Sources and Analogues of Old English Poetry : the Major Latin Texts in Translation.
Trans. M. Allen and Daniel G. Calder. Imprint Cambridge
Eng: D.S. Brewer; Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 1976.
THE PHOENIX 
114
[Brooks, Van Den Broek]…these
texts show that by Anglo-Saxon times the different strands of the phoenix
myth had come together: a late classical poem that may or may not be Christian
in spirit has yielded easily to formal christian
exegesis, and then the details have been merged with another entirely separate
tradition…conflation which underlies the Old English poem.
A.
Lactantius, The Phoenix
this spot was not violated by Phaeton’s flames when
he set the sky ablaze with fires; and when the flood immersed the earth
in waves, it rose above Deucalions’ waters.
A fountain is situated in the middle, which they call
the living fountain.
115
…phoenix…obeys and attends Phoebus as his celebrated
servant
Priestess of the sacred wood and awful guardian of
the groves, she alone is privy to your mysteries, Phoebus.
…thousand years of life
…The bird steers her swift flight to Syria; she herself
of old gave it the name Phoenicia.
…called the phoenix-palm in Greek, after the bird.
B.
AMBROSE, HEXAMERON
Men think the phoenix lives in the lands of Arabia nad
leads a long life, to the age of five hungred.
…the nest and dias.From
the moisture of its flesh a worm rises;
…puts on “the oarage
of wings” [Aeneid l.301].
…teach us to believe in the Resurrection…and without
reason’s perception, it renews the signs of the Resurrection in itself.
…there where pleasant fragrances can overpower the
stench of death?
man, make yourself a nest too. Having thrown off the
old man along with his deeds, put on the new man.
…chastity, pity and justice.Enter
faith’s inner sanctuaries which are redolent with the sweet fragrance of
excellent deeds.
C.
PHYSIOLOGUS, THE PHOENIX
119
Physiologus Latinus
There is another bird which is called the phoenix.Our Lord Jesus Christ has the same character as it does...