hunting.
6 From Himself, God has provided for our birth, says Latin. The translation by J. Wight Duff - Arnold M. Duff, edition that
I continue, it says: 'to whom God’s own Hill has granted birth from herself.' There may be reference then to
God, the divinity, or to the sun god, whom the Phoenix serves (vv. 33-34).

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 And in order to be reborn, one must first desire to die.
She is for herself her offspring, her own father and her heir;
nurse is of herself and is always her own pupil.
She is herself but not the same, because identical.
it is not;1gain eternal life with the favor of your death. 170

Trad. RAÚL LAVALLE

1 In verse 169 (it is indeed, but not the same because it is neither itself nor itself) there is a rare play between the
pronombresipsa, ‘ella misma’, ‘ella en persona’, yeadem, ‘la misma de antes.’