HERMETICA

THE ANCIENT GREEK AND LATIN

WRITINGS WHICH CONTAIN RELIGIOUS
OR PHILOSOPHIC TEACHINGS ASCRIBED TO

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS

EDITED

WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND NOTES

BY

WALTER’ SCOTT

VOLUME I

Introduction

Texts and Translation

OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1924
 Oxford University Press
London Edinburgh Glasgow Copenhagen
New York Toronto Melbourne Cape Town
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Humphrey Milford Publisher to the UNIVERSITY

Printed in England
Citta nlln ite laa aint tai Ctatisd

HERMETICA
&
Plan of the Work
Vor. 1. Introduction, Texts
and Translation.

Vots. II & III. Commentary.

Vor. IV. Testimonia, Appen-

dices and Indices.

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 INTRODUCTION

Tur Hermetica dealt with in this book may be described as

‘those Greek and Latin writings which contain religious or philo-
sophic teachings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus’. It does not
much matter whether we say ‘religious’ or ‘philosophic’;* the
writers in question taught philosophic doctrines, but valued those
doctrines only as means or aids to religion.
There is, besides these, another class of documents, the contents
of which are also ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus ;namely, writings
concerning astrology, magic, alchemy, and kindred forms of pseudo-
science.2 But in the character of their contents these latter differ
fundamentally from the former. The two classes of writers agreed
in ascribing what they wrote to Hermes, but in nothing else. They
had little or nothing to do with one another; they were of very
different mental calibre; and it is in most cases easy to decide at
a glance whether a given document is to be assigned to the one
class or to the other. We are therefore justified in treating the
‘religious’ or ‘philosophic’ Hermetica as a class apart, and, for our
present purpose, ignoring the masses of rubbish which fall under
the other head.
By what sort of people, and in what circumstances, were our
Hermetica written? That question may be answered as follows.
There were in Egypt under the Roman Empire men who had
4 received some instructio n in Greek philosophy, and especially in
the Platonism of the period, but were not content with merely
accepting and repeating the cut-and-dried dogmas of the orthodox
philosophic schools, and sought to build up, on a basis of Platonic
perhaps
1 ‘Theological’, if taken in the etymological sense of the word, would
concerning
be better; for the Hermetica are ‘talks about God’, or discussions ns that
God’, But the word ¢heology, as now commonly used, has associatio;
would be misleading. t term
2 These things might be grouped together under the vague but convenien
‘occult arts and sciences’.
2806 B
 2 INTRODUCTION
doctrine, a philosophic religion that would better
satisfy their needs,
Ammonius Saccas, the Egyptian teacher of the
Egyptian Plotinus,
must have been a man of this type ;
and there were others more
or less like him.’ These men did not
openly compete with the
established schools of philosophy, or
try to establish a new school
of their own on similar lines; but here and there one
of these
‘seekers after God’ would quietly gathe
r round him a small group
of disciples, and endeavour to commu
nicate to them the truth in
which he had found salvation for himsel
f. The teaching in these
little groups must have been mainly oral,
and not based on written
texts; it must have consisted of private and
intimate talks of the
teacher with a single pupil at a time,
or with two or three pupils
at most. But now and then the teache
r would set down in writing
the gist of a talk in which some point
of primary importance was
explained ;or perhaps a pupil, after such
a talk with his teacher,
would write down as much of it as he could remem
ber 3; and when
Once written, the writing would be passe
d from hand to hand within
the group, and from one group to
another.
Specimens of such writings have come
down to us, and these are
our Hermetica. The Hermetica are short records,
most of them not
many pages in length, of talks such as
I have described, or similar
talks imagined by the writer, and
doubtless modelled on those
which actually took place,
But if that is what the Hermetica
are, how is it that they have
been commonly thought to be somethin
g very different? That has
? Ammonius Saccas died in or
what is said of him in Porphyry,about A.D. 243. He is known to us chiefly by
(A. D, 233), took to philosophy,” Vita Plotini, 3: ‘Plotinus, in his 28th year
He attended the lectures of the teach
ers who
 INTRODUCTION 3
resulted from the fact that in these writings the names given to
teacher and pupils are fictitious. The teacher is, in most cases,
called Hermes Trismegistus, and the pupil, Tat or Asclepius or
Ammon.
What was the reason for that? Why did these writers prefer
to call the tractates which they wrote ‘Discourses of Hermes
Trismegistus’, and compose dialogues in which they made Hermes
speak as teacher, instead of writing in their own names, and saying
in their own persons whatever it was that they wanted to say? The
motive must have been similar to that which made a Jew write
a Book of Daniel, or a Book of Enoch, instead of a book of his
own. In the Hellenistic period, and under the Roman Empire,
that vigour of independent thought, which showed itself so con-
spicuously among the Greeks of earlier centuries, had dwindled
away. There was an increasing tendency to lean on the support
of authority and tradition; and among those who were interested
in philosophy, the man who was ‘nullius addictus iurare in verba
_magistri’ became more and more exceptional. It is true that there
was at the same time a strong tendency to syncretism; that is to
say, men of different philosophic schools were very ready to borrow
‘thoughts from one another ; but that, for the most part, meant little
‘more than that a man acknowledged the authority of two or more
‘masters instead of only one, and made some attempt to blend or
‘reconcile the teachings of those masters. The names of the great
F hinkers of earlier times—Plato, Pythagoras, and others—were held
in almost superstitious veneration ; and lists were drawn up in which
‘the succession of pupils of thons great teachers was set forth, and
‘it was stated that A had learnt from B, and B from C, and so on.
Every one must, it was thought, have learnt from some one else
whatever wisdom he possessed ; it hardly occurred to people that
‘any one could possibly hit on a truth by thinking for himself. And
the great masters themselves came to be dealt with in the same way.
Plato was commonly held to have learnt from Pythagoras; and
there arose a desire to get direct access to the sources from which
Plato had drawn his philosophy. In Plato one got the wisdom
f Pythagoras at second hand; it would be still better if one could
Get it at first hand. It must have been chiefly in response to this
demand, that there were produced (mostly between roo B.c. and
[00 A.D.) large numbers of pseudonymous writings ascribed to this
or that early Pythagorean—or in some cases even to Pythagoras
B 2
 4 INTRODUCTION
himself, in spite of the recorded fact that Pythagoras had left
nothing in writing.
But then again, Pythagoras in turn must have learnt from some
one else. From whom did Ze get his wisdom?
An answer to this question was found by Greeks resident in
Egypt, or men of Egyptian race who had acquired Greek culture.
It had long been accepted as a known historical fact that both ;
Pythagoras and Plato studied in Egypt. They must have
studied
in the schools of the Egyptian priests. And what was taught in
those schools? No one, except the priests themselves, knew what
was taught in them ; the priests were careful to keep that knowledg
e
to themselves. All that the outside public knew about it was that
the priests had in their hands a collection of ancient books, which
were said to have been written by the god Thoth,’ the scribe
of
the gods and inventor of the art of writing. Some of
those books
are known to us now—the ‘ Book of the Dead ’, for
instance, and
others of like character ; and it may seem to us strange
that any one
should ever have imagined them to contain a profound
philosophy.
But in those times none but the priests had access
to them; and
a Greek, even if he had got access to them, could
have made
nothing of them, since they were written in a script and
language
unknown to him. That which was known to so few
must, it was
thought, be something very high and holy. From all this
it was
inferred that Pythagoras and Plato got their wisdom
from the priests
of Egypt, and the priests of Egypt got it from their sacred
books,
which were the books of Thoth.*
Greeks, from the time of Herodotus‘ or earlier, had
been accus-
tomed to translate the Egyptian god-name Thoth
by the name
Hermes. At a later time they distinguished this
Egyptian Hermes
from the very different Hermes of Greece by tackin
g on to the name

* A long list of these ‘Neo-Pythagorean’ writings is

der Gr. IIL. ii (1903), p. 11g, n. 3. The author of each given by Zeller, Phzlos,
a feigned uame, and usually in a would-be Doric dialect, of them put forth under
syncretic Platonism that was current in his time, and his own version of the
that this was the sort of thing Pythagoras had taught, sought to make it appear
? A full account of Thoth, based on ‘a fairly complet
references to the god in Egyptian literature and rituale examination of the chief
’, is given by P. Boylan,
Thoth, the Hermes of Egypi, 1922.
® We may compare the theory maintained by many Jews
by Clement of Alexandria), that the Greek philosophers and Christians (e.g.
imperfect wisdom as they had) from Moses, got their wisdom (or such
Herodot
us 2. 67 calls the city of Thoth ‘Eppéw wéus;
mentions a temple of ‘ Hermes’ (meaning Thoth) in Bubastis and in 2. 138 he
,
 INTRODUCTION 5
a translation of an epithet applied by Egyptians to their god Thoth,
and meaning ‘very great’; and thenceforward they called this
personage (whether regarded by them as a god or as a man) Hermes
rpurpéyoros,' and the Egyptian books ascribed to him ‘the writings
of Hermes Trismegistus’.
Hence it was that men such as I have spoken of, little known
and almost solitary thinkers, came to choose Hermes Trismegistus
as the name best suited for their purpose, and in their writings gave
out as taught by Hermes what was really their own teaching. These
men were teaching what they held to be the supreme and essential
truth towards which Greek philosophy pointed; and it was taken
as known that Greek philosophy was derived from the Egyptian
books of Hermes, in which that essential truth was taught. Their
~ own teachings therefore must necessarily coincide in substance, if
not in words, with the unknown contents of those Egyptian books—
that is, with what Hermes himself had taught. ‘That being so, that
which they wrote might as well be ascribed to Hermes as to the
actual authors; and if that were done, their writings would gain
the prestige attached to that great name. A piece of writing to
which little attention might be paid if it only bore the name of some
obscure Ammonius, would carry more weight if it professed to
"reveal the secret teaching of Hermes Trismegistus.
| In Egyptian texts Thoth is frequently called C3 C3, ‘ great-great’ (i.e. ‘greatest’
or ‘very great’), and is also frequently called C3 C3 wr, which probably means
‘very great-great’. (For references to the Eg. texts see P, Boylan, Thoth, the
| Hermes of Egypt, pp. 129 and 182). He is called ‘five times great’ in a text
of early Ptolemaic date (see Griffith and Thompson, Demotic Magical Papyrus,
Pp. 30, note onl. 26). In an Eg. text published by Griffith, Stories of the High
Priests of Memphis, p. 58 (Reitzenstein, Potm., p. 118), he appears to be called
five times great’ (if not more than five times); but in this instance the reading is
doubtful. A Greek, ‘Thoth great-great’ is translated ‘Epyfjs 6 péyas kai peéyas
in the Rosetta Stone inscr., 196 B.C. (Similarly, in some Fayum inscriptions, the
god Souchos is called wéyas péyas: Mahaffy, Empire of the Ptolemies, p. 320.
“Hpov Oeds péyas péyas on a stele dated 67 B.C.: Perdrizet, Megotium
ambulans in tenebris, p. 9.) Tpicpeyas also occurs (cf. Zosimus Alchem. i. 9
Testim. :6 rpiopeyas Tikarov wat 6 pvpidpeyas ‘Epyijs); but the usual epithet
of the Egyptian Hermes in Greek writings is speopéyioros.
There can be no doubt that tpicpéyoros was meant for a translation of one
of the Egyptian epithets of Thoth; but why did the Greeks choose the particular
4 ‘thrice-greatest’? It is most likely that tpopéyoros is (as Mr. Boylan
inclined to think) a translation of C3 C3 wr, ‘ very great-great’; and the word
be best accounted for in this way. The Greek who first invented it rendered
ee, eet ercet’, by péyoros, and expressed the meaning of the appended wr,
» by prefixing rp-. A prefixed tpo- is frequently used in Greek to
ify the meaning of an adjective; e. g. Tplopaxap, TpicdABios, rprodyos
tarch, Zs. e¢ Os. 36, says, 7d “‘moAdams” el@Oapev wal “rpis” A€yew, ds 7d
piopaxapes”). On the other hand, d- is not thus used; a Greek would
refore not be disposed to write dicpeyas or diopéyioros.
 6 INTRODUCTION
Some one of the teachers of whom I have spoke
n must have been
the first to hit on this device ; others, into
whose hands his writings
passed, were urged by like motives
to follow his example; and
before long the Hermetic dialogue
or discourse became, in certain
circles in Egypt, the established
form for writings on these subjects.?
It is not necessarily to be assumed that the
Hlermetica intended to deceive their authors of the
teaders, any more than Plato
did, when he wrote dialogues
in which Socrates was made
things that Socrates had never to say
said. It may be that the writers,
or some of them at least, did
not mean or expect to deceive
one, and that, within the narr any
ow circle of readers for whic
of these writings was originally h each
intended, no one was deceived.
But when the document passed
beyond the boun ds of that circle,
and got into the hands of other
s, those others at any rate were
apt to take it at its face value,
and think it to be a genuine and
trustworthy record of things that
had been said by an ancient sage
named Hermes Trismegistus, or
a translation into Greek of thing
that he had written in the Egyptian s
language. And that is what was
commonly thought by people who
knew of these writings, for about
thirteen hundred years, from the
time of Lactantius to that of
Casaubon. There may, perhaps,
be some who think so still.
What sort of person was this Hermes Tris
megistus thought to be?
Was he a god or a man? If one
of the Hermetic writers had been
asked that question, he would,
I think, have answered in some
way as this: ‘Hermes was a such
man like you and me—a man
lived in Egypt a very long time who
ago, in the time of King Ammon.
But he was a man who attained
to gnosis (that is to say, knowledg
of God, but a kind of “knowled e
ge” that involves union with
and he was the first and grea God) ;
test teacher of gnosis, He
other men die ; and after deat died, as
h he became a god—just as
I also, if we attain to nosis, you and
will become gods after our deat
But in the dialogues which I and hs.
others like me write, and in whic
we make Hermes speak as teac h
her, we represent him as talk
to his pupils at the time when ing
he was living on earth; and at
time he was a man.’ that
Comparing the Hermetica with
other writings of the period on

* It should be remembered that

only a small fraction of the mass all the extant Hermetica together are probably
There were most likely hundreds of such writings that was once
about A.D. 300,
of Hermetic Zihel/7 of like character in existence,
in circulation
 INTRODUCTION D
the same subjects, we find that there are two things that are
‘conspicuous by their absence’ in these documents. In the first
place, the Hermetic writers recognize no inspired and infallible
Scripture ;and there is, for them, no written text with the words
of which all that they say must be made to conform. They are
therefore not obliged, as were the Jew Philo, and Christians such
as Clement and Origen, to connect their teaching at every step
with documents written in other times and for other purposes, and
to maintain, as Jews and Christians were driven to do, that when
the inspired writer said one thing he meant another. Hence each
‘of the Hermetists was free to start afresh, and think things out for
“himself—free in a sense in which Jews and Christians were not free,
‘and even the professional teachers of Pagan philosophy, much
‘occupied in expounding and commenting on the writings of Plato
‘or Aristotle or Chrysippus, made comparatively little use of such
freedom as they had. Released from this subjection to the past,
‘a Hermetist could go straight to the main point, unhampered by
‘the accumulations of lumber by which others were impeded ; and
‘this made it possible for him to pack into the space of a few pages
ill that he found it needful to write. Hence there is in the

original in the doctrines taught in the Hermetica; the writers

ere ready enough to accept suggestions from others (mostly from
e Platonists), and there is little in these documents that had not
thought of by some one else before. But if a Hermetist has
pted his beliefs from others, they are none the less Ais own
efs; and his writing is not a mere repetition of traditional
as. He may have accepted the thought from some one else,
he has thought it over afresh, and felt its truth in his own
n.! Some at least of the Hermetic writers felt themselves to
be inspired by God.? They speak of the divine vods in much the
same way that a Jew or Christian might have spoken of the Spirit

1 The Hermetic “belli differ so much among themselves, that few general
ments can be made concerning them to which exceptions may not be found ;
am here describing the impression produced by them as a whole, or for the
2pat.
A Hermetic teacher might : oa like
have said, oa a Homeric& bard (Od. 22. 347),
robibaxros 8 celui, Oeds BE por ev gpecty olyas wavrolas évépuoev. The meaning
of Beds had changed, but the notion of inspiration was still nearly the same.
 8 INTRODUCTION
of God. It is the divine vods which has entered into the man
that
tells him what he needs to know; and with that divine vovs the
man’s true or highest self is identical or consub
stantial. ‘Think
things out for yourself’, says a Hermetist, ‘and
you will not go
astray,’!
And a second thing to be noted is the absen
ce of sheurgia—that
is, of ritualism, or sacramentalism, The notion of the efficacy of
sacramental rites, which filled so large a
place both in the religion
of the Christians and in that of the adher
ents of the Pagan mystery-
cults, is (with quite insignificant excep
tions) absent throughout
these Hermetica. The writer of Corp. XI. ii, for instan
ce, says,
‘Everywhere God will come to meet you’.
He does not say that
God will come to meet a man in initiation-r
ites like those of Isis
or Mithras, or in the water of baptism, or the
bread and wine of the
Christian Eucharist; what he does say is,
‘God will come to meet
you everywhere’, in all you see, and in
all you do,
At what dates were the Hermetica writt
en? This question,
together with the closely connected
question from what sources
were derived the doctrines taught in
them, is discussed in detail
in the notes on the several Jibel/i.
I here sum up shortly the
conclusions at which I have arrived.
The external evidence (collected in
the Testimonia) proves that
in A.D. 207-13 some Hermetica of
the same character as ours were
already in existence and accessible
to Christian readers; and that
in or about a. p. 310 most, if not all, of the extan
tHermetica were
in existence, as well as many others that
have perished.
From internal evidence I have been
able to assign a definite date
to one document only. If I am
not mistaken, the Greek original
of Asc. Lat. III was written within
a year or two of A.D, 270.
With respect to all the other Herm
etica, we have nothing to go
upon except the character of the
doctrines taught in them? What
can be inferred from that?
There was no one system of Herm
etic philosophy or theology,
no one body of fixed dogmas ;
each of these numerous writers
had his own manner of thinking,
and looked at things from his own

* Corp. XI. ii fin.

® Perhaps some evidence as to dates .
of the words and diction, dealt might also be got by a close inves
with tigation
This I have not attempted; possi as in lexic ons at historical
bly some one else may think it grammars,
to undertake it, worth while
 INTRODUCTION 9

( point of view; and there are wide differences between the teaching
of one Adel/us and that of another. But underlying all these
differences there is a certain general similarity, such as would
naturally result from similar training and a common environment.
In the first place, the influence of Plato—and of the Zimaeus
more than any of Plato’s other dialogues—is manifest in almost
every page. Most of the Hermetists were probably not much given
to reading (that would seem to follow from the fact that they relied
on talk much more than on books in their teaching), and it may be
that some of them had never read a line of Plato’s own writings ;
‘but somehow or other, whether by attendance at the public lectures
of professional teachers of philosophy, or by private talk with men
who knew about these things, they had imbibed the fundamental
doctrines of that kind of Platonism which was current in their time.
But this prevailing Platonism is modified, in various degrees, by
the infusion of a Stoic ingredient. Terms and conceptions derived
from Stoic physics or cosmology are to be found in most of the
fibelli. Now Platonism modified by Stoic influence-—the sort of
syncretic Platonism that we find in Philo, for instance—was not
‘and cannot have been anywhere in existence much before the
first century B.c. There can have been no such blending of
doctrines during the period of scepticism in the Platonic school,
when Academics such as Carneades’ were waging war against the
smatism of the Stoics. It was not until that feud had died
, that the scepticism of the Academy was replaced by a more
tive form of Platonic teaching; and it was only then that
atonists began to Stoicize, and Stoics to Platonize. This new
ure may be dated, roughly speaking, at about 100 B.c.
mong the Stoics who Platonized, the most prominent name is
of Posidonius, who wrote between roo B.c. and 50 B.C.;
id in some of the Hermetica the influence of Posidonius can
clearly seen. Any proposal to put the date of the Hermetica
re 100 B.C, may therefore be disregarded. It is not merely
probable, but certain, that the true date is later than that.
_ But how inuch later? If we want an answer to that question, we
Must not be content with talking about the Hermetica in general;
must examine the /de//i one by one, and try to find out, with
ard to each of them in turn, what date is indicated by the details

1 Carneades was in Rome in 155 B.C., and died 129 B.C.

 10 INTRODUCTION
of doctrinal statement that we find in that
particular document.
That is what I have tried to do. Inferences
drawn from data of
this kind must inevitably be somewhat
vague ; but the conclusion
towards which I have found myself led
is this—that the Hermetica
which have come down to us were most of
them, if not all, written
in the third century after Christ, Some
of them may have been
written before the end of the second centu
ry ;* but probably none’
So early as the first century. And this
conclusion, drawn from the
doctrinal contents of the documents,
agrees with the date a.p, 270,
which is indicated by the prophecy
in Asc/. Lat. ITI, and does not
disagree with the external evidence.
So far, I have spoken only of doctr
ines derived from Greek
philosophy. That includes nearly all that
these documents contain :
but not quite all. There are, in some
of the /ibelli, things that may
or must have come from some other source.
But these are
of quite
subordinate importance.
In the first place, it may be asked wheth
er there is anything in
the Hermetica that is derived from the indig
enous religion of Egypt.
As far as definite statements of doctrine
are concerned, there is very
little. With the exception of the mere
framework and setting of
the dial ogues—the names Hermes Trismegist
us, Ammon, &c., and
mentions of a few supposed facts that
are connected with those
names—there is hardly anything of which
it can be asserted without
doubt that it is of native Egyptian origin
. Here and there one
comes on a form of expression, or a way
of putting things, which
is not quite that to which we are accustom
ed in Greek philosophic
writings ; and in some of these cases it
seems fossib/e that what the
writer says was suggested to him by phras
es that were in use in
the Egyptian cults. For instance, we find
it stated in some of the
Hlermetica that God is self-generated
; that God is hidden 3 that
God is nameless, and yet innumerably-name
d ; that God is bisexual ;
that God is life, and the source or author of
all life; and so on.
Parallels to these statements can be
found in native Egyptian
documents ; and in each of these cases
it is possible that the
writer got the notion from an Egyptian sourc
e ; but then it is also
possible that it came to him from some other
quarter, And even

' The Jsts to Horus docume nts, which form

respects from the rest, may possibly be as late as a class a art, and differ in some
the fourt century.
* That is, in or about thetime of Numenius,
A. D. 150-200.
8 There may possibly be one or two unimportant
exceptions, e. g, Corp, TI,
 INTRODUCTION 11
if on such points we give Egypt the benefit of the doubt, the
Egyptian ingredient in Hermetic doctrine still remains comparatively
small in amount; the main bulk of it is unquestionably derived
from Greek philosophy.
Egyptian influence may, however, have worked more strongly
in another way; it may have affected the spirit or temper of the
writers. These men were, some of them certainly, and probably
almost all, Egyptians by race, though Greek by education; and
there is in some of their writings a fervour and intensity of religious
emotion, culminating in a sense of complete union with God, or
‘absorption into God,’ such as is hardly to be found in Greek
philosophic writings, until we come down to Plotinus, who was
himself an Egyptian by birth and bringing up. It is true that in
Plato himself there was something of ‘mysticism’, if this mood
or state of feeling may be so named ; but in him there was so much
‘else beside, that the passages in his writings in which it finds
expression are comparatively few and far between, And something
of the same sort may be said also of most of the followers of Plato
jn later times (until we come to Plotinus)—such men as Plutarch,
instance. Numenius (who was a Syrian) may have been more
ke the Hermetists; but of him we have only short fragments.
Phere may have been something more nearly analogous to the
religious fervour of the Hermetic writers in some of the Greek
mystery-cults, and still more in foreign mystery-cults adopted by
1e Greeks, especially that of Isis (which again was of Egyptian
). But the votaries of those cults stood, for the most part,
a far lower intellectual level than the Hermetists, and their
evotion to the gods they worshipped was inextricably intermixed
with sacramental rites and quasi-magical operations from which
the Hermetic teachers held aloof. And when we compare the
netists with the Greek writers on philosophy from whom they
their doctrines, we find that it is just this greater intensity
teligious fervour that marks them off as different. I am inclined
think then that it is this tone of feeling that is the distinctively
yptian element in the Hermetica, What we have in them is the
that was produced by Greek philosophy when it was adopted
by men of Egyptian temperament.
Secondly, is there anything of Jewish origin? There is, un-

1 See, for instance, Corp. V. 11.

 12 INTRODUCTION
doubtedly, something of this; but not much. In Corp. I (the
foimandres), and in the short piece
Corp, III, knowledge of the
beginning of the Book of Genesis is clearly show
Corp. I contains a doctrine derived n. Moreover,
from Jewish speculations about
Adam, and shows, in some respe
cts, close rese mblances to Philo.
The writer of that one document
was certainly affected by Jewish
influence, But that Abed/us differs widely
from the rest of the
Hermetica ; there is no reason to
suppose that most of the Hermetists
had ever seen or heard of it 3 and
I do not think it was ascribed
Hermes by its author. to
In the rest of the Hermetica we
find hardly more than an isolated
term or phrase here and there
that Seems to be of Jewish orig
hardly more, that is, than any in ;
Pagan might have picked up
occasional talks with Jews, or by in
reading the first chapter of Genesis,
which was probably known
to many Pagans of the time
interesting specimen of a barbaria as an
n cosmogony.
Thirdly and lastly, is there any
borrowing from Christians?
this my answer is that I have fail To
ed to find anything in the doctrine
taught that is of Christian orig s
in—with the possible exception
doctrine of rebirth in Corp. XIII of the
. That is the only extant Zbel
in which the notion of rebirth /us
occurs ; and its author (or the
of an earlier Hermeticum to whic author
h he refers) may have got it from
a Christian source ; but it cann
ot be said to be certain that he
Setting that aside, I can find noth did.
ing in the doctrines taught that
is derived from Christianity.
The Hermetists have no Christ,
no equivalent for Christ.’ and
Hermes is noth
ing of the sort; he is
merely a man and a teacher,
and differs from other human
only in degree. Some of the teachers
Hermetists speak of a ‘second
and apply to him phrases rese God’,
mbling some of those applied
Christian theologians to the seco by
nd Person of the Christian Trin
But this ‘second God’ of the ity.
Hermetists is the Kosmos (or,
some few cases, Helios); and in
when Hermetic writers call the
Kosmos ‘son of God’ and
‘image of God’, they are foll
a tradition derived from Plat owing
o's Zimaeus, and not from the New
1 The contrast between the Hermetic teaching
described in another Way by and Christianity might be
saying that, in the view of
the Hermetists, every man

in the world above, and who

a time, but (if he lives arigh has come down to earth and been incarnated for
t on earth) will return to the
he came, That is not Christiani home above from which
ty, but Platonism,
 INTRODUCTION 13

Testament. (There are also a few Hermetic passages in which

a hypostatized déyos of God occurs ; but in those cases the source is
Jewish, not Christian.) The ‘second God’ of the Hermetists differs
fundamentally from the Christ of the Christians in this, that he is
not a Saviour of mankind. There is in the Hermetica no trace of a
‘Saviour’ in the Christian sense—that is, of a divine or supracosmic
Person, who has come down to earth to redeem men, has returned
to the world above, and will take up his followers to dwell there with
him. Hermetists might speak of salvation; it was salvation that
they sought, and held that they had found; but they did not speak
ofa Saviour such as was worshipped by the Christians. According
to their doctrine, it is by the operation of the divine vots in a man!
that the man is saved ; and the divine vots was never incarnated
upon earth.’
_ The Hermetic writers must, of course, have known very well that
Christianity was there. Some of them may have known little about
its inner meaning, and may perhaps have thought of Christians
m erely as one of the various kinds of people included under the
general term doeBeis or deo. ; but whether they knew much or little
bout Christianity, they ignored it in their writings. There is,
deed, one Hermetic document, Asc/. Zaz. ITI, the writer of which
s speak of Christianity (without naming it); but he speaks of it
as of a deadly enemy, and foresees its coming victory over the Pagan
cultswith intense distress and horror. There is also, in Corp. IX,
a passing remark which probably refers to Christians, and likewise
nplies that they are enemies, But these two instances are excep-
onal; and the Hermetists in general appear to have considered
ristianity either a thing too hateful to be spoken of, or a thing too
ontemptible to be worth mention.
‘It would almost seem then that, if any borrowing took place,
1 Tn this respect the divine vois of the Hermetists is comparable to Christ (or
spirit of Christ’) oe the individual Christian (not in the Church,
the Hermetists recognized nothing analogous to the Christian Church); but it
no way comparable to the Christ who lived on earth and died and rose again,
the most part the Hermetic vois corresponds, not to Christ, but to the Jewish
Christian rveGpa. But the Hermetic conception of vois was not derived from
ewish or Christian sources; it is wholly of Platonic origin.
_* Except indeed in the sense that it ‘enters into’ every man that is worthy
® receive it, Sometimes a man might imagine that he heard the divine vois
peaking to him, as if with a human voice, and even that he saw it, in a dream or
Corp. 1); or Nots might be represented (merely by a literary artifice?)
teacher giving instruction to a human pupil (Corp. XI); but that is a very
rent thing from what Christians meant when they spoke of the incarnation
st.
 14 INTRODUCTION
it must have been the other way about. Did Christians borrow
anything from Hermetists? But ‘borrowing’ is hardly the right
word. It is not to be supposed that the Christian Church took over
this or that theological dogma ready made from Hermetists, or from
any other Pagans. And yet the Christian Church took over a good
deal ;for it took over the men themselves. If not the very men
by whom our Hermetica were written, at any rate most of their
sons
or grandsons or great-grandsons, and most of their pupils,
or the
pupils of their pupils, must have turned Christians, as most
Pagans
did at about that time. Some few of them may have held out,
and
stuck to Paganism ; and the results towards which the teaching
of
such men tended may be seen in Plotinus and his Neoplatonic
successors. But most of them must have turned Christians. And
what did that mean? In some respects the change would
not be
a large one. The Hermetist, when he became a Christian,
would
not have so very much to unlearn. If one were to try
to sum up
the Hermetic teaching in one sentence, I can think of none
that
would serve the purpose better than the sentence ‘ Blessed
are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God’. To that extent at least
the Hermetist had nothing new to learn from the Christian
catechist.
He had been accustomed to aspire towards union with
God, and
to hold that ‘to hate one’s body’! is the first step on the way
to
the fulfilment of that aspiration; and when we come upon
him,
a little later on, transformed into a Christian hermit in the Egyptian
desert, we find that he is still of the same opinion.* On
the other
hand, the convert would have to accept, in addition to the
doctrines
which he already held, some others that were new and strange
to
him ; he would be told that he must henceforth believe in a
Saviour
who had ‘become flesh’; and he would have to admit the
efficacy
of certain sacramental rites, and the infallibility of certain writings,
and so on.
But we have to consider not only what conversion to Christianity
meant for the Hermetists themselves, but also what
were the effects
produced by their conversion in the body of Christians
into which
they were incorporated. And it is here, if anywhere,
that the
influence of the Hermetic teaching on Christianity
is to be looked
for. However much these men may have been
‘born again’ in
' Corp. IV. 6b.
2 Ch. De imitatione Christi, 1.3: ‘Ista est summa
sapientia, per contemptum
mundi tendere ad regna caelestia.’ That might have been said by a Hermetist,
 INTRODUCTION 15
Christian baptism, they must have retained, under altered forms,
much of their ingrained ways of thinking and feeling, and must have
impressed something of this on those who were henceforth their
‘fellow-Christians. So far as their influence extended, there would
be a tendency to emphasize those sides or aspects of Christian
doctrine and of Christian life which were most nearly in accord with
the Hermetic teaching. And though the Hermetic teachers and
their adherents must have been few in number in comparison with
the mass of Egyptian Christians, their influence may have been far
more than in proportion to their number; for they were the men
who had been most in earnest about religion as Pagans, and they
would be much in earnest still. Men of the stamp of these Hermetic
teachers must have been prominent among those who set the tone in
‘the Christian monasteries which sprang up in Egypt in the fourth
‘century, and took the lead in debates on questions of Christian
theology in Alexandria, And in that sense it might be said that
in the Hermetica we get a glimpse into one of the many workshops
in which Christianity was fashioned.

The extant Hermetica are:

. (1) The Adel of the Corpus Hermeticum.
(2) The Latin Asc/epius mistakenly attributed to Apuleius.
(3) The Hermetic excerpts in the Anthologium of Stobaeus.
(4) Fragments quoted by Lactantius, Cyril, and other writers.

List ofHermetic Writings.

‘Hermes to Tat (a. yevixol Adyou; 5. Srekod:Kot Adyor) :Corp. IV,
V, VIII, X, XII. i, XII. ii, XIII; Stob. Exc. I-XI; Fragm, ra,
30, 32(?), 33.
Hermes to Asclepius: Corp. II, VI, IX, XIV (epistle); Ascl.
Lat. (Adyos réhevos) ;Fragm. 23, 24, 31.
‘Hermes to Ammon : Stob. £xc, XII-XVII (XVIII and XIX ?).
‘Hermes (no pupil named): Corp. III; Stob. Exc. XVIII-XXII:
Pragm. 1-11, 13-22, 25-8, 32, 34-6.
ovs to Hermes: Corp. XI. i, XI. ii.
athos Daimon to Hermes: reported by Hermes to Tat in
XI. i.
n this edition, the Hermetic fragments are collected under the
enta; but each of them is also given, together with the context heading
in which it is quoted, and with notes, under the heading 7éstimonia. of the
16 INTRODUCTION
Agathos Daimon to Osiris: reported by Hermes to Asclepius,
Fragm. 31.
Agathos Daimon to an Egyptian reyevirys: reported by Hermes,
Fragm. 29.
Agathos Daimon: Fragm. 37.
Asclepius to Ammon (epistle): Corp. XVI.
Tat to King (Ammon?): Corp. XVII. ,
Isis to Horus: Stob, Zxc. XXIII (Kore Kosmu), XXIV-XXVII.
Poimandres to a prophet: Corp. I.
Sermon (preached by the same prophet ?): Corp. VII.
[Oration by a rhetor: Corp. XVIII.]
[Apophthegm of Hermes: Stob. Exe. XXVIII. ]
[Verses on the planets: Stob. Zxc. XXIX.]
 CORPUS HERMETICUM

Corpus Hermeticum is the name given by recent commentators

to a collection of about seventeen’ distinct documents, which
srst makes its appearance (as a collection) in manuscripts of the
‘0 arteenth century. In the MSS. the collection as a whole
ars no title, but each of the several documents contained in it
s a separate heading of its own. The heading of the first
document is ‘Eppod tpupeyiorov Tloipdvdpys ; and Ficinus, who
published a Latin translation of the first fourteen documents in
1471, made the mistake of supposing that heading to be meant
a title of the whole collection.? Turnebus, who printed the
princeps of the Greek text (1554), followed Ficinus in this
e, and entitled Corp. I-X1V Mercurit Trismegisti Poemander.
nilarly, Flussas (1574) gives to Corp. I-XIV, together with
a ‘Caput XV’ made up of Hermetic excerpts from elsewhere,
title Mercurii Trismegisti Pimandras, distinguishing the several
ocuments as ‘Caput I’, ‘Caput IL’, &c. (He appends ‘ Capur
I’ under the different title Aesculapii ad Ammonem.) The
mder was corrected by Patrizzi (1591),° who uses the name
smander rightly to denote Zibe//us 1; but Parthey (1854) reverted
to the old mistake, giving the title Hermetis Trismegisti Poemander
to his edition of Corp. I-XIV, and calling the several documents
tap. 1, cap. 2, &c. This is much as if one were to call the New
ament as a whole ‘the Gospel according to St. Matthew’,

By my reckoning, the number of distinct /#e//i in our text of the Corpus

ts to nineteen; and if we add a lost /rbe//us between I and II, the original
nber must have been twenty.
Ficinus, f. 2b: ‘Est antem hnius libri (i.e. of Corpus I-XIV) titulus
5 eto ex quattuor personis quae hoc in dyalogo disputant (i.e. in
», I-XIV regarded as a single “dialogue 4 primae Pimandro partes attri-
ntur.. .. Ordo autem voluminis est, ut in libellos quattuordecim distinguamus,
ne hae dialogi partes Pimandro dentur, secundas teneat Trismegistus,
lapius, quartum locum obtineat Tacius.’
trizzi says, ‘ Nostra sententia Poemander ille a Ficino in 14 capita dissectus
nus liber est, sed totidem libelli per se, 2 Poemandro separati, cui solus
debetur. Reliqui, cum nullam Poemandri mentionem faciant (he should
added, “with the exception of Zibellus XIII”), nec ab eo pendeant aut
e dogmatum aut connexione ulla, Poemandri partes dici non possunt.’
Cc
 18 INTRODUCTION
and refer to the Epistle to the Romans, for instance, as ‘the
sixth chapter of Matthew’. The documents of the Corpus differ
from one another in the same sort of way as the various writings
of the New Testament; it is certain from internal evidence that
most of them, if not all, were written by different authors; and
there
is nothing to show that the majority of the writers had read Corp.
I,
or had ever heard of the name Poimandres.
As to the numbering of the documents, there is much
discrepancy
and confusion. The variations are shown in the append
ed table.

Manuscripts
Present
edition A BCDM R Index capitum
(I-XIV) (I-XVIII) (I-XVIT1) inS

Libellus I ie(pddcov) a’ a’
— Il
&e.
- B B’
&e. &e,
— XLi 2 y
ra) o _ ta’
— Xiii 2 B ta’

— XILi
5 5
& & )
= E eas 18" 1B!
— XiILii si) aa J
— XIII (XIII. 1-16) vy’
: vy’
(XIIL. 17-22) 13’ 13"
— xiv _ te’ te’

— XVI XVI-XVIIT as a
XVI and XVII] separate work, |
asonedocument} in three unnum. |
— XVII bered parts. viz. | -
XVI+XVII, ‘7
— XVIII XVIII. 1-10 XVIII, 1-10,
XVIII, 11-16 XVIIL. 11-16
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 19

By separating the two parts of XI and the two parts of XII,

have increased the number of distinct documents in the Corpus
from seventeen to nineteen; and if I had been starting afresh,
I should have numbered them consecutively from I to XIX. But
in order to avoid confusion of references, I have thought it best
to retain the numbering of Flussas and Parthey in respect of
Libelli I-XIV, and that of Flussas and Reitzenstein in respect
‘of XVI, and to follow Reitzenstein in calling the last two documents
XVII and XVIII. The ‘Caput XV’ of Flussas is not a part of
S.

“Ficinus Turnebus Flussas Patrizzi Parthey Reitzenstein,

(I-XIV)| (I-X V1) (I-XVI) (I-XIV) Poimandres

SSS, ee

Caput I Cap. I Kap. I

cen. HE —u |—nam
&e. &e, &e,

éYZ = XI — x1 | — x1 (XI

i — Mr — xu | — xcxnp

— XI — XII] — XIII (XIV)

ox BEY — XIV] — xIV (Xv)
Three ex- |— XV, made up
cerpts of same three
from Stob.| excerpts from
are here} Stob. and an
appended, | extract from
Suidas.

— XVI Suowe
pasisdsiayut
I9YIO
vI279M4aFT
“ulay)
YA — XVI
XVI- swgzop
paovyd
‘gapro
BUL
JuasayIp
YL
2772927
JO
YI
XVIII as
in R. — XVIT

— XVIII
 20 INTRODUCTION
the Corpus; there is therefore no Libellus XV
in the present
edition.
In dividing the text of each Zibe/lus into section
s, I have, for
the most part, followed Reitzenstein in the Ze/i edited
by him
in his Poimandres (viz. I, XIII, XVI, XVII, XVIII)
, and Parthey in
the rest of the Corpus; and in cases where
further subdivision
seemed desirable, I have added letters to the
number of the section,
dividing § 3, for instance, into § 3a and
§ 3b. But I have here
and there slightly shifted the point of division
between two sections,
in order to make it correspond better with
a division in the sense.
The manuscripts of the Corpus have been
carefully investigated
by Reitzenstein, to whom I owe most of
the information given
in the following list. But to the fiftee
n MSS. mentioned and
described by him (oim. pp. 323 ff.) must
be added three Oxford
MSS. (Bodl. 3388, which I call Q; Bodl.
8827, which I call R¥
and Bodl. 3037, which I call S), of the existence of which
he
appears to have been unaware.’ All the
manuscripts reproduce,
with slight variations, the text of a comm
on archetype,? which was
full of corruptions. The first task of an
editor is to reconstruct
the text of the lost archetype ;his second
and more difficult task
is to infer from this what the author of
each document wrote x DIS
third task is to find out what the author
meant. And in cases
in which it is impossible to recover the preci
se words which the
author wrote, it may still be possible to guess
his meaning,

List or MSS. or THE Corpus.

A: Laurentianus 71, 3 33 14th cent. ;
contains Corp. I-XIV,
This manuscript was brought from
Macedonia to Cosmo de’
Medici at Florence, and was by him
handed over to Marsiglio
Ficino, who made from it the Latin trans
lation which he published
in 1471.
From ‘a twin-brother of A’ (Reitz.) are
derived the following
three MSS. :

1 He speaks of Bodl. 16987, but says

nothi
2 Tn our MSS. two large pieces are missin ng about the three other Bodleian,
beginning of our Corp. II, together with g, The first of them contained the
our II (see prefatory note on Corp. 11); a lost débellus which originally preceded
of Corp. XVII, of which only a short the second contained almost the whole
It must be inferred from these omissions passage at the end has been preserved.
that in the archetype of our MSS. some
leaves were torn ont and lost at each of these
two points,
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 21

Ottobonianus Graec. 153, 15th cent.

Coislinianus 332, 15th cent.
Parisinus 2518, written by Vergicius, 16th cent.
8B: Parisinus Graec. 1220; middle of the 14th cent.; contains
Corp. I-XVIII.
There are numerous corrections by one or more later hands (B?);
but it appears that these corrections are for the most part conjectural,
‘and not derived from another MS.
C: Vaticanus Graec. 237; 14th cent.; contains Cor, I-XVIII.
Closely connected with C are:
Parisinus Graec, 2007, 16th cent.
Ottobonianus Graec. 177, 16th cent.
D: Vindobonensis phil. 102; 15th cent. ; contains Corp, I-XVIII.
The printed text of Turnebus is a reproduction of a MS. nearly
related to D; so that his edition may be treated as equivalent to
. MS. of this family.
Palatinus Graec. 53, 15th or 16th cent., was found by Reitzen-
_ stein to be closely connected with D.
M: Vaticanus Graec. 951 ; 14th cent.; contains Corp, I-XVIII.
Q: Bodleianus 3388 (Arch. Seld. B 58); 15th cent. The text
s off at the foot of fol. 62b, at the words kal 7d pév Ovyrov
Corp. XIII. 14; and the following leaves, which presumably
tained the rest of the Corpus down to the end of XVIII, have
en lost. Q is closely connected with D.
Bodleianus 16987 (d’Orville 109, Auct. X, 1. 4. 7); 16th cent.;
contains Corg. I-XVIII. This MS. is a faithful transcript of Q.'
There are numerous corrections by a different hand ; the corrector
‘must have used another MS.
_R: Bodleianus 8827 (Misc. 131, Auct. F, infr. 2. 2); 16th cent.:
contains Corp, I-XVIII.
‘In Corp. I-XIV, R is derived from a MS. hardly distinguishable
from A.* (In this part of R, there are numerous corrections by

+ The derivation of Bodl, 16987 from Q is sufficiently proved by the fact that
two passages in Corp. II and four passages in Corp. XII, which have been
accidentally omitted in Q, are also omitted in Bod]. 16987 (first hand),
The connexion of Bodl. 16987 with D was recognized by Reitzenstein, who did
lot know of the existence of Q, the immediate source of Bodl. 16987.
* R cannot be derived from A itself, because five small lacunae which ovcur in
|
|
22 _ INTRODUCTION
a different hand; these corrections must have been taken
from
another MS.) The writing of Corp. XVI-XVIII is smaller,
but
similar in character to that of I-XIV, and both parts of the MS.
may
have been written by the same hand. The text of XVI-XVIII
appears to be derived from a MS. closely related to D.
(See the
readings of R given in the foot-notes to Corp. XVI-XVIIL.)
S: Bodleianus 3037 (Misc. Gr. 36, Auct. E 2.
8): 16th cent.
The text of S breaks off at the words raSré cot dokAn
me évoovre
in Corp. IX. 10, and the rest is lost; but the prefixed
Zudex capitum
gives the headings of all the documents in the
Corpus, including
XVI-XVIII. Sis closely connected with G
Reitzenstein mentions three other MSS., viz.:
Paristnus Graec.
1297; 16th cent.; contains Corp, I-XIV 3 ‘much
touched up, often
agrees with B*’ Vaticanus Graec. 914; end
of 15th cent.; contains
Corp. I. 1-28. Parisinus Graec. suppl. 395; 17th
cent.; contains
Corp. 1, 1-21. But these three are of no
importance.
It is possible that there may be in existence some
MSS. of the
Corpus which have not yet been discovered;?
but it is not likely
that any future discovery will make any appreciable
addition to the
material already at our disposal. The known MSS.
are more than
sufficient to enable us to reconstruct the lost archet
ype from which
they are all derived; the more serious difficu
lties begin: when we
try to correct by conjecture the corrupt
text of that archetype.
Reitzenstein considers that, when the relatio
ns of the MSS. to one
another and to the printed texts have once
been ascertained, an
editor need concern himself only with the readin
gs of A, C, and M,
and can safely disregard the rest. I have not
done precisely that ;
but I hope that what I have done in this matter
does not fall very
the A-text of Corg. I. 4, 5, and are indicat
ed by blank spaces in A,
in R. But in all else, R (I-XIV) very closely agrees with A. E.g.doI.not occur
om. AR | I. 9, érdpyov 3, dnoiv
om, AR | fb, éwrd twas AR: twas énrd
vonta AR: vyerd cett. | 1.15, év om. AR | I, 21, nai marip AR: cett, | I. arb,
kai 6 warp
cett. | I. 22, éyd abrdsAR: éy® Q Turn,: abrds eye cett, | Z2.,
ipvowvres cett. | I. 26a, ipvotor AR:
avyxalpover ... marépa
wdddos AR: kdéos cett. | 1. 28, ondvy AR: mAdvpom. AR (Aomocoteleuton), | 1. 27,
* For instance, S agrees with C, and differs cett.
a from ABDM, in the following
I. 4, todrw CS: rodro cett, }I. 5b, e@aBalvovros CS: avaBaivovros
cett. | I.6, BAérav at dxotoy CS: Bdémov xai dxovdov cett. | L. 7, dvrémno€é CS:
ex dyrégno€ corr. dvrmmncé A: dvrémnoé cett.
cett. | I. 11a, érpeve CS: Eorpeye cett. | I. 14, ds| 1. 9, mepéyovre CS: weptéxovras
® Reitzenstein says that he was obliged te C: hore S: ds dre cett.
intention of searching for MSS. of the to leave Italy without carrying out his
Corpus in the smaller libraries of that
country,
,
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 23
and XIII,
far short of that which he thinks requisite. In Corp. I
the MSS. used by Reitzen stein (viz.
| have given the readings of
ABCDM), and of the printed text of Turneb us, and added those
and
of Q. In Corp. II-XI, I have given the readings of A, Q,
n
~

‘Turn.; and in II-IX. 10, I have added those of S, using S as

In Corp. XII
a substitute for C, with which it is closely connected.
and XIV, not having a collation of A in my hands, I have used
Rasa substitute for A (to which R, as tested in Corp. I and XIII,
closely adheres), and have given the readings of Q, R, and Turn.
in XII, and those of R and Turn. in XIV. And in Corp, XVI-
XVIII, I have given the reading s of the MSS. used by Reitzenstein
{yiz. BCDM), and those of Turn., and have added those of R
(which, in this part of the Corpus, agrees closely with D). It would
have been more entirely satisfactory if I could have added the
readings of C and M in II-XI, and those of A, C, and M in XII
nd XIV; but I see no reason to think that, if I had postponed the
completion of my work on the text till I could go to Italy to get
those readings, the results would have been of sufficient importance
to compensate for the delay. The manuscripts differ but slightly
‘from one another and from the text of Turnebus ; and it is unlikely
that, if I had had before me a complete conspectus of the readings
‘of all existing MSS., I should have arrived at a different conclusion
as to the meaning of a single clause in the whole Corpus.
For the manuscript readings given in my foot-notes to the text
‘of the Corpus, my authorities are as follows:
_ Dr. F. C. Conybeare, to whom my most hearty thanks are due
for his generous help, has collated for me the greater part of A
(viz. I-XI and XIII. 1, 2), and some specimens of three other MSS.
(viz. I. 1-21, XII[. 1-10, and XVIII. 11-16 in C and M, and
. 1-21 in Palat. Gr. 53).!
_ Reitzenstein has published the readings of A in Corp. I and XIII ;
those of B, C, D, and M in I, XIII, and XVI-XVIII; and those
of A, C, and M ina few short passages in other /ide//i; and I have
made use of his published readings.?
_ 1 His collation is my sole authority for the readings of A which are given in my
foot-notes to Corp, II-XI.
2In A, Libelii I, XIII, XIV were collated for Reitzenstein by G, Vitelli; in
C, Lidelli 1, XIN, XVI-XVIII were collated for him by Dr. De Stefani.
Reitzenstein has himself collated the rest of A and C, and the whole of B, D, and
M. Thus he has had at his disposal complete collations of ABCDM; but he has
published the readings of these MSS. in those parts of the Corpus only which are
mentioned above.
 24 INTRODUCTION
I have myself collated the whole of Q; Corp. 1 and XII-XVIII
in R ; and the whole of S and Bodl. 16987.)
Parthey used collations of A and B in his edition of Corp. I-XIV.
But the collation of A, with which he was supplied,
was either
inaccurate or carelessly employed by him; and his
statements as to
the readings of B are vitiated by the fact that he
makes no distinc-
tion between the first hand and B*, I have
therefore deliberately
ignored Parthey’s report of the readings of A and
B.
In the case of MSS. which I have not myself
collated, I have
expressly named this or that MS, (e.g. A)
only when I had before
me a positive statement as to its reading, and
not when that reading
was only to be inferred from the collator’s
silence. I have used the
abbreviation codd. to signify the consensus
of all MSS. of which
the readings are known to me in any way,
whether from my own
collation, or from positive statements of others
, or by inference from
the silence of the collators.
I have, as a rule, taken
no notice of the accents, breathings, and
punctuation of the MSS., nor of the prese
nce or absence of 1
subscript in them.
The notation employed in my text of the
Corpus, and in that
of the other Hermetica also, is as follows
:
Letters, words, and passages which occur
in the MSS., and
presumably occurred in the archetype from
which our MSS. are
derived, but which, in my opinion, were either
certainly or probably
not present in the text as written by the
author, are enclosed by
two-a ngled brackets, thus: [ ].
Letters, words, and passages which do not occur in any MS.,
but have been inserted by conjecture, are
enclosed by one-angled
brackets, thus: ( ).
Words and passages transposed by conje
cture are (with the
exception of a few of the longer passages)
printed both at the place
where they stand in the MSS., and
at the place to which I have
transposed them. At the place where they stand in the MSS.,
they
are enclosed by two-angled brackets doubled, thus: [[ J]. At the
place to which I have transposed them,
they are enclosed by
one-angled brackets doubled, thus: (( ya

? Lhad collated Bodl. 16987 throughout before

Q, which makes its readings valueless for I discovered its dependence on
our purpose, at least in regard to
Corp. 1-XIII. 14, the part of the text which has
been preserved in Q.
* In cases in which the alteration indicated by
the brackets has been made by
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 25
have
~ Words and passages which I take to be corrupt, but which I
standing unaltered, are enclosed between the marks aa
Letters substituted by conjecture for others (not always in exactly
equal number) given by the MSS. are printed in distinct type.
} My object in adopting this notation is to make it manifest where
‘the traditional text (i.e. that which, on the evidence of the MSS.,
by y be inferred to have been the text of the archetype) is given
unaltered in the present edition, and where and how much it is
tered. If the reader retains the letters, words, and passages which
sre enclosed by the marks [ ] and [[ |}, omits those enclosed by the
marks ( ) and (( )), and, in the case of letters printed in distinct
substitutes the reading given in the foot-note for that in the
he will have each document before him in the form in which
has been transmitted to us in the MSS, He will find in it many
ages which consist of words without meaning, and which, there-
cannot have been first written in the shape in which they now
and ; and in dealing with every such passage, he will be free to
ose whether to treat it as a blank, or to accept the more or less
obable guess at what the author wrote that is here offered, or
make another guess (which may very likely be a better one) for
mself. The unsightliness of the printed text which results from
procedure may be considered an advantage, because it makes
parent to the eye the extent of the corruptions, and secures
the reader against the danger of mistaking the conjectures of a
modern editor for readings supported by manuscript authority.

When and by whom was the archetype written? Reitzenstein

(Poim., pp. 211, 319, 325 f.) says that a damaged manuscript of the
Corpus was re-discovered in the eleventh century, and came into
. hands of Michael Psellus, the great reviver of Platonic studies in
antium? (¢. A.D. 1050); that Psellus wrote or got some one to
write? a copy of that manuscript; and that the copy written by
ellus, or under his direction, was the archetype from which our
S. are derived. And he thinks it probable that the traditional
ext contains glosses and interpolations added by Psellus, and that,

one else before me, that fact is stated in a foot-note. When there is no such
nt in the foot-notes, it is to be understood that it is I that propose this
ation of the text.
See Zervos, Michel Psellos (un philosophe néoplatonicien du XI” stécle),
Faris, 1920,
* Reitzenstein speaks of the ‘Text der Psellosabschrift’.
 26 INTRODUCTION
in Corp. XVIII especially, Psellus filled gaps in the text
by inserting
conjectural supplements. But what evidence is there that
Psellus
took the part assigned to him by Reitzenstein, or any
part at all,
in the transmission of the Corpus?
In support of his statements,! Reitzenstein puts
forward only the
two following facts. (r) In Cog, I. 18, there is
inserted in the text
of Cod. M an anonymous Scholion, in which
it is pointed out that
‘this ydys’ (i.e. the author of Corp. I, who
is assumed to be
Hermes) must have been acquainted with the Mosai
c account of
the Creation. And in the margin of Cod. B, this
same scholion is
written by a later hand (B*), with the superscripti
on tod Wé\Aov.
(2) In Cod. M (which contains several different and
unconnected
works), the Corpus Hermeticum is immediately preced
ed by two
copies of a treatise of Psellus on the Chaldaean
Oracles, and the
second of these two copies is written by the same
hand as the Corpus
Hermeticum$
The second fact is negligible. It does not follow,
because two
works which appear side by side in a Codex of the fourte
enth century
were written by the same hand in that Codex,
that the archetype
of the one had been written by the hand of
the man (of the eleventh
century) who was the author of the other, or
had ever been in that
man’s possession.
It seems then that the only evidence‘ that
Psellus had a hand
in the transmission of the Corpus is
the fact that a scholion on
Corp. I. 18 is ascribed to Psellus by an unkno
wn person who revised
' Reitzenstein says that it was Br. Keil
connexion of the Platonic studies of Psellu who first called his attention to ‘the
I have not met with any published statem s with the editing of the Corpus’; but
ent
® For this scholion see Posies in Testim. of Keil on this subject.
* Similarly, in Cod. S (which was
not known to Reitzenstein),
Hermeticum is immediately preceded by Psellus J Psychogoniam the Corpus eS
Platonis,

had probably read Corp. X, and perhap

s Corp. XI. ii; and if the scholion
nly read Corg. I. But that is not enoug is
rightly ascribed to him, he had certai
h

P- 191, says that ‘plusieurs commentair

es
livres orphiques et hermétigues’, and on théologiques de Psellos ont été tirés des
manuscript, Paris, Bibl. Nat. MS. grec, this point refers to an unpublished
no.
Zervos, td, p. 168, says ‘Nous ne savons 1182, fol. 26 and fol, 265 vo.
avait composés sur la littérature hermét pas le nombre d’ouvrages que Psellos
le Poemander? (i.e. the scholion on Corp. ique, Il n’en reste qu'une scholie sur
Psellus ‘composed works on the Hermetic 1. 18). But is there any evidence that
literature’, or any one such work ?
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 27

Cod, B. Assuming the truth of this ascription, how much can be

inferred from it? It necessarily follows that Psellus had read and
‘reflected on Corp. 1; and as this /e//us is not known to have been
anywhere in existence in the middle ages except as a part of the
‘Corpus Hermeticum, it is probable (but not certain) that Psellus
Pnad in his hands a MS. of the whole Corpus ; that he wrote in the
ms gin of that MS. his scholion on I. 18; and that from that MS.
were derived both the M-text of the Corpus, and the unknown
MS. from which the reviser of Cod. B got the scholion. But it does
t follow that Psellus transcribed the Corpus with his own hand,
had it transcribed for him, and that all our MSS. are derived
from that transcription. And still less does it follow that he added
Rs the corruption of the text by inserting glosses, supplements, or
conjectures of his own.
If we take it as established that Psellus had in his hands a MS. of
the Corpus, it is a legitimate hypothesis that that MS. was the
archetype of all our MSS.; and considering the leading part which
he is known to have taken in the revival of Platonic studies, it is
perhaps more likely that it was so than that it was notso. But as
far as I have been able to ascertain, it is a hypothesis only, and not
a proved fact.
What was the history of the text before the time of Psellus?
Some help towards answering this question may be got from the fact
hat excerpts from three of the /#de//i of which the Corpus is made
up! occur in the Axthologium of Stobaeus (¢. A.D. 500). The text
f these pieces as given by Stobaeus differs from that of the Corpus-
archetype in many details;* but there are some corruptions which
ire common to Stobaeus and the Corpus, and must therefore have

At what date was the collection of documents which we call the

Corpus put together? As far as I know, there is no absolutely
cogent proof that it was in existence before the fourteenth century,
hich our earliest MSS, were written. But as there must have
a lapse of time between the writing of the Corpus-archetype
and the loss of some of its leaves,’ and a further lapse of time

1 egy II. 1-4, 6b-9, 10-13; IV. 1b, 10-11 b; X. 7-8b, 12-13, 16-18,
19, 22 b-25.
_ ® At the beginning of Zéée//us II, a passage which is missing in our Corpus
MSS. has been preserved by Stobaeus,
It is conceivable that the two losses of leaves (that between I and II and that
tween XVI and XVII) may have taken place independently, and in two different
 28 INTRODUCTION
between the loss of the leaves and the
writing of our MSS,, it may
be considered almost certain that
the collection as a whole existed
at least as early as the twelfth century. Moreover
that the Corpus as a whole was know , it is probable
n to Psellus, and consequently, —
that the 4e/i' of which it is comp
osed had been brought together
by abou t a.p. 1050, That, however, is the earliest
any trace of it can be found, date at which
The Corpus was almost cert
ainly known to the author of the
Hlermippus,' as he shows knowle
dge of five at least of the “belli
contained in it,? and in some of
his borrowings from them, repro-
duces the corruptions of our
Corpus-text. But the date of
Hermippus is unknown; it may the
have been written as late as the
eleventh century,® or even later.
Fulgentius Mythographus (c. a.
p. 500) refers to Libel/us I, and
quotes a phrase from it;* but |
that is no proof that the collecti
of dibeli which we call the Corp on
us Hermeticum existed in his time
Stobaeus prefixes to his excerpts .
from Zibeldus X the heading
‘Eppod é« trav pos Tr, and to
those from Lidellus II the head
“Eppod ex av mpos "AokAymidv. (Of ing
his two excerpts from Lided/us IV,
the first has no heading, and the
second is headed simply ‘Eppoi.)
It is to be inferred from this that
he found Libelius X (and pre-
sumably Zidellus IV also) in a
book entitled ‘The discourses of
MSS, ; and in that case neith
er of those two MSS. need
the whole Corpus. One of necessarily have included
them, for instance, might
have contained I-XIV,

1 As to the Hermippus, see

prefatory note on Corp, XVI.
® Viz. Corp. I, IV, X, XII,
show knowledge of any Hermetic XVI. * He does not, as far as I have observed,
8 Kroll, De oraculis Chaldaic a not included in the Corpus,
Hermippus which show knowledg is, p. 76, points out two
what increases the probability e of the Chaldaean Oracles. passages in the
that the author of the Hermippu That fact some-
Psellus, who made a collection
of the Chaldacan Oracles, and s was in touch with
* See Corp. I. 1. Reitzenstein wrote about them.
P. 88. 3) quotes, but ascribes (Poim., p. 210) adds that F ulgen
tius (Helm,
of Fulg. to which Reitz. referszo Plato, some words of Corp. XII. The passage
is this: ‘iam... Platonis antiquam firmantes
sensus hominis deus est; ¢
st Sonus sit, deus est propitius.
probably voids dvOpémye
s Gebs' obros edy ’ The Greek was
edpevqs. There is very little resembla dyads (7, 6) Beds [ezeze? perhaps éoruw #]
Sl XII with which Helm Compares nce between this and the
it, viz. obros 8% 5 vods i
"eds" éore (XII. 1), and 6 ydp
vois puxdy éorw ebepyérns dvOpéy Hey dvOpdmots
emay: épyderar
got his ‘ ancient saying of Plato
he got it from some scholion ’ from that document, It is more likel
that
Puxis eidos, i, e, rov votv) Saip or commentary on Pl, 7¥y:, 90A (75 kupiiraroy
ova beds éxdor@ béduxe.

ont
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 29

Hermes to Tat’,’ and Libellus U1 in a book entitled ‘ The discourses

Hermes to Asclepius’. He shows no knowledge of any collection
mbling our Corpus, which contains discourses addressed to Tat
ther with others addressed to Asclepius. Nor is any knowledge
‘of the Corpus as a whole shown by Lactantius or Cyril, though
bo h of them quote from or refer to some of the /ide/// included
jn it?
The alchemist Zosimus (soon after a. D. 300) had read LZrbel/us I
‘and Libellus TV ;* but there is no evidence that he had read them
jn the Corpus.
pitiis possible then that the Corus was first compiled in the time of
ellus ;and it is not impossible that Psellus himself was its compiler.
On the other hand, it is also possible that this collection of Hermetic
0 ments had been made several centuries before the date of
p us, and even that, though unknown to Stobaeus, Cyril, and
actantius, it was already in existence in their time, and had come
nto being almost immediately after the composition of the latest
f the 4e/i contained in it.* In short, the Corpus may have been
put together at any time between a.D. 300 and 1050. Or again,
it may not have been put together at any one time, or by any one
person, but may have been formed gradually, by appending to
Corp.1 a series of other Zide// (or small groups of /de//1) in succession,
and at various dates.
"Whence were the individual Ze/# taken? To this question also
no definite answer can be given. The several /de//7 may have been
ta en directly from the collections of Hermetica known to Stobaeus
(the ‘ Discourses of Hermes to Tat’, &c.) ;though in that case, it is
not clear for what reasons the man or men who put them into the
pus selected some of the /ée//t contained in those collections,
rejected others. But it is possible that some of the Hermetic

1 He gives under this same heading (‘Eppod é« ray npds Tar) a number of other
passages which come from Hermetic /2se//¢ not included in the Corpus. His
aathologinm contains also some excerpts from a third book, called ‘The
iscourses of Hermes to Ammon’, and some from a collection of Hermetic
iments (including the Aore Kosmi) in which the teacher is Isis, and the pupil
Lactantius quotes from Cor, XII. ii and Cog. XVI; it is more or less
that he also refers to Corp. V, Corp. IX, and Corp. X. Cyril quotes
Corp. XI. ii and Corp. XIV. See Testim.
See note on Corp. 1.2
The probable date of Corp. XVIII is within a year or two of A.D. 300, and
eng gg to think that any of the other /#de//? in the Corpus are of later
than this.
30 INTRODUCTION
“belli included in the collections used by Stobaeus were also in
circulation singly ; and there may have been others which had never
been included in them, but stood alone. If so, a compiler of the
Corpus may have added each /e//us in turn to his own collection as
he happened to meet with it.
In some of the MSS., the Corpus is divided into two distinct
parts, the first part (Corg. I-XIV) being thought to contain the
teachings of Hermes, and the second (Corp. XVI-XVIII), the
teachings of Asclepius. It is probably a result of this distinction
that Zidel/i XVI-XVIII were omitted in A; the transcriber copied
only ‘the teachings of Hermes’, and did not go on to copy ‘the
teachings of Asclepius’, which he considered to be a different work.
But we do not know whether this division existed from the first,
or was subsequently introduced by some redactor or copyist. As
a matter of fact, Corp. XVI, in which the teacher is Asclepius, and
the surviving fragment of Corp. XVII, in which the teacher is Tat,
are similar in general character ‘to the majority of the preceding
“belli, and must have come from similar sources ; while Cop. XVIII,
which the transcribers apparently assumed to be a speech (or two
speeches) delivered by Asclepius, has in reality no connexion either
with Hermes or with his pupils.
At any rate, it seems to have been by deliberate intention that the
three /ide//i in which Hermes does not appear either as teacher or as
pupil’ were placed together, and put at the end of the collection.
But in Corp. I-XIV, there are few traces of designed arrangement.
It is true that Zzbe//vs 1, in which a man (assumed by the transcribers
to be Hermes) is taught by God, and sets forth to teach to mankind
the gnosis which God has taught him, is well suited for its place at
the beginning ; and the documents which follow may have been
regarded as specimens of that teaching of which Zzde//us I describes
the origin. But in II-XIV, there is no internal connexion between
adjacent documents,’ and the order in which these 4e// stand in
the Corpus appears to be merely accidental.

1 There are three other /zde//i (I, III, and VII) which, when first written,
probably had nothing to do with Hermes; but these three had doubtless been
ascribed to Hermes before they were included in the Corpus.
* It is possible that in two or three instances a redactor of the Corpus may have
slightly altered the opening words of a /ibe//us, in order to make them appear to
refer back to the document which immediately precedes it in the collection. (See
the first sentences of Corp. V, X, and XIV.) But in no case is there any real con-
nexion between the contents of two successive /ide//i, except, perhaps, in XI. i and
XI, ii, in both of which the teacher is Nods,
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 31

PrinteD EDITIONS OF THE Corpus, TRANSLATIONS, AND

CoMMENTARIES.*

Ficinus, 1471.2°—Mercurii Trismegisti Liber de Potestate et Sapientia

Dei, e Graeco in Latinum traductus a Marsilio Ficino .. . Tarvisti.
This is a Latin translation of the Greek text of Cod. A, and conse-
quently contains only Corp. I-XIV.
In an Argumentum prefixed to his translation, Ficino gives the
following account of Hermes Trismegistus: ‘Eo tempore quo
Moyses natus est, floruit Athlas astrologus, Promethei physici frater,
ac maternus avus maioris Mercuri; cuius nepos fuit Mercurius
Trismegistus. . . . Primus igitur (Merc. Trismegistus) theologiae
appellatus est auctor. Eum secutus Orpheus secundas antiquae
theologiae partes obtinuit. Orphei sacris iniciatus est Aglaophemus.
Aglaophemo successit in theologia Picthagoras; quem Philolaus
sectatus est, Divi Platonis nostri praeceptor. Itaque una priscae
theologiae undique sibi consona secta ex theologis sex miro quodam
ordine conflata est, exordia sumens a Mercurio, a Divo Platone
penitus absoluta.’
Ficino’s theory of the relation between Hermes Trismegistus and
the Greek philosophers was based partly on da¢a supplied by early
Christian writers, especially Lactantius and Augustine, and partly on
the internal evidence of the Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin
Asclepius of Pseudo-Apuleius. He saw—as indeed no competent
scholar who had read Plato and the Hermetica could fail to see—
that the resemblance between the Hermetic doctrines and those
of Plato was such as necessarily to imply some historical connexion ;
but accepting it as a known fact that the author of the Hlermetica
was a man who lived about the time of Moses, he inverted the
true relation, and thought that Plato had derived his theology,
1 See Fabricius, Bid/. Graec. (revised by Harles), 1790, vol. i, pp. 52-66.
‘A full list of editions and translations of the Corpus is given by G. R. S. Mead,
Thrice-Greatest Hermes, 1906, vol. i, pp. 8-16. I mention here only those
publications which I have found some reason to notice.
2 Reitzenstein says—on what authority I do not know—that Ficino translated
the Corpus in 1463. This must mean that he «wrote his translation in that year.
But the earliest printed edition of it is dated thus: ‘Finitum. M,CCCC.LXXI. Die
Xvi Decemb.’ TZarvisium is Treviso, near Venice.
Ficino subsequently wrote a Theologia Platonica (printed in 1482), and trans-
lated Plato (1483-4) and Plotinus (1492). He was one of the most influential
promoters of that revival of Platonism in Western Europe which had been started
at Florence by Pletho, who resided for a time (from 1438 on) at the court of
Cosmo de’ Medici.
 32 INTRODUCTION
through Pythagoras, from Trismegistus. And his view was adopted,
at least in its main outlines, by all who dealt with the subject down
to the end of the sixteenth century.
The publication of Ficino’s translation of the Corus excited keen
and widespread interest in Hermes Trismegistus and his teaching.’
1 Tt is an indication of this general interest, that Hermes Trismegistus is depicted
in one of the designs with which the pavement of the cathedral of Siena is
decorated. (See Frontispiece.) These designs are ‘pictures incised in slabs of
white marble, and filled in with black or red marble’ (Murray’s Handbook, 1900).
The date of the Hermes-group is 1488, ‘It is not definitely known who designed’
this group, ‘but it is generally supposed, with considerable show of reason, to
have been Giovanni di Maestro Stefano’ (K. H. H. Cust, Zhe Pavement Masters
of Siena, 1901), The Hermes-design is placed in the middle of the floor at the
west end of the Duomo, so that it is the first thing that meets the eye as one
enters; and on either side of it are ranged five Sibyls. The designers had
doubtless read about Hermes Trismegistus and the Sibyls in Lactantius, and
considered them suitable subjects for the decoration of a church, on the ground
that they were heathen prophets who, in very ancient times, had borne witness
to the truths of Christian theology. (As Ficino says, ‘Lactantius (Trismegistum)
inter sibyllas ac prophetas connumerare non dubitat ’.) 2
At the foot of the design is the inscription Hermis Mercurius Trismegistus
contemporaneus Moys?. The group contains three figures. In the middle of the
picture stands a man with a long beard, who wears a high pointed hat or mitre.
He is handing an open book to a bearded man wearing a turban, who reverentially
accepts it from him; and behind the turbaned man stands a beardless man wearing
a hood. In the book which the first of the three men is handing to the second,
is written Suscipite o licteras et leges Egiptit. The word /icteras is Uitteras mis-
spelt; and the meaning is ‘Take up letters and laws, O Egyptians’. This is
probably meant for a hexameter (hence the strange position of O); though, if so,
there are two false quantities, Aicteras and Zgiptit. The words were doubtless
suggested by Cic. Wat. deor, 3. 56 (quoted by Lactantius, Dew. dust. 1. 6. 2):
Mercurius . . . quintus (whom the Egyptians call Theuth) .. . dicitur .
Aegyptits leges et litteras tradidisse.
The left hand of the man in the pointed hat rests on the upper edge of a slab,
on which is inscribed in Latin a saying of Trismegistus (Deus omnium creator, &c.).
This is a free translation of the Greek original of a passage in Ascl. Laz. 1. 8.
The designer must have got the i or indirectly from Lactantius, who
gives this passage in the original Greek.
Who are the persons represented by these three figures? And which of them
is Hermes? Mr. Cust (of. c##. p. 20) says, ‘The principal figure (i.e. the man in
the pointed hat) represents... Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, who, as we read
below, was contemporaneus Moysi. The two (other) men, one old (or middle-
aged ?) and turbaned, and the other veiled (or rather hooded), may perhaps typify
the learned men of the East and West.’
I was at first inclined to think that the ‘ principal figure’ is Moses, and that
it is the turbaned man who respectfully receives instruction from him that is meant
for Trismegistus, the turban being intended to mark him as an Egyptian. If so,
the hooded man who stands behind Trismegistus might be one of his Egyptian
upils (say Asclepius), and the two together would then be the ‘ Egyptii? whom
oses is addressing ; or the hooded man might perbaps be Plato. This interpreta-
tion of the design would agree well with the notions which were current at the
time; ‘Hermes’, it was thought, ‘learnt his philosophy from Moses, in whose
time he lived; from Hermes the doctrine was transmitted to Plato; and so it
came about that Plato, in his 7%maevs, reproduced the teaching of Moses
concerning the creation of the world.’ But on the other hand, it is Fhvismectates
that, in Cic, Mat. deor., ‘ dicttur Aegyptiis leges et litteras tradidisse’; and if the
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 33
Eight editions of Ficino’s book appeared before 1500; and Mead
enumerates twenty-two editions of it from 1471 to 1641.
Turnebus, 1554.—Mercurit Trismegisti Poemander, seu de potestate
ac sapientia divina. Aesculapit definitiones ad Ammonem regem....
Parisiis, M.D.LIIII: apud Adr. Turnebum typographum regium.
This is the editio princeps of the Greek text. It contains the
whole Corpus, I-XIV under the title Mercurti Trismegisti Poemander,
and XVI-XVIII under the title Aesculapii definitiones. One MS.
only was used ; and the printed text appears to be an exact reproduc-
tion of that MS., which must have been closely related to Cod. D.
At the end are given about fifty variant readings, which may have
been got from the margin of the MS.
The text printed by Turnebus is preceded by a preface, in Greek,
written by Vergicius. (This preface is reprinted in Parthey’s
Poemander.) Vergicius says that ‘Hermes Trismegistus was an
Egyptian by race ;but who his father and his mother were, no one
can say. He flourished before the time of Pharaoh, as many of the
chronographi think.' Some, among whom is Cicero, suppose that he
is the person whom the Egyptians called Thoth. Some reckon him
a contemporary of Pharaoh ; but I differ from them, for the following
reason. .. . He must, therefore, have lived before Pharaoh, and
consequently, before Moses also.?
‘They say that this Hermes left his own country, and travelled all
over the world...; and that he tried to teach men to revere and
worship one God alone, the demiurgus and genetor of all things ;. . .
and that he lived a very wise and pious life, occupied in intellectual
contemplation (rzis rot vod Gewpias), and giving no heed to the gross
things of the material world (rév xarwpepdv rijs tAys); and that
having returned to his own country, he wrote at that time many
books of mystical philosophy and theology. Among these writings,
there are two of special importance; the one® is called Asclepius,
and the other,’ Potmandres.’
words written in the book were taken from that passage, it follows that the man
who is handing the book over (i. e. the ‘ principal figure’ in the pointed hat) must
be Trismegistus, and not Moses, and that the turbaned man who receives it from
him must represent the Egyptians whom ‘Trismegistus taught. If it is so, the
hooded man may be meant to stand for Plato and the Platonists, including,
pethaps, Italian scholars such as Ficino.
1 See Malala, Zestim.
* Vergicius then rejected the opinion, which was held by some, that Trismegistus
learnt from Moses.
* Viz, the Latin Asclepius of Pseudo-Apuleius.
* Viz. Corp. I-XIV.
2806 D Joe Fitp:
34 INTRODUCTION
Vergicius lays stress on the resemblances between the teaching
of the Corpus Hermeticum and that of Christianity ;and he quotes
from Suidas what he calls ‘the greatest and most marvellous of all
the sayings of Hermes’, in which that ancient Egyptian ‘ expressly
teaches the doctrine of the Holy Trinity’! He adds that he has
found many other sayings or writings of Hermes in Stobaeus.
In Turnebus’s edition, three Hermetic excerpts from Stobaeus
(viz. Zxc, IL a, Zxc. I, and the Greek original of Asc/. Lat. IIL. 27 e)
are printed as an appendage to Cor. I-XIV, and included under
the title Poimandres.
Flussas (Frangois Foix de Candalle), 1574.—Mercurti Trismegisti
Pimandras utraque lingua restitutus, D. Francisci Flussatis Candallae
industria. ... Burdigalae,... 1574.
Flussas used no manuscript. His text is based on that of
Turnebus. He has made a good many alterations (some of his
emendations were suggested or approved by ‘Josephus Scaliger,
iuvenis illustrissimus’, and other scholars) ;but where his printed
text differs from that of Turnebus, he has, with few exceptions,
given the Turnebus-reading in his margin, Thus, if we substitute
the marginal readings for those of the text, we have in this edition
an almost exact reproduction of the MS, from which Turnebus
printed. The Pimandras of Flussas? is to this day, with the
exception of the scarce editfo princeps, the only publication in which
is to be found a trustworthy printed text of those parts of the Corpus
which have not been edited by Reitzenstein—i.e. of Corp. II-XII
and XIV.
Flussas gives to Corp. I-XIV the title Ziismegisti Pimandras, and
calls the several Ue//i ‘Caput I’, ‘Caput IL’, &c. After XIV he.
appends, and includes under the title Pimandras, a ‘Caput XV’,
which is made up of the same three Stobaeus-excerpts which had
been inserted by Turnebus, with the addition of the extract from
Suidas which Vergicius had quoted in his preface to the editio
princeps. After this stands ‘Caput XVI’ (our Libel/us XVI), under
the title Aesculapit ad Ammonem. But Flussas tacitly omits the
surviving fragment of Zide//us XVII, doubtless because he saw that
it has nothing to do with Zzbe//us XVI, to which, in the MSS. and
the editio princeps, it is joined on as a part of the same document.

1 See Suidas, Zestim. a

2 The latest reprint of the Pémandras of Flussas is that which is included in
the Cologne edition (1630) of Rossel’s commentary, (See below.)
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 35
He also omits Libe//us XVIII, probably because he saw that it
could not rightly be ascribed to Asclepius.
In his dedicatory letter, addressed to the Emperor Maximilian II,!
Flussas says that Hermes attained to a knowledge of divine things
surpassing that which was revealed to the Hebrew prophets, and
equalling that of the Apostles and Evangelists. ‘Nimirum hic
(Trismegistus) unus inter eos, qui divinitus inspirati sunt, de omni-
potentis dei essentia solerti admodum colloquio quamplura detegit—
mundi facturam, hominis ad Dei imaginem ac similitudinem opifi-
cium, eiusdem insuper tantae miseriae lapsum, huius denique lapsus
amplioris foelicitatis medelam: undique Deum incorporeum ac extra
materiam sciscitandum edocet. At si exigua sint haec, et antiquos
Divini nutus nuncios nihilo antecellentia, aderunt quamplura, quae
a Mose, prophetis, ac quibusvis Christi patefactionem praecedentibus
silentio praetermissa sunt, Mercurio huic termaximo patefacta.
Qualia sunt, de Triade summa uno Deo sermo:! Divinum insuper
Verbum Patris filium:* ac a Patre et Verbo Spiritum, ignis et
spiritus Deum, prolatum, cunctorum operatorem fuisse:4 Verbum
autem unum hominem, Divino nutu regenerandorum hominum
évépyetav extitisse :* ab hoc insuper regenerandi solo effectu salutem
_ pendere.’ Cratere item Spiritu referto sacrosanctum aperit Baptisma.’
Corporibus officio functis ad sua munia reditum pollicetur.s Preca-
tiones demum omnipotenti Deo prolatas, per Verbum offerri iubet.’ ®
‘What more’, asks Flussas, ‘is made known to us by those who
were instructed by our Saviour himself? And yet this man was
anterior in time, not only to the disciples of our Lord, but also to all
the prophets and teachers of our Law, and, as the Ancients say,
to Moses himself.’ He must then, Flussas thinks, have been
inspired by God, and more fully inspired than any of the Hebrew
Prophets.
In his preface (which is reprinted in Parthey’s Poemander) Flussas
1 Invictissimo Caesari Maximiliano hutus nominis guarto. The man is
Maximilian II, who was emperor from 1564 to 1 576. What does Flussas mean
by calling him ‘the fourt of that name’? Miss Helen Cam tells me that there
were two Saints named Maximilian, one of whom was martyred in A. D. 295 and
the other in A.D. 362 (Biographie Universelle), and suggests that these two
Saints may have been reckoned as the first and second Maximilians,
aThis we especially to the oe Suidas. 3
Corp. I. 6, orp. I. 9. Corp, XIII. 4.
© Corp. XIII passim. ; 7 Corp. IV. 4. - :
§ Corp. III. 4, taken to signify the resurrection of the body,
® Corp. XIII, 21. Most of these pee instances of distinctively Christian
doctrine in the Hermetica, if not all o them, are due to misunderstandings of
the text.
DZ
 36 INTRODUCTION
mentions, and apparently adopts,’ the opinion that Trismegistus first
put forth his writings in the Egyptian language, and afterwards
himself translated them into Greek.
As to the Latin Asclepius, Flussas thinks it probable that Apuleius,
who is known to have been a very wicked man, inserted idolatrous and
impious passages* into his translation of the Greek text of Hermes,
and then suppressed the Greek original, in order that his fraud
might escape detection. Since the Asc/epius has been thus polluted,
Flussas decides not to include it in his edition.
He discusses the date of Trismegistus at some length, and gives
reasons for thinking that he flourished about the time of Abraham.
Hannibal Rossel, Pymander Mercurii Trismegisti, Cracow, 1585-
1590. This is a ponderous commentary, in six volumes, on selected
passages of Corp. I-VII and the Latin Asclepius. The passages
taken from the Corpus are given in Latin only, and not in Greek.
I have merely glanced into Rossel’s commentary ; but I gather from
what others say about it that nothing could possibly be gained by
reading it. He appears to use the sayings of Hermes merely as
pegs on which to hang his own disquisitions on things in general.’
A later edition of Rossel’s commentary, with a reprint of Flussas’s
Pimandras prefixed to it, was printed in Cologne in 1630.
Patritius, 1591.—Patrizzi published the Jeli of the Corpus
Hlermeticum, together with much other matter, in a comprehensive
work, which was printed at Ferrara in 1591.
Title-page of the second edition: Nova de universis philosophia,
libris quinguaginta comprehensa : in gua Aristotelico methodo non per
motum, sed per lucem et lumina ad primam causam ascenditur. Deinde
nova quadam ac peculiar’ methodo tota in contemplationem venit
divinitas. Postremo methodo Platonico rerum universttas a conditore
Deo deducitur® Auctore Francisco Patritio.... Quibus postremo sunt
adiecta |Zoroastris oracula CCCXX, ex Platonicis collecta : | Hermetis
} His language on this point is far from clear, and I am not sure that I have
understood him rightly.
? He doubtless means especially Asc. Lat. III, 23b-24a and 37-38 a, the
Mass i in which it is asserted that ‘men make gods’.
8 The contents of the several volumes are described in the title-pages as follows:
Tom. I, ‘de 8. S. Trinitate’; Tom. II, ‘de Spiritu S. e¢ angelis'; Tom.
III, ‘de
ente, materia, forma, et rebus metaphysicis’; Tom. IV, ‘de caelo’ ;
Tom. V,
‘de Elementis, et descriptione totius orbis’; Tom. VI, ‘de immortalita
te Animae’.
4 I have seen the second edition of this work (Venice, 1593), but not the
first
edition (Ferrara, 1591).
5 Tn place of all this (from Nova de universts to Deo deducitur), the title
first edition, as given by Fabricius, has only De aethere ac rebus coelestibus of the
,
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 37

Trismegisti libelli, et fragmenta, quotcumque reperiuntur, ordine scien-

tifico disposita: Asclepi discipuli tres libelli: | Mystica Aegyptiorum,
a Platone dictata, ab Aristotele excepia et perscripta Philosophia : |
Platonicorum dialogorum novus penttus a Francisco Patritio inventus
ordo scientificus: |Capita demum mulia in quibus Plato concors,
Aristoteles vero Catholice fidei adversarius ostenditur. | Venettis,...
1593"
Patrizzi seems to have been impelled by a genuine enthusiasm to
take upon himself the task of bringing about a restoration of true
religion ; and he regarded the Hermetica as one of the most effective
instruments that could be used in the execution of this design. In
his preface, addressed to Pope Gregory XIV, he says; ‘In this volume
I present to you five philosophies, viz. (1) nostvam recens conditam,’
(2) Chaldaicam Zoroastri, (3) Hermetis Trismegisti Aegyptiam,*
(4) Aegyptiam aliam mysticam,’ and (5) aliam Platonis pro-
1 Certain parts of Patrizzi’s work, including his collection of Hermetica, were
reissued at London in 1611, in a volume thus entitled: Hermetis Trismegisti
Opuscula, cum fragmentis quotquot reperiuntur, ordine scientifico disposita ... |
liem Asclepii discipuli tres libelli. | Quibus sunt adéecta | Zoroastri oraciula
CCCXX ...: | Mystica Acgiptiorum a Platone dictata . . . Philosophia. |
Londini 1611.| Iilustrissimo...D. Johanni Radcliffe... admirandum hune
divinae sapientiae thesaurum, grati animi obseguium, L.M.D.C.Q. In this
republication Patrizzi’s own system of philosophy is omitted; the Hermetica are
placed at the beginning of the volume, as being first in importance, and two of
Patrizzi’s other adiecta are appended to them, In the parts thus reissued in 1611
the pages agree, letter for letter, with those of the 1593 edition of Patrizzi.
2 i.e. a system of philosophy constructed by Patrizzi himself. In Ueberweg’
Hist. ofphilosophy, Eng. tr. 1874, ii, pp. 20, 25, 465, Patrizzi’s teaching is describ
as a blend of a theosophy based on Neoplatonism with opinions on natural science
which he adopted from his elder contemporary Bernardinus Telesius.
8 i.e, the extant fragments of the so-called Cha/daean Oracles, an exposition,
in clumsy Greek hexameters, of a Pagan system of gnosts, These Oracles were
known to Porphyry, and were probably composed about A.D. 200, Scattered
fragments of them, preserved by quotation in the writings of Proclus and other
Neoplatonists, were collected and commented on by Psellus, from whom Patrizzi
got them. Sce Kroll, De Oraculis Chaidatcis, 1894.
4 i.e, the teaching of Hermes (Corp. I-XIV, Stobaeus-excerpts, &c., and the
Latin Asclepius), and that of his pupil Asclepius (Cor. XVI-XVIII). As to
the latter, Patr. says, ‘De ¢ribus his libellis, primus quidem (i.e. Corp. XVI) et
tertius (Corp. XVUTL. 11-16) digni videntur quibus Hermetis auditor (Asclepius)
fuerit author. Sed secundus (Corp. XVII. 1-10), guamvis ab co tertius pendere
videatur, supposilus possit existimart.
5 The work reprinted by Patrizzi under the title Mystica Aegyptiorum . .
philosophia is a Latin version of a treatise entitled ‘The Zheologia of Aristotle by
which had been translated from Greek into Arabic about a. D. 840, and was well
known and highly esteemed among the Arabs, who supposed it to be a genuine
work of Aristotle. The bulk of it is a paraphrase of portions of Plotinus,
nneads TV-V1; but in the introductory chapter Aristotle is made to speak
in his own person, and refers to ‘my earlier book, the AMeéaphysics’. Ueberweg
(Hist. Phil., Eng, tr. 1880, i, p. 425) says that it ‘was known in a Latin transla-
tion to the Scholastics’, Soon after 1500 Franciscus Roseus found an Arabic MS.
38 INTRODUCTION
priam.'...1n our day, men laugh at philosophers ; and it is commonly
said “ So-and-so is a philosopher, he does not believe in God”. The
reason of this is, that the only philosophy studied is that of Aristotle,
which, as men know and are told, denies the omnipotence and
providence of God. Yet Hermes said sine philosophia impossibile
esse summe esse pium.” Reflecting on this saying, I thought that it
might be possible to discover a truer philosophy, by which we might
return to God who made us. I threw myself into the search for
it; ... and after much toil and resolute effort, I think I have
brought it to completion.
‘I have appended to my own philosophy the other four (i.e. those
numbered (2), (3), (4), and (5) above); for all these alike “pro-
positum sibi finem habent, ut doceant Deum rerum esse conditorem,
rectorem, curatorem ac provisorem, et ut homines tum illum, tum
seipsos cognoscant, et addiscant, quibus modis ad creatorem Deum
animae humanae redeant, aeternaque apud eum beatitudine fruantur ”.
‘I hope’, says Patrizzi to the Pope, ‘that you and your successors
will adopt this new and restored religious philosophy, and cause it to

of it at Damascus, and got Moses Rouas to translate the Arabic text into Ttalian ;
the Italian of Rouas was translated into Latin by Petrus Nicolaus ex Castellaniis ;
and the Latin version thus produced was printed at Rome in 1 519, under the
patronage of Pope Leo X, with the title Sapientissimd Aristolelis Stagiritae
Theologia sive mistica Philosophia Secundum Aegyptios noviter Reperta et in
Latinum Castigatissime redacta. A revised edition of it, in more polished Latin,
was published by Carpentarius at Parisin 1572; but Patrizzi preferred to reproduce
the edition of 1519, as more faithfully representing the original. Fr, Dieterici has
published the Arabic text (Dze sogenannte Theologie des Aristoteles, 1882), and
a German translation of it (1883). Dieterici says that the Latin version of 1 519
(i.e. that which Patrizzi reprinted), ‘judged from the present standpoint of Arabic
philology, is worthless’.
Patrizzi saw that the doctrine of this treatise is what is commonly called
Neoplatonic ;yet he contrived to retain his belief that it had been written by
Aristotle. His theory about it is as follows. Plato studied for thirteen years
under the Egyptian priests at Heliopolis (Strabo 806), and was permitted by them
to read the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, After his return to Athens, Plato
taught two distinct philosophies—an ‘ exoteric’ philosophy, which is given in his
written Dialogues, and an ‘esoteric’ philosophy, based on the ancient wisdom
of Egypt, which he imparted orally to his pupil Aristotle. The latter wrote down
day by day the secret teaching which he received from the lips of Plato; and the
Mystica philosophia consists of the notes which he thus wrote down. Afterwards,
Aristotle quarrelled with Plato and his followers, and started a school of his own
in opposition to them; and the books commonly known as Aristotle’s writings
are those which he wrote during that period of his life. But in his old age he
retuned to the true Platonic faith. The book in which this ‘ mystic hilosophy ’
was written down by Aristotle was lost, Patrizzi thinks, innnedintely after his
death, but was found again in the time of Ammonius Saccas, the teacher of
Plotinus ;and the Neoplatonists borrowed from it.
? i. e. Plato’s ‘exoteric’ teaching, which is given in his Dialogues,
2 Herm. a. Stob. £xc. ITB. 2.
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 39

be studied everywhere. Why are those parts alone of Aristotle’s

philosophy studied which are hostile to God and his Church, while
are disregarded? Assuredly the treatise of
these piae adiutrices
than all
Hermes de pietate ac philosophia' contains more philosophy
the works of Aristotle taken together. . . . “ Poeman der (i.e. Corp. I)
creationem mundi et hominis, cum Mosaica fere eandem, complec-
titur. Et Trinitatis mysterium longe apertius quam Moses ipse
phia
enarrat. Multi apud (Hermetem) et vera pietate et vera philoso
sunt plenissimi libelli, qui pro Aristote lis impiis subroga ri et possint
et debent.”
‘Many of Plato's dialogues also may be publicly taught “ sine
impietatis periculo ullo, pietatis adiumento multo” ; especially the
Philebus, Timaeus, Sophista, Parmenides, and Phaedo, ‘“ Plotini
libri omnes sacram quandam continent verius theologiam quam
philosophiam.” (He mentions with approval Proclus and Damas-
cius also.)
‘Almost all the early Fathers, “quia scirent paucis mutatis
Platonicos facile Christianos fieri posse, .. . Platonem eiusque
sectatores hosce philosophis reliquis omnibus antetulerunt, Aristo-
telem non nisi cum infamia nominarunt. Quadringentis vero abhinc
circiter annis? Scholastici Theologi in contrarium sunt annixi,
Aristotelicis impietatibus pro fidei fundamentis sunt usi. Excusatos
eos habemus, quod cum Graecas litteras nescirent, illos cognoscere
non potuerunt. Non vero eos excusamus, quod impietate (-tati ?)
pietatem adstruere sint conati. . . .”
‘T would have you then, Holy Father, and all future Popes, give
that some of the books which I have named® shall be™
orders
continually taught everywhere, as I have taught them for the last
fourteen years at Ferrara. You will thus make all able men in Italy,
Spain, and France friendly to the Church; and perhaps even the
German protestants will follow their example, and return to the
Catholic faith. It is much easier to win them back in this way than
to compel them by ecclesiastical censures or by secular arms. You
should cause this doctrine to be taught in the schools of the Jesuits,
who are doing such good work. If you do this, great glory will
await you among men of future times. And I beg you to accept me
as your helper in this undertaking.’
of
1 je, Herm. ap. Stob. Zac, 11 B, which Patrizzi has placed at the beginning
his collection of Hermetica.
2 i.e. from about A, D, 1300, 3 Including the Hermedica,
 40 INTRODUCTION
In an introduction to that part of his book which contains the
flermetica, Patrizzi says, ‘ Videtur Hermes hic Trismegistus coeta-
neus quidem fuisse Mosy, sed paulo senior. .. . Apparebit autem ex
hisce Hermetis tum libellis tum fragmentis pia quaedam erga Deum
Philosophia, fidei dogmatibus ut plurimum consona. Apparebit
quoque Graecas philosophias omnes, Pythagoream, Platonicam
in
divinis ac morum dogmatibus,' Aristotelicam autem
et Stoicam
in physicis, et medicinae etiam prima principia, et ex his
et ex aliis
qui perierunt eius libris fuisse desumptas.
‘Quamobrem (apparebit) longe satius et Christianis
hominibus
consultius et utilius longe futurum esse, si Hermetis dogmat
a potius
quam Aristotelica, quae ubique magna scatent impietate,
in scholis
publicis et monachorum Aristoteli nimium addictorum
coenobiis
aliquando legantur. Quod ut comodius fieri queat,
libellos iuxta
materiarum, uti diximus, sequellam et seriem in ordine
m redegimus.’
He has rearranged the flermetica, and placed them in the
following order: Stob. I. 41. 1 (which I have divide
d into the two
distinct excerpts IIB and XI): Corp. I, III, X, V,
VI, XIII, VII,
II, XI, XII, IV: Kore Kosmu, followed by eight other Stobaeus-
excerpts :Corp. IX: six Stobaeus-excerpts : Corp.
VIII: Corp. XIV:
fragments from Cyril, Stobaeus, &c.: the Latin
Asclepius. Then
follows, as a separate work by a different author,
the 6pot ’AokAymeod
mpos “Appova (i.e. Corp, XVI-XVIII). In regard
ing the several
documents contained in the Corpus as unconnected
“belli, Patrizzi
made a decided advance beyond the position of
the earlier editors ;
but there is not much to be said for the order in
which he thought
fit to arrange the Hermetic writings.
What were the sources from which Patrizzi
got his text of the
Uibelli of the Corpus? He certainly used the
printed editions of
Turnebus and Flussas. But Reitzenstein has found
reason to think
that Patrizzi based his text on a MS. other
than that used by
Turnebus, and that he merely introduced here and
there the readings
of the earlier editors, The question is, however, of
little importance ;
for as Patrizzi has made many arbitrary alterations
in the text, and
does not tell us whether the reading which
he adopts is derived
from some authority or is of his own invention,
his edition furnishes
no material that can be used as an aid to textua
l criticism.*
* i.e, in theology and ethics.
2 I have noted some signs of a specially close
of the Corpus-libelli and that of Q and Bodl, relation between Patrizzi’s text
time to investigate the question of Patrizzi’s 16987. But it would be waste of
Sources more thoroughly.
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 4l
Casaubon, 1614.—J/saaci Casauboni ... Exercitationes XVI, Ad
Cardinalis Baronit Prolegomena in Annales... . Londint...
MDCXIIII. In £xercit. 1. 10, pp. 70 ff., Casaubon discusses the
date and origin of the SiJy//ina and Hermetica ;and in this short
tractate we find for the first time a view of the Hermetic writings
which is, in the main at least, historically sound.
As compared with all
who had previously written on the subject, from Lactantius to Patrizzi,
Casaubon olos wérvurat, rol b& oxtail diocovow. He does not deny
that there may have been a man named Hermes Trismegistus who
lived before Moses; but he sees that the AHermetica cannot have
been written by any such person. He says, ‘Librum... qui sub
~nomine Mercurii Trismegisti circumferri ab aliquot seculis cepit
(i.e. the Corpus Hermeticum) non veremur pronuntiare, et omni
asseveratione confirmare, esse yevder/ypadov’: and he concludes
that it was written about the end of the first century after Christ.’
‘Nunc probemus certis argumentis ... librum qui hodieque
-plerisque doctorum in deliciis et magno pretio est tanquam vere
Mercurii Trismegisti, pevder’ypadov esse et merum wAdopa.... Nos
igitur. . .affirmamus, in eo libro contineri non Aegyptiacam Mercutii
doctrinam, sed partim Graecam e Platonis et Platonicorum libris,
et quidem persaepe ipsis eorum verbis, depromptam: partim
-Christianam? e libris sacris petitam.
‘Quodnam philosophiae genus in usu olim fuerit apud veteres
Aegyptios, a libris Eusebii . . . et aliis priscis scriptoribus potest
intelligi. At Pseudomercurii huius diversa est genere toto philoso-
phandi ratio:* et res enim et verba scholam Platonis sapiunt, iis
dumtaxat exceptis, quae miscet e libris divinis. Ne temere videamur
tot doctorum opinioni contraire, paucis demonstremus quod dicimus.’
(Here he goes into details, and discusses particular passages in the
Corpus.)
‘Tum autem, si vere Mercurii esset hic liber, oporteret ut vel
ipse Graece eum scripsisset, vel ex Aegyptiaco sermone aliquis
-vertisset. Nos utrumvis horum firmissime negamus esse factum:
prius, quia stylus huius libri alienissimus est a sermone illo quo

1 He puts the date a little too early; most of the /el/i of the Corpus were
probably written in the third century, some perhaps in the second century.
? He onght rather to have said Judaicam. (See Corp. I and III.)
More is now known about the modes of thought of the ancient Egyptians; but
Casaubon’s opinion on this point is confirmed by the results of modern Egyptology.
‘Traces of the influence of indigenous Egyptian thought, if not entirely absent, are
fare in the Hermetica.

e
e
a
oe
e_
E
42 INTRODUCTION

Graeci Hermetis aequales sunt usi. . . . Hic (i.e. in the Hermetica)

nullum penitus vestigium antiquitatis: . . . contra, multa hic
vocabula, quae ne vetustior quidem Hellenismus agnoscat eo qui
vigebat circa nativitatem Domini. . . . Quis priorum dixit tAdrys,
ovotdrys, et id genus alia?
‘Nego etiam ex alia lingua versa haec esse: atrodvqy esse et
Graece primitus scripta pertendo, Nulla unquam versio tam feliciter
elaborata fuit, quae peregrinitatem non prae se ferret, et certis
indiciis demonstraret. Hic nihil eiusmodi. Omnia yvyoiws Graeca,
et Hellenismo eius quam designavi aetatis, sua ubique constat
Fahio aa
‘Falsum igitur est, immo falsissimum, quod iste planus in Epistola
ad Ammonem (Corf. XVI) persuadere vult nobis ; a Mercurio prius
Aegyptiaco sermone ista fuisse conscripta. Falsissimum etiam est,
quod docti indocti videntur hactenus credidisse ; aut scripta haec
fuisse a Mercurio Trismegisto, vetustissimo Aegypti sapiente, aut
ex illius scriptis esse versa. Quorum utrumque probavimus esse
longe absurdissimum.’
In one important matter, however, Casaubon’s view requires
correction. He thinks, as his predecessors thought, that the Corpus
contains distinctively Christian doctrines ; and he thence infers that
the Hermetica were, like the Oracula Sibyllina, forged by a Christian
(‘ or rather’, he adds, ‘a semi-Christian ’), with the object of recom-
mending the doctrines of his religion to his Pagan neighbours by
making it appear that they were vouched for by the authority of an
ancient and venerated name.' This is true of some of the Sidy//ina ;
but it is not true of the Aermetica. The authors of the “dell
collected in the Corpus were Pagans ; and apart from a few inter-
polated words, the resemblances to Christian doctrine which we find
in the Hermetic writings are to be accounted for, not by assuming
that the writers borrowed from the New Testament or from other
Christian sources, but by recognizing the fact that, at the time when
the Hermetica were written, there were many matters on which
Christians and Pagan Platonists thought and spoke alike. We must,
therefore, substitute ‘a number of Pagan writers’ for the ‘Christian
or semi-Christian’ author of whom Casaubon speaks. With this
+ Casaubon says, ‘ Neque vero dubiltamus id egisse auctorem, ut multa pietatis
Christianae dogmata, quae ceu nova et prius inaudita reiiciebantur, probaret ab
ultima antiquitate sapientibus fuisse nota, et ab illo ipso Mercurio in literas fuisse
relata, quem non solum Aegyptii, sed etiam Graeci propter vetustatem et doctrinac
opinionem magnopere suspiciebant.’
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 43

correction, his statement of the motive for employing the name of

Hermes may be considered to hold good.
Casaubon’s opinion as to the period in which the Hermetica were
written gradually prevailed, and came to be adopted by all competent
scholars;! and, deprived of the prestige which their supposed
antiquity had conferred on them, the Hermetic writings lost their
hold on men’s interest, and sank into comparative neglect.’ Transla-
tions of the Corpus continued to appear from time to time ;* but
from 1630 to 1854, no reprint of the Greek text was issued.
Tiedemann, 1781.—Hermes Trismegists Poemander oder von der
gittlichen Macht und Weisheit, aus dem Griechischen tibersetat .. . von
Dieterich Tiedemann. Berlin und Stettin, . . . 1781. This is a

1e.g. T. Gale, in his edition of ‘Iamblichus De mysterits’, 1678, says,

‘Equidem parum tribuo omnibus istis scriptis, quae sub Hermetis nomine extant.
Credo nihil esse aliud, quam adumbrationes quorundam locorum ex sacra pagina
et antiquioribus philosophis excerptorum.’
2 The true significance of the Hermetica, as documents of primary importance
for the history of religion, not in the second millennium before Christ, but in the
third century after Christ (the critical period of the struggle between Paganism
and Christianity), has been strangely overlooked in the past, and is even now
inadequately recognized.
3 For instance: Zhe divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus,
in XVII books. Translated formerly out of the Arabick (this presumably means
“out of the Egyptian’) info Greek, and thence into Latine, and Dutch, and now
out of the Original[!] into English: by that Learned Divine Doctor Everard:
London . .. 1650. ‘This is a translation of Corp. I-XIV and three Stobaeus-
excerpts. The text translated is that of Patrizzi, and the “ibelli are placed in the
order in which Patrizzi arranged them. ‘The preface (written, after Everard’s
death, by some one who signs himself ‘J. F.’) begins thus: ‘This Book may
justly challenge the first place for antiquity, from all the Books in the World,
being written some hundreds of yeers before Moses his time, as 1 shall endevor
to make good... . In this Book, though so very old, is contained more true
knowledg of God and Nature, then in all the Books in the World besides, I except
onely Sacred Writ.’ Everard’s translation has been several times reprinted—
most recently by the Theosophical Publishing Society in 1893; and doubtless
some readers, down to our own time, have accepted it without question as the
oldest book in the world.
Des Mousseaux, La magie au dix-neuvidme siécle, 1860, p. 343, speaking of the
assages about ‘making gods’ in Asc?, Lat. III, says, i Teile est l’antiquité de
Mrismepiste (whom he assumes to be the author of the Asclepius), que beaucoup
@auteurs le prennent pour un fils de Cham ou pour Cham lui-méme! Ses ancétres,
dont il nous parle 14, seraient donc les chefs de /a magie antédiluvienne ! Quelle
date! et combien elle est logique!’ Des Mousseaux, a devout Roman Catholic,
includes under the term ‘magic’ both the Pagan cults of antiquity and modern
mesmerism and spiritualism, and is convinced that both in ancient oracles, &c.,
and in the phenomena of contemporary hypnotism and the like (of which he has
had much personal experience), the agent who operates is the Devil, or a devil.
His book is ably written, and contains much interesting matter.
The time of the Deluge is the earliest time to which I have found the Hermetic
teaching assigned in Europe. But Arabic writers dated it still earlier; for they
a Hermes with Enoch, and his teacher Agathos Daimon with Seth, son
o *

E
e
e
44 INTRODUCTION
German translation of the Corpus, based on the Greek text of
Flussas. Reitzenstein says that Tiedemann gives in his notes
‘a whole series of excellent conjectures’, The book is scarce, and
I have not seen it.
Parthey, 1854.—Hermetis Trismegisti Poemander. Ad fidem codi-
cum manu scriptorum recognovit Gustavus FParthey. Berolini,
MDCCCLIV. This is an edition of Corp. I-XIV. Parthey says
in his preface that, if it meets with a good reception, he intends
to edit afterwards religua Hermetis scripta, apud Lactantium, Cyril-
lum, Stobaeum servata; but this project was never carried out by
him. He says nothing about Corg. XVI-XVIII.
Parthey made use of the editions of Turnebus, Flussas, and
Patrizzi, and Tiedemann’s notes; but he professes to base his text
mainly on two MSS., A and B.* Cod. A had been collated for him
by F. de Furia, and Cod. B by D. Hamm. But whether through his
own carelessness or incompetence, or through that of the collators,
his statements as to the readings of A and B are untrustworthy;*
and for any one who has access, either directly or through the
medium of the Fimandras of Flussas, to the sounder text of the
editio princeps, which reproduces without alteration that of a MS.,
Parthey's edition is useless, if not misleading.
Ménard, 1866.—Hermes Trismégiste. Traduction complete, preé-
cédée d'une étude sur Lorigine des livres Hermétiques. Par Louis
Ménard... .. Paris,..+ 1866. The Traduction is a free translation
of Corp. I-XIV, the Latin Ascdepius, twenty-six Stobaeus-excerpts,
some fragments from Cyril, &c., and Corp. XVI-XVIII. Ménard
does not stick closely to the (often meaningless) words of the
traditional text, but expresses in fluent French what he rightly or
wrongly takes to have been the author’s meaning. His introductory
Etude (x11 pages) is a sensible and well-written treatise on the
Hermetica. For those who wish to make acquaintance with the
Hermetists, but do not read Greek and Latin, Ménard’s book is,
I think, to be recommended in preference to any other work on
the subject that has yet been published.
Zeller (Philosophie der Griechen, Theil IIT, Abth. IZ, ath edition,

1 An exact reprint of Parthey's Poemander of 1854 has been published within

the last few years. It would have been better if the editio princeps, or the
Pimandras of Flussas, had been reprinted instead.
* *Codices A et B ita secutus sum, ut nusquam, nisi monito lectore, ab eorum
auctoritate recesserim.’
5 * Auf keine seiner Angaben ist irgenwelcher Verlass’, says Reitzenstein.
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 45
1903, PP. 242-54) gives an account of the Hermetica, and summa-
rizes the doctrines taught in them, He says that these writings
‘seem in their present form to belong to the last decennia of the
third century after Christ’.
Reitzenstein,1904.—Poimandres. Studien zur griechisch-aegyptischen
und friih-christlichen literatur. Von R. Reitsenstein. Leipzig, . ..
7904. As an appendix to the book is printed Reitzenstein’s critical
editionef Corp, I, XIII, and XVI-XVIII.
The publication of Reitzenstein’s Poimandres marks the beginning
of a fresh stage in the study of the Hermetic writings. Working as
a pioneer in what was, for modern scholarship, almost a new and
untouched field, he has made some serious mistakes ; but he has
put the study of the Hermetica on a scientific footing, and all later
work on this subject must be based on his investigations.
Reitzenstein has also discussed some passages of the Corpus in
Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen, thre Grundgedanken und
Wirkungen, 1910.
Among recent publications may be mentioned TZhrice-Greatest
Hermes. Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis. Being a
Translation of the Extant Sermons and Fragments of the Trismegistic
Literature, with Prolegomena, Commentaries, and Notes. By
G. R. S. Mead. London and Benares. The Theosophical Publishing
Society, 1906 (three volumes). Mr. Mead’s point of view is indicated
by these words in his -preface: ‘Along this ray of the Trismegistic
tradition we may allow ourselves to be drawn backwards in time
towards the holy of holies of the Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. The
sympathetic study of this material may well prove an initiatory
process towards an understanding of that Archaic Gnosis.’
A strange and quite untenable theory as to the dates of the
_Hermetica has been put forward by Dr. Flinders Petrie, in a paper
“printed in the Zransactions of the Third Internat. Congress of the
History of Religions, 1908, pp. 196 and 224. He puts the date
of the Kore Kosmu (which he calls ‘the earliest Hermetic document’)
at ‘about 5ro B.c., or certainly before 410 B.c.’; that of Corp. XVI
at ‘about 350 B.c.’; and that of the original of the Latin Asc/epius at
about 340 B.c.’, And he says that ‘if the longest Hermetic
writings thus belong to the Persian age’ (i,e. to a time before
332 B.C.), ‘it is probable that the whole group are not far removed
from that period’. In a book entitled Personal Religion in Egypt
before Christianity, 1909 (ch. 3, ‘The dateable Hermetic writings’),
46 INTRODUCTION
he again expresses the same opinion as to the dates of Kore Kosmu,
Corp. XVI, and Asc/, Lat., adding that ‘there is nothing incom-
patible with such a date for Egyptian originals, while the Greek
translations may very likely show a later style’. He thinks (id.,
pp. 85-91) that Corg. II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, and X, were
probably written before the time of Alexander, and between 450 and
350 B.C.; that Corp, XII ‘must’ be earlier than 332 B.c.; that
Corp. IV ‘belongs to about 300 B.c.’; that Cor. XIII ‘seems to be
of the same date or rather later’; and that the date of Corp. I,
which ‘seems to be the last of the longer writings of this class’,
may very well be about 300-200 B.c. ‘The Hermetic books as
a whole’, he says (p. 102), ‘seem to hang together, and to belong
to one general period, 500-200 B.c.’ If these dates were proved
to be right, there would necessarily result from them an astounding
bouleversement of all commonly accepted views as to the history
of Greek thought. But the arguments by which he endeavours
to support his datings are not such as to be worth serious
attention.’
Josef Kroll, Die Lehren des Hermes Trismegistos, Minster i. Wi;
1914. In this book Kroll’s aim is ‘ to trace in detail the connexion
of the Hermetic doctrines with Greek or Hellenistic doctrines in
general, and to assign to the several notions (which present them-
selves in the Hermetica) their place in the history of religious and
philosophic thought’. For that purpose, he arranges the teachings
of the Hermetica under a series of subject-headings ; and in dealing
with each subject, he brings together what is said about it in the
several Hermetic /ie//i, and quotes or refers to parallels in other
writings. He concludes (pp. 386-9) that in the main the doctrines
of the Hermetica belong to ‘the sphere of Hellenistic thought—the
general philosophy of the culture-world of that time’, and that
among the sources from which the Hermetists drew, special impor-
tance is to be assigned to Posidonius ; that their thoughts have been
little, if at all, affected by Egyptian influence ; that their doctrines
are in many respects similar to those of Philo, and that here and
there are to be found in them distinctively Jewish notions ; and that
there is in the Hermetica ‘no trace of any influence of Christianity ’.?
1 It is to be regretted that a man who has earned a high reputation by
work in other departments has in this case strayed into a field of research in good
which
he does not know his bearings,
? These conclusions are in close agreement with those at which I had indepen-
dently arrived before reading Kroll’s book.
 CORPUS HERMETICUM 47

As to the dating of the Hermetic writings, Kroll says (p. 389)

that, for most of them, any date after the time of Philo is possible,
but that there are some pieces, one of which is Cory. I, that cannot
have been written before the time of Numenius (a.D. 150-200).
He adds, ‘ the dating in detail (of the several /de//) must be carried
out by some one who undertakes the attractive but difficult task of
distinguishing the different strata of the doctrines, and considering
each of the different tractates in itself, and their relations to one
another’.
That is precisely what I have aimed at doing in the present
edition. There was no one Hermetic school or sect, and no one
body of Hermetic doctrine. What we have before us is a number
of /idel/i, written by a number of different men, each of whom had
his distinct and separate point of view and mode of thought. There
is in their teachings a certain general similarity, but there is also
much divergence ; and it is, for most purposes, more profitable
to take the Hermetic /#de//7 one by one, and investigate the doctrine
of each of them separately, than to lump them all. together.
C. F. G. Heinrici, Die Hermes-Mystik und das Neue Testament,
edited by E. von Dobschiitz, Leipzig, r918. Hieinrici died leaving
the book unfinished, and von Dobschiitz published Heinrici’s MS.
almost unaltered, merely adding some pages of WVachtrdge written by
himself.
The purpose of this book is to determine the relation between
the teachings of the Hermetica and those of primitive Christianity as
presented in the New Testament. With that purpose in view,
Heinrici, in Part II, examines the Hermetic documents one by one
(in that respect his method is preferable to that of J. Kroll), and in
each of them looks for similarities in word or thought to things said
in the New Testament. In Part III, he arranges the teachings of
the Hermetica in general under a series of subject-headings, and
under each heading compares the teachings of the New Testament
on the same subject. His conclusions may be summed up by
saying that he finds in the Hermetica many passages that are
parallels to passages in the New Testament, but little that is dorrowed
from the New Testament.’
He does not undertake to examine the relations between the
Hermetica and Greek philosophic writings; his book is intended
1 As to this, I should differ only by reducing his ‘little’ to still less, or to
nothing,
 48 INTRODUCTION
to be a complement to that of J. Kroll, in which that subject was
dealt with.
Heinrici’s book contains some useful suggestions ; but it does not
throw much fresh light on the Hermetic writings. I have found
in it mistakes on particular points,! some of which are of consider-
able importance. And taking the book as a whole, Heinrici does
not seem to understand rightly the main drift of the Hermetic
teaching, and the relations in which it stands to other religious and
philosophic movements of the time. The term ‘ Hermes-AZpstik’,
employed by him in the title and throughout the book, is ambiguous,
Of ‘mysticism’ in the sense of aspiration towards union with God,
there is much in our Hermetica ;but of the sacramentalism of the
Pagan mystery-cults, and of ¢heurgia in general, there is hardly
anything; and Heinrici, though he here and there shows some
recognition of this fact, is too much inclined to bring the philosophic
Hermetica into connexion with mystery-cults and magical practices
which he includes under the vague term JZysti2, but with which
they have in reality little or nothing in common.? He begins by
contrasting AZyst## (which he defines as ‘revelation-literature’) with
philosophy, and coupling together the names Orpheus and Hermes
as representative of this AZys#%. It would be truer to say that the
name Hermes (as far as the /idelii of the Corpus Hermeticum and
the other documents of the same class are concerned) stands for
philosophy, or for a religion based on philosophy, and that of
Orpheus (the reputed founder of the mystery-cults, and supposed
author of the Orphica revered by the later Neoplatonists) stands for
theurgia as opposed to philosophy. He refers to Plato now and
again; but he does not adequately recognize the fact that the
doctrines of these Hermetica are, in the main, derived from Platonism,
and that all the other ingredients together are of comparatively small
amount.
' Some of the mistakes might perhaps have been corrected if the author had
lived to revise his work.
? For instance, he includes among the documents with which he deals the
pieces printed in Pitra, Ana/ecta II, which obviously (with one exception) belong
to a different class, and have nothing to do with the philosophic Hermefzca.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS

THE Asclepins has come down to us in the form of a Latin

dialogue attributed to Apuleius, This Latin dialogue is a translation
of a Greek original, which was known to Lactantius and others, but
is now lost.
The manuscript tradition of the Latin text has been thoroughly
investigated by P. Thomas; and the results of his researches are
incorporated in the text which he has published in his edition of the
philosophic writings of Apuleius (Apu/ei opera quae supersunt vol. IIT,
De philosophia libri, rec. P. Thomas, Teubner, Lips, 1908). Thomas’s
edition supersedes all earlier publications of the text; and I have
used it as my sole authority for the readings of the manuscripts.
Thomas classifies the more important manuscripts in two groups,
as follows :

I. Codices melioris notae:

(1) B = Bruxellensis 10054—10056 ; written early in the eleventh
century. Collated by Thomas. This MS. is very decidedly superior
to all the rest. The hands of several correctors can be distinguished.
One of these, B 2, who made his corrections at or near the end
of the eleventh century, seems to have been a well-instructed man.
In a few instances he alone gives what is certainly or probably the
true reading; but Thomas concludes that his emendations are
merely conjectural. The other correctors of B contribute nothing
of value.
(2) M = Monacensis 621 ; twelfth century. Collated by Gold-
bacher for his edition of Apuleius, 1876, and again by Thomas.
(3) V = Vaticanus 3385; twelfth century. The text of the
Asclepius contained in this MS. has not yet been collated. But as V
very closely resembles M (being, in Goldbacher’s opinion, a more
carelessly written copy of the same original from which M was
copied), it is not likely that its collation will add largely to the
material at our disposal for textual restoration. M and V are closely
2806 E
 50 INTRODUCTION
related to B; but Thomas thinks it probable that they were copied,
not directly from B, but from a corrected copy of B.
(4) G=Gudianus 168 Bibliothecae Guelferbytanae ; thirteenth
century. Collated by Goldbacher.

Il. Codices deteriores :

Collated by Goldbacher :
(x) P = Parisinus 6634 ; twelfth century.
(2) L = Laurentianus plut. LXXVI cod, 36; twelfth or thirteenth
century.
(3) F = Florentinus, olim Marcianus 284 ; twelfth century,
Besides these two groups, Thomas mentions a MS. in the British
Museum (Add. 11983, twelfth century), which he has found to
be of
very little value; and a large number of ‘interpolated MSS.’,
which
he has deliberately disregarded.
Thomas has reconstructed the text of the archetype from
which
our MSS. are derived. But that is only the first stage
on the road
to the discovery of the Hermetic teacher’s meaning.
The text of
the archetype itself was corrupt ; and even if we could
restore the
Latin to the exact form in which it came from the
hand of its first
writer, we should still be far from the completion
of our task. We
have to do with a Latin translation of a Greek docume
nt. The
Greek text was probably already damaged when
it came into the
translator's hands; the translator was very imperfe
ctly qualified for
his work, and it is certain that he has frequently
blundered, Our
first business is to work back to the Latin text
as the translator
wrote it; but having done this, we have still to
guess what was the
Greek which the translator had before him, and
thence to infer
the meaning which the writer of the lost original intende
d to convey.
Thomas has brought together the results of the
previous work of
other scholars in the emendation of the text,
and has added much
of his own that is of high value ;but he has
still left much to be
done. Not only have both the Greek original and
the Latin
translation been damaged by errors
of transcription ; but it is
evident that either the original or the translation
has been mutilated
in a quite exceptional way. Some passage
s have been lost, some
have been misplaced, and many words,
phrases, and sentences have
been transposed from a context in which
they made sense to a
context in which they make nonsense.
If the Latin text had once
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 51

existed in an intelligible and clearly written form, it is difficult to

imagine any process by which it could have been reduced to its
present state, The ordinary causes of corruption do not suffice
to explain its condition. The facts might perhaps be accounted for
by assuming that the translator never wrote out a fair copy of his
work, but left it full of erasures and corrections, with words and
phrases, representing his second thoughts, scribbled in wherever
he could find room for them ; and that this confused mass of words
was afterwards copied out by some one who mechanically wrote
down what he saw before him, without regard for the meaning.
The text which results from my attempts to restore the original
order of the words is still very faulty, and I hope that it will be
further emended by others ; but in spite of the many problems which
remain unsolved, I think that it is near enough to the original to
enable us to recover the thoughts of the writer (or writers) of the
Greek treatise in the main, though not in every detail.
In order that the reader may have before him the continuous text
in the traditional arrangement, each word, phrase, or passage which
I have transposed (with the exception of a few of the longest of
these passages) is printed between doubled rectangular brackets [[ |]
at the place where it stands in the MSS., and repeated between
doubled brackets of a different shape (( )) at the place to which
I have transferred it.
In the foot-notes to the text, I have adopted the notation employed
by Thomas :
w = omnium codicum consensus.
5 = codices interpolatt.
Ed. Rom. = editio princeps Romana, 1469.
In the English translation which faces the Latin text, I have
aimed at expressing what I suppose to have been the meaning of the
original Greek, rather than the meaning—or, too frequently, the
absence of meaning—of the Latin.

The component parts of the AscLtepius. It appears from internal

evidence that the dialogue has been made up by putting together
three distinct and unconnected documents—which I have named
respectively ‘ Asclepius I (De homine)’, ‘ Asclepius II (De origine
mali)’, and ‘ Asclepius III (De cultu deorum)'—and adding a
_ ‘*prologus’ and an ‘epilogus’.
The contents of Ascrepius J, ‘That part of the traditional text
E 2
 52 INTRODUCTION
which I call As¢?. I (viz. chs. 2-14) is a well-constructed whole, the
parts of which are arranged and linked together with some skill. It
is a treatise ‘de tota summitate’ (ch. 7 c)—concerning Deus, Mundus,
and Homo, and their inter-relations ;—but the writer deals with this
all-embracing subject from a definite point of view, and according to
a definite plan. Throughout the discussion, JZan is the central
figure;*and the teacher nowhere loses sight of his practical aim—
that of urging men to live the life to which, as men, they are called.
To this end he describes man’s origin and nature (partly cosmic and
partly supracosmic), and his station among and relations to beings
of other grades (2~7); the twofold function assigned to him in
accordance with his twofold nature (7 jiv.-11 a); and the destiny
which awaits him according as he fulfils his function or neglects it
(tr b-12 iniz.), The subdivisions in the treatment of the theme are
clearly marked, and yet are so connected that we pass on from each
to the next without a break. There are two subordinate topics on
which the writer has a special message to deliver, viz. the call to
renounce possessions (r1 a), and the mischief of a certain method
of philosophic teaching (12 /iz.-14 a). But each of these topics
is
introduced without breach of continuity. The renunciation of
possessions is spoken of as a thing required with a view to the
fulfilment of man’s function; and the corruption of philosophy is
coupled with the love of possessions, as one of the hindrances to the
realization of man’s high destiny. Thus the concluding paragraph,
on philosophy, is made to arise naturally out of the main subject;
and so the discourse ends appropriately with a description of that
teaching which the writer holds to be the true philosophy, and of
which the treatise itself is a specimen.
Asclepius I, then, is a well-ordered whole, complete in itself.
There can, I think, be little doubt that the Greek original of Ase/.
I
at first existed as a separate document, of the same type as the
LTermes to Asclepius libelli preserved in the Corpus ;and it may be
Presumed that it once formed part of the collection of discourses
known to Stobaeus as rd ‘Eppod pos *AokAnredy.
The sources of Ascr. I. Tn this treatise, as in most of the
HTermetica, there is little novelty or originality in the doctrines
taught; and the discourse of Hermes contains few statements to

1 The subject of this document might be described in the words of Pl. Theaet,
174b: ri 8& or’ early dvOparmos, kal rh rh Toaithn pice mpoonke Siddopoy ray
Ghraw moteiv f naoxew, Cnret (6 girdaogos),
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 53
which parallels cannot be found in earlier Greek writings. Yet the
teaching of Asc. I is not a mere repetition of traditional formulas;
the writer’s words ring true, and are alive with genuine feeling. If
he has adopted his beliefs from others, they are none the less
his own.
The influence of Plato is manifest throughout. The fundamental
articles of the writer's creed—the doctrine of a supracosmic God,
who is the maker and ruler of the universe, and that of a supracosmic
element in the human soul—have been transmitted to him from
Plato ; and verbal echoes of phrases used by Plato may be recog-
nized (see for instance the reminiscences of the Zimaeus in ch. 8).
But there is ample evidence of dependence on Greek writers of later
date than Plato. The terms tAy and gualitas (rodv or rodrys), as
employed in As¢/. I, did not come into use until after Plato’s time.
The cosmology of chs. 2-6 is largely Stoic. The notion of a lower
and mortal soul which is either composed of fire and air, or insepar-
ably connected with those elements, must have been arrived at by
a blending of Platonism with Stoic physics. The terms guod sursum
versus fertur and quod deorsum fertur (rd dvudepés, 7d Katwpepés),
ch. 2—species (cldos) in the sense of an individual, or the group of
qualities distinctive of an individual, chs. 2 Jin.-4—spiritus (avedpa),
ch. 6—and the statement that plants are diya, ch. 4, are of Stoic
origin. The phrase (vots) guae guinta pars soli homint concessa est ex
aethere, ch. 6 fin. seems to have been derived from the Peripatetic
Critolaus, perhaps through the syncretic Platonist Antiochus,!
The writer of Asc. I says that man has been embodied on earth
‘in order that he may tend the things of earth’ (iva ta émiyea
Gcparrevy) ;and it is in the treatment of this theme, if anywhere, that
he shows independence. ‘he earliest Pagan writer in whom I have
found this thought expressed is Cicero ; and he probably got it from
Posidonius. In this part of Asc¢/. I, therefore, the influence of
Posidonius may be suspected.
The modification of a fundamentally Platonic system of thought
by an intermixture of Stoic physics, such as we find in this document
as well as in most of the other Mermetica, must have been derived
from Antiochus and Posidonius, or from writers subsequent to them
and influenced by them.

1 The passage (sunt res) quaedam quae ante faclae sunt, &e., ch. 5 énit.,
bably comes from Antiochus; but it is doubtful whether this passage existed
n the original text of Ase/. 1,
54 INTRODUCTION
There seems to be nothing distinctively Egyptian in the doctrine
of Asc, 1. The religious fervour of the writer is characteristic of his
Egyptian nationality ;but there is nothing in his dogmas that cannot
be derived from Greek philosophy.
There are several phrases which show some resemblance to
passages in the first two chapters of Genesis. See notes on ch. 3,
mundus .. . pracparatus est a deo (i.e. thy has been created by
God); ch. 7, pars (hominis, sc. the vots), guam vocamus divinae
similitudinis formam ; ch. 8, kahos 8& (79 OG) eddvy dv (6 Kdcpos);
tb., talesque omnes esse praecepit (which implies the making of a ‘ first
man’); #4., man has been embodied wf possit ... gubernare terrena.
There is, then, a possibility that the writer was to some slight extent
affected by Jewish influence; but as each of these thoughts may
very well haye been suggested in some other way, it remains a
possibility only.
The writer uses the term 6 xvpios as a name or title of the
supreme God (ch. 8). Is this to be regarded as a result of Jewish
influence? The word «ipios (with a dependent genitive) was applied
to Zeus by Pindar, Jsthm. 4 (5). 67: Zeds ra te Kal ra véwer, Leds 6
mdvrwv Kips’ and according to Liddell and Scott, «pios occurs
‘in inscriptions, as a name of divers gods, Zeus, Hermes, Kronos, &c.,
vide C. I. Index II1; so Kvpéa of Artemis, &c., 2.’ But it was not
commonly used by Greek philosophic writers with reference to the
supreme God. There is no instance of this use of it in Diels
fr. Vorsokr., in Plato, in Aristotle, or in Diels Doxogr1 But it was
employed by the translators of the LXX as a rendering of the
Hebrew name of God; and where it is similarly used by Pagan
writers, it may have been taken over by them from Hellenistic Jews.
It occurs frequently in the books of magic; e.g. the god is addressed
as xvpte in Dieterich Afithrasliturgie, pp. 8, 10 (thrice), 14 (twice),
and Dieterich Aéraxas, p. 177, &c. Its use in such cases is com-
parable to that of the Hebrew names (e.g. Safa, Abraxas p. 176)
employed in magic invocations.
I have failed to find the slightest trace of Christian influence in
Ase. I.
Date of the Greek original of Ascz. J. The only definite erminus

} The nearest approaches to it are the following. Aetius, Doxogr., p. 297

(Stoic): r&v pév dnavrav 7d Oefov xupisrarov, TOV BE (glow vOpwmos KéAAoTOV.
Hermias, 7d., p. 652, in a statement of the doctrine of Anaxagoras: épy?) mévrav
6 vous, xal obros aitios Kal Kvpios Tay GAwv. But in both these instances the word
is followed by a genitive.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 85
a quo is that which is given by the fact that the writer mixes Stoic
physics with his Platonism. This sort of syncretism began in the
time of Antiochus and Posidonius, i.e. in the first half of the first
century B.c. It is therefore certain that the treatise cannot have
been written before roo 8.c. But it was probably not written until
much later.
A terminus ante quem may, perhaps, be inferred from the absence
of any recognition of the existence of Christianity. The attitude of
the writer of Asc/. I presents in this respect a contrast to that of the
writer of Asc/. III. The latter, writing about a. D. 270 (see below),
regards the advance of Christianity with horror and dismay ; it is
already clear to him that the Christians will soon get the upper
hand, and that the Pagan cults will be abolished. But the writer of
Asc. 1, when he asks himself (ch. r2 f.) what is the most serious
obstacle in the path of those who seek salvation, finds it in the fact
that certain Pagan teachers attach too much importance to the study
of mathematics. If he had been aware that the very existence of
his religion was threatened by the spread of Christianity, he could
hardly have omitted to mention at this point a danger in comparison
with which the error of which he speaks would have seemed to him
a negligible trifle. This seems a sufficient reason for putting the
date of Asci. I earlier than that of Asc/. III, Ased. I was probably
written at a time when Christianity was not yet strong or aggressive
enough to cause grave alarm or distress to the adherents of the old
religions ; Asc/. IIl was written at a time when it had already
become apparent to the writer, not only that a danger was impending,
but that the total extinction of Pagan religion was inevitable. For
reasons given below, I think that a man in the situation of the
writer of Asc/. I would not have been likely to ignore this danger at
any time later than A.D. 260. We may therefore fix on roo B.c. and
A.D. 260 as the extreme limits between which the date of Ase/. 1
must be placed; and we might with strong probability restrict the
range somewhat more narrowly, and say that the date must lie
between 50 B.C. and A.D. 250.
I can find no internal evidence which would enable us to fix the
date of Asc/, I more exactly; but on the ground of considerations
which apply to the Hermetica in general, I am inclined to think that
this /de//us is not likely to have been written before the second
century A.p.; and perhaps we should not be far wrong in con-
jecturing that the writer was a contemporary of Clement, who was
teaching in Alexandria between A. D. 190 and 200,
 56 INTRODUCTION
The circumstances of the writer. The author of Asc. I was probably
an Egyptian by race. He can hardly have been a priest ;for he
takes no interest in theurgic ritual; and the worship of ‘daemons’
(i.e. temple-gods) is, in his eyes, a comparatively low form of
religion, though better than none. It may be inferred that he had
not been trained in the schools of the Egyptian priests, but had
received a Hellenic education in Alexandria. Perhaps he had at-
tended the lectures of one of the professional teachers of Platonism
in that city, and is speaking from his own experience when he
complains that such teachers put difficulties in the way of a seeker
after God by including in their curriculum a compulsory course of
mathematics. But in spite of these difficulties, he succeeded in
learning as much of Greek philosophy as he needed for his purpose ;
and we may suppose that he afterwards retired to some more
secluded place, where he could live the contemplative life in com-
panionship with a small group of congenial spirits, at first, perhaps,
as a pupil of some older teacher of the gnosis, and afterwards as
a teacher in his turn. The instruction in these little communities
must have been chiefly oral, and carried on, for the most part, by
means of colloquies between the master and a single pupil at a time
;
and when one of the teachers committed his thoughts to writing, no
doubt he reproduced, in the form of imaginary dialogues between
Hermes and Tat or Asclepius, the method and contents of his own
talks with this or that disciple.
If the writer of Asc. I practised what he preached (ch. 11), he
must have renounced all private possessions 3 and it almost
neces-
sarily follows from this that the brotherhood to which he belonge
d,
and of which he was perhaps the head, held property in
common,
and that the produce of their labours was thrown into
a common
stock, from which the wants of all the members were supplied
.
They must have divided their time between cudéus terreno
rum and
cultus caelestium ; that is, they must have been occupie
d partly in
tilling the piece of land which they owned collectively,
and partly
in adoration of the di caelestes (especially in the form
of hymn-
singing, ch. 9), and in drawing near to the supreme God
by private
prayer and meditation, and by such talk between teacher
and pupil
as is exemplified in our Hermetica. They felt that, in living
such
a life as this, they were doing the work which God had sent
them
down to earth to do ; and they looked forward with trustful hope
to
the time when they would be ‘released from the bonds of
mortality’,
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 57
and, by God’s grace, permitted to return to their true home
above.
Asclepius IZ, That part of the composite dialogue which I call
Asel. I deals with the origin of evil; the writer seeks to account for
the existence of evil by attributing it to the operation of tAy. This
discussion is not in any way connected either with the contents of
Ascl. 1 or with those of AscZ. III; and the dualism of Asc. II is
irreconcilable with the monism of Asc/. land Ascé. III. There can,
therefore, be little doubt that the Greek original of Asc/, II was in
existence before it was made use of to form a part of the Asclepius.
It appears to be complete in itself; but whether it was an indepen-
dent /ibeZ/us,' or a piece extracted by the compiler of the Asclepius
from a longer document, we have no means of knowing.
There is no indication of any definite date for the Greek original
of Asci. II. We may suppose it to have been written in the same
period as the Greek originals of Asc/, I and Ascé. III, i.e. probably
about A.D. 150-270; and this supposition-is to some extent con-
firmed by the resemblance between the teaching of Asc/. II and
that of Numenius and Hermogenes (A.D. 150-200) on the same
subject.
The contents of Ascrerivs JIZZ. ‘That part of the traditional text
which I have named Asc/. III presents, at first sight, a mere chaos
of passages not only unconnected with Asc/, 1 and Asc. II, but also
unconnected with one another. But this confusion may be in part,
if not wholly, a result of the mutilated and disordered state in which
the Latin text has come down to us ; and it seems probable that the
Greek original of Asc/. III existed as a single document before the
composite dialogue was compiled.
It appears that a number of passages were somehow severed from
their context, but were preserved as detached fragments ; and that
these fragments were collected into two blocks (27 b~zgb and 33-6),
which have been inserted into the text at the two places at which we
find them. I have transposed these passages to what I conjecture
to have been their original positions ; and the contents of Asc¢/. III,
as rearranged by me, may be tabulated as follows:

1 It would be a short /ibed/us, but not shorter than some other Hermetica which
may perhaps have been written as independent /¢ée//7, and meant to stand alone,
e.g. Corp. VIII and Cor, III.
58 INTRODUCTION
16b, 17ac, ((33ac, 34a)): Ratio mundanorum, a short
[tccoun of the constituents of the material universe, viz. iAy,
a5 noppai, and mvedpa.
18, 19a, ((34b)), 19b (27cb)) 90, (340, (r7b)), 355
36)): Ratio divinorum ; a discussion of voyrd.
* * * * * * % * * * %

|20, 21: Alia ratio divinorum ; on procreation.

22, 23a: the gift of reason bestowed by God on man.
23b, 24a: man’s power of making gods.
pi. 34 b-26a: the Prophecy; Hermes predicts the extinction of
the national religion of Egypt.
26b, 27a, 29c~-32a, ((4ob)): the eternity of God and the
time-process of the Kosmos.
32b: the three kinds of vets (divine, cosmic, and human).
* & a * * * * * * * *

37; ((27d)), 38a: gods made by men (i.e. terrestrial gods).

y; 38b-40a: functions of terrestrial and celestial gods; Hei-
marmene.
* * * * * * * ci * *

((27 e-29 a)): de inmortali et mortali; on the life after death.

8 }(The latter part of this passage is lost.)
((29 b))*: the happiness of the pious in this life.
In the portion marked f (i. e. chs. 20-32 b, omitting the misplaced
fragments 27 b-29b), the discourse of Hermes runs on without
a break. The portion marked y (i.e. chs. 37-40 a), which is also
continuous in itself, begins with a reference back to 23 b (homo fictor
est deorum), and is thereby shown to have been intended by its
writer to form part of the same treatise with 8. As to the rest, there
is much that remains doubtful; but the portion marked a, as
conjecturally reconstructed, seems suitable for the beginning of the
treatise ; and the portion marked 8 may very well have stood at
or near the end of it.
Even in that part of the text which is undoubtedly continuous
(viz. B, chs. 20-32b), there is a lack of orderly and systematic
arrangement; the writer seems to stray at random from one topic to
another, as each in succession happens to occur to him. (In this

1 Tt is doubtful whether the passage 19 b ((27.cb)) (i.e. the list of odaudpyar) is

rightly placed here,
2 Tt is uncertain where the fragment 29b ought to stand.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 59
—

respect, Asc/. III stands in marked contrast to Asc/. 1.) The treatise
as a whole has little unity ; and it is difficult to describe its subject
ina single phrase. But every part of it contributes in some way to
the exposition of what the writer holds to be the true religion ;and
in some parts at least he is occupied in explaining what gods are to
be worshipped, and how men ought to worship them. In the
Prophecy he laments the impending abandonment of the old cults ;
his repeated assertion that men make gods (23 b, 37) is a defiant
justification of the usages of Pagan worship in the face of Christian
hostility ; and the passage on time and eternity (26 b-32) leads up
to a mention of that vision of the Eternal in which all worship
culminates. Perhaps then the loosely connected discussions of
which Ase/. III is composed may be fairly comprehended under the
title De culiu deorum.
The sources of Asccerius IZ, The influence of Plato is manifest
throughout. The fundamental conceptions of the writer—that of
a supracosmic God, and that of an incorporeal vods—are derived
from Plato. The notion of eternity (26 b-32) is Platonic ;and the
use of the word aefernifas (aidv) to express this notion comes from
the Zimaeus. The doctrine of voyr& and «idy contained in chs. 17 b,
18b, 19 ac, 34b-36, is based on the teaching of Plato; and the
distinction between voyra eiSy and alcGyra <idn (17b and 35)
belongs to a stage of Platonism which can hardly have been reached
before the time of Antiochus (first century B.c.). The daemonology
of 27e-29 a must have been taken over from some Platonic authority.
The use of the term #Ay (17a) originated among the pupils of Plato.
In 16b, the Kosmos is described as sensibilis deus (aicOnrds Oeds,
Pl. Zim.).
To Stoic influence must be ascribed the use of the term sfiritus
(xvedpa) in 16b, 17a, 18 b, and the doctrine of eipappevy in 39, 40a.
The definition of vox (dwv}) in 20a is Stoic. In the words guod
dicitur extra mundum, 33, the writer refers to the Stoic doctrine of
a void outside the Kosmos. The statement that no two individuals are
alike (ch. 35) is derived from the Stoics of the second century B.C.,
who maintained this doctrine in opposition to the Academics; and
the astral explanation of individual differences (.) would hardly
have been found in the writings of any Stoic earlier than Posidonius.
The terms droxaréornoey and regenitura (wadvyyeveoia) in the last
paragraph of the Prophecy, 26 a, are Stoic, and the contents of this
paragraph are probably derived in part from a Stoic source, In the
 60 INTRODUCTION
account of the life after death, 27 e-29a, the assumption that all
souls alike, on their separation from the body, ascend into the
atmosphere is of Stoic origin ;and the division of the atmosphere
into two distinct strata, and the purgation of impure souls in the
lower stratum, are derived from Posidonius.
The statement that vois is divina pars mundi, ch. 22 b, is due to
the influence of Stoic materialism, but may perhaps have been
transmitted to the writer by the Peripatetic Critolaus and the
Platonist Antiochus. The remarks on circular movement in 31 jin.
and 40b may perhaps have been derived from Aristotle.
The contents of chs. 20, 21 (God is évévupes or ravrévepos—God
is dpoevéOmAvs) may possibly be derived from native Egyptian
sources. The views expressed in connexion with the statement
that man makes gods (23 b, 24a, and 37, 38) are Egyptian rather
than Hellenic. In these passages, the writer formulates certain
beliefs of his countrymen ; he is here speaking of things familiar
to him by direct and personal knowledge, and has no occasion to
borrow from earlier writers,
In the list ef otcudpya (19 b, 27), the notion of a system of
departmental gods, and the names Zeus, Heimarmene, indicate a
Stoic source ; but the terms (Decani\, Horoscopi, and Lantomorphos
are derived rather from the astral religion of Hellenistic Egypt.
The combination of Stoic and Egyptian ingredients in this passage
might be accounted for by the assumption that the scheme of
overdpxat has been borrowed from the Egyptian Stoic Chaeremon.
The form of the Prophecy, 24 b-26a, may have been suggested
by earlier apocalypses, Egyptian or Jewish ; but its contents, so far
as it refers to contemporary events, must be original.
Analogies to Jewish teaching may be found in the exaltation
of human procreation, ch. 21 (cf. Gen. i. 28, atédverbe Kal 7A Oi-
veoGe) ; in the statement that man is made ex parte corruptiore mundi
et ex atvina, ch. 22 (cf. Gen. ii. 7, &érAacev & beds Tov GvOpwrov xoov
dmé tis yas «%7.A.); and in the application of the term summus
(tpuros) to the supreme God (summus gui dicitur deus, 16b) ; but
there is no proof that the writer was in any way affected by Jewish
influences.
There is not the slightest reason to think that any part of the
doctrine of Asc/. III has been derived from Christian sources. On
the other hand, the writer’s attitude is to a large extent determined
by his repugnance to Christianity. This repugnance finds direct
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 61
expression in the Prophecy, and underlies his treatment of the topics
of god-making and procreation.
Date of the Greek original of Ascrzpius ITZ. A consideration
of the sources from which the doctrine of Asc/, III is derived makes
it certain that the treatise must have been written after the time
of Antiochus and Posidonius, i.e. at some time later than roo B.c.
At no earlier period could Stoic conceptions have been blended
with Platonism as we find them blended in this document. And if
; the writer has borrowed from Chaeremon, the date must be later
than A.D. 50.
But the Prophecy, ch. 24f., contains references to contemporary
events ; and by examining these references, it may be possible to
determine the date more exactly. .The contents of the Prophecy
may be summarized thus: ‘Cruel and impious foreigners will invade
the land of Egypt, and slaughter a large part of the inhabitants ;
thereupon, the Egyptians themselves will become cruel and impious,
and the national religion will die out.’ At what date were these
predictions written? It is evident that the writer is describing,
under the form of a prophecy uttered by Trismegistus, things which
had recently taken place, or were taking place before his eyes. If,
therefore, we can identify the events of which he speaks, we shall
obtain an approximate date for the writing of chs. 24-6 at least,
if not for the whole treatise.
Let us consider first the predicted abandonment of the national
religion.
Under the rule of the Persians and the Greeks, and under the
eatlier Roman empire, the Egyptian religion had maintained itself,
not indeed unchanged, but unimpaired in strength, and unshaken
by any sudden or violent transformation ; and at no time could it be
thought to be in danger of perishing, until it was threatened with
extinction by the advance of Christianity.’

} Under the Ptolemies and the early Roman emperors, the only declared
opponents of Paganism in Egypt were the Jews; and they were never numerous
or influential enongh to cause such a feeling of impending and inevitable doom as
is expressed by our Hermetist. (On the Jewish rising under Trajan, see below.)
An illustration of the attitude of the Jews towards the Egyptian religion is
to be found in Orac. Sibyl. 5. 484-503, written by an Alexandrian Jew of
unknown date (possibly about the time of Trajan or Hadrian) :
"Iot, Oed tprrddawa, peveis Emi yedpacr NelAov
pouvn, pawas dvavdos émt Wapdbos ’Axépovros,
koueTt cou pyela ye pevel kad yaiay amacay.
wat od, Sdpam, Al@ous dpyods émxelpeve moddods,
kelon mTGpa péyoroy éy Alyinry tpradalyg:
62 INTRODUCTION
What, then, is the earliest date at which Christianity was powerful
and aggressive enough in Egypt to give rise to such gloomy anticipa-
tions as are expressed in chs. 24-5 of the Asclepius? Harnack,
Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums , Book IV, has collected
the evidences of the spread of Christianity down to A.D. 325.
Celsus! (A.D. 176-80) speaks as if Christianity had been almost
extirpated. Doubtless he exaggerates the success of the repressive
measures of Marcus Aurelius ; but he could not haye spoken thus if
the Christians were numerous enough to cause serious alarm. In
his time, Pagans regarded Christianity with hatred and contempt,
but not with fear.
Tertullian? (a.p. 197-213) speaks in a tone which foreshadows
the coming danger to Paganism. But allowance must be made
for his rhetorical style; he greatly exaggerates the numbers and
power of the Christians.
bacco 8 Aiydrrov wébov iyyayov cis oe, dmavres
KAavoovral ge Kak@s, Gedy apbrrov év peat Oévres*
ywhoovral ce 70 pndév, Boo Oedv eiprncay,
kat (rére) T&v iepéwv Tis épel, AwwdaToAos avyp*
“ Bedre, Oeod Téuevos Kaddv aThampev adAnOods
Betre, Tov én mpoydvev Sewdv vépov addAagapcr,
Tov xdpiv of AUOlvos Kat darpaxivorcr Beotow
mopmds kat TeAerds motovpevot ovK évdnoay.
orpépapev yuxds Sedv apOrov evpvodvtes
Tov mpvramy mavrev, Tov ddnbéa, Tov Bactdja,
Wuxorpdpoy -yevertpa, Gedy peyav aity édyra,”
The Jewish Sibyllist here predicts the conversion of the Egyptians, as the
writer of Isaiah ch. 19 had predicted it before him; but it is hardly to be thought
that an Egyptian idolater would at any time have admitted that the conversion of
the whole nation to Judaism was even possible, much less that it was inevitable.
1 Celsus, in Origen contra Cels. 8. 69: tpév 52 (sc. of you Christians) dv
mAavarai Tis ert AavOdvow, GAAA (yreira mpos Oavarov Bixny. (The dates of the
books here cited are taken from Harnack, Chronol. der Alichrist. Litt., 1897-
1904.)
5 Tertull. Apolog. 2 (A.D. 197) ‘Obsessam vociferantur civitatem, in agris, in
castellis, in insulis Christianos, omnem sexum, aetatem, condicionem, etiam
dignitatem transgredi ad hoc nomen’. Jd, 37 ‘Si et hostes exertos, non tantum
vindices occultos agere vellemus, deesset nobis vis numerorum et copiarum?...
Hesterni sumus, et vestra omnia implevimus. . . . Cui bello non idonei, non
prompti fuissemus, etiam impares copiis, qui tam libenter trucidamur, si non apud
istam disciplinam magis occidi liceret quam occidere? . . . Si enim tanta vis
hominum in aliquem orbis remoti sinum abrupissemus a vobis, suffudisset utique
dominationem vestram tot qualiumcumque civium amissio, immo etiam et ipsa
destitutione punisset. . . . Plures hostes quam cives vobis remansissent. Nunc
etiam pauciores hostes habetis prae multitudine Christianoram, paene omninm
civitatium paene omnes cives Christianos habendo.’ Tertull. adv. Fudaeos
(A. D. 1y8-203) ‘In quem alium universae gentes crediderunt nisi in Christum?’
Tertull. adv. Marc. 3. 20 (A.D. 198-209) ‘ Aspice universas nationes de voragine
erroris humani exinde emergentes. . . . Christus totum iam orbem evangelii sui
fide cepit’ Tertull. ad Scapulam 2 (A.D. 212-13) ‘Tanta hominum multitudo,
pars paene maior civitatis cuiusque, in silentio et modestia agimus’, See also
Minucius Felix 9 (A.D, 222-50).
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 63
Origen' (a.D. 246-9), speaking the language of sober truth,
supplies the necessary corrective to Tertullian’s exaggerations. He
admits that there are still many people, even in the Roman empire,
whose ears the preaching of Christianity has not yet reached; and
that the Christians are still ‘ very few’ as compared with the Pagans.
; He looks forward with confident assurance to the ultimate prevalence
a: of good over evil, either in this world or in the world to come; but
. he doubts whether the universal acceptance of the true religion
is possible on earth,
Harnack (of. ci¢., p. 376) concludes that ‘as regards the stages in
the history of the mission-work, the great advances, after the time
of Paul, were made (1) in the epoch of Commodus (a.D. 180-92) and
his next successors, and (2) in the years 260-303; and it was in the
latter period that the progress was most rapid ’.?
) From the time of the edict of toleration issued at Milan by
Constantine and Licinius in a.p, 313, the victory of the new
religion was assured. Eusebius,’ about a.p. 325, describes the
Christians as ‘the most numerous of all the nations’; and Firmicus
Maternus, some twenty years later, speaks of Paganism as almost
extinct.*
1 Origenes, ad Matth. 24. 9 (A. D. 246-9) ‘ Multi enim non solum barbararum,
sed etiam nostrarum gentium usque nunc non audierunt Christianitatis verbum’.
Orig. contra Cels. 3. 29 Ye D. 246-8) 6 be méupas tov "Incouv beds ... émoinge
navTaxod Tis oikouperys brép ris Tay avOpwmav emarpopys Kai diopPwaews Kparhoa
ro ebaryyédov “Inood, wal yevécOat ravraxod éxxAnalas dvtimodrevopeévas ExeAnotas
Sacriatpivey kal deoddorov xat ddixov. Jb. 8. 69 elwep “dv bdo cuvppavaow”
ef qpdy .. . “-yerqoerar abtois mapa rod éy ois obpavois marpds,” . . . Ti xph
vopicew, el pr) pdvov ds viv wavy ddAbyo cupdavotey, dAAA naga 4 tnd ‘Papalov
dpxy ; [b. 8. 68 Aris (se. Tav Xporiavav Opnanela) Kat povn wore pathoe, Tov
Adyou del wAelovas vepopévov puxds. /b. 8.72 ebxqv twa elmdy (sc. Celsus) Thy
“El ydp 51) olév re cis Eva cuuppovnca vouov Tos tiv ‘Aclay Kat Edpwmny wai
AiBdny xarouwcodyras “EAqvas kai BapBdpous dxpt reparav veveunuévous”, ddvvarov
robro voulcas elvat, emupéper ri “6 Totro olduevos oidey ovdév"’, ei 5% xpi) Kal TOOT’
_eiwetv, Acdéferar dAlya ... els Td Havivar ob pdvoy Suvardy, GAAA Kai dAnOes Td
Aeyduevoy epi Tod eis Eva cupppovica véuov way TO Aoyutdy . . . MavTaw yap
tev év 7H uxt Kandy Buvardrepos av & Ad-yos, kal } ev abr@ Oepameia, mpoad-ye:
kata BovdAnow Oeod ExdoTw avTqv’ Kai 7d Tédos TOY mpayydrww dvaipeOfval gor
Tiv waxlav .,. kat taxa GAnbds ditvaroy piv 73 toodrov ois ert dv owpari, ob
pi ddivarov Kat dmodvOetow airod.
? See Euseb. Hist, Eccl, 5. 21.1; 6. 36.1; 8.1.13; 9. 9.
® Enseb. 1. #. 1, 4. 2 wdvrav rv t6vav rodvavOpwrdtaroy.
4 Firmicus Maternus, de Arr. Prof. Relig. 20 (A.D. 346-7) ‘Licet adhuc in
quibusdam regionibus idololatriae morientia palpitent membra, tamen in eo res
est ut a Christianis omnibus terris pestiferum hoc malum funditus amputetur ’,
But this is an exaggeration. Paganism died slowly; and the reaction under
Julian, a. D. 361-3, gave it a fresh lease of life. Firmicus himself, ch. 13, admits
that the cult of Sarapis in Alexandria was still openly carried on at the time when
he wrote. During the youth of Augustine, about A. D. 372, festivals of the Magna
Mater and Attis were publicly celebrated in Carthage (Aug. De civ, dei 2, 4 and
64 INTRODUCTION
From the evidence of the authors so far cited, we may form some
notion of the stages by which Christianity advanced in the Roman
empire as a whole. Our present purpose would be better served
if we could trace the progress made in Egypt. The history of
Christianity in Egypt down to a.p, 180 is almost a blank ;* con-
cerning that period we know only that some early Christian documents
were probably written there; that a ‘Gospel according to the
Egyptians’ was in circulation ; and that Basilides, Valentinus, and
other Christian Gnostics taught in Egypt. About 180, we find
a vigorous Christian Church established in Alexandria, and the
Christian ‘Catechetical School’ already at work. In the time of
Clement (from A.D. 190 onwards), that School was attended by
Pagans as well as Christians ; and if Clement’s words* may be taken
as specially applying to Egypt, they imply that Christianity had
gained a firm footing among the people of the country. Eusebius
(Hist. Eccl. 6. 1, 2) says that in the persecution of Septimius
Severus, A.D. 202, a large number of Christians ‘from all (Lower)
Egypt and all the Thebaid’ suffered martyrdom in Alexandria.’
Harnack (of. cit., p. 454) says that ‘from the fragments of the letters
of Dionysius Alex., bishop of Alexandria (a. D. 247-65), and from
the accounts of the persecutions (A.D. 250-60), we get the impres-
sion that the number of Christians in Alexandria was large, and that
Christianity had spread to a considerable extent in the towns and
villages of the country. After the middle of the third century,
Lower Egypt was certainly one of the regions in which the Christians
were especially numerous. . . . At the time of the persecution of
Decius (A.D. 250) there were already Christians holding public
offices in Alexandria, and many wealthy men were Christians (Euseb.
7. 26; Boissier, Fin du paganisme, i; p. 347). Libanius, De templis, about
A.D. 384-7, speaks of Pagan cults as still practised (Hoissier, 2., ii, p. 341); the
edict of Theodosius in A.D. 392 (Cod. Theodos, 16, to. 12) shows that the need
of fresh enactments against them was still felt at that time ;and even Theodosius II
(Cod. Theod. 16, 10, 22) issued an edict against paganos gut supersunt, quamguam
jam nullos esse credamus, In A.D. 398, Claudian (De guarto cons. Honorii
570 sqq.; Otto, Priester und Tempel, ii. 281 and i, 404) describes a procession
of statues of the gods in Memphis.
1 Harnack, Mission und Ausbreitung des Chr., p. 448.
2 Strom. 6, 18.167 6 3é ye 70d BidacKddov Tod hyerépov Abyos .. . ExvOT...
dvd nacav thy olkoupévny, welbov “EAAQVav Té Spod kat BapBépwy xara eOvos Kat
kapny wat oA naaay, otkous GAous Kat idiq Exactov Tay énaxneodray, kal abray
ye Tav prrocépow ob« dALyous Hin ext Tiy GANIaav peOloras.
8 Eusebius here speaks of ‘a myriad’ of martyrs: puplav Saav rots kara 7d
papripov dvadovptvey orepavas. But pupior in Enseb, merely means ‘a good
many’. Origen, c. Ce/stm 3. 8, says: dAlyor kara Katpods Kal apddpa evaplOunror
imtp ris Xporiavdv GeoceBeias TebrjKact.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 65
6, 41: 7.11)’. The descriptions of the persecution of Diocletian
(A.D. 303) prove that there were at that time large numbers of
Christians in the Thebaid. Dionysius Alex. (Euseb. Ast. Eecd.
6. 41) speaks of Christians among the native Egyptian population
as well as among the Greeks; and the translation of the Bible into
Coptic was probably begun, in Upper Egypt, in the second half
of the third century, ‘It is certain’, says Harnack, ‘that at the
time of the persecution of Diocletian the Christians in Egypt had
long outnumbered the Jews ; at the beginning of the fourth century
their number probably exceeded a million.’
What, then, is the earliest date at which it would be possible for
an adherent of Paganism in Egypt to foresee and lament the coming
extinction of his religion? ‘To this question no exact and certain
answer can be given ; but we may conclude that chapters 24-5 can
hardly have been written before the renewed expansion of Christianity
which followed on the close of the period of persecution under
Decius, Gallus, and Valerian (A.D. 250-3 and 257-60). Thus from
what we know of the progress of Christianity, we might fix on the
year 260 as the ¢erminus a quo for the Greek original of chs. 24-6.
A terminus ante quem is given by Lactantius’s quotation from the
Greek original of ch. 26 in his Div. Znsz., written within a few years
of A.D. 310. The prophecy, then, was probably written at some time
in the half-century a. D, 260-310.
But we may hope to fix the date more exactly by identifying the
particular events referred to. The prophecy speaks of an invasion
of Egypt by aMenigenae, and an immigration of ‘Scythians or
Indians or some such barbarians’, Who are these alienigenae?
The term cannot be meant to apply to Greeks or Jews ; for Greeks
and Jews had been resident in Egypt in large numbers ever since
the time of Alexander, and the invasion spoken of is evidently
recent. Nor can the Roman conquest be meant ; for we are told
that the foreigners will ‘fill the land’; but the Roman conquest
caused no large and sudden influx of foreigners ; indeed, Italians
were at no time numerous in Egypt. And neither Greek, Jew, nor
Italian can be described as ‘ Scythes aut Indus’.
We are also told of a vast slaughter, or series of slaughters, in
which a large part of the population of Egypt perishes. The earliest
incident to which this description could possibly be supposed to
apply is the insurrection of the Jews under Trajan.’ But though
1 Mommsen, Provs, of Rom. Empire, Eng. tr., 1886, ii, p, 221: ‘In the year
2806 F
66 INTRODUCTION
the Jewish insurgents, [during their short-lived success, may have
dealt harshly with the Egyptian idolaters, there is no reason to
suppose that any large proportion of the Egyptians abandoned the
religion of their fathers ;and no one at that date could anticipate
the total extinction of Egyptian Paganism. Besides, there is nothing
in that incident to account for the mention of adienigenae* and
Scythes aut Indus. It is therefore certain that the event referred to
cannot be the Jewish insurrection of A. D. 116.
The next incident to which the prophecy of slaughter might seem
to be applicable* is the massacre of Alexandrians by order of
Caracalla® in a.D. 215. But the words alienigenis terram com-
plentibus and inhabitabi t Aegyptum Indus aut Scythes cannot be
made to apply to Caracalla’s soldiers.
It would seem that after this disaster Alexandria never fully
recovered its former prosperity ;and from this time onward, things
went from bad to worse in Egypt. In a.D. 252 we first hear of
a pestilence which ravaged the empire in successive outbreaks
during a space of fifteen years, and by which large numbers of
Egyptians perished. But it was especially during the troubled years
which followed the capture of Valerian by the Persians in 260,
that calamities fell thick and fast upon the land. We have a
contemporary description of the situation in Egypt between a. D. 261
and 26s,‘ in the letters written by Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria.
116, the Jews of the eastern Mediterranean rose against the imperial government.’
The chief seats of the rising were Cyrene, Cyprus, and Egypt; it was ‘directed
to the expulsion of the Romans as well as of the Hellenes, and apparently to the
establishment of a separate Jewish state’. The Jews for a time got the upper
hand in Egypt; ‘they killed those (Greeks and Romans) whom they seized’;
but ‘in Alexandria, which does not itself appear to have fallen into the hands
of the Jews, the besieged Hellenes slew whatever Jews were then in the city’.
The insurrection was suppressed by an army and fleet sent by Trajan, Appian
says that Trajan annihilated the Jews in Alexandria,
1 The insurgent Jews in Egypt, though they may have been reinforced by
contingents from elsewhere, must have been in the main Egyptian residents, and
not invaders.
2 Tt is certainly not applicable to the insurrection of the BoveédAn in Egypt
in the time of Marcus Aurelius (Dio Cass. 71. 4).
8 Schiller, Gesch. der rim. Kaiserzett, i, 747: ‘A rising in Egypt summoned
Caracalla to that land, and Alexandria was severely punished; the town was
ie up to the soldiers to be plundered, and a great part of the inhabitants were
illed.’ Dio 77. 22, 23; Herodian 4. 8. 6-9 and 9; Spartianus, Vita Caracall,
6. 2.3. The details are uncertain, but the fact that a great slanghter took place
cannot be doubted. ‘The subjection of Egypt’ is depicted on a Roman coin
struck at this time.
4 Euseb. H. Z. 7. 21 ff. The persecution of the Christians was stopped by
order of Gallienus (Euseb. H. Z. 7. 13); and as, after the capture of Valerian in
260, the rule of Macrianus was for a time recognized in Egypt, the order of
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 67

‘ When persecution had ceased ’, says Eusebius, ‘ Dionysius returned

to Alexandria. There, civil strife and war broke out; and as the
Christians were divided between the two factions, it was not possible
for him to visit in person all the brethren in the city. He, therefore,
at the Easter festival, communicated with them by letter, writing
to them as if from beyond the borders, though he was in Alexandria.’
What was the ordous Kal wédepnos of which Eusebius is speaking?
The only recorded disturbance in Egypt which can be assigned to
this time is the insurrection of Aemilianus.' It may be presumed,
then, that one part of Alexandria was held by the troops and
partisans of Aemilianus, and another part by those of the Roman
commander Theodotus.?
Dionysius writes thus: ‘I am obliged to communicate by letter
with the members of my own church; and how my letter is to be
conveyed to them, I do not know. For it would be easier to go

Gallienus cannot have taken effect there before 261, Dionysius died in 26;
nges 7. 28, 3). The letters must therefore have been written between 261
and 265.
Mommsen’s account of these events is self-contradictory, He rightly says that
Dionysius died in 265 (Rom. Emp., ii, p. 250, n. 2), and that the Palmyrene
invasion of Egypt did not take place until after the death of Odaenathus in 266-7
(5. pp. 106, 107); and yet he speaks of the incidents described by Dionysius as
if they arose out of the Palmyrene invasion (7. p. 250).
* Trebellius Pollio, Vita Galtieni, 4.1; ‘ Per idem tempus (i.e. not far from the
time of the death of Macrianus, A.D, 262) Aemilianus apud Aegyptum sumpsit
imperium, Sed hunc dux Gallieni Theodotus conflictu habito cepit.’ Jb. 5.6;
6.4; 9. 1. Lyrann, Trig. 22; the Alexandrian mob attacked the honse
‘Aemiliani ducis’: .. . ‘Aemilianus sumpsit imperium. . . . Consenserunt ei
Aegypti totius exercitus, maxime in Gallieni odium, Nec eius ad regendam remp.
vigor defuit; nam Thebaidem totamque Aegyptum peragravit, et, quatenus potuit,
barbarorum gentes (Blemmyes and Saracens?) forti auctoritate sammovit. ...
Misso Theodoto duce, Gallieno iubente, dedit poenas.’ /d. 26. 4 (whence it
appears that Theodotus was an Egyptian by birth). This ‘Aemilianus dux’ may
be identical with the AlyAsavés bérov tiv Hyepoviay in Egypt, before whom
Dionysius was summoned during the persecution of 257-60, Euseb. H. E. 7. 11, 6.
Mommsen, Rom, Emp., ii. 251, n. 1, rejects the evidence of Trebellius Pollio,
and doubts the existence of the alleged usurper Aemilianus. But this is surely
an excess of scepticism, At any rate, the contemporary evidence of Dionysius
makes it certain that either Aemilianus, or some person whose name we do not
_ know, raised ‘civil strife and war’ in Egypt between 261 and 265,
As the Easter letter written by Dionysius during the ordcis is followed by
another Easter letter written by him when fighting had ceased and pestilence was
taging, and that again by others written ‘when the city was at peace again’, the
ordows may be assigned with probability, if not with certainty, to the year 262.
* We shall find a similar situation recurring a few years later in the ‘siege
of Brucheion’. We are told that Caracalla, after his massacre in 215, had
ordered a wall to be built, by which the city was divided into two parts; Dio
7:23, Thy "Adegavipeay SiarexicOjval re nat ppouplas wWiarerxiaOhvan exédrevoev,
pnnér’ dbeGs map’ GAAHAous porrSev. It would seem that this fortification
was still in existence, and was utilized by the combatants, in the time of
Dionysius.
F2
68 INTRODUCTION
the world from East to
into a foreign country, or even to traverse
to the other. The
West, than to pass from one part of Alexandria
sable than the desert
principal street of the city is more impas
have become like the
of Sinai; and the harbours of Alexandria
with bloodshed.
Red Sea, for they have many times been reddened
drier than the
The river which waters the city’ was at one time
and flooded all
desert;? at another time it overflowed its banks
nually polluted
the ways and lands around the city; and it is conti
As in the days of Moses,
with blood and slayings and drownings.
river stinks”. The
“ the waters have been turned to blood, and the
river and harbour
air is turbid with noisome vapours ; earth and sea,
lie rottin g every where,‘ and the
reek with foul exhalations ;corpses
. And yet men wonder what
dew is corrupted by their fetid juices
ences! And they ask whence
is the cause of these incessant pestil
destr uctio n of manki nd,’ and why it
comes this great and manifold
of our great city, young and old together,
is that the inhabitants
than the elderl y perso ns * alone were in times
are fewer in number
h all from fourte en to eighty years of age have
gone by. For thoug
e the publi c
now been included in the list of those entitled to receiv
corn-dole, they are less numerous than the people from forty to
? Men see the
seventy years of age used to be in those times.
and yet they
human race continually diminishing and wasting away,
tendi ng more and
do not tremble, though the course of things is
more towards their total destruction.’
year) when
In another letter, written (apparently in the following
its height, Dionys ius says,
the war is ended, but the pestilence is at
here ; the city resounds
‘ There is lamentation and mourning everyw
ude of the dead, and of
with cries of woe by reason of the multit
is not a house where
those that are dying day by day ;° for “there
to Alexandria.
1 j,e, the canal by which the water of the Nile was brought d during the distur-
2 The regulation of the water-supply was probably neglecte
off by the besiegers.
bances, and the water may have been purposely cut e shone usque ad
3 Exod, vii. 20, 21. Cf. Asc. Lat. 24b: ‘ Torrenti sanguin sanguine, sed totae
ripas erumpes, undaeque divinae non solum polluentur
corrumpentur,’ a’.
4 7b. *Tune terra ista . . . sepulcrorum erit mortuorumque plenissim
orum.’
5 Ascl. Lat, 24b: § Vivis multo maior erit numerus sepulchr
& gporyépovras, i.e. old, but still vigorous.
; it may have
7 Dionysius does not tell us of what earlier time he is speakingfor the purpose
been any time before the massacre of Caracalla. It appears edthat,
unaltered. In the
of the corn-dole, a maximum limit of number was maintain
up by entering on the
time of greatest prosperity the full number had been made
decreased, the names
roll those between forty and seventy alone; as the population
of younger and older persons were added to the register.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 69

there is not one dead ”'—and would that there were not more than
one. Even before this, many terrible things had befallen us ; first,
the persecution of the Christians 32... . then, war® and famine,
which we Christians endured together with the Pagans, sharing the
evils which they inflicted on each other; ... and then, after short
respite to us and them, there came on us this pestilence, a thing
most terrible to them, and the most cruel of all disasters.’ The
Christians, Dionysius says, tenderly nursed the sick, and buried
the dead ; and many of them, in so doing, caught the infection and
died themselves. ‘But with the Pagans, it is far otherwise; they
thrust away from them people who were sickening; they fled from
their nearest and dearest ;they flung them out into the streets when
they were dying ; and they cast forth corpses unburied, like offal.’
There is a striking resemblance between the situation depicted
in these letters and that predicted by Trismegistus ;and it seems
probable enough that the writer of the prophecy had lived through
the events which Dionysius describes. As yet, however, we have
met with no trace of the alienigenae. But Egypt was invaded by
foreigners a few years later. Odaenathus of Palmyra, who ruled
over the provinces of Syria and Arabia, and some adjacent countries,‘
nominally as Dusx Orientis under Gallienus, but in practical indepen-
dence, was murdered between August 29, 266, and August 29, 267.
His widow Zenobia claimed the succession for her son Vaballathus,
and ruled in his name; and, shortly after her husband’s death,°* she
sent an army under her general Zabdas to occupy Egypt, professedly
on behalf of the Roman emperor. The fullest and most trustworthy
account of the Palmyrene invasion is that given by Zosimus. He
says (1. 44 ff.) that, after the first Gothic campaign of Claudius,
‘ Zenobia, seeking to extend her power, sent Zabdas to Egypt, which
Timagenes, a native of the country, was endeavouring to bring
under the rule of the Palmyrenes. The invading army was com-
posed of Palmyrenes, Syrians, and barbarians, and amounted to the
number of 70,000 men. The Egyptians met them with a force
of 50,000, and a great battle took place. The Palmyrenes were
1 Exod. xii. 30. 2 A.D. 257-61.
* i.e. the ordaois of the first letter.
__ 4 ‘Possibly Armenia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia,’ says Mommsen, Lom. Emp.,

¥ cateatty in the year 268; for Zosimus and Trebellius Pollio (V/a Claud. 11)
a that the Palmyrene invasion of Egypt took place in the reign of Claudius,
audius succeeded Gallienus in 268, and there would hardly be room for the
subsequent events if we placed the invasion later than that year.
70 INTRODUCTION
victorious in the war; they placed a garrison of 5,000 men in the
country, and withdrew. Probus, who had been appointed by the
emperor (Claudius) to clear the sea of the (Gothic) pirates, hearing
that Egypt was occupied by the Palmyrenes, proceeded thither with
his force, and being joined by those Egyptians who were not of the
Palmyrene faction, attacked the garrison and drove it out.' The
Palmyrenes* once more marched against Egypt; Probus got
together an army of Egyptians and Libyans to oppose them; the
Egyptians (under Probus) got the upper hand, and were driving
the Palmyrenes out of the country. Probus took up a position
on the mountain near Babylon,* meaning to bar the passage of the
enemy there as they marched towards Syria; but Timagenes,
making use of his knowledge of the locality, occupied the summit
of the mountain with 2,000 Palmyrenes, and surprised and destroyed
the Egyptian force. Probus was caught with the rest, and killed
himself. Thus Egypt became subject to the Palmyrenes.’*
1 It appears that Probus, in treating the Palmyrene invaders as enemies of
Rome, acted on his own responsibility, without waiting for instructions from the
emperor; and Claudius, being too much occupied with the Goths to be willing to
involve himself in a simultaneous war in the East, afterwards acquiesced in the
“ait accompli, and recognized Vaballathus as governor of Egypt in his name.
2 i.e. probably the main army, recalled, in the course of its homeward march,
by the news of the defeat of the garrison.
* Babylon is the fortress of ‘Old Cairo’, on the eastern bank of the Nile. (See
A. J. Butler, Babylon of Egypt, p. 23.) The most convenient route from
Alexandria to Syria passes round the apex of the Delta, from which Cairo is only
a few, miles distant up the river; and if the Palmyrenes, at the time ot their
retreat from Alexandria, still held the fortress of Babylon, they would naturally
choose the point guarded by it for their crossing of the Nile. ‘The mountain
near Babylon’ must mean some spur of the desert heights to the north-east of
Babylon, i.e. east of the modern town of Cairo, (The citadel of Cairo stands
on such a spur, and its site may be the very place.) Probus posted his force here,
apparently with the intention of attacking the Palmyrenes in flank as they marched
northward from Babylon after crossing the river, While the attention of Probus
was fixed on the river-valley below him, Timagenes stole round behind, over the
desert tableland, and came down upon him from above.
4 These events are summarized by Trebellius Pollio, Vita Claud. 11, as follows:
‘Dum haec a divo Claudio aguntur, Palmyreni ducibus Saba et Timagene contra
Aegyptios bellum sumunt, atque ab his Aegyptia pervicacia et indefessa pugnandi
continuatione vincuntur. Dux tamen Aegyptiorum Probatus Timagenis insidiis
interemptus est: Aegyptii vero omnes se Romano imperatori dederunt, in absentis
Claudii verba iurantes.’ Trebellius Pollio has omitted to say that Timagenes was
an Egyptian; but his account, as far as it goes, agrees in the main with that
of Zosimus. But who is Probatus? Schiller, ram. Kaiserseit, i. 859, says that
‘near the end of the reign of Gallienus, Egypt had revolted under a usurper
Probatus. On the accession of Claudius Il... Zenobia... caused the land to
be reconquered for the Roman empire by her general Zabda,’ But there is no
evidence for the existence of Probatus except this passage of Trebell. Poll.; and
Mommsen (ii. 107, n, 1) is undoubtedly right in identifying the ‘dux Aegyptioram
Probatus’ of Trebell. Poll. with the Probus of Zosimus, who was not a usurper,
but a Roman commander opposing the Palmyrenes in the interest of the empire.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS WI
The war of conquest must have lasted for at least a large part
of a year (A.D. 268-9). How long did the Palmyrenes hold the
country they had conquered? Zosimus (i. 50) says that Aurelian,
after his accession (early in 270), spent some time in settling affairs
in Italy and Paeonia, and then ‘was purposing to make war on the
Palmyrenes, who by this time were masters of the inhabitants of
Egypt, and of all the East as far (westward) as Ancyra in Galatia’.
Aurelian probably set out on his expedition to the East in 271,
captured Zenobia and received the surrender of Palmyra in the
spring of 272, and, on the renewed revolt at Palmyra, destroyed
that city in the spring of 273. At what stage in the war did he
recover possession of Egypt? Zosimus does not tell us. Vopiscus
says that Egypt was reconquered for Aurelian by the future emperor
Probus,’ but gives no date. The most probable date seems to be
The znsidiae Timagenis by which he perished must mean the fight near Babylon.
What pretext, if any, Zenobia put forward to justify her occupation of Egypt,
we do not know; but if there was any disturbance in the country which might
be represented as calling for her interference, no record of it has come down
to us; aud Probus evidently regarded the invasion as an act of war against Rome,
though Claudius subsequently found it convenient to recognize the Palmyrene
_ as legitimate governor of Egypt in his name.
The last sentence of Trebell. Poll., ‘Aegyptii vero. .. verba iurantes', must
be taken to mean that the Egyptians submitted to Vaballathus, accepting him,
however, not as an independent ruler, but as viceregent of the Roman emperor
Claudius.
1 Bury on Gibbon, i. 462.
2 Vita Probi 5. 9 ‘(Probus) pugnavit etiam contra Palmyrenos Odenati et
Cleopatrae (i.e. Zenobiae) partibus Aegyptum defendeptes, primo feliciter, postea
temere, ut paene caperetur; sed postea refectis viribus Aegyptum et orientis
maximam partem in Aureliani potestatem redegit’. The earlier part of this
passage (as Mommsen has noted) suspiciously resembles the account of the
conquest of Egypt by the Palmyrenes in 268-9. In that war another Probus
had fought against the Palmyrenes in Egypt; and according to Zosimus’s account,
it might be said of him that he had fought ‘ primo feliciter, postea temere, ut
caperetur’, It seems probable, therefore, that Vopiscus has erroneously taken
as referring to the more famous Probus something that he had read about the
doings of the other, The statement which follows, that the future emperor
Probus reconquered Egypt for Aurelian, may none the less be correct; but the
vidence is open to suspicion. ’
_ Mommsen (ii, p. 108) says, ‘ Egypt was already, at the close of the year 270,
brought back to the empire... by Probus’; and he adds, ‘The determination
of the date depends on the fact that the usurpation-coins of Vaballathus cease
irely in the fifth year of his rad Ay reign’ (by which must be understood the
fifth year from the death of his father Odaenathus, not from his acquisition of
Egypt), ‘i.e. Aug. 29, 270—Aug. 29, 271; the fact that they are very rare speaks
for the beginning of the year’, But this merely negative evidence is hardly
conclusive; and the cessation of the coins may be otherwise accounted for, by
the supposition that Vaballathus died in 270-1 (Schiller, i. 864).
_ Mommsen, #4., p. 250, says, ‘ When Probus, the general sent dy Claudius, at
Tength gained the upper hand’, &c. Is this a slip of the pen? Or has Mommsen,
Vopiscus, here confused the one Probus with the other? It is certain that
the a? war against the Palmyrenes did not begin till after the death of
andius.
7% INTRODUCTION

2713; so that we may conclude that Egypt was under the dominion
of the Palmyrenes for about two years.
An incident in this war of reconquest! is described by Eusebius
(H. E. 7. 32), who speaks of it as occurring ‘in the course of the
siege of Piruchion* at Alexandria’, The Roman commander held
one part of the city, and was blockading the Palmyrene faction
(including, it would seem, the bulk of the inhabitants), who were
cooped up in the other part, and were dying of hunger. The
besieged Alexandrians were under the rule of a council (BovAy,
avvéspov). An influential Christian who was amongst them induced
the council to grant permission to the starving non-combatants to
pass the lines and go over to the Romans, and at the same time,
communicating with a friend on the other side who had access to
the Roman commander, obtained from the latter a promise to spare
the lives of all who came over to him. By so doing, he saved from
death not only the aged, the women, and the children, but also
a large number of able-bodied men, who took the opportunity to
escape from the blockaded quarter, disguised in women’s clothes.
The Palmyrene faction was conquered for the time, but it was
not yet extinguished. Even before the invasion, there had been in
Egypt a party, headed by Timagenes, which sought to place the
land under the rule of the Palmyrenes; and some two years after
the reconquest of the country by Aurelian’s force, this party (no
1 Schiller (i, 865) speaks of the siege of Brucheion as taking place in the course
of the suppression of the subsequent revolt of Firmus in 273. But against this
view it may be argued (1) that we are told that Aurelian suppressed that revolt
‘statim’ (Vopiscus), civ 7éxe (Zosimus), and this is not consistent with a pro-
longed blockade; and (2) Eusebius’s mention of an unnamed ‘ Roman commander’
(rod ‘Pwpatey orparnddrov, Tov ‘Papaiav orpatnydv) implies that Aurelian was
not present in person, whereas it is stated that, in the suppression of the revolt of
Firmus, Aurelian himself was in command.
2 According to Mommsen, ii, 108, the Prucheion (Piruchion, or Brucheion)
‘was no part of the city, but a locality close by the city on the side of the great
oasis; Hieronymus, vit. Hilarionis, c. 33, 34, Vol. ii, p. 32 Vall.’ 7d., p. 250,
‘the strong castle of Prucheion in the immediate neighbourhood of the city’.
Ensebius, however, was of a different opinion; for his narrative clearly implies
that the place besieged was a part of the city itself—presumably one of the two
parts into which the city was divided by the wall of Caracalla, The two
statements may be reconciled by assuming that, in consequence of the devastation
of this part of the city by Aurelian, and the subsequent dwindling of the
pulation, the Brucheion ceased to be inhabited. It was a part of the Alexandria
<nown to Eusebius; it was outside the Alexandria known to Jerome, Cf.
Ammianus 22. 16. 15 ‘Alexandria, ... Aureliano imperium agente, civilibus
iurgiis ad certamina interneciva prolapsis dirutisque moenibus amisit tegionis
maximam partem, quae Bruchion appellabatur’. Eusebius, C4vov., mentions the
siege of Brucheion, but puts it in the first year of Claudius, 268. Is this a mistake ?
Or does it refer to a distinct event which occurred at the time of the Palmyrene
invasion in that year?
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 73
doubt strengthened by foreign immigrants who had settled there
during the Palmyrene supremacy) once more asserted itself. About
the time of the final revolt of Palmyra in 273, and probably
in connexion with it, the Palmyrene faction in Egypt rose in insur-
rection, under the lead of a rich Egyptian merchant named Firmus,'
who called in the Blemmyes? and Saracens as his allies. Aurelian,
shortly after his return from Palmyra, proceeded to Egypt in person,
promptly suppressed the insurrection, and inflicted punishment on
Alexandria.* But he was unable to expel the Blemmyes, or at any
rate, to prevent their return; and they continued to hold a large
part of Upper Egypt until driven out by the emperor Probus in
A.D. 279.°

? Vopiscus, Vita Aurefian. 32 ‘ Firmus quidam extitit, qui sibi Aegyptum sine
insignibus imperii, quasi ut esset civitas libera, vindicavit, (As to cévetas libera
ef, the guvé5piov spoken of by Eusebius in his account of the siege of Brucheion.)
Ad quem continuo Aurelianus revertit (from Europe, shortly after his return from
Palmyra in 273). Nec illic defuit felicitas solita; nam Aegyptum statim recepit.’
Vopiscus xxix, Vita Firmi, 2-6: ‘¥irmum, qui Aureliani temporibus Aegyptum
occupaverat.... Illum et purpura usum et percussa moneta Augustum esse
yocitatum....(Firmus), Zenobiae amicus et socius, qui Alexandriam Aegyptiorum
incitatus furore pervasit, et quem Aurelianus . . . contrivit.. .. Idem et cum
Blemmyis societatem maximam tenuit et cum Saracenis. .. . Hic ergo contra
Aurelianum sumpsit imperium ad defendendas partes quae supererant Zenobiae.
Sed Aureliano de Thraciis redeunte superatus est.’ /d., c. 5, dispatch of Aurelian :
‘Firmum etiam, latronem Aegyptium, barbaricis motibus (sc. of Blemmyes and
Saracens) aestuantem, et feminei propndii (sc. Zenobiae) reliquias colligentem, . .
fugavimus, obsedimus, cruciavimus, et occidimus.’
Mommsen, Rom. Lmp., ii, 111, n. 1, and 251, n. 1, rejects the evidence of
Vopiscus concerning Firmus as worthless; and he says that ‘the so-called
description of the life of Firmus is nothing else than the sadly disfigured catastrophe
of Prucheion’ (i.e. the reconquest of the country by Probus for Aurelian at an
early stage of the war against Zenobia). Vopiscus is not a Thucydides; but
it is difficult to believe that he can have created ex xthilo the story of this
insurrection, What motive could he or his informant have for such audacious
lying? Moreover, Mommsen ignores the corroborative evidence of Zosimus, who
speaks of the suppression of a revolt in Egypt by Aurelian at the time in question.
Zos. 1. 61 (Aurelian destroyed Palmyra), civ raya 52 wal ’Adefavipéas oracid~
gavras kat mpds drécracw iddvras mapaornodpevos, OpiauBov els tiv “Pwpnv
cigayayov K.7.A,
® The Blemmyes lived in the mountain country to the south-east of Egypt.
They harried Egypt with frequent raids from this time onward to the Arab
conquest,
’ We are told that he destroyed all buildings in the Brucheion that might
harbour insurgents, and increased the dues paid to Rome by the Egyptians.
Vita Aurel. 45.1. Zosimus 1. 61.
“ Mommsen, ii, 250-1. To complete the list of the calamities of Egypt during
the third century, I quote from Mommsen (#é.): ‘Under the government of
Diocletian, we do not know why or wherefore, as well the native Egyptians as
the burgesses of Alexandria rose in revolt against the existing government... .
The revolt lasted from three to four years, the towns Busiris in the Delta and
ape not far from Thebes were destroyed by the troops of the government,
and ultimately under the leading of Diocletian in person in the spring of 297 the
74 INTRODUCTION
It appears, then, that it is impossible to find any time to which
the prophecy of Trismegistus could refer, except the time of the
Palmyrene occupation of Egypt ;and that the events of that time—
i.e. of the five years 268—73—correspond exactly with the indications
given in the prophecy.
“We are told that the invading army, 70,000 in number, was
composed of Palmyrenes, Syrians, ‘and barbarians’. These bar-
barians were, no doubt, contingents sent by countries subject or
allied to Zenobia, and adventurers attracted by the prospect of pay
and plunder. Among them were certainly Saraceni (Bedouin
Arabs), probably Armenians, perhaps Iberians, and possibly Persians.’
A patriotic Egyptian might naturally enough describe a body thus
composed by the contemptuous phrase ‘Scythes aut Indus aut
aliquis talis de vicina barbaria’. It should be remembered that the
trade-route between Egypt and India traversed the Red Sea, and
consequently the inhabitants of the southern coast-lands of the Red
Sea—Arabes Eudaemones and Axomitae, and perhaps Blemmyes
also—were, from the point of view of an Egyptian, neighbours of
the Indians;? while the Armenians, Iberians, and Persians were
neighbours of the Scythians, Moreover, the conquest of the
country would probably give occasion for a large influx of Arab
and other immigrants in addition to the armed forces; and if to
these we add the hordes of the Blemmyes pouring in over the

capital was reduced after an eight months’ siege.’ This, however, cannot be
the event referred to in the prophecy; for there was at this time no fresh invasion
of alienigenae.
1 During the siege of Palmyra in 272, Zenobia was expecting succour from
Persia. Letter of Zenobia in Vopiscus, Vzta Aurelian. 27: ‘Nobis Persarum
auxilia non desunt, quae iam speramus; pro nobis sunt Saraceni, pro nobis
Armenii,’? Letter of Aurelian in Trebell. Poll. 7yig. Zyrann. 30,7: ‘Possum
adserere tanto apud Orientales et Aegyptiorum populos timori mulierem fuisse,
ut se non Arabes, non Saraceni, non Armenii commoverent.’ Vopiscus, Veta
Aurelian. 33, describing Aurelian’s triumph at Rome after his conquest. of
Palmyra, mentions the attendance of deputations from the blemmyes, Axomitae
(Abyssinians), Arabes Eudaemones, Indi, Bactrani, Hiberi, Saraceni, Persae.
It is implied that all these races had been so far concerned in or affected by
the struggle, that they found it expedient to show respect to the conqueror; and
with the exception of the Indi, all the nations named may have given some
support to Zenobia. Cf. the hyperbolical encomium quoted in Vita Aurelian.
41.9 : ‘(Aurelianus) Persas . .. fudit, fugavit, oppressit: illum Saraceni, Blemmyes,
Axomitae, Bactrani, Seres(!), Hiberi, Albani, Armenii, populi etiam Indorum
veluti praesentem paene venerati sunt deum.’
2 Jn Josephus, Bell. Fud. 2. 385, Agrippa describes Egypt as Spopos ris
‘vies. In a Coptic document, quoted by E. O. Winstedt in Classical Quarterty,
July, 1909, p. 218, the Axomitae, the Adulitae, the Homeritae (of south-west
‘Arabia), and other dwellers in that region (including a tribe which Mr. Winstedt
identifies with the Blemmyes) are called Indians.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 75
southern frontier, there is quite enough to account for the words
* Alienigenis terram istam complentibus ’.
The loss of life caused by war and insurrection during these five
years, and by the famine and disease that war brought with it, must
have been enormous; and scenes such as those described by
Dionysius a few years earlier must have recurred again and again.
It might well be said that ‘the land was filled with corpses’, and
‘the waters were polluted with blood’, and even (if we make some
allowance for a prophet’s rhetoric) that ‘the dead were far more in
number than the survivors ’.
The inhabitants were divided into two factions, the one siding
with the Palmyrenes, and the other opposing them. Thus the
_ horrors of civil war were added to those of foreign invasion ; ‘ Egypt
itself was infected with yet worse plagues’ than those inflicted by
the barbarian invader, and ‘set an example of cruelty to the world’.
And lastly, the national religion was dying out. As we have
already seen, the power which Christianity had acquired by A.D. 260,
and its rapid growth from that time onward, were enough to give
FA worshipper of the gods of Egypt cause to anticipate the total
defeat and overthrow of his religion ;and the violent disturbance
of native traditions caused by the shock or the Palmyrene invasion
must have further promoted that general abandonment of the old
cults which was already in progress. The invaders and immigrants,
who at this time ‘filled the land’, were doubtless worshippers of
many different gods, but all of them alike must have been strangers
to the national religion of Egypt, and little disposed to venerate its
rites. The Palmyrene rulers, if they did not directly promote the
spread of the new faith, were at any rate not hostile to it;? and
adevout Egyptian might well feel, when his land fell under their
dominion, that Egypt was forsaken by the gods, and that the
national religion, already much impaired by the encroachments of
Christianity, was now indeed doomed to perish.
1 There must have been Christians among them, Harnack, Mission und
Ausbreitung des Chr., p. 440: ‘It is established that before 190 A. D. Christianity
‘Was strong in Edessa and the vicinity, and that (soon after the year 201, or even
earlier?) the royal family of Edessa had gone over to the Church.’ (Edessa was
one of the principal cities within the dominion of Zenobia,) In the kingdom
of Armenia, Christianity was the officially established religion by the beginning of
the fourth century: Harnack, 2., p. 472; Euseb. //. £. 9. 8, 2.
_ * Paulus of Samosata, the bishop of Antioch described in Euseb, HW, Z. 7. 30,
said to have been favoured by Zenobia. Harnack, 2d., p- 430. On the other
d, the Pagan Longinus was one of her counsellors. The Palmyrene invaders
aay perhaps have plundered temples, or confiscated temple endowments.
76 INTRODUCTION
I think then that we may take it as established that the prophecy
in chs, 24-6 of the Asclepius was written under the impression
produced by the Palmyrene invasion of Egypt and the events
connected with it. And as there is in the prophecy no hint that
the foreigner will be expelled or dispossessed, and it seems to be
assumed that his occupation of the land will be permanent (‘inhabi-
tabit Aegyptum’), it may be inferred that the passage was written
either before the reconquest of the country for Aurelian in 271,
or at any rate, before the final suppression of the Palmyrene faction
in 273. ‘The writing of the prophecy then (with the exception
of two sentences added after a.p. 353) must be assigned to the
years 268-73.
It remains to be considered whether Ascedepius III as a whole
is of the same date. It is conceivable that the prophecy might have
been inserted into an already existing document. But as ch. 26,
which is closely connected with the preceding predictions, passes on
without a break into the main current of the treatise, I do not think
this hypothesis can be admitted. It is also conceivable that
different parts of the prophecy itself might be of different dates—
i.e. that the prediction of the extinction of the national religion
(in chs. 25 and 26) might have formed part of an As¢/, III which
was in existence before 268, and that the references to the Palmyrene
invasion (‘ Alienigenis enim ... videbitur alienus’, if my rearrange-
ment of the sentences is accepted) might have been subsequently
inserted in 268-73. But against this it may be said, first, that the
latter passage, if not absolutely needed for continuity, at any rate
fits perfectly with its context, and supplies a cause for that decay
of religion of which the writer goes on to speak ; and secondly, that,
since we have already found reason to think the writer’s conviction
of the impending doom of the national religion could hardly have
arisen before a.D. 260, the dates of the two portions of the prophecy
could in any case be separated by no more than a few years at most.
I conclude therefore that this hypothesis also must be rejected,
and consequently, that the Greek original of Asc. III as a whole
was written in A.D, 268-73.
Circumstances of the writer of Ascrzerivs III. The author of
Asel. III must have been an Egyptian by race; he regards Egypt
as his country, and his Hellenic education has not diminished
the intensity of his national patriotism (ch. 24b). Seeing that he
localizes the cult of the god Asclepius (ch. 37) and the ancient cult
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS "7

of the Egyptian kings (ch. 27 d) at Arsinoe-Crocodilopolis, it seems

probable that he resided in or near the Fayum. His keen interest
in the national temple-cults, and his grief at the prospect of their
suppression, suggest that he may have been an Egyptian priest.
His approval of marriage (ch. 2r) makes it unlikely that he was
a member of a monastic brotherhood such as that to which the
writer of Asc/. I presumably belonged. He shows a less unworldly
disposition than that writer ;he values the mundane benefits which
the temple-gods confer ; and his hearty love and admiration of the
material universe (ch. 25) seems hardly consistent with the con-
tempius mundi, and aspiration to escape from the body, which his
principles required him to profess. We may imagine him then to
have been a priest attached to the temple of one of the local deities
of the Fayum; and we may suppose that he had assimilated the
Hermetic doctrine without ceasing to discharge his priestly functions
and to take his part in social life, and that he found in that doctrine
a justification of the worship in which his interests centred, and
a means of defending it against the attacks of the Christians.
Date of the composite Adyos ré\eos. The Greek original of the
Latin Asclepius as a whole was known to Lactantius, under the title
Aédyos 7éActos, about A.D. 310. The redactor who joined together
the Greek Asc/. 1, Asc/, II, and Asc. III to make a single dialogue
must therefore have done his work at some time between a.D. 270
and 310. But Corp. IX announces itself as a sequel to the Aédyos
réXevos ;and if, as seems probable, this title was given only to the
composite document, and not to any of its component parts before
they were joined together,’ the redactor’s work must have been done
before Corp. IX was written. We may conjecture then that the
Aéyos téAevos was compiled about A.D. 280-go0, and that Corp. IX
was written about a.D. 290-300. It is possible that the same person
who compiled the composite Adyos réAewos proceeded to write
Corp. 1X as a sequel to it; if so, the date of both might be about
A.D. 290.
It may be doubted whether the concluding prayer of the Asclepius
(41 b) formed part of the original Asc/. III (written about a. D. 270),
or was added by the compiler of the Adyos réAeos. This prayer has
been borrowed by the sorcerer who wrote one of the magic incanta-
tions preserved in the Papyrus Mimaut (Reitzenstein, Poimandres,
pp. 151, 156). Wessely (Denkschr. der kais. Akad. der Wissensch.
1 See notes on Ascl, Lat, init.
98 INTRODUCTION

xxxvi, Wien, 1888, Abth. 2, p. 36) says that the Papyrus Mimaut
was written in the fourth century 4.p.; but Reitzenstein (Arch. fiir
Rel,, 1904, p. 397) is inclined to assign it to the third century rather
than the fourth. Thus the prayer may have been first written about
A.D. 2'70-go, and borrowed by a sorcerer a little later.
Date of the Latin translation. The Latin Asclepius has come
down to us among the works of Apuleius. Now Apuleius was born
about A.D. 125, and wrote under Antoninus Pius and Marcus
Aurelius, i.e, before A.D. 180, If, therefore, any good reason could
be shown for attributing the translation to Apuleius, it would be
necessary to reconsider our conclusion as to the date of the Greek
original of Asc/, III.
Hildebrand (Afpudleii Opera, 1842, vol. i, pp. xlix ff.) discusses the
question whether the translation was written by Apuleius, dealing
with it mainly on the ground of Latin style, and states his conclusion
thus: ‘hunc dialogum ab Apuleio confectum esse persuasum mihi
quidem est. ... Demonstrasse mihi videor, dicendi rationem quae in
hoc dialogo cognoscitur ab Apuleiana non esse alienam, ac pluribus
lociscum eaconcordare, Inde quamquam colligi per se nequit Apu-
leium revera huius dialogi esse auctorem, tamen cum accedat manu-
scriptorum auctoritas, qui optimi quique Apuleii nomen in fronte
habent, non intelligo cur nostro scriptori hic liber abiudicandus sit.’
But the incompetence shown by our translator’ is a strong
argument against identifying him with Apuleius, who would surely
have done the work better. Moreover, the method of translation
in the Asclepius differs widely (as Hildebrand admits) from that
of Apuleius in his version of the Aristotelian De mundo. In the
De mundo, the translation is free and fluent; in the Asclepius, it is
literal ® and clumsy.
It may be considered certain that Augustine, who knew our
translation, did not suppose it to have been written by Apuleius.
In quoting from it,‘ he says ‘Huius Aegyptii verba, sicut in nostram

> The quality of his work as a translator can be judged from the fragments
of the Greek original which have been preserved, as well as from the numerous
difficulties in the text which can only be explained on the assumption that he has
misunderstood or inadequately rendered the meaning of the Greek.
° That the translator of the De mundo was Apuleius is attested by Augustine,
Civ, Dei 4.2: ‘quae... Apuleius breviter stringit in eo libello quem de mundo
seripsit.
5 e.g. we find a Greek genitive (gen. abs. or gen. after a comparative) repre-
sented by a Latin genitive, where Latin grammar demands an ablative.
4 Civ, Det 8. 23 fi.
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 99
linguam interpretata sunt, ponam’, without naming the translator.
But in the same passage Augustine speaks of Apuleius, and
contrasts the view of Apuleius with that of ‘Hermes’ (i.e. that
expressed in the Asclepius); if therefore he had thought the Latin
Asclepius to be the work of Apuleius, he would have mentioned
the fact—as he does elsewhere in the case of the De mundo.
I can therefore see no reason to dissent from Goldbacher,’ who
says, ‘Asclepi dialogum . . . iniuria inter Apulei opera referri mihi
persuasum (est)’. After speaking of the passage in Augustine,
Goldbacher continues, ‘Quo cum accedant aliae res gravissimae,
quas Bernaysius’... exposuit, haud quemquam fore putaverim, qui
hunc dialogum ab Apuleio e Graeco in Latinum conversum esse
existimet’. The Latin Asclepius was, no doubt, attributed to
Apuleius in the archetype of our MSS.: but that attribution was
an error. Consequently, there is nothing to set against the con-
clusion at which we have already arrived, namely, that the Greek
original of As¢/, III was written in A.D, 268-73; and the Latin
translation must have been written at some time after that date.
The terminus ante quem for the Latin translation is given by the
fact that Augustine quotes from it in his De civ. Dei, about A.D. 413-
26. If the references to penal laws against Pagan worship are
contemporary with the rest of the Latin text,’ the translation must
be dated between 353 and 426. If those references have been
subsequently interpolated into the Latin text, any date between
about 280 and 426 is possible for the translation.
Who was the translator? That question cannot be answered
with certainty; but the only man known to us to whom the
translation might with some probability be attributed is C. Marius
Victorinus. Hieronymus Vir. illusir. 101: ‘Victorinus, natione
Afer, Romae sub Constantio principe (A.D. 350-6r) rhetoricam

) Apulei Opuscula quae sunt de Philosophia, 1876, p. xv.

* Bemays, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, vol. i, p. 340: ‘tritt hierdurch zu der
inneren Unméglichkeit, das ein stilistischer Kiinstler mit gelehrte Bildung wie
Apuleius der Urheber unserer holperichten und zuweilen schnitzerhaften Ueber-
seizung sei, noch ein dusseres Anzeichen, da Lactantius eine durch Apuleius’
Namen empfohlene Arbeit schwerlich unbenutzt gelassen hatte.’
§ Boissier, La Fin du Paganisme, ii, p. 229, speaking of the Latin Asclepius,
says: ‘L’ouvrage original était composé avant la victoire du christianisme, mais
le traducteur, qui écrivait pendant que l’ancien culte était persécuté, n’a pu
oy grageadd’ajouter au texte quelques allusions a ces lois, ., . qui proscrivent la
piété et en font un crime capital.’ The two references to penal laws are certainly
of later date than the rest of the prophecy; and it is probable that one of them at
least was inserted by the translator.
80. INTRODUCTION
ti se tradens fidei* scripsit
docuit, et in extrema senectute Chris
ctico yalde obscuros, qui nisi ab
adversus Arium libros more diale
entarios in apostolum’ (se.
eruditis non intelleguntur, et comm
in Ep. ad. Galat.: ‘Non quia
Paulum)? Hieron. Praef, comm,
Romae me puero® rhetoricam
ignorem C. Marium Victorinum, qui occupatus
tolum, sed quod
docuit, edidisse commentarios in apos
omni no sanctas ignoraverit.’
le eruditione saecularium litteraram Donatus et
ad ann. 2370:° ‘Victorinus rhetor
Hieron. Chron.,
nes habentur ; e quibus
grammaticus praeceptor meus Romae insig
meruit.’ August. Confess.
Victorinus etiam statuam in foro Traiani
nicorum, quos Victorinus
8. 2: ‘legisse me quosdam libros Plato
tianum defunctum esse
quondam rhetor urbis Romae, quem Chris
t.? . . . Ile doctissimus
audieram, in Latinam linguam transtulisse
ianity is spoken of at greater length
1 The conversion of Victorinus to Christ
1-5} and we are there told that he was already
by Augustine, Confess. 8. s edict (A.D. 362), Christians were
a Christian at the time when, by Julian’
g posts as public teacher s. He may have been converted
prohibited from holdin
about A. D. 356.
are printed in Migne, Patr,. Lat,
2 Christian writings ascribed to Victorinus ed as certainly authentic are (1) De
8. 993-1310. Those which may be accept
divini, ad Candi dum Arian um; (2) IV bri contra Arium;
generatione Verbi de Trinita te; (5) Commentarii in
(3) De dpoovaig recipie ndo; (4) Hymni tres
Philipp ., and £f4.). In these writing s Victorinus maintains
Apostolum (Gal., tion to the Arians. Their contents are
the Nicaean Spoovc tov-fo rmula in opposi
Afer, in Smith and Wace, Dict. of
discussed by Gore, C. Marius Victorinus C. Marius Victorinus, ein neuplatonischer
Christian Biogra phy, 1887; G. Geiger,
Landsh ut, 1888; and R. Schmid , Marius Victorinus Rhetor und
Philosoph, Victorinus’s treatment of the
1895.
seine Bezichungen 2u Argustin, Kiel, e with a Neoplatonic system closely
question is a blendi ng of Christi an doctrin
resembling that of Plotinus. (In that m, respect his position is similar to that of
ine about the time of his baptis A.D. 387. See P. Alfaric, L’évolution
Augnst S'il (sc. Augustin) était mort aprés avoir
intellec tuelle de S. Augusti n, i. 315-27 :
A. D. 387) on le traité De la guantité
rédigé les So/ilogues (written at Cassiciacum,on ne le considérerait que comme un
de lame (written at Rome, A.D. 387-8), de Christianisme.’)
Néoplatonicien convaincn, plus ou moins teinté as valde obscurt. It is, as Gore
These writings are rightly described by Jeromehad Victorinus’s reputation as a
who
says, ‘matter of astonishment that one his
ble of giving clear expression to
rhetorician should have been so wholly incapa Christian treatises, so little deserves
his
thought’; and since his style, as shown in e that he gained that honour rather
the reward of a public statue, we must supposphilosophy, and perhaps by personal
by his influence as a teacher of the Plotinian affection of his senatorial pupils.
qualities which won for him the respect and puero therefore agrees with the other
8 Jerome was born about A.D. 3403 the post of vhefor at Rome during
evidence, which indicates that Victorinus held
the years A. D. 350-62. Bible in his Christian writings show
4 Victorinus’s frequent quotations from the was not ‘wholly ignorant of sacred
he wrote them, he
that, at the time when
study of Pagan philosophy before he
literature’; but he lived to old age in the
became a Christian.
5 A.D. 354, Teuffel; A.D. 358, Gore. i. 374 849. says that among the
6 Alfaric, L’évolution intell. de S. Augustin, by Victorinus were read by
, of which Latin transla tions
libri. Platonicorum
 THE LATIN ASCLEPIUS 81
genex et omnium liberalium doctrinarum peritissimus, quique philo-
sophorum tam multa legerat et diiudicaverat, doctor tot nobilium
senatorum, qui etiam ob insigne praeclari magisterii... statuam in
Romano foro meruerat et acceperat.’ Boethius, Zw Jsagogen Por-
phyrii, Brandt (Zditionis primae), 1.1: ‘id quod Victorinus, orator
sui temporis ferme doctissimus, Porphyrii per Isagogen, id est per
introductionem inAristotelis Categorias, dicitur transtulisse.’ Boethius
ib, (Editions secundae), 5. 24: ‘huius libri seriem primo quidem ab
rhetore Victorino, post vero a nobis Latina oratione conversam.’
Boethius found Victorinus’s translation of the /sagoge to be inaccu-
rate,! and for that reason wrote a fresh translation of it for himself.
Victorinus then, in the course of a long life which ended soon
after A.D. 362, was much occupied in the study of Pagan philosophy;
he translated into Latin (presumably for the use of his pupils at
Rome) ‘books of Platonists’, among which were some of the
writings of Plotinus and Porphyry; and his translations were read
by Augustine, who, since he did not read Greek, was dependent on
them for his knowledge of Neoplatonism. Such a man would
almost necessarily become acquainted with the Hermetic Adyos
réAevos, and might very well think it worth while to translate a
document which contained doctrines so closely related to those
of his Neoplatonic creed; and the fact, made known to us by
Boethius, that he sometimes misunderstood his Greek original, and
made mistakes in translation, adds to the probability of the hypo-
thesis that our Latin Asclepius is his work. There is no positive
evidence that it was so ; but it may safely be said that the translator
was either Victorinus or some one who had much in common
with him.
Augustine, were probably Plotinus, Ha. i, 2, 3, 4,6; iii, 2; and v, 1; and
perhaps also Porphyry, De reditu animae ad Deum and Sententiae ad intellegibilia
ducentes (‘Apoppal mpds Ta vonTd).
1 e.g. Boeth, 7b. 2.6: quod Victorinus seilicet intellexisse minus videtur: nam
quod Porphyrius dvadoyov dixit, id est proportionale, ille (sc. Victorinus) sic
accepil guast Gdoyov diceret, id est irrationale.

2406 G
 THE HERMETICA IN THE ANTHO.- |
LOGIUM ’OF STOBAEUS
500,'
* Joannes SToBarus, at some date not far from A.D.
compiled a large collection of extracts from Pagan Greek writers.
The collection was divided into four books, and was entitled é«Aoyav,
dmopbeypdrav, troOnxav ByBhia récoapa. It seems to have been
ons of
made up by putting together the contents of earlier collecti
d by Stobaeu s himself
extracts, and adding to them passages extracte
from books which he had read. He arranged the extracts in
chapters according to subjects, and placed at the head of each
ed
chapter a superscription stating the subject of the extracts contain
in it.
Photius (c. A.D. 850) read this anthologium in a copy differing
eca,
little from the original as written by Stobaeus ; and in his Biblioth
p. t12a, 16ff., he describe s it as a work in two volumes (rey),
consisting of four books (AiPdia), and gives the superscriptions
of the 208 chapters into which the four books were divided.
Our MSS. of Stobaeus are derived from an archetype closely
resembling the MS. used by Photius, if not from that very MS.
which
But at some time not far from A.D. 1000, the two volumes of
the archetype consisted were separated ;the two parts passed into
different hands, and thenceforward, each of them was copied and
recopied separately. Hence the first part (Bks. I and II) has come
down to us in one set of MSS., and the second part (Bks. III
and IV) in another set of MSS. The two parts consequently came
to be edited separately, as if they were two different works ; and the
editors gave to Bks. I and II the title Zc/ogae physicae et ethicae,
and to Bks. III and IV the title Morilegium, Either the term
Eclogae or the term Florilegium might serve as a title for the whole
(each extract, whether in Bks. I and II or in Bks. IIT and IV, is an
1 The latest writer quoted by Stobaeus is the Neoplatonist Hierocles, a con-
temporary of Proclus (A. D. 410-85). The fact that Stobaeus ignores all Christian
writings makes it improbable that he lived much later than Hierocles (Christ,
Gesch, der gr, Litt., p. 848).
 STOBAEUS 83
ecloga, and the four Books are collectively a florilegium); but the
assignment of the title Zc/ogae to one part of the collection and
the title Florilegium to the other is arbitrary and groundless, and
Wachsmuth and Hense, the latest editors, have rightly rejected
these titles. In their edition, what had hitherto been called S7od.
Edi, is called Stobaet Anthologii libri duo priores, and what had
hitherto been called Stob. Floril. is called Stobaei Anthologit libri
duo posteriores; and their correction will doubtless be henceforth
accepted by all scholars.
After the separation of the two parts of the Amthologium, the first
part (Bks. I and II) was reduced to smaller compass by an epito-
mator, who had a preference for philosophical writings. He copied
out almost in full Bk. I, chs. 1-30; but from that point onward
as far as his handiwork can be traced (i.e. down to Bk. II, ch. 9);
he omitted nearly all extracts except those from Plato, Aristotle,
Archytas, Porphyry, and (fortunately for our present purpose)
Hermes. The last part of his epitome (Bk. II, chs. ro-46) is lost.
It is only this mutilated epitome of Bks. I and II, and not the full
text of these two books as read by Photius, that has come down
to us in the MSS. of Stobaeus. Some of the missing passages
have, however, been recovered from a gnomologium, partially pre-
served in a cod. Laurentianus (fourteenth century), the compiler
of which borrowed largely from the four Books of Stobaeus at
a time when they were still complete; and from that source
Wachsmuth has been able to print the text of Stob., Bk. II, chs. 15,
31, 33, and 46.
Stobaeus seems to have got his Hermetica from (1) a collection
of “Eppot Adyou wpds Tér; (2) a collection of ‘Eppod Adyor xpos
"Aoxhymdv ; (3) a collection of “Epyot Adyar mpos "Appova; and
(4) a collection of Epyuod Adyou “Lowos wpds*Qpov. The total number
of Hermetic excerpts in his Anthologium is forty-two,' if we include
£x¢c. [XXVIII] and [XXIX], and count as separate excerpts the
two parts of Stob. 1.41. 1 (which I call Zxc. II B and Zxc. XI), and
_ the two parts of Stob. 1. 41. 6 (which I call Zxc. IV Band Exe. III),
Of these, ten are taken from /ide// which have been preserved in the
Corpus Hermeticum (Corp. U1, IV, and X); and one (Stob. 4. 52. 47)

1 There may perhaps have been some more Mermetica in chs, 10-46 of Bk, II,
which are missing in our MSS, of Stobaeus; ch. 11, for instance, the superscription
of which was “Or xpi) oéBew 7d Oefov, may very likely have contained some
Hermetic extracts,
G2
84 INTRODUCTION
is an extract from the Greek original of the Latin Asclepius. The
remaining thirty-one are given in the present edition as Excerpts I,
ILA, IIB, III, IVA, IVB, V—[XXIX]. I have arranged and
numbered them, grouping together the Hermes to Tat Excerpts
(I-X1), the Hermes to Ammon Excerpts (XII-XVII), the Excerpts
in which there is no indication of the pupil’s name (XVIII-
XXII), and the Jsis ¢o Horus Excerpts (XXIII-XXVIT); and
I have divided the longer Excerpts into numbered sections.
Twenty-seven of these ‘Excerpts’, as well as all the ten extracts
from Zbelli which are extant in the Corpus, occur in Stob. Bk. I,
and two (Zxe, land £xc, XVIII) in what remains of Stob, Bk. II.
There are only two Hermetic extracts (Zxe. II A and £xe, XXVII)
in Stob. Bk. III, and only one (the extract from the original of
Ascl. Lat.) in Stob. Bk, IV, But by an accident which must have
happened before the separation of the two parts of the Anthologium,
the leaf of Bk. II on which Zxc. I was written in the archetype
was, together with two other leaves, shifted from its place, and
inserted in Bk. IV; and the contents of these three leaves have
consequently been transmitted as part of the text of Bk. IV. For
the text of Zxc. |I therefore we are dependent on the MSS. of
Bks. III and IV (the so-called /ordlegium), and not on the MSS.
of Bks. I and II (the so-called Zc/ogae). Wachsmuth has now
restored these misplaced passages to their original positions in
Bk. II, chs. 1, 4, and 2,
Of the MSS. which contain the extant remains of Stob. Bks. I
and II, two only need be taken into account, as all the other MSS.
are derived from them. These two are
cod. Farnesinus (F), fourteenth century ;
cod. Parisinus (P), fifteenth century.

F and F then are our only sources for the text of all the Hermetic
extracts except four. F is much the better of the two; but the
evidence of P also is of some value. There are in P numerous
corrections by two or three later hands; but these corrections
(marked P*) are conjectural.
The other four Hermetic extracts (viz. Zxcerpis 1, ILA, XXVII,
and the fragment of the Greek original of Asc/. Lat.) have come
down to us in the MSS. of Stob. Bks. III and IV. Of these, the
earliest and best is cod. Vindobonensis (S), written soon after
A.D. 1000. ‘The editio princeps of Bks. III and IV by Trincavelli
 STOBAEUS 8s
(Tr.); faithfully reproduces the text of a cod. Marcianus (fifteenth
or sixteenth century) closely related to S, if not wholly derived from
it, and is useful chiefly as a substitute for certain missing parts of S.
There are two other MSS. which are of some value, as representing
a text of different descent, viz. cod. Escurialensis (M), ¢. a.D. 1100,
and cod. Parisinus (A), fourteenth century. Hense has also made
use of the cod. Laurentianus (L) mentioned above, which contains
extracts from Stob. Bks. III and IV as well as from Stob. Bks. I
and II, and of another gxomologium, preserved in cod. Bruxellensis
(Br.), fourteenth or fifteenth century, which likewise contains
borrowings from Stob. Thus our sources for these four Hermetic
extracts are S (with Tr.) and MA, supplemented by L and Br.
The chief printed editions of Stobaeus are the following :—
Bks. I and II: Canter (ed. princeps), Antwerp, 1575; Heeren,
1792-1801 ; Gaisford, 1850; Meineke, 1860-3; and Wachsmuth,
Berlin, 1884. :
Bks, III and IV: Trincavelli (ed. princeps), Venice, 1535-6;
Gesner, 1st edition 1543, 2nd ed. 1549, 3rd ed. 1559; Gaisford,
1822; Meineke, 1860-3 ; and Hense, Berlin, 1894-1912.
Wachsmuth and Hense have investigated the MSS. far more
thoroughly than any of the previous editors ; and the edition of the
Anthologium of Stobaeus which they have produced by their com-
bined labours supersedes all earlier publications of the text. Their
edition is my sole authority for the readings of the MSS. in the
Hermetic extracts.
In my text of the Zxcerfis, and in my textual notes on them,
I have used the same notation as in the Uelli of the Corpus
Hermeticum.’ The readings of P* I have treated as conjectures,
_ The task which Wachsmuth and Hense have set themselves in
their edition, and which they may be considered to have accom-
plished, as far as its accomplishment is possible, is that of restoring
the text of the Anthologium as written by Stobaeus.2 There remains

1 In passages based on F and P alone, I have sometimes marked as P a reading

of that MS. which I have inferred from a statement of Wachsmuth concerning F,
or vice versa,
* Wachsmuth, vol. i, p. xxxi, says: ‘Ex his igitur codicibus recognovi Stobaei
verba; cui fundamento certo speramus fore ut iam multi suam emendandi operam
superstruant; nam permultos philosophorum potissimum locos etiamnunc medicina
egere nemo me melius intellegit. Quodsi in hac editione non improbabiliter
‘emendationem incohatam esse confido, id prorsus debetur amicitiae Hermanni
Seneri, . . . In afferendis verbis eorum scriptorum, quorum libri ipsi aetatem
tulerunt (e.g. in the extracts from /ide/li which are extant in the Corpus
86 INTRODUCTION
the further task of emending the more or less corrupt text of each
extract as read by Stobaeus, and so recovering, as nearly as may be,
the original text of the passage as written by its author. For the
performance of this task also, Wachsmuth and Hense have given
valuable help; but much remains to be done ; and it is this that, as
far as the Hermetic extracts are concerned, I have aimed at doing
in the present edition. Starting from the text of the archetype
of the Stobaeus-MSS., as reconstructed by Wachsmuth and Hense,
I have tried to discover or guess, firstly, what words the author
of each Hermetic passage wrote, and secondly, what he meant by
the words he wrote. When one has concluded that a phrase is
corrupt, the best way to deal with it is usually to attack the second
of these two problems first ; i.e. to infer from the context, and from
parallels in other writings, what the author must have meant, and
his
thence, if possible, to infer what words he used to express
meaning. In a matter of this kind, complete success is unattain-
able ;but there is much that can be done, and it is to be hoped
that the process of recovering the thoughts of the Hermetic writers,
to which I have ttied to contribute, will be taken up and carried
farther by others.

Hermeticum), hanc normam tenui, ut non ea quae ipsos scripsisse probabile esset,
sed ea tantum quae in exemplo suo Stobaeus legisse videretur restituerem.’
Hense, vol. iii, p. Ixv, says: ‘ Mihi quid in hac editione propositum fuerit, iam
puto elucere. Ad librorum manuscriptorum fidem reversus id operam dedi, ut
et ordo eclogarum et contextus ab illorum archetypo abesset quam proxime.’
 TESTIMONIA

Tue earliest evidence for the existence of writings of similar

character to our religious and philosophic Hermetica is that of
Athenagoras, A.D. 177-80. But that evidence is not quite free
from doubt; for the statement which Athenagoras apparently
ascribes to Hermes, viz. that he was descended from ‘gods’ who
were men (i.e. from men who were held to have become gods after
death), might have occurred in any sort of document the teaching
of which was attributed to Hermes, e.g. in a dialogue dealing with
astrology or magic.
Tertullian, De an. 33, quotes a passage from a writing of the
same kind as our Hermetica. His obscure style makes it difficult
to be sure what he means in the three passages in which he
mentions Hermes Trismegistus without quoting him; but it may
be inferred from Adv. Valentin. 15 and De an. 2 that he knew of
writings of which Hermes was supposed to have been the author,
and which contained doctrines resembling those of Greek philoso-
phers, and especially those of Plato. His evidence proves then
that in A.D. 207-13 some Hermetica similar to ours were in
existence, and were accessible to Christian readers; but it does not
prove that at that time any of the extant Hermetica had yet been
written.
In the writings of Clement of Alexandria,’ there is no mention
of any Greek Hermetica, What is to be inferred from this fact?
Large parts of Clement’s Stromateis are occupied with discussions
of the relation between Greek philosophy and ‘barbarian’ philo-
sophy (by which he usually means the teaching of Moses and the
Hebrew prophets). He seeks to prove that the Greek philosophers
were later in date than the Hebrew writers, and ‘stole’ from them.
If he had known our Hermetica, and believed them to contain the

1 Clement taught in the Catechetical School of Alexandria from about A.D. 190
to 202 or 203, At the latter date he quitted Egypt; he was residing in Asia
Minor about A. D. 211, and he died in or about A.D. 216. The dates of his chief
writings are probably Profrepi., A.D. 190-200; Strom. i-iv, Paedag., Strom. v-vii
(in this order), A. D. 203-16 (Harnack, Chronol., ti. 3-18).
88 INTRODUCTION
teachings of an ancient Egyptian sage, he could not possibly have
omitted to speak of them in the course of these discussions, He
could not have failed to notice the resemblance between the
Hermetic doctrines and those of Plato; and he would have said,
as others did, ‘Plato borrowed from Hermes’.' His silence con-
cerning the Greek Hermetica can therefore be accounted for only
by assuming either that they were not yet in existence ; or that they
were in existence but unknown to him; or that he knew them, but
knew them to be of recent date, and therefore had no more reason
to speak of them than of other recent writings. Now the hypothesis
that no such writings were yet in existence is excluded by the
evidence of Clement’s contemporary, Tertullian, who quotes from
a philosophic Hermeticum; and if writings of this character were
known to Tertullian, it is most unlikely that they were unknown
to Clement, whose work as a teacher in Alexandria must have
brought him into contact with thinkers of all kinds that were to
be found in Egypt, Pagans as well as Christians. It is therefore
probable that Clement knew of the existence of some Greek
Hermetica of the same character as ours, but knew them to have
been composed by men of his own time, and therefore to have no
bearing on the question what sort of doctrines were taught in Egypt
before the beginnings of Greek philosophy.
Arguments ex silentio are often of little weight; but in the case
of Clement, the force of this argument will, I think, be evident
to any one who reads the following passages. Strom. 1. 15. 66-73
(a long list of Greek philosophers who were either barbarian by race
or pupils of barbarian teachers), Strom, 1. 21. 134 (an item in
a long list of Pagan prophets): dAAa Kal rav wap’ Alyumrios dvOpdrov
roré, yevoutvoy 8& dvOpwrivy Sdé) Gedy, “Eppijs re 6 OnBaios xal
*AckAnmis 6 Meudirys.? Strom. 5. 5. 29: Kat ddws 6 Tvbaydpas
kat of am aitod ot Kat TAdron podtota tov GAAwy procddwv

1 Moreover, if he had read our /Yermetica with attention, he would have

noticed in Corp. I and elsewhere certain resemblances to Genesis, and would
consequently have added, as some others did, ‘ Hermes borrowed from Moses’.
But we have no proof that any of the exéan/ Hermetica were in existence in
Clement's time,
2 The conjunction of these two names might perhaps be thought to indicate
a knowledge of dialogues in which Hermes and Asclepius were speakers. But
Clement cannot here have been thinking of any writings resembling our Hermetica.
The context shows that he means by ‘prophets’ men who predict future events
(see § 135); but in our Hermetica Hermes docs not speak as a prophet in that
pea = in the ‘Prophecy’ in Asc/, Lat. iii, and in a few obiter dicta else-
where).
 TESTIMONIA 89
apodpa 7G vopobery wpidynoay (i.e. read the Books of Moses), ds
gorw é& abrav ovpBarécba tov Soyydrwy. Why did not Clement
mention the much more evident resemblance between the doctrines
of Plato and the Greek Hermetica? Strom. 5. 12. 78: Clement
quotes Pl. Zim. 28 C (rov yap marépa... éfeuretv adtvarov), and says
that Plato got this thought from Zxod. xix, where it is shown that
God is déparos xal dppyros; and he compares some verses of
Orpheus, who, he says, got the same truth from the same source.
Why did he not rather adduce Herm. af. Stob. £xc. I (which is
much more like the passage in Plato), if it was known to him?
Strom. 6. 4. 35-8: etipopev S dy Kai dAdo pupripioy ets BeBaiwow rod
ra Kéddora tov doypdrwv Tods dplotous Tav diocédwv wap’ Hpav
(i.e. from our Hebrew Scriptures) ogerepurapévous ds idia adyety,
70 Kai mapa trav dAdwy BapBdpwr (i.e. from others besides the
Hebrews) dryvOicba trav cis Exdoryy alpeow ovvrewdvrwv Twa, pddtora
8 Aiyyrriov td re GNAa Kal Td wepl riy perevowpdrwow THs Woyxis
ddypa.' periacr yap olkeiav twa piiocodiav Aiytrrwot’ aitixa totro
eppaiver pidiora % icporperys aitay Opyoxeia. (Here follows a list
of the different orders of Egyptian priests, and of the subjects dealt
with in the ‘Books of Hermes’ which priests of the several orders
were required to study.) vo piv oty Kal reocapdxovra al mévy
dvayxaiae TG ‘Epp yeyovact BiBouw dv ras pev tpidxovra &€, ri
macay Aiyurriov weptexovcas dirocodiav, of mpoepypévor (priests)
éxpavOavovor, ras 8 Aouras & of wacropéspor, iarpixas oboas ... Kal
7a pev Aiyurriwv, ds ev Bpaxel pdvat, roadrar "IvSdv 8% 4 priocopia
«7A. Clement evidently means by ‘Books of Hermes’ books
written in the Egyptian language, and ascribed to Thoth, which
were used in the schools of the priests. He must have got the

1 Clement thought that the doctrine of metensomatosis, taught by Pythagoras

and Plato, was of Egyptian origin. But there is no need to suppose that he was
here thinking of Greek Hermetica in which that doctrine was taught; he may
have got his mistaken notion from Herodotus 2. 123. The notion that the
tians believed in metensomatosis was probably a false inference drawn by
Greeks, in or before the time of Herodotus, from the observed fact that Egyptians
reverenced certain kinds of animals, and thought it wicked to kill and eat
them.
A Greek, knowing that Pythagoreans abstained from the flesh of animals, would
_ be apt to think that the reason for these strange Egyptian usages must be the same
_ that Pythagoreans gave for their abstention, viz. that they believed that a human
soul was or might be incarnated in the animal. Moreover, Greeks would be told
by Egyptians that in each of the individual animals worshipped in the temple-cult
(e.g. the Apis-bull) some god (e. g. Osiris), who had once reigned as a king s
earth, was incarnated; and this might easily seem to the Greek visitor to on be
merely a particular instance of the doctrine of metensomatosis taught by
Pythagoras.

a
go INTRODUCTION
Egyptian; and
list of books, directly or indirectly, from a native
d the meagr e informa-
he knew nothing about their contents, beyon
he had believ ed any Greek
tion which he gives at second hand. If
or paraph rases of ancient
Hermetica known to him to be translations
would necess arily have referred
and genuine ‘books of Hermes’, he
to him and his readers
to them here, as the best evidence accessible
ophy’, instead of
concerning the character of the ‘Egyptian philos
by the priests , books which he could
talking of the books studied
not read, and about which he knew very little.
know of any
We must conclude then that Clement either did not
seems more likely, knew
Greek Hermetica such as ours, or else, as
those which have
of some such writings (not necessarily any of
date, and that
come down to us), but knew that they were of recent
to the ancient teacher
their contents could not be rightly attributed
Hermes.’
or religious
Did Origen (a.p. 185-255) know any philosophic
docu-
Hermetica? No quotations from or references to Hermetic
his teacher and
ments have been found in his writings. Origen, like
and the Hebrew
predecessor Clement, repeatedly asserts that Moses
ophers , and says
prophets were prior in time to the Greek philos
it must have been the
that, as far as there was any borrowing,
but he does not discuss
Greeks that borrowed from the Hebrews ;
does; and I do
this question at length and in detail, as Clement
works in which the course
not know of any passages in Origen’s
had known any Greek Hermetica
of his argument is such that, if he
ned in them to be Egypti an and
and thought the teachings contai
been xecess ary for him to speak of
of ancient date, it would have
them.”
of pseudonymous writings
1 Clement assumed without question the authenticity he would hardly have been
and
such as those ascribed to Orpheus and the Sibyl; date of Hermetica merely by
capable of discovering the true character and
later time), But he may have
examining their contents (as Casaubon did at a ica by direct information;
known something about the authors of Greek /Zermet acquainted with some of them.
indeed, it is not impossible that he was personally ica would have been
‘There are passages in which a mention of the Aerntet
Abyurriav copot xara ra Tar pia
appropriate; e.g. Orig. ¢. Cels. 1.121 of pev vevojuopéva Oclav (al. Peay):
ypappara TOAAG drrogopoiat wept tev wap’ abrois (meanings or explanations)
of b& Iara, pUOous Twas dxovoavres dy rods AGyous here goes on to say that the
ode emioravra, péya én’ abrois ppovovaw. Origen ns, and from whom it might
only men who know this secret wisdom of the Egyptiaan oditer dictum.)
be learnt, are the priests. (That however is merely
staying in Egypt, met Jewish
7b. 4. 39: ‘Some think that Plato, while learnt some things from them.’
philosophers (rots ra. “lovdala y qidocop odar), and
so absurd as it might seem at first sight; there were Jews
That notion is not not quite impossible that some
in Egypt before the time of Alexand er, and it is
 TESTIMONIA 9!
It may however be said of Origen, with even more confidence
than of Clement, that if any such writings were current in his time,
he must have been aware of their existence. Origen was born and
brought up in Alexandria, and lived and taught there as head of the
Catechetical School (with some intermissions) from a. D. 203 to 230,
after which he migrated to Palestine. He had a wide and thorough
knowledge of Pagan philosophic writings, and especially of those
of the Platonists, down to and including Numenius. Some have
thought that he was for a time a pupil of Ammonius Saccas, and
a fellow-pupil with Plotinus (who was junior to him by about
eighteen years). Statements to that effect seem to have arisen out
of a confusion between the Christian Origen and a Pagan Platonist
of the same name. But be that as it may, the fact remains that he
was living in Egypt at the same time as Ammonius Saccas and
Plotinus ; that he may have been personally acquainted with one or
both of them; and that he must have got his Platonism from the
same sources that they did, or from similar sources. Among
the sources from which he got it, were any Hermetica included?
That question we have no means of answering. There are in his
writings many passages which, in the thoughts expressed, closely
resemble passages in our Hermefica; but I have found no
instances of verbal resemblance of a kind that could be held to
prove direct borrowing; and the resemblances in thought prove
nothing more than that both Origen and the Hermetists were
familiar with Platonism.
In any case, Origen’s writings are of special significance for the
study of the Hermetica, because he lived at the very time during
_which we have reason to think that most of the earlier of our extant
e
ee
e
ae
_ Hermetica were written. He was a Platonist as well as a Christian.’
_ The Platonism that is to be found in his writings is intermixed with
allegorical interpretations of Bible texts, but it can, for the most
_—
part, be disentangled from them without much difficulty ;? and we
a
_ teport of the Jewish account of the Creation may have reached Plato by that
route, and may have been borne in mind by him (together with much else) when
he was writing the Zimaeus. But to any one who knew our Hermetica, and
ae them to be ancient, it would have seemed much more evident that Plato
had learnt some things from zhem.
1 Just as Philo was a Platonist as well as a Jew.
2 See, for instance, Orig. De principiis, 1. 1. 5-7, pp. 31-9 Lommatzsch
(concerning the incorporeality of God and mind). That e might, without
change of a single word, have been written by a Pagan Platonist; and if it had
come down to us as a /tbelius ascribed to Hermes, we should have found in it
nothing incongruous with that ascription,
g2 INTRODUCTION
have it in a specimen of the kind of Platonism that was current
in Egypt at that time, i.e. after Numenius, and before the publication
of the teachings of Plotinus.
The date of the sentence concerning Hermes in Cyprian (?)
Quod idola is so uncertain, that no inference can safely be drawn
from it.
The author of the Cohortatio ad Graecos (probably A. p. 260-302)
quotes Herm. af. Stob. Zxc. 1; and if the conjecture “Ayaot
Saipovos for ”Axpwvos is accepted, he also knew a Hermetic dialogue
in which Agathos Daimon was the teacher.
The earliest Pagan ¢estimonium is that of Porphyry, who, in his
Letter to Anebo, written in the latter part of the third century, said
that he had met with some philosophic Hermetica (Abammonis resp.
8. 4a: ey Trois cvyypdpparw ols Ayes mepireruynkeval . . . TH pev yop
epdpeva ds “Eppot x.7.A.).
It might perhaps be argued that the Greek /ermetica may have
been for some considerable time kept secret (as is enjoined in some
of them), that is, may have been passed from hand to hand within
the small groups of men for whose instruction they were written,
but concealed from all others; and that they may therefore have
been in existence long before they became known to outsiders.
But that seems improbable. Among ‘seekers after God’, such as
were the authors of our Mermetica and their pupils, conversions to
Christianity must have been frequent; and a Hermetist who had
become a Christian would no longer have any motive for concealing
the writings which he had previously held sacred. There was
therefore nothing to prevent these documents from becoming widely
known soon after they were written.
We find then that the external evidence agrees with and confirms
the conclusion to which the internal evidence points, namely, that
most of the extant Aermetica were written in the course of the
third century after Christ, and that few of them, if any, can have
been written long before A.D. 200.
That most of them, if not all, were in existence at the end of the
third century, is proved by the evidence of Lactantius.
The treatise of Lactantius De opificio dei, his larger work Divinae
institutiones, and his treatise De ira dei were written between
A.D. 303 and 311.1. The contents of the Divinae institutiones are
1 See Hammack, Chronol, der altchrist, Litt., ii. 415 ff., and Bardenhewer,
Patrologie, pp. 178-80.
 TESTIMONIA 93
repeated in an abridged form, with some variations and additions,
in the Epitome div. inst., which was written by Lactantius some
years later, perhaps about a.p. 315. For the text of Lactantius, my
authority is Brandt's edition, Corp. script. eccl, Lat. vol. xix (1890)
and vol. xxvii (1893-7).!
In the De opif. dei (c. A. D. 304), there is no mention of Hermes.
In Div. inst. 2. ro. 14f., speaking of the making of the human
body by God, Lactantius mentions Hermes, together with the
Stoics and Cicero, as having dealt with the subject, and adds,
‘I pass over this topic now, because I have recently written a book
(viz. the De opif. dei) about it’. But he does not there say that he
made use of any Hermetic document when he was writing the
De opif. dei; and it is possible that the Hermetic passage (probably
Corp. V. 6) to which he refers in Div. inst, Zc. was not known
to
him until after the De ofif. de was finished,
Brandt, Uber die Quellen von Lactans’ Schrift De opificio dei
(Wiener Studien 13, 1891, pp. 255-92), tries to prove that one of the
two main sources of the De opif. det was a Hermetic document—
probably, he thinks, the Aphrodite, of which Herm. ap. Stob.
xe. XXII is a fragment. His argument may be summarized as
follows: ‘Lactantius, throughout De opif. dei cc. 2-13, insists
on
the deauty of man’s bodily structure even more than on its utility. T
ma
-—
=

Now that is exceptional ;in most other writings on the same topic
(e.g. in Cic. Wat. deor, 2. 133-53) the utility of the bodily organs
is spoken of, but not their beauty. Lactantius must therefore have
drawn from a source other than Cicero and Varro, and other than
the Stoic writings of which Cicero anc Varro made use. And as
Lactantius in Div. inst. 2. 10. 13 says that Hermes had dealt
with
the subject, the peculiar source from which Lactantius drew in
the
De opif. dei must have been a Hermeticum. In that LHermeticum,
beauty must have been spoken of side by side with utility.
The .
only extant Hermetic passage in which the construction of the
human body by God is dealt with is Corp. V. 6; and that’, says
Brandt (mistakenly, as it seems to me), ‘cannot be the passage
referred to in Div. inst. /.¢., because it speaks only of the beauty of
the bodily organs, and not of their utility. The Aermeticm

1 The chief MSS. of Div. ust. are %, sixth or seventh century; #, ninth
century; 47, tenth century; S, twelfth century; /, ninth century; J’, tenth
or
eleventh century ;and (for the passages quoted in Greek by Lactantius) Sedu/ins,
ninth century.
O+ INTRODUCTION
e
of which Lactantius made use in the De opif. dei must therefor
have been a Zidellus which is now lost; and it may very likely have
opif.
been the Aphrodite. From it are derived those parts of the De
dei in which either the utility and the beauty of the bodily organs
viz.
are spoken of together, or their beauty is spoken of alone;
8. 1-8,
cap. 2, cap. §. 13, nearly the whole of cap. 7, much in cap.
much in cap. ro, and most of cap. 13.’
If that were established, it might be said that a large part of the
contents of a lost Hermetic Hée//us has been preserved in the De
opif. dei, But Brandt's argument does not appear to me to be
convincing.’ Beauty as well as utility is spoken of in this connexion
by Minucius Felix, Octavivs 17, 11: ‘formae nostrae pulchritudo
deum fatetur artificem: ... nihil in homine membrorum est, quod
non et necessitatis causa sit et decoris.’ The passages of Lact.
De opif. dei which Brandt thinks to be of Hermeti c origin are an
expansion of that statement. Minucius Felix shows no knowledge
of Hermetic writings. His Octavius was certainly known to
Lactantius; and the passages in the De opif. dei of which Brandt
speaks may have been suggeste d to Lactanti us either by that passage
of Minucius Felix, or by some Stoic treatise which was known to
both of them.2 We must conclude then that there is no evidence
that anything in the De opif. dei of Lactantius comes from a
Hermetic source. But Hermes is many times spoken of and
quoted in the Div. inst., and is once referred to in thé De iva det.
Lactantius knew of ‘many’ writings ascribed to Hermes that were
of the same character as our Hermetica (‘libros, et quidem multos,
ad cognitionem divinarum rerum pertinentes’, Div. inst. 1. 6. 4).
He had read the Greek original of Asc/. Zaz., which he calls Adyos
réAes; and as he refers to three different parts of it (Asc/. Lat.
I. 8; II. 24b-26a; Zpilogus 41a under that same title—Div. inst.
4. 6.4; 7. 18. 4; 6. 25.1) there can be no doubt that the compilation

1 Brandt’s conclusion is rejected by Gronau, Poseidonios und die jiidisch-christ!,

Genesisexegesis, 1914, p. 162.
2 Gronau, of. cét., p- 162, points out the resemblance between Lact. De ofi/.
dei 2.7 (st homini ferinos dentes aut cornua aut ungues aut ungulas aut caudam
aut varti coloris pilos addidisset, quis non sentiat quam turpe animal esset
futurum ?) and Gregory of Nyssa, De hominis opificio 141 Bet... . otrws buvapews
elxev 5 GvOpwmos, ds th wey wKdrnT: TapaTpéxey tov immov, atpintoy 8e ind
aoteppérnros exewv Toy ndda, Swrois TLow xndais éperdduevov, wépara 5é Kat
névrpa wad dvvxas ev EauT@ pepew, . . . Onpidbys Tis dy fv nai Svedvrnros), A large
part of the contents of Gre; ory’s De hon. opif., as Gronau has shown, must have
been derived directly or indirectly from Posidonius; and a large part of the
contents of Lact. De opi/. dei may have been derived from the same source,
 TESTIMONIA 95
of that composite dialogue was already completed, and that it was
known to him in a form differing little from that in which it has
- come down to us in the Latin translation, There is positive proof
that he knew also Corp. XII. ii (Div. inst. 6. 25. 10), Corp. XVI
_ (Din. inst. 2. 15. 7), Herm. ag. Stob. Exc. I (Zpit. 4. 5 and De ira
dei 11. 11), and Zxc. 11 A (Div. inst. 2. 12, 5); and there is pro-
bably, if not certainly, a reference to Corg, V in Div. inst. 2. 10. 14.
It is possible, but not certain, that Corp. X is referred to in Div.
inst. 1. 11. 61, and Corp. IX in Div, inst, 2. 15. 6. Lactantius also
quotes or refers to several passages in Hermetic writings which were
known to him but are not now extant (Div. inst. 1. 6. 43 4. ae
mes, 35 T6723 408. 5's 729.11),
It may be inferred then from the evidence of Lactantius that
nearly all the extant Hervmetica,’ as well as a considerable number
of Hermetic 4e/% that are now lost, were written before a. p. 3II
_ at the latest, and probably before a. D. 300.
From the time of Lactantius onward, the existence of religious
or philosophic Hermetica, and the resemblance of the doctrines
taught in them to those of Platonism, were widely known among
the Christians. In the course of the Arian controversy of the
fourth century, disputants on both sides referred to these documents.
(See Marcellus of Ancyra and Ps.-Anthimus.) They were read by
Didymus (A. D. 380-93), and by Cyril of Alexandria (A.D. 435-41).
Augustine (a. D. 413-26) read Asc/. Za?. in the translation which has
come down to us, but does not appear to have read any other
_Hermetica. He did not read Greek; and the Adyos réAeos was
probably the only Hermeticum that had in his time been translated
into Latin. Lactantius, Augustine, and Cyril took for granted the
antiquity and authenticity of the Hermetica; and it does not appear
that any doubt on that point arose among Christians thenceforward
down to the time of Casaubon.
_ The Pagan Neoplatonists paid little attention to the Hermetica,
Porphyry spoke of them in his Letter to Anebo, but there is no
reference to them in any of his extant writings. The author of
Abammonis responsum shows knowledge of them in his reply to
Porphyry. Iamblichus is said by Proclus Zn Zim. 117 D to have
cited a statement of ‘Hermes’ 3 and Proclus makes use of that
Statement to show that a certain doctrine was taught by ‘the
1 There is no proof that any of the /s/s fo Horus documents were known
Lactantins, to
96 INTRODUCTION

tradition of the Egyptians’, But with these exceptions, the

Hermetica axe ignored in Neoplatonic literature. Seeing that the
doctrines set forth in the Hermetic writings are closely connected
with those taught by Plotinus and his successors, we might have
expected the Neoplatonists to be keenly interested in these docu-
ments. Why did they neglect them, and prefer to accept as inspired
scriptures the Oracula Chaldaica and the Orphica, which would
seem to us far less suitable for their purpose? Probably because
they knew that the attribution of the Hermetica to the ancient
prophet Hermes was an error. Porphyry was too good a scholar
and critic to be misled in this matter; he must have seen them
to be what in fact they are, namely, documents written by Egyptian
Platonists in his own time, or very shortly before it. The author
of Adammonis resp. knew at least that they were not written by
Hermes (that is implied by his phrase ri Pepdpeva ws “Eppod, 8. 4a,
which he may have taken over from Porphyry); though he mis-
takenly thought that they correctly reproduced the meaning of
doctrines taught in books written by ancient Egyptian priests. The
later Neoplatonists, if they were aware that the Hermetica were
of recent date, would have little reason to refer to them; for all
that was acceptable to them in the teaching of the Hermetica was
to be found more fully worked out in Plotinus.
Some of our Hermetica were known to the alchemist Zosimus
(a. D. 300-50?). Stobaeus, ¢ A.D. 500, had access to the whole
mass of Hermetica, and made copious extracts from them. About
the same time Fulgentius happened to meet with Corp. 1; and the
Aéyos réXeos, and at least one other Hermeticum, were read by
Lydus, ¢. A.D. 550. From that time onward the Greek Hermetica

1 Malalas (Migne, tom. 97, col. 512) says that in A.D. 367-83 O¢av 6 gcopwraros
gAdaogos (that is, no doubt, Theon of Alexandria, the father of Hypatia) édi8acKe
kat Apuhveve 7A dotpovomnd, kat ra ‘Eppow Tod rponeylarov ovyypaupara, Kai
7a 'Oppéws, (See note on Herm. af. Stob. Lx. ([XXIX].) But we are not told
that ‘the writings of Hermes Trismegistus’ on which Theon commented were
eer pate or religious; they may have been writings on astrology or some other
sind of ‘ occult’ science.
Cyril of Alexandria (Migne, tom. 76, col. 548 B; see Testém.) says that some
man, whom he does not name, ‘composed at Athens the fifteen books entitled
‘Epyaxd.’; and he quotes from the first book of that work (which seems to have
been written in the form of a dialogue) a passage, put into the mouth of an
Egyptian priest, in which it is said that Hermes was the founder of Egyptian
civilization and science. But we do not know how long before Cyril's time the
work called Hermaica was written; we know nothing about its contents except
the extract quoted by Cyril; and in that extract nothing is said of Hermes as
a teacher of philosophy or religion.
 TESTIMONIA 97
seem to have been little known and seldom read, until they were
'brought to light again in the revival of learning which took
place
at Constantinople under the lead of Psellus. In that interval
(A.D. 550-1050) most of them perished; and (apart
from extracts
and quoted fragments) those only survived which were, at
some
date unknown to us, put together to form the Corpus Hermeticum.
The Latin Asclepivs may have owed its preservation to the fact
that
it was mistakenly ascribed to Apuleius, and handed down
together
with his writings.
But while the reputation of Hermes as a philosopher and teacher
of religion dwindled in Europe, it lasted on undiminished in another
region. The centre in which it most strongly maintained
itself, and
from which it spread afresh, was Harran,! an important city in
‘northern Mesopotamia, situated on the main road between Babylonia
and the West. When Christianity, in the course of the fourth
century, became the dominant religion in the neighbouring regions
of the Roman empire, the majority of the Harranians refused
to
be converted, and continued to worship in their heathen
temples
as before ;* so that Harran came to be spoken of by Christian
s as
‘a ‘city of Pagans’ (‘EAAjvev réds).2 When Syria and Mesopotamia
were invaded and conquered by the Arabs (a. D. 633-43), a large
part of the Harranians were still Pagans; and under
Moslem tule
they adhered to their religion with the same pertinacity, We
hear
little of them for nearly two centuries; but they emerge into
light
again in the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’min (son of
Hartn
ar-Rashid). In a,D. 830, al-Mamun, setting out from Bagdad,
his
1} The evidence of Arabic writers concerning the Pagans
of Harran has been
collected and very thoroughly discussed by D. Chwolsohn, Die
Ssadier und der
tsmus, St. Petersburg, 1856 (a work in two volumes, which
contains large
of material, exasperatingly ill arranged). Chwolsohn’s main
are accepted by more recent authorities, e.g. Carra de Vaux, conclusions
61-71, and E. G. Browne, Zit. Hist. of Persia, 1902, pp. 302-6. Avicenne, 1900,
ly that my transliteretions of Arabic names will be found (It is very
sistent. In writing the names I usually omit diacritical marks, inaccurate or
except at the
lace where each name occurs.)
orthem Mesopotamia was the chief battle-ground in the long series of wars
ween the Romans and the Persians. It was therefore of
to the Roman government to retain the loyalty and goodwill great importance
of Harran, which was one of the chief strongholds of that of the inhabitants
region; and it may
e been for this reason that Paganism was connived at there
ibly suppressed in other places. when it was
Chwolsohn, i, pp. 303 and 438. (He refers to Acta
Paris, 1644, pp. 34 and 37.) Procopius, Bel/. Pers. Concilio rum, t. ix,
+ 540 the Persian king Chosroes showed exceptional 2.favour 13, says that in
cause its inhabitants were mostly Pagans’ (S74 8) of wAcioro ob to Harran
MAAG Gots
Xpariavoi,
THs Tadaids Tvyxdvoumw dvres).
8896 H
98 INTRODUCTION
ugh
capital, on a campaign against the Byzantines, passed thro
who there presented themselves
Harran,! and noticing, among those h
before him, some people strangely dressed, asked them, ‘To whic
you belong?’ They answered,
of the peoples protected by law? do
‘Are you Christians?’ ‘No. ‘Jews?’
‘We are Harranians’.
a holy scrip ture or a pro-
‘No’ ‘Magians?’? ‘No. ‘Have you
an evasi ve answe r. ‘You are
phet?’ To this question they gave
caliph, ‘and it is permitted
infidels and idolaters then’, said the I return
by the time when
to shed your blood. If you have not, of one
ems or adher ents
from my campaign, become either Mosl pate you to
, I will extir
of the religions recognized in the Koran ssion
in outward profe
aman.’* Under this threat, many of them,
l-
Fihvist (A.D. 987), Bk. 9, cap. 2 (Chwo
1 This story is quoted by an-Nadim, disclo sure of the doctrine of the Har-
from a book called Zhe
sohn, ii, pp. 14 sqq.), under the name of Sabians, which was
rantans, who are in our time Rnown ian named Abi-Jusuf Abshaa’al-Qathil.
written (probably c. A.D. 900) by & Christ
es of a Book’, i.e. non-Moslems
2 According to Mohammedan law, ‘Peopl containing truths revealed by God
whose religio n was founde d on a scriptu re
prophet, were entitled to toleration, on
to one whom Moslems recognized as a law was based on certain passages
condition of payme nt of a fixed tax. This
‘Sabia ns’ were favourably spoken of,
in the Koran in which Jews, Christians, and Christians, or Sabians, if only they
(Koran 2. 59: ‘ The believers, be they Jews,what is right, will find reward in the
believe in God and the last day, and do shall torment them.’ See also
presence of their Lord; neither fear nor sorrow
Koran 5. 73 and 22. 17.)
Sabians’ by Mohammed were the
According to Chwolsobn, the people called ‘ near the head of the Persian Gulf,
Mandaeans, a sect residing in the marsh-lands and Mandéische Schriften, 1893.)
(See Brandt, Manddische Religion, 1889, a name derived from manda, which
‘These people called themselves Mandaeans, them Sabians, a Semitic word meaning
means # yv@ous; but their neighbours called s*. A few thousands of Mandaeans
‘people who wash themselves’, or ‘ baptist of Basra in the nineteenth century;
were still to be found in the neighbourhood if not quite, extinct. The sect may
but they are probably by this time almost, century A. D. Their scriptures are
have been in existence as early as the second mixture of Babylonian, Jewish, and
written in an Aramaic dialect, and contain a an influence. These writings,
Zoroastrian ingredients, slightly modified by Christi perhaps have been com
now extant, may
in the form in which they are were doubtless compiled out of
about the seventh or eighth century A.D., but , so little was generally known
documents of earlier date. In the ninth century
Pagans of Harran, who had no-
about this sect, that it was possible for the
them, to claim the name of Sabians without fear of
connexion whatever with a legal status similar to that
contradiction, and thereb y to get for themse lves
and Magian s (i.e, Zoroas trians ) under Moslem rule.
of Jews, Christians, ohn was right in identifying the
There is, however , some doubt whether Chwols
Koran with the Mandae ans. De Goeje (Actes du 6™ congres
‘Sabians’ of the Leyden, 1885, p. 289) says that
international des Oriental istes, Pt. ii, section 1,
an sect strongly impregnated
the people called Sabians in the Koran were ‘a Christi in Babylonia, and who, while
with Pagan element s, the Elkasai tes, who existed
Mandae ans, are not identical with them, as
having much resembl ance to the
ohn thought they were’. But whether the sect denoted by the name
Chwols
ans or some other, it was in any
Sabians before A. D. 830 was that of the Mandae nothing to do.
case a sect with which the Pagans of Harran had
1921, Pp. 274, says: ‘In
3 Ameer Ali, A Short History of the Saracens,
b
 TESTIMONIA 99
at least, went over to Islam, and others to Christianity. But some
of them held out, and consulted a Moslem jurist, who, in return for
a large fee, gave them this advice: ‘When al-Mamun comes back,
say to him, “We are Sabians”; for that is the name of a religion
of which God speaks in the Koran,’ Al-Mamun never came back
(he died two or three years later, while still at war); but the
Harranian Pagans acted on the advice of the jurist. They
called
themselves Sabians, and were thenceforward Officially recognized by
the Moslem government as entitled to toleration under that name.!
But in order to make good their claim to this legal status, it was
necessary for them not merely to call themselves by a new
name,
but also to put forward a Book on which it could be said that their
_ religion was based, and a Prophet or Prophets to whom the
contents
of that Book had been revealed. The sacred books of the sect
which had hitherto been denoted by the name Sabians were pro-
bably unknown and inaccessible at Harran ;and if they had
been
known there, it would have been evident that those books had
nothing to do with the religion of the Harranians. Tt was therefore

sagacious tolerance, Mamun recognized no distinction

subjects were declared eligible for public offices, of creed or race; all his
and every religious distinction
was effaced. .. . Liberty of conscience and freedom of worship
enjoyed by non-Moslems under the Islamic régime; had been always
thispolicy was due to the peculiar temperament any occasional variation in
Mamun, however, the liberality towards other of some local governor. Under
exemplary.’ This seems hardly consistent with religions was large-hearted and
the
discrepancy is to be explained in this way; Mamnn’ story told above. But the
teligions was genuine as far as it went, but it extende s tolerance of non-Moslem
d only to those religions

Some Arabic writers were aware that there were people ‘in the

e habitually used (from about A.D. r000 onward)

to
star-worshippers’ in general. (The Arabs were signify Pagan polytheists
inclined to think that all

Christian and another says that Pharaoh was a ‘Sabian’.

The name ‘Sabians’ then had three different meaning
it meant the Mandaeans, or some other sect s. (1) Before A.D. 830,
of similar character, (2) From
D. 830 to about 1000, it meant the Harrani
D. 1000 onward, it meant Pagans in general, of anall
Pagans, (3) From about
host Moslems were not aware of these distinctions;
places and all times. But
de whether an Arabic writer is using the name and it is often difficult to
se, in the second or the third

H 2
100 INTRODUCTION
serve the
necessary to choose some other writings, which would
purpose better.
century
Now the religion of the Pagan Harranians of the ninth
heathe n Syria, more or less modifi ed
was the indigenous religion of
n and other influen ces. For the
by Hellenic and perhaps by Persia
elsewhere,
mass of the people, religion must have been, there as
of
a matter of cult far more than of doctrine. Of the local cults
have come down to us in Arabic writing s ;
Harran some descriptions
but these are mostly vague and meagre , and some of the more
ding
definite statements are evidently due either to gross misunderstan
or to malicious inventi on. We learn from them, howeve r, that there
temple of the Moon- god Sin,' and that among the
was at Harran a
deities worshi pped by the Harran ians the seven planet -gods were
seems
prominent ; and there are also descriptions of a cult? which
to show some resemblances to Mithraism.
But there were among the Pagans of Harran learned men who
were well acquainted with Greek philosophy ; and in those times
Greek philosophy meant a religious philosophy founded on Plato
and Aristotle—that is, in one word, Neoplatonism.’ The religion
ever
1 The cult of the Moon-god Sin must have been firmly rooted at Harran
Harranian
since what may be vaguely called ‘the time of Abraham’; and thisfor instance,
it,
cult was in high repute under the Roman empire. We hear of
at Harran on his way
in the time of Caracalla; and in A.D. 363, Julian, halting
Moon-god (Amm.
to war against the Persians, worshipped in the temple of thewithout intermission
Marcell. 23. 3. 1). This worship seems to have continued
destroyed, either
under Moslem rule, until the temple of Sin at Harran was finally of the Tartar
in A.D, 1032, or according to another authority, at the time
invasion in A.D. 1230.
the
2 We are told (Chwolsohn, i. 496, 513, and ii. 319-64) that in one of (or
the genii
temples at Harran was worshipped a god named Shemdl, ‘the lord of
underneath this
daemons), the highest God, the God of the mysteries’; and that were
hore there were crypts, in which were idols, and in which mysteries by weird
celebrated. Boys were admitted into a crypt, and were there terrified a sacrament
sounds and voices. Women were excluded from the rites. There was meal mixed
of
in which cakes were eaten (we are told that these cakes were made like
with the blood of a slaughtered baby; but that is doubtless a calumny, alike, the
similar accusations against the early Christians; and in both cases
actions
accusation may have been based on a too literal inter retation of symbolic
and metaphorical phrases used in the ritual); and there was also a sacramental
drinking of some liquid out of seven cups. have
In this description there is much that reminds one of Mithraism. It must
Mithraic
been in some region not far distant from northern Mesopotamia that the
after it had
cult which spread over the Roman empire first took shape; and and revived
spread westward, it might have been brought back to that same region
there by Roman soldiers and merchants.
3 Roughly speaking, it may be said that the Neoplatonists made use of Aristotle
se. But
as their chiefauthority for logic, but Plato for philosophy in the strictersen
they habitually tried to explain away the differences between Plato and Aristotle,
The
and to show that one and the same philosophy was taught by both.

‘
 TESTIMONIA 101
of these men must have been related to that of the uneducated
mass of worshippers of Sin and the planet-gods in the same sort
of way that the religion of Iamblichus was related to that of
uneducated Pagans in the Roman empire. And when the Pagan
Harranians were required, on pain of death or merciless persecution,
to name a Book on which their religion was based, it would
necessarily fall to the learned men among them to find an answer
to the question, and to speak on behalf of the whole body. They
might have said with some truth that their religion (i.e. the philo-
sophic religion of these learned men themselves, though not the
religion of the mass of Pagans) was based on Plato’s Dialogues ;
but they preferred to name what were believed to be the more
ancient writings from which Plato had derived his wisdom—that
is, the Greek Aermetica. ‘Our Scriptures’, they must have said
to the Moslem officials, ‘are the Hermetic writings; and our
Prophets are those whose teaching is recorded in those writings,
namely, Hermes Trismegistus, and his teacher Agathos Daimon.’!
The Moslems did not set any fixed limit to the number of
‘prophets’ acknowledged by them (among those whom they recog-
nized as prophets were Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, &c.,
and we are told by one authority that the total number of prophets
amounted to 313, Chw. i. 626); and there might be no great
difficulty in adding two more to the list; but it would be easier
to get these two accepted if they could be identified with prophets
already well known to Mohammedans. It was probably for this
reason, and at the suggestion of Harranians, that Agathodaimon
came to be identified with Seth son of Adam, and Hermes with
_ Idris, whom Moslems held to be identical with Enoch (Koran 19. 57
and 21. 85).
The fact that the Harranian Pagans, when required to name
a Scripture, chose the Hermetica, proves that in A. D, 830 a collection
of Hermetica was known and read in Syria; and the fact that they
named Agathodaimon as a prophet together with’ Hermes proves
that their collection included some dialogues (now lost, and known

‘Aristotle’ of the Arabs meant Aristotle as interpreted by Neoplatonic commen-

tators, and included, dvtex alia, the so-called Theologia of Aristotle, which is
& paraphrase of Plotinus, :
* An Arabic writer, who died in A.D. 898, describes the doctrine of the
‘Sabians’ (i.e. Harranian Pagans) as a philosophy, and says that their teachers
_ fire Agathodaimon and Hermes, and that they have a writing of the latter
(Chwolsohn, i. 196).
102 INTRODUCTION

to us only by a few fragments and references), in which Hermes was

the pupil, and Agathos Daimon the teacher. It may be inferred
of the names Tat, Asclepius, and Ammon in
from the occurrence
conjunction with that of Hermes in Arabic writings,’ that these
Harranians had in their possession Hermetic /Je// in which the
pupils were so named; and among these were presumably some
that are now lost, as well as those which have come down to us.
In the ninth century, Hermetic documents were most likely known
to some scholars at Harran in the original Greek ;but the Hermetica
had probably been translated into Syriac long before that time, and
were doubtless usually read in Syriac by Harranians and their
neighbours at Edessa and elsewhere.’

writings; and
1 Tat son of Hermes’ is repeatedly spoken of in Arabic the Harranians
Asclepius is mentioned as one of the prophets recognized by (Chw., i. 243).
(Chwolsohn, i. 229, ii. 523, &c-), and is called a follower of Hermes
(Chw., i, p. 487,
Of Ammon there is at least one mention; al-Qifthi, A. b. 1248
of Idris (i.e.
and ii, p. 533), wrote a book containing, iter alia, biographies
Hermes), Atng Amon, Asclepius, Empedocles, and Plato.
were known
3 We know from Ephraim Syrus (see Zestém.) that Hermetica did not read
in Syria c. A.D. 365, and that at that time a Syrian who probably
Greek had some knowledge of their contents (but perhaps only at second hand).
translation of
De Boer, Geschichte der Philosophie im Islam, 1901, says that century.
profane writings from Greek into Syriac began in or about the fourth furnished with
In the fifth century, there was in Edessa a flourishing academy, can be little
a large library of Greek and Syriac books (Chw., i. 172-4), and there of works of
doubt that among those books were the Mermetica . We hear
The school at
Aristotle translated into Syriac in the fifth century (Chw., ib.). the emperor
Edessa, having become infected with Nestorian ism, was suppresse d by
to have been
Zeno in A.D. 489 (C. de Vaux, Avicenne, p. 41); and there seems but the work
thencefor ward no one central seat of learning for Syrian Christians ;
Syrian cities
which had been centred at Edessa was still carried on in other for Syrian
(e.g. at Nisibis). Meanwhil e, Harran was the chief seat of learning
The Arabs
Pagans, and continued to be so down to the end of the ninth century, Christians
got their knowledge of Greek science and philosophy partly from Syrian
830 onward, if not
(orthodox, Monophysite, and Nestorian), but (from A.D.
before) partly also from Syrian Pagans of Harran. of al-Farabi
Masudi (af. C, de Vaux, Avic., p. 38) reports from a lost work ‘The
(who died in A.D. 950) the following sketch of the history of learning: a in
Alexandri
chief seat of human knowledge was transferred from Athens to two
Egypt. The emperor Augustus, after destroying Cleopatra, establisheda stop
centres of teaching, Alexandria and Rome; the emperor heodosius put
a. Under
to the teaching at Rome, and brought back the whole of it to Alexandri was transferred
Omar son of Abd-el-Aziz (A.D. 705-10), the chief seat of teaching
Mutawakkil, it was
from Alexandria to Antioch; and later on, in the reign of Arabs’, was
transferred to Harran’ The caliph Mutawakkil, ‘the Nero of the Ali, Short
a drunken debauchee, and a rigidly orthodox Mohammedan (Ameer ? Appa-
Hist., p. 288). Why is he, of all people, mentioned in this connexionHarranians
rently because it was in his reign (A.D. 847-61) that the learning of theof the Arab
first became widely known among the Arabs. From the time
legal
conquest until A.D. 830, the date at which their religion was grantedin con-
reenenim the learned Pagans of Harran had been forced to remain
cealment.
 TESTIMONIA 103
From that time onward, for about two centuries (A. D. 850-1050),
i we hear much of the Harranian Pagans. Some of them rose to
v
positions of high eminence, and played an important part in the
intellectual life of Bagdad.
The most famous of them is Thabit ibn Qurra,’ who was born
A.D. 835, and died ¢ A.D. gor. During the earlier part of his life
he resided in Harran, as a money-changer. But shortly before
A.D. 872, there was a schism in the community? of ‘Sabians’, as
the Harranian Pagans were now called ; Thabit’s party was defeated,
and he was expelled, and forced to leave the city, After some
years he settled at Bagdad, was introduced to the caliph, and
attained to high favour at court; and he got the government to
recognize him and his companions as a separate and independent
community of ‘Sabians’, with a head of its own.* Most of the
learned men of Harran probably migrated to Bagdad and joined
him. The community thus established at Bagdad must have been
a sort of school of Pagan Neoplatonism,‘ in some respects analogous
to the school of Pagan Neoplatonism which had flourished at Athens
until suppressed by Justinian about 350 years before.* But there

1 Chw., i. 546 sqq., 482 8qq., 177, 516, &e.

2 When the Harranian a obtained a legal status, it would necessarily
[ follow that they became, like Jews and Christians under Moslem rule, a definitely
organized lody, with an official head or primate, through whom the government
would communicate with them.
We are not told what the quarrel was about; but it may be conjectured that the
learned men and students of philosophy differed so widely in their views from
the uneducated vulgar, that it was found impossible for the two parties to act
together.
i) Chwolsohn (i. 488) says that this Sabian community in Bagdad was probably
founded under the caliph Mutadhid, A. D. 892-902.
* One result of the migration must have been to diminish the importance of cult
for these men, and increase the comparative importance of philcsophy, The
Harranians who had migrated to Bagdad might still take a theoretic interest
in the local cults of Harran, but would henceforth be debarred from practising
them ; and there were in Bagdad no Pagan temples in which they could worship,
Masudi calls the Sabians (meaning the Harranian Pagans of Bagdad) ‘eclectic
philosophers’ (Chw., i. 543); and Avicenna (+1037) speaks of them as having
a philosophic theory of religion (Chw., i. 225).
5 We are not told that any of the teachers and students who quitted Athens
at that time settled at Harran; but it seems not unlikely that some of them did so.
The heads of the Athenian schools who, when forbidden to teach at Athens,
migrated to Persia in the expectation of finding ideal happiness there under the
tule of a philosopher-king, and returned disillusioned a few years later, most
likelyFiagee through Harran, both on their way to Persia and on their way back.
A. Stabr, in Smith’s Dict. Biogr., says that Damascius, who was the professor
of Platonic philosophy at Athens when Justinian-closed the Pagan schools there
in A.D. 529, and who was one of those that migrated to Persia, ‘appears to have
returned to the West’ in A.D. 533; but that ‘we have no further particulars of
the life of Damascius; we only know that he did not, after his return, found any

=
104 INTRODUCTION
were doubtless considerable differences ;and one of the differences
was this, that whereas the Neoplatonists of Athens had ignored the
Hermetica, the Harranian Neoplatonists of Bagdad recognized the
Hermetica as their ‘Scripture’, and regarded the Hermetic teaching
as the source whence their philosophy was derived.
Thabit lived on at Bagdad, occupied in teaching and writing, till
his death about a.D. 901. We are told that towards the end of his
life he was forced to become a Mohammedan ; but his sons remained
Pagans, and the Pagan community which he had founded in Bagdad
continued its activities after his death.
Thabit’s work as a writer extended over a wide range of subjects.
He is spoken of as highly distinguished in mathematics, astronomy,
logic, and medicine, as well as in philosophy. His mother tongue
was Syriac, but he knew also the Greek and Arabic languages.
Barhebraeus says that Thabit wrote about 150 works (translations
included?) in Arabic, and 16 in Syriac. He translated Greek
writings, and corrected earlier translations made by others; and
according to an Arabic writer, it was said that ‘no one would have
been able to get any benefit from the philosophic writings of the
Greeks, if they had not had Thabit’s translations’.* Among his
writings on philosophy and logic were the following: a Zractatus
de argumento Socratt ascripto; a Tractatus de solutione mysteriorum
in Platonis Republica obviorum; a translation of part of Proclus’s
commentary on the Aurea carmina of Pythagoras; an Jsagoge in
Jogicam ; commentaries on Aristotle’s Iepi épynveias, and a part of
Aristotle’s @vavxcy dxpdacis; extracts from Arist. Caz, Anal. prior.,
and IIepit épu. But he was, like the Neoplatonists of Athens,
interested in Pagan cults (more especially, perhaps, but not exclu-
sively, the local cults of Harran), as well as in philosophy; and
under this head may be placed the following titles given in the list
of his writings: Liber de lege e¢ canonibus (ceremonial law and
ritual?) ethnicorum; Liber de sepultura mortuorum; Liber de con-
Jirmatione religionis ethnicorum; Liber de munditie et immunditie ;
school either at Athens or at any other place’, Is it certain that Damascius did
not settle down at Harran and teach there? He could hardly find any other
place where he would feel so much at home as in that ‘city of Pagans’, He was
a Syrian, born at Damascus, whence he got his name.
? This agrees with what is said by Carra de Vaux, Avicenne, p. 37: ‘ Transla-
tion into Arabic began under al-Mansur (A. D. 753-74); but philosophic writin
were not at first included among those translated, and the Arabs had not sufficiently
perfect translations of Aristotle into Arabic until the time of al-Farabi, at the
beginning of the fourth century of the egira’ (i.e. c. A. D. 912, a few years after
Thabit’s death).
 TESTIMONIA 105
Liber de animalibus sacrificio aptis; Liber de horis precum; Liber de
lectionibus recitandis ad singulas sepiem planetas accommodatis ; Liber
de poenitentia et deprecatione ;Liber de religione Sabiorum ; Liber de
degibus (ceremonial regulations ?) Hermetis, et de orationibus (prayers)
guibus uluntur ethnict. From one of these books (perhaps the Zider
de confirmatione religionis ethnicorum) must have been taken the
following passage, quoted from Thabit by Barhebraeus: ‘We are
the heirs and propagators of Paganism... . Happy is he who, for
the sake of Paganism, bears the burden (of persecution ?) with
firm
hope. Who else have civilized the world, and built the
Cities, if
not the nobles and kings of Paganism? Who else have set in order
the harbours and the rivers? And who else have taught the hidden
wisdom? To whom else has the Deity revealed itself,’ given
oracles, and told about the future, if not to the famous men among
the Pagans? The Pagans have made known all this. They have
discovered the art of healing the soul ; they have also made
known
the art of healing the body. They have filled the earth with settled
forms of government, and with wisdom, which is the highest
good.
Without Paganism the world would be empty and miserable.’
Thabit seems to have also dabbled in the ‘ occult’
sciences ; he
paid some attention to astrology, and he wrote
a commentary on
a ‘Book of Hermes’ concerning doctrina Litterarum et nomin
um—
probably a treatise dealing with the cryptic significance or magic
efficacy of letters of the alphabet? It is very likely that he knew
other books also on such subjects (e.g. on astrology) that
were
ascribed to Hermes, and assumed them to have been written
by
the same Hermes that he believed to be the author of
the teachings
recorded in the religious and philosophic Hermetica.
Thabit’s son Sindn was a physician of high repute
, and held by
official appointment the position of head of the medica
l profession
in Bagdad. Masudi says that Sinan had a thorou
gh knowledge of
mathematics, astronomy, logic, metaphysic, and
the philosophic
‘Systems of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle,
Chwolsohn (i. 577 sqq.) enumerates twenty-seven other
‘Sabians’
(i.e. Harranian Pagans) whose names have been
preserved. One
of them, al-Battdni (A. D. 877-918), was a famous
astronomer and
mathematician, known as Albategnus in medieval Europe
.*
1 An audacious thing to write under a Mohammedan
® See F. Dormseiff, Das alphabet in Mystik und government,
Magie, Teubner, 1922.
= C. de Vaux says, ‘It is thought that al-Batt
ani knew Greek ; he commented

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106 INTRODUCTION
ed
It appears that the ‘Sabians’ lived on at Bagdad, and continu
a separat e sect, for about 150 years after the
to be known there as
death of Thabit (a.D. 900-1050). At that time the ‘Golden Age’
A. D. 754-
of the great caliphs (al-Mansur, ar-Rashid, and al-Mamun,
the vast empire over which they had ruled had
$33) was past, and
the
fallen to pieces. The declin¢ may be said to have begun in
confusi on,
reign of Mutawakkil, ¢, a. D. 850. There was a period of
in the course of which caliphs at Bagdad were helples s in the hands
themsel ves
of Turkish praetorians, and provincial governors made
independent and established local dynasties. But shortly before
had got
A.D. 950 one of these local rulers, a son of Buwayh, who
master of Bagdad ;
possession of a large part of Persia, made himself
the Seljuks in 1055) the
and thenceforward (until the coming of
there as ‘Mayors of the Palace’, and the
Buwayhids governed
as
caliphs, reduced to impotence, retained only a shadowy dignity
pontiffs. Thus during the greater part of the century A.D. 950-
toso Bagdad was under a tolerably firm and settled government,
and though shorn of much of its earlier glory, was still the chief
city of a considerable dominion (Mesopotamia, Iraq, and western
Persia).
During these political changes, students pursued their work with-
out intermission, some at Bagdad, and others at the place of
residence of this or that local dynast; and it was not until after
the political decline had begun that Arabic learning reached its
highest level.
In the intellectual activity of A.D. goo-1oso the Sabians of
Bagdad took their part. During that time, or at least during the
earlier part of it, there was still under Moslem rule much freedom
of thought ; and non-Moslems, though subject to occasional ill-usage
the
or annoyance, were often well received at court, and found
highest careers open to them. But from about A.D. ro50 we hear
to
no more of these Sabians; and their disappearance is probably
in the strictnes s
be accounted for as the result of a gradual increase
with which Mohammedan orthodoxy was enforced .
Among ‘the two and seventy jarring sects’ of Islam, there were,
and had been from the first, two main tendencies in conflict. There
was a school of theologians (the ‘orthodox’ theologians as they
may be called) who relied wholly and solely on the authority of
of
on the Zetrabiblos of Ptolemy, and revised the A/magest and several works
Archimedes’.
 TESTIMONIA 107
reyelation—i.e. on what God had revealed to Mohammed—and
refused to diverge from this or go beyond it; and opposed to them
there was a school of ‘liberal’ theologians, who, while accepting
the authority of the Koran, claimed a right to the use of human
reason in the interpretation of the sacred text, and exercised that
right to a varying extent. In the ninth century, when the Arabs
had got access to Greek learning, there arose, side by side with the
two schools of theologians, a third school, that of the ‘ philosophers ’.*
Philosophy meant, for the Arabs, not a search for truth in any
direction, but adherence to those philosophic doctrines which they
had learnt from the Greeks—that is, to Neoplatonism ; so that the
‘philosophers’ were, in fact, a sect among other sects. They were
professedly Mohammedans (differing in this from the Sabians, who
were not Mohammedans in any sense), and they did not openly
reject the Koran ; but they disregarded it as far as they could with
safety, and when obliged to take notice of it, contrived some sort
of compromise between their Neoplatonic doctrines and those of
Moslem theology. Meanwhile, the liberal theologians also read the
philosophic writings, and got from them arguments which they
employed in their controversies with the more rigidly orthodox.
Thus the ‘orthodox theologians’ and the ‘philosophers’ came to
\

|
stand opposed to one another as the two extremes, while the ‘liberal
theologians ’ held an intermediate position between them.
Under the great caliphs, the liberal theologians had, on the whole,
the upper hand, and men of all ways of thinking could express their
opinions openly, But as time went on, the orthodox party grew
in strength, and asserted itself more and more. The tenets of this
party, or of a comparatively moderate section of it, were formulated
by al-Ashari (who died a. D. 935, i.e. about half a.century after the
founding of the Sabian community in Bagdad); and his followers,
known as ‘the Asharites’, carried on the struggle until they brought
it to a victorious conclusion. From the school of the Asharites
issued Ghazali (a.p. 1058-1111), who ‘crushed the philosophers’,
and finally established the system of Mohammedan orthodoxy which
has, in the main, been in force from his time down to our own day.
1 Among the numerous Oriental Arabs who taught philosophy in their writings,
there are three whose names stand out conspicuously, viz. al-Kindi, who died
about A.D. 873 (of his writings only small remnants have been preserved) ;
al-Farabi, who died a. D. 950; and ibn-Sina (Avicenna), who died A.D. 1037.
What is here said about the religious parties and disputes of the Moslem Arabs
is taken chiefly from de Boer, Gesch. der Philosophie im Islam, 1901, and Carra
de Vaux, Avicenne and Gazali.

a
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108 INTRODUCTION

Thus, about A.D. 1050, the forces hostile to freedom of thought

were already prevailing. Men such as the Sabians of whom I have
been speaking could no longer venture to speak out; they could
were
escape ill-treatment only by remaining in obscurity ;and they
probably soon absorbed into the mass of orthodox Moslem s.
Now the time at which the Sabians disappear at Bagdad (« A.D.
ros) is just about the time at which documents of the Corpus
Hermeticum, after an interval of five centuries during which nothing
has been heard of them in Europe, reappear at Constantinople, in
the hands of Psellus. Is there not something more than chance
in this? It may be that one of the Sabians of Bagdad, finding
that his position under Moslem rule was becoming unendurable,
migrated to Constantinople, and brought in his baggage a bundle
of Greek Hermetica—and that our Corpus is that bundle. If so,
the line along which the /ided/i of the Corpus have been transmitted
to us from Egypt runs through Harran and Bagdad. This is merely
an unproved hypothesis; but it is one that agrees well with the
facts known to us. The Pagans of Harran almost certainly possessed
the whole collection of Hermetica (including many documents that
are not now extant) in Greek, at the time when they adopted these
writings as their Scriptures, in A.D. $30; and there can be little
doubt that Thabit, who was a good Greek scholar, still had a copy
of them in Greek at the end of the ninth century. During the 150
years which had since elapsed, knowledge of Greek must have
almost, if not quite, died out at Bagdad, and the Hermetica must
have been now read only, or almost only, in Syriac or Arabic
translations. But a man such as the Sabian I am supposing would,
even if he did not himself know the Greek language, have good
reason to preserve with care, and to take with him when he migrated
to a place where Greek was spoken, any portions of his Scriptures,
in the original Greek, that had chanced to escape destruction and
to come into his hands; and it is just such a chance collection of
specimens that we have in the Corpus.
Moreover, if we choose to indulge in yet further conjectures,
there is nothing to prevent us from supposing that it was the arrival
in Constantinople of a few such Sabian Neoplatonists from Bagdad,
and the writings which they brought with them, that first started
that revival of Platonic study in which Psellus' took the leading
! Psellus might be called a Byzantine Cicero, A modern Plutarch would be
able to show that the lives of Cicero and Psellus are curiously parallel in some
 TESTIMONIA 109
part. This would be very much like what took place four centuries
later, when Neoplatonism, conveyed by Greeks who migrated west-
ward, passed on from Constantinople to Florence, and again carried
with it the Corpus Hermeticum.
It is almost surprising that no extracts or quotations from the
Hermetica (except the insignificant scrap which I call Fragment 37)
have been found in Arabic writings. Possibly some such passages
may yet be discovered. There may be in existence unpublished
MSS. containing treatises on philosophic or religious subjects,
written by Thabit b. Qurra or by other Sabians of Bagdad; and
it might be expected that these men would sometimes quote from
the documents which were regarded as their Scriptures.’
Al-Kindi (who died about a.D. 873, i.e. before the Sabian
- community in Bagdad was founded) said that he had seen a book
‘the teaching of which is accepted by’ the Pagans of Harran, and
which consisted of treatises ‘which Hermes wrote for his son’
(i.e, a collection of Hermes to Tat documents); but he does not
quote from these documents, and he tells us little about their
contents, except that they teach ‘the unity of God’.
Shahrastani (+4. D. 1153), Katibi (+4. D. 1276), and other Arabic
writers give summaries of the philosophic teaching of the Harranian
Sabians ; and the contents of these summaries are probably derived
(either directly or through Moslem intermediaries) from some of the
writings of Thabit and his associates. The doctrines which these
Arabic writers ascribe to the Harranian Sabians are for the most
part such as are to be found in our Hermetica, or might have been
found in Hermezica now lost; but we have no means of knowing
whether the Sabian writers got them from the Hermetica, or from
Platonic sources of the same kind as those from which the Hermetists
drew.
Among the Arabic writers whose /es/émonia are known to me,
_ the only one who shows any considerable knowledge of the contents
of the Greek Hermetica is the mystic Suhrawardi (+a.D. 1191).
This man says he ‘finds himself in agreement’ with Hermes as
well as with Plato; and this implies that he knew writings which
contained philosophic or religious teachings ascribed to Hermes,
respects; and one of the things in which the two men were alike is that each
of them did much to make philosophy known to his countrymen.
1 It would be worth while to examine for this purpose a document entitled
_ Gubernatio animarum, written by Sinan son of Thabit (British Museum Cod.
Arab. MS. Add. 7473 Rich, foll. 26-31).
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110 INTRODUCTION

and saw that these teachings resembled those of Plato. He says

‘it can be proved’ of Hermes (as well as of Plato) that he ‘saw the
spiritual world’ (i.e. 7 voyré) ; and he must have found his proof
of this in passages of the Hermetica in which Hermes speaks of
‘seeing’ God or things incorporeal ‘with the eye of the mind’. He
says that Hermes (as well as Pythagoras, Plato, and others) taught
‘transmigration of souls’, and the doctrine ‘that the spheres of
heaven give forth sounds’; these statements must be based on
particular passages in the Hermetica.
It appears then that Suhrawardi had the same sort of knowledge
of the philosophic Hermetica that he had of the writings of Plato,
and of the doctrines ascribed to Pythagoras by Greek tradition ; and
hence it may be inferred that he had either himself read some of
the Hermetica (in a Syriac or Arabic translation), or got information
about their contents from the writings of Sabians or Moslems who
had read them. We know from Barhebraeus (Zes¢im.) that a Syriac
translation of a collection of Hermes to Tat dialogues was extant in
and after Suhrawardi’s time.
The statements of Arabic writers concerning Hermes show that,
down to the twelfth century and later, his name was widely known
among them, and was held in high repute as that of a teacher of
philosophic religion ; but they add nothing to our knowledge of the
Greek Hermetica. There has come down to us, however, one
document which may be called an Arabic Hermeticum; namely,
Hermes de castigatione animae, a translation of which is given at the
end of the Zestimonia. There are many passages in it which contain
teaching that closely resembles that of some of the Greek Hermerica.
It seems probable that most of these passages are extracts from the
writings of men who knew the Greek Hermetica (or Syriac or Arabic
translations of them), and that some of them have been translated,
with little alteration, from Greek originals. It is possible that some
of these Greek originals were Hermetica ; but it cannot be said with
certainty of any passage in the Casézg. an. that it is a translation of
a Greek Hermeticum.
A collection of ‘Sayings of Hermes’ is given by Honein ibn
Ishaq,! Dicta philosophorum (Loewenthal, 1896). This book con-

1 Honein ibn Ishaq (+A. D. 873) was a Nestorian Christian. He took a leadin
part in the translation of Greek writings into Arabic, and was assisted in the work
by his son and nephew. He resided mostly at Bagdad, but travelled in Byzantine
territory, where he remained for two years, and brought back thence a collection
 TESTIMONIA III

tains a gnomologium in which are reported dic/a of several sages

(Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, &c.), one of whom is Hermes. Among
the thirty-six sayings ascribed by him to Hermes are the following:
‘Desire is slavery; renunciation is freedom.’ ‘He who publicly
reprimands any one deserves blame and contempt.’ ‘Let nothing
of the advantages which the Creator has given you be small in your
eyes, that you may not lose that which is already given.’ ‘Leave
the liar and his company, for you get nothing that is of use from
him ; he is like the mirage in the desert, which shines, but does no
quench your thirst. ‘He who scorns another on account of his
sins finds no forgiveness.’ ‘For the merciful, the repentance of the
offender is a sufficient advocate.’ ‘Death is like an arrow (that is
already) in flight, and your life lasts only until it reaches you.’
‘The height of magnanimity is to be merciful to fools.’ Gnomic
sayings such as these have nothing to do with the Greek Hermetica.
It is evident that the name Hermes has here been employed at
random, and it is a mere chance that these sayings are ascribed
to him, and not to Socrates or some other sage. This document
therefore is, for our present purpose, significant only as showing
that in the ninth century Hermes was, in the circle to which Honein
belonged, reputed a ‘wise man’ in the same sense as the chief
Greek philosophers.
Bardenhewer, in his introduction to the Castig. an., says that
there is an unpublished writing of Mubashshiri b. Fatik (Caz. 4207.
Acad. Lugd.-Bat. iii, p. 342) which contains a collectio acute dictorum
(doubtless a gnomologium resembling that of Honein), and in which
Hermes gravem agit personam ; and that there are other similar and
partly identical Arabic collections of gnomic sayings.
of Greek writings. But as far as one can judge from the book translated by
Loewenthal, he appears to have been surprisingly ignorant of Greek life and
thought, and can hardly have been capable of understanding the writings which
he translated,
TEXTS AND TRANSLATION
 CORPVS HERMETICVM
LIBELLVS I
[‘Eppod rpropeylcrov] TMouavdpys.
1 ’Evvotas pol wore yevouévns tepl tév dvT@y, kai peTewpt-
abeions pen Ths Stavolas opbdpa, ((imvw)) (de) katacyeOe-
cGy pov Tév copaTiKey ala djoewy, (od pérrot) Kabdtrep
(r)oits) [[erve@]] BeBapnpévor(s) éx Képov Tpopiis 4 éx Kérrov5
cdparos, tofd Tia drrepueyéOn perp dmeptoptorm (év)-
tuyxdvovra Kadeiy pov Td dvopa, Kai éyew [ra] por,
Ti Botrdke dxotoa cal Oedoacbat, kal vofjoas pabeiv Kal
2 yvavar;—dnpl eyé> Xd yap ris d;—Eya pév, noir,
eit 6 Ilowpdvdpns, 6 ris adbdevrias vods. [[olda 3 Bovdre 1°
Kal cbveipl cor mavraxod.||—onpl éyd Mabeivy 0€\o ra
dvta Kal vofjoa tiv rotray gdibow, kal yrdvar rev Gedy.
(epi rot)ton, pny, dxoicat BovAouat.—pnoiv enol médu
((Ofda 8 BotrAc, (ds) Kat obverpl cor mavTaxod')) exe vO
o@ boa Oédas pabeiv, Kayd ce diddéo.— 15
4 obras elrdv(ros), HAAdyn ((edDéws mdvra por)) tH idée
kat [[edOéws mdvra orl] qvouro pomf. Kal 6p Oéav
dépiorov, pas [de] mévra yeyevnuéva imidy re Kai tdapdv:
kal ardoOnv iddv. Kal per’ ddlyov, oxéros Karwpepes jv
éy pépea (rivi) yeyevnuévoy, goBepév te Kai oruyvér, 2°
oxodids memetpapévov' [ds exdoat pe) (..+.) efdon
peraBadrrépuevov 7d oxébros eis bypdy tiva piow dddtos
TeTapaypévny, Kal Kamvov drodidotcay os dmb Tupbs. Kai
tiva nxov ‘dmorehodoay' dvexdddnrov yowsn: [era] Bor (yap)
In Libello I, codicum ABCDMQ et Turnebi lectiones adhibui. O = codicum
Beret prima manus teste Reitzenstein.
1 ‘Eppov tot tpicueyiarou DM Turnebus: ‘Epyod Tpiopeylorou cett.
2 pot wore AMQ Turn.: pnote C 3 wey scripsi: wor codd., Turn.
4 xabamep A: donep CDQ Tur, 5 rots BeBapnuévors scripsi: “of Saver
BeBapnpévae A: of ev invw BeBapnuéva CDQ Turn. 5-6 Fulgentius
Myth. p. 26. 18 Helm: ‘ Hermes in Opimandirae fibro ait; eccurutrofes et
pe (&« xé[v]pou Tpophis i) &x xodpou omparos): id est, absque instru-
ctione escae et vacuo corpore’ 6 Fortasse twa [ J perpy drepdpicrov
 CORPVS HERMETICVM
LIBELLVS I
The Poimandres [of Hermes Trismegistus],
Once on a time, when I had begun to think about the things 1
that are, and my thoughts had soared high aloft, while my bodily
senses had been put under restraint by sleep,—yet not such sleep
as that of men weighed down by fullness of food or by bodily
weariness,—methought there came to me a Being of vast and
boundless magnitude, who called me by my name, and said to me,
‘What do you wish to hear and see, and to learn and come to
know by thought?’ ‘Who are you?’I said. ‘I,’ said he, ‘am 2
Poimandres, the Mind of the Sovereignty.’ ‘I would fain learn,’ 3
said I, ‘the things that are, and understand their nature, and get
knowledge of God. These,’ I said, ‘are the things of which
I wish to hear.’ He answered, ‘I know what you wish, for indeed
I am with you everywhere; keep in mind all that you desire to
learn, and I will teach you’
When he had thus spoken, forthwith all things changed in 4
aspect before me, and were opened out in a moment. And
I beheld a boundless view ; all was changed into light, a mild and
joyous light; and I marvelled when I saw it. And in a little
while, there had come to be in one part a downward-tending
darkness, terrible and grim. .. . And thereafter I saw the darkness
changing into a watery substance, which was unspeakably tossed
about, and gave forth smoke as from fire; and I heard it making
an indescribable sound of lamentation; for there was sent forth
7 pov om, Turn.: pov ex pe corr, A Aéyew Tiedemann : Aéyorra codd.,
Turn. 18 wept rovrwy scripsi : m@s OQ Turn. |notvom. A | uot
Flussas : €4@ OQ Turn. 15 éy CDQ: Kdyw cett. 16 obrws elwdvros
scripsi: otros elnév Tum.: totrw elmav C: rodro elmdy cett. 18 qmév
scripsi: #idv OQTum.: evidv Plasberg 19 Fyda0nv Keil: Apacbny
Turn. 20 poBepiy tr nai Q 20-21 goBepdv ., . mereipapévoy
om.C, Fortasse oxéros [narapepés] jv. . . Svoxddws émarpdpevoy 21 ef5or
scripsi: siééra OQ Turn.: iddvra B* 24 dmoredodcay codd,, Tun, :
fortasse ddrelons jxovca | dvexAdAnrov om, A, vacuo relicto xi littera-
rum spatio | Box yap scripsi: efra Box codd. (era Boy M)
12
 116 CORPVS HERMETICVM

ef abris dovvapOpos egeméumero. [las elkdoa gdoviv,

5a dorés.|] ex d& (rod) dards m(poeAOav) Adyos &yos ewéBy
TH (ypa) pioer, ((ds eixdoat (ue) doviyy (clvat Tod) dards.))
[[5 b kai wip dkparoy .. . mvevparikdy déyor.]]
6 = [[els axon] 6 de Iorpdvdpns (eis dxonv)) enol 'Evéyoas, 5
dnol, tiv Béav ratrnv 6 rt Kai Bobderar; —(.. .) Kal
yrdcopat, Epnv éyd..—Td pas éxeivo, pn, éyd, vods, 6 mpatos
Beds, 6 mpd dicews bypas Tis ex oKbrovs davelons: 6 dé ex
[vods] ar[ew]os Adyos vids Oeo0.—Ti odv; dnui—Oitro
yrab, 73 év cot Brérar [kal dxovar| (érel Kal év col 6) 10
Abyos [xupiov] (vids), 6 d& vods marhp [Oeds]. od yap
Stioravrat dn’ dd\djrov evoois yap Tobrav éoriv * Cwt.—
Evtyapicra ca, env éyd.—
7 Adda OH vbe 7d GHs, Kal yvdpife TodTc.—<eimav Toc-
[Tladra, emi rdelova xpdvov dvrdmnoé pot, dore pe Tpépeev cal5
auto tiv idéav, dvavetcalvrols Sé, OewpO ev TH vot pov
70 pas ev duvdpeow dvapiOujros dv, Kal koopov dmrepibpiorov
yeyernuévoy. [kal mepicyéoOa 7d mip duvduer peylorn
kal ordow éoynkévat Kparotdpevoy.]] radra dt éyd dievonOny
8a dpav did rov Tod Tlocudvdpov Nbyov. cbs S88 év éwmArger pov a0
dvtos, pnot médw éuot Eldes ev 7G vB 7d dpyérumov eldos,
76 mpodpxov Tis dpxfs, 7d drépavron.—radra 6 IToupévdpns
enol.
8b Ti ov; éyd gym (7d) oroixeia THs dicews méOer
bréory ;—mddw éxeivos mpds tabra: Ex Bovdis cod, Aris a5
[[AaBoboa tov Aéyor)] [Kal] ofc Tov Kaddy Kéopov épipt-
gato, (i) yap vyp& dats) ((AaBodoa tov Néyor)) (2)Koopo-
monOu, dia(kpibér)rev &£) adrijs (rév) oroixelav, (2 dr)
5D kal (7d) yévynua rev (éupixor. ((kal (yap) rOp dxparov

1 dovvap6pos éenéumero Reitz,: dovvdpOpws éfeunéurero BCDMQ Tum:

om. A, vacuo relicto xx litterarum spatio 2 pwrds mpocrAOay dAdyos
scripsi: dwrds ri Adyos BCDMQ Turn.: guwrds (spatium vi litt.) Adyos A
4 §5b (wal wip . . . mvevyariedy Adyov) hinc transposui: vide post § 8b
6 Fortasse (ae.How ppdaov) 7 4 mp@ros Geds scripsi: 5 ods Geds codd.,
Turn. (ads ex dos factum esse conicio) 10 Brérav wal dxovov C; Brénar
wat dxotov Q: Brérov xal dwodov cett. 11 ydp (post ov) om. CDQ
18 go om. CDQ 14-15 elwdv rogatra scripsi ;eladvros radra codd., Turn,
(retro gmaiv, Kat eludy tadra B*) 15 dvréngcé CQ: dvrégnaé (dv7b-
moé corr. man. pr.) A | Bare por A: wore pe cett. 17 év Tum,:
évros OQ |#éopov DQ et man, pr. C 18-19 nai... . xparodpevoy
hine ad § 5 b transposui 22 76 dmépavroy scripsi: tfjs dmepdyrou codd.,
Turn, 24 Ta ody, eye Gym, ororxeia codd., Turn. : ‘vielleicht ri o@v;
 LIBELLVS I 117
from it an inarticulate cry. But from the Light there came forth 5a
a holy Word,' which took its stand upon the watery substance ;
and methought this Word ' was the voice of the Light.
And Poimandres spoke for me to hear, and said to me, ‘Do 6
you understand the meaning of what you have seen?’ ‘Tell me
its meaning,’ I said, ‘and I shall know.’ ‘That Light,’ he said,
‘is I, even Mind, the first God, who was before the watery sub-
stance which appeared out of the darkness; and the Word which
came forth from the Light is son of God.’ ‘How so?’ said I.
‘Learn my meaning,’ said he, ‘ by looking at what you yourself have
in you; for in you too, the word! is son, and the mind is father
of the word. They are not separate one from the other; for life
is the union of word* and mind.’ Said I, ‘ For this I thank you.’
‘ Now fix your thought upon the Light,’ he said, ‘and learn to 7
know it.’ And when he had thus spoken, he gazed long upon
me, eye to eye, so that I trembled at his aspect. And when
I raised my head again, I saw in my mind that the Light
consisted of innumerable Powers, and had come to be an
ordered world, but a world without bounds.? This I perceived
in thought, seeing it by reason of the word which Poimandres
‘had spoken to me. And when I was amazed, he spoke again, gq
and said to me, ‘You have seen in your mind the archetypal
form, which is prior to the beginning of things, and is limitless,’
Thus spoke Poimandres to me.
‘But tell me,’ said I, ‘whence did the elements of nature* gb
come into being?’ He answered, ‘They issued from God’s
Purpose, which beheld that beauteous world‘ and copied it.
The watery substance, having received the Word, was fashioned
into an ordered world, the elements being separated out from it ;
and from the elements came forth the brood of living creatures.
Fire unmixed leapt forth from the watery substance, and rose up 5 b

1 Or ‘Speech’.
* The ‘ world’ here spoken of is the ‘intelligible world’, as opposed to the
‘sensible world’.
® I.e, the elements of the material or sensible world.
* Le. the intelligible world.

&y& nyt, (7a) crorxeta’ Reitz. 27-28 éxocponoin@y scripsi: Koopomoin-

Gcioa codd., Turn, 28 daxpOévrav & abtijs rev orowyelwy scripsi: did rev
tavrijs ororxelaw codd., Turn. 28-29 e¢ dv wat ro -yévvnya Tov émbixav
seripsi: kat yevynudrav Wuxav codd., Turn, 29 § 5b (nal nip... mev-
Karikdy Adyov) huc transposui
 118 CORPVS HERMETICVM

eenndnoev éx tis vypas dicews dvw eis Dyos Koupdy d

jv Kal d€0, Spactixdy re. dpa (de) Kal 6 djp, EXappos av,
nKodrovOnae 7H trypl, dvaBalvo [rocodron] wéxpe Too mupos
dmd ys kai datos, ds Soxeiv kpépacba: adtiv dm’ avdrod.
((kai mepie)oyéoH 7d mip duvdépet peylotp, Kal ordow 5
oy[yk]evat] kparovpevov.)) yi dt kal bdwp Eueve kal’ éavrd
cuppeptypéva, os py "“OewpeicOar’ [dd] [[rod bdaros']:
kivotpeva d& jv dia tov (erdve) ((rob bdaros)) emipepouevor
mvevpatikoy Aéyor.))
9 46 d vobs 6 mpa&dtos, [[dppevdOnrus dy,]] (6) (wh Kai pas 10
drdpxov, ((dppevdOnrvs dv,)) drextnoe(v) [Ady] Erepov vodv
Snusoupyév, ds Aeytepos [rod] [[mupds Kal mvedparos]] ov
ednuiotpynoey ex) ((mupds Kai mvedparos)) dtorxyr(op)ds
twas éntd, év KiKdows meptéxovras Tov aigOnrov Kécpor
kal ) Stoixnors adbrady eipappévn Karelia. 15
10 ©emp dnoer evOds éx Tdv KaTw@pEpdy CToLxel@r ((THS PUoEws))
[rob Oeod] 6 rod beod Adbyos cis 7d Kabapoy [[rHs picews]]
Snpiovpynpa, Kal yvdOn 7B SnpioupyS vO: spooboros yap hv"
kal karercipOn [ra] ddoya Ta Karapeph Tis Picews croryxeia,
11as elvar bAnv pdvnv. 6 8 Snuoupyds rods ody TO bya, e is)
[6] mepticywv tods Kikdrous Kal diwav polit, torpepe Ta
€avtoi Snuoupyjpara, Kal elace orpégerbar dm’ dpyijs
doptarou eis drépavrov rédos' dpxerar yap ob Anya H [de]
TovTray tmepipopa.
rb (4:8 gpdats,) Kabas nOéAncer 6 vots, ex TeV KaTwpepav tJ on

arorxelov (Ga iveyxev Goya: ob yap ém exe Tov Aédyor.

aijp dt merewa tveyxe, kal 7d bdwp vynxtd,—diexexdpioro Se

1 éfenpdnoev om. A, vacuo relicto xvi litt. spatio | xoupdv 62 om. A,

vacuo relicto viii litt. spatio 2 dpaorindy re DQ Turn. : dpaorixov 5 ABCM
3 mupi Reitz, : ai vel mrevpars OQ Turn. | dvaBaive [rocotrov] scripsi:
dvaBalvovros (o@a Balvovros C) abrot codd. 5-6 Kai... xparoduevoy huc a
§ 7 transposui 5 mepeoxedy scripsi: meproxécOa OQ Turn. 6 éoxe
scripsi :éoxxéeva codd., Turn. 8 émepopevoy om. BC 10 mpaTos
(i.e, Gos) scripsi: 6eds codd., Turn. 1l indpxov om. A |Adyp
seclusit Reitz. Fortasse dwexinoe (mpds 7G) Adyo 12 devrepos (i.e. Bos)
scripsi: eds codd., Turn. 14 éw7é Twas A: twas érra cett. | mept-
éxovre C 17 70d Oeo0 seclusit Tiedemann | els 70 ris Oapdv BC
18 dnptotpynpos C 19 7d (ante dAoya) seclusit Reitz. 21 6 mept-
ioxev DQ Turn.: 6 rep toxov M: bnep toxow C: 5 mepréxow AB | erpewe
¢ 23 dédpcrov CDM | 6& seclusit Reitz. 25 } St pos hic
addidi: dpyera yap. . . weptpopa, adds Cédrer 6 Nods. ( 5& pvois) x roy
Reitz, | 70€Ancev AB: orne C?: 6é\e CDMQ Turn. Fortasse
6 (8nptoupyds) voids | 6 vois, wat é« Turn. 26 ‘ Vielleicht 7: ele’
 LIBELLVS I 11g

aloft ;the fire was light and keen, and active. And therewith
the air too, being light, followed the fire, and mounted up till it
reached the fire, parting from earth and water ; so that it seemed
that the air was suspended from the fire. And the fire was —
encompassed by a mighty power, and was held fast, and stood
firm. But earth and water remained in their own place, mingled
together, so as not to be...;' but they were kept in motion, by
reason of the breath-like* Word which moved upon the face of the
water.
And the first Mind,—that Mind which is Life and Light,—9
being bisexual, gave birth to another Mind, a Maker of things ;
and this second Mind made out of fire and air seven Adminis-
trators,? who encompass with their orbits the world perceived by
sense ; and their administration is called Destiny.
And forthwith the Word of God leapt up from the downward- yo
tending elements of nature to the pure body which had been
made,‘ and was united with Mind the Maker;* for the Word
was of one substance with that Mind. And the downward-
tending elements of nature were left devoid of reason,® so as to be
mere matter. -
And Mind the Maker worked together with the Word, anda
encompassing the orbits of the Administrators, and whirling them _
round with a rushing movement, set circling the bodies he had
made, and let them revolve, travelling from no fixed starting-
point to no determined goal; for their revolution begins where
it ends.
And Nature, even as Mind the Maker willed, brought forth 11 b
from the downward-tending elements animals devoid of reason ;
for she no longer had with her the Word.’ The air brought
forth birds, and the water, fishes,—earth and water had by this

1 Perhaps, ‘so that they could not be distinguished’.

* Or ‘wind-like’, or ‘airy’, (Not ‘ spiritual’, but perhaps ‘ of the nature of
vital spirit’)
§ Te, the seven planets.
4 This ‘ pure body’ is heaven, or the highest sphere of heaven,
5 Le. the second Mind,
® Earth and water were left ‘ devoid of reason’, because ‘ the Word’, which
here signifies ‘ reason’, departed from them.
T Or ‘ Reason’.

Reitz. : émefxe codd., Turn. 27 vonta A: vynkrd cett. | Siexexcproro

scripsi: Siaxexwpiorar codd. (-pyora Q), Turn.
 120 CORPVS HERMETICVM

dn’ adddjAav i Te vq Kai7d Bap [kabas HOEANoED 6 voos|,—

kal é€qveyxer (} yh) [am adrijs & eye] (Ga rerpdmoda (Kal)
épmrerd, Onpia dypia Kal fpepa.
12 6 & mdvrwv marip [[6]] vobs, ((6)) dv fw Kal das,
drexinoey dvOpwrov at7@ (dpu)oiov. ob AréoOn ads idiov s
Tékov" mepikadArs yap (qv), Thy Too marpds eikéva Exo.
eikdrws [y]ép(a) [kal] 6 beds HrdoOn rijs idias popdas: Kal
mapédaxe(v) [[ra&]] [eladra@ mdvra ((rd)) Snurovpyfpara.
13a (6 dé,) ((yevdpevos ev rH Snpuovpyixh opalpa,)) ((Karevonoe
Tod aderApod rad Snuiovpyhpara)) ((rod emixetpévov él Tod 10
mupés')) [kal] karavojoas dt tiv rod Snpiovpyod xriow ev
7@ mypl, nBovdjOn Kal avros Snpuoupyeiv: Kal cvvexopHOn
brs tod warpés. [[yevduevos ev rH Snmiovpytkf opatpe] [ég
dv thy wacav eoveiar] [[karevdnoe Tod adeApod Ta Snptoup-
yiparal| (...) ((maoav évépyaay ev éavtd Exovra travtrae
Storkntépwr-)) of d& ArdéoOnocav adtod, exacros dé peredidov
Ths iSias [rdégews] (pdoews),
3b kai Katapabey tiv rodray obciav, kai peraaBdv Tis
[cladrav gdiccws, nBovdHOn dvapphgar rhv wepipéperay Tov
kixhov [kal 7d kpdros] [[rod émixeipévou emi rod mupds]] 20
14 [karavojoa) Kai [6 rod Tév Ovynrdy Kéopou Kal Tév dddyov
(eov txov macay égovoiar] da ris dpyovlas mapéxver,
dvappygas Td Kyros, Kal Weige TH Karwpepel ioe Thy
Kadi Tod Oeod poppyv. alr] (0), Wodea (7d) [[dxépecrov]]
kdddos [[macay évépyeav ev éavT@ Exovra rv dtorxnrdépov)) i)cae
tA [re] popdijc rob Oeod, éuediacer Epwri ((dKopéotw)) ((rod
avOpdrov)), [dre] ris kadAlorns poppiis [[tod dvOpdmov)] rd
edos év 7 Wdari (dvad)Soica, kal Td cxlaopa ém THs yas.
6 0€, iddy Thy suolay abd poppiy [ev éavT@] odcay év
(rH yo Kal) rd vdart, epidnoe, Kai ABovdHOn adrod olkeiv. 30
2 i vip addidi (ual } yf Egqveynev Patritius) |«al (ante éprerd) addidit Reitz,
4 6 (ante vois) om. DQ | as AB Tum, : pio CDMQ 5 bpoov
Patr,: fcev codd., Turn. | yy408 scripsi: Apacey codd., Turn. 6 iv
addidit Patr, 7 cixdtws dpa scripsi : évrws yap xai codd., Turn. 7ya09n
scripsi: #pac6n codd., Turn. |Fortasse jyac6n, rijs idias (dydpevos) poppis
7-8 xat waptioxer abr scripsi: wapéSwxé re éavtod A: wat rapédwxe TA éavrod
DQ Tum.: «at wapéSaxev airG ra éavrod B* 10-11 rod émiretpévov én tot
mupés huc a § 13b transposui 11 «riow Turn.: «riow OQ 12 rupi
seripsi: warpicodd.,Turn. 13 7d Q:dwd cett. 15-16 wacay... dcoenrdpwr
hue a § 14 transposni 15 éyovra Turn, : éedv7a ABDM 16 Hyd-
oOnoav scripsi: ipac@yoav codd., Turn. 19 airav B*: éavrav O
Turn. 20 rou... mupds hinc ad §13a_ transposui |rod (ante
mupds) om, A 21 xécpou om. CDQ 21-22 Kat trav ddrdyov Cov
 LIBELLVS I tai
time been separated from one another,—and the earth brought
forth four-footed creatures and creeping things, beasts wild and
tame.
But Mind the Father of all, he who is Life and Light,' gave 12
birth to Man, a Being like to Himself. And He took delight in
Man, as being His own offspring ; for Man was very goodly to
look on, bearing the likeness of his Father. With good reason
then did God take delight in Man; for it was God’s own form
that God took delight in. And God delivered over to Man all
things that had been made.
* And Man took station in the Maker’s sphere,® and observed 13a
the things made by his brother,’ who was set over the region of
fire; and having observed the Maker’s creation in the region
of fire, he willed to make things for his own part also; and his
Father gave permission. .. . having in himself all the working
of the Administrators ;* and the Administrators took delight in
him, and each of them gave him a share of bis own nature.
And having learnt to know the being of the Administrators, 13b
and received a share of their nature, he willed to break through
the bounding circle of their orbits ; and he looked down through 14
the structure of the heavens, having broken through the sphere,°
and showed to downward-tending Nature® the beautiful form of
God. And Nature, seeing the beauty of the form of God,’
smiled with insatiate love of Man, showing the reflection of that
most beautiful form in the water, and its shadow on the earth.
And he, seeing this form, a form like to his own, in earth and
water, loved it, and willed to dwell there. And the deed followed
1 Le. the first Mind.
2 T.e. in the highest sphere of heaven, which was the abode of Mind the Maker.
* * His brother’ is Mind the Maker. ‘The things made by his brother’ are
the planets,
. * T.e. of the plancts.
5 It must be the lowest sphere of heaven (i.e. the lunar sphere) that he
broke through,
® ‘Downward-tending Nature’ is the force which works in the ‘ downward-
tending elements’, earth and water. This force is here personified.
eure Man, who ‘ bore the likeness of God', she saw in him ‘the form
of God’,

exav A: (pov nat rv ddéyar éxov C Turn. 23 xvros scripsi: «paros

codd. | 7H Karepepel pice B* Flussas: rHv xaraxpep} iow AM Turn.:
Thy Karopeph piaw Q: Thy Karopoph plow C 24 4 82 Reitz.: jv OQ:
bv Turn, 25 nacav, . . diowentdpey hine ad § 13 a transposui 26 rhs
Hoppijs scripsi ; 7HYv Te woppyy codd,, Tum. 27 dre Turn,: ws te C: ds
dre codd. cett. 28 dvadiSovca scripsi ; idofea codd., Turn. 30 atra
vel ai7G CDQ Turn. : avro® cett.

e
e
e
 122 CORPVS HERMETICVM

dpa d& tH Bovrn éyévero evépyeia, Kai @knoe Thy ddoyov

“popgyv". 4 d& dtois AaBodoa Tov épdpevov mepiemrAdKy
6An, Kal éulynoay: épdpevor yap joar.
15 Kal did roiro mapa mdvra Tad emi yas (Ga dumdobs eorw
6 dvOpwros, Ovnris pev did 76 capa, aOdvaros Se did Tov5
ovoddn a&vOpwrov. dOdvaros yap ov, Kal mévrov Tv
eovalav txov, Ta Ovnta méoyet, brokeiuevoc TH eiuappév7.
brepdve (yap) [ody] av ris dpyovias, {évappdvtos] (elpappérns)
yéyove SoiAos: dppevdOndus St dv é€ dppevobArcos dviros
Tod) warps, kai dumvos amd dvmvou, (im epwros Kal AAOns) 10
Kparetrat,—
16 Kal pera tadra (env ey: Kal r& dowd, &) voi(s],
(ppdoov) [6 éluor Kai adrds yap ép& Tob Abyou.—d dé
Tlowpdévépns elre Todro ear: 1d [[kexpuppévor]| pvoripiov
(70) péxpt tiode ris juépas ((Kexpuppévor)). % yap gptous 15
émtptycion 7G avOpdrm fveyxé te Oadpa Oavpacidraror.
Exovros yap avtod (amd) Tis dppovlas rev éxra Thy tow,
ous) Epnv cot éx mypds Kai mvetparos (yeyovévat), ovk
dvépevev 4 gtots, adr’ edOds dmexinoey éxrd advOpémous
mpos Tas dices tay énrd Storxntépav, appevobAAcujas Kai 20
perapotovs.—kal peta tadra (epnv éyd) °2 TTomdévdpn,
eis weyddnv yap viv émidupiav ArOov, Kal 17008 dxodcat, pi
extpexe.—kal 6 Ioupdvdpys elev: “AAAG oidrra: orm ydp
got dvimhooa Tov mpOrov éyov.— [dod ciwnd, Env éyd.—
17’ Eyévero obv, [as] épn[v], rav éxrd tovrav 4} yéveois rode 25
tpéro. ((ééjveyxer 4) pdois Ta odpara')) Ondvk} yap hv
(4 yi), Kal (7d) Bdwp dyevrixdyr [7d Se ex mupds méretpov"]
ex 08 albépos rd mvedpa eraBolv). [kal] [[egjveyxer 4 dvors
Ta ooparal] (...) mpds 7rd cldos rod dvOpdémou: 6 dé
dvOparos éx fons Kali pords éyévero els Wuxi Kal voiv, éx 30
pev Cons Woynv, éx d& doris vody. Kal tuewev odtw ré&

1 Bovdg codd.: fortasse Bovdjoe 2 poppyy codd.: fortasse tAnv

7 7a Ovnra OQ Turn.: 7a Ovnrdv B®: 7a Ovnrod Reitz. |tacxew AB:
maoxet cett. Shaina ai Casaubon: droxeiweva OQ Turn. 8 ydp
Reitz.: ofy OQ Tum. 9 & dppevoOnruos AMQTurn.: é dppevobsAeos
cett. 9-10 Gévros rod scripsi: dv codd. (om A) et Turn. 12-13 pera
tabra env ey" Kai rd Aoma, & vod, ppdoov por scripsi: perd radra voids é
éuds codd., Turn.: werd raira (éyd Aldagdy pe wivra), voids 6 éuds Reitz.
18 ods Keil: of OQ Turn, | mupds Reitz. :ps (i.e. marpds) OQ: warpds
Turn, 19 dvépevev CDQ : dvépever codd. cett., Turn. 20 dppevo-
Ondeas Reitz, : dppevobyrcias AM : dppevoOfavas BDQ Turn. 21 dmv éyw
 LIBELLVS I 123
close on the design ; and he took up his abode in matter devoid
of reason. And Nature, when she had got him with whom she
was in love, wrapped him in her clasp, and they were mingled in
one; for they were in love with one another,
And that is why man, unlike all other living creatures upon 15
earth, is twofold. He is mortal by reason of his body; he is
immortal by reason of the Man of eternal substance. He is
immortal, and has all things in his power ; yet he suffers the lot
of a mortal, being subject to Destiny. He is exalted above
the structure of the heavens ; yet he is born a slave of Destiny.
He is bisexual, as his Father is bisexual, and sleepless, as his
Father is sleepless ;yet he is mastered by carnal desire and by
oblivion.’
Thereafter I said, ‘Tell me the rest, O Mind; for I too am 36
mastered by desire to hear your teaching.’ And Poimandres
said, ‘This is the secret which has been kept hidden until this
day. Nature, mingled in marriage with Man, brought forth
a marvel most marvellous. Inasmuch as Man had got from the
structure of the heavens the character of the seven Adminis-
trators, who were made, as I told you, of fire and air, Nature
tarried not, but forthwith gave birth to seven Men, according
to the characters of the seven Administrators ; and these seven
Men were bisexual and ....’’ And thereupon I said, ‘ Now
indeed, Poimandres, my desire is strong, and I long to hear; do
not swerve aside.’ ‘Nay, be silent,’ said Poimandres ; ‘I have
not yet finished explaining this first thing.’ ‘See, I am silent,’
said I. ‘These seven Men then,’ said he, ‘were generated in x7
this wise. Nature brought forth their bodies; earth was the
female element,’ and water the male element; and from the
aether* they received their vital spirit. (But their incorporeal
part was made) after the form of Man ;‘ and the Man in them
changed from Life and Light into soul and mind, soul from Life,
} Perhaps, ‘and stood erect (upon the earth)’, in contrast to the beasts.
? Sc. in the generating of their bodies.
5 * Aether’ seems to mean here either air, or air and fire together.
4 T.e. in the likeness of the first Man, their father,

add. B? 24 dverAnpwoa Turn. : dvimiwoa codd. 25 py scripsi :

ws pny codd., Turn. 26-27 Ondvei yap Hv 1) yf scripsi : nue} yap Fv codd.,
Turn. : OyAvei yi fv Bt Flussas: ‘denkbar ware :@yAu«dv yap 4 yh’ Reitz,
28 édaBov scripsi: éAaBe codd., Turn, 29 Fortasse er 5 dowparoy
alta éyevvn6n>
 124 CORPVS HERMETICVM

mdvra [rob aicOnrod Kécpov] péxpr mepiddou rédovs [épyav

yevor).
18 akove doimdv bv wodeis Abyov aKxodoa. Tis meptddov
memAnpwpévns, EAvOn 6 mévtwv otvdecpnos éx Bovd7s bed
mévra yap ta (Ga, dppevobjdea dvra, Suedvero dua 7 on

avOpare, kai éyévero Td pev dppevixd év péper, Ta 88 OnruKa

dpolws. 6 dt eds eOds clrev dyin byw “ Adgdverbe
ev avgjoe Kai mrnbdverbe ev mA mévra Te Kricpara
kal Snutovpyjpara, Kai dvayvepicdro 6 evvous (dvOpwros)
éaurovy dvta a0dvarov, Kal riv airwv Tod Oavérov 10
Epora [kal mdvra rd] dvra. (6 d& dvayvwptoas éavriv
1g eis 7d dyabdv yowpel.)” rodro ecimébvros, 4 mpdvora Sad »
Ths eiwappévns Kal dppovias ras pigers éroujoaro Kal ras
yevéoes Karéatnoe: Kal érrnOivOn Kata yévos Td mévra.
kal 6 dvayvepioas éavtiv édjdrvoev eis 7d (b)mep[tlovoroy - 5
ayabiv: 6 d& dyamioas |[rd]] ex mddvns Epwros ((rd)) cya,
obros péver ev TO oxérer mravdpevos ‘aicbyras', méoxov Te
Tod Cavdrov.—
20 Ti rogodrov duaprdévovow, epny éeyd, of dyvoodvres, iva
orepnOGot tijs dbavacias ;—Eoixas, & obros, [Tod] pi a0
medpovtixévat dv HKovoas. ovK Edny cor voeiv;—Nod Kal
Kipvijokopat, edxapioTd O& Eua.—Ei éevonoas, eiwé por, dd
té dftot eiot rod Oavdrou of év [tO Oavdre] (dyvoia) dvres ;—
“Ort mpoxardpxerat Tod olxefou' cduaros 7d otvyvov oKébros,
e€ ob 1) bypd pious, é€ fic 7d cOpa ovvéorncer> (...) &v a5
art alcOntd Kéopo, e€ ob Odvaros ap[deWera.—Evénoas
6p0ds, & obros. Kare ri dé “5 [vojoas] (avayvepioas)
éavrov eis (1d) drabdy Xwpei,” (o)rep exer 6 ToD Oeod Abyos;
—gnpul eyd> “Ori éx gords Kal Kofs ovvécryey 6 marhp
1-2 dpxwv yevev OQ: om. Turn. 5 dppevodnrca B*: dppevobprv OQ
Turn. 7, Post dpolws add. M gomev6yons. . . moAAois dwodédernTax (i.e. Pselli
scholion : vide Psellumin Testi.) 9 6 Turn, : om, codd. |dv@pamos
addidit Reitz, (4705 pro évvous B*) 11-12 Vide§ 21znit, 12 badvros Q:
elndvros cett. 13 Nescio an delendum sit aut civapyévns wat aut kai
dppovias 15 imepodoroy scripsi: weprovorov codd,, Turn, 16 76 trans-
posuit Reitz, 17 rdavdpevos, aicOnras ndcxov Reitz, 20 rod OQ
Turn. : om. B? 20-21 pi) wepopricévar BC : uy..... Tucévae A, vacuo relicto
v litterarum spatio 24 mpoxardpxera Reitz,: mpoxarépyeras ABCMQ
Turm,: mpoxaréxera: D |oixetou OQ Turn.: bAtKod Reitz, : fortasse ém-yeiou
25 éf fs 70 otpa Reitz. : e€ o8 7d capa OQ Turn. 26 dpiera Reitz. ;
dpdeveru OQ Turn. : dprveram Keil 27 6 dvayvopicas scripsi: 6 vohaas
Keitz.: événcas OQ Turn, 28 els 7d dyaGdv scripsi: eis abrdy codd.,
Turn, | xopety Turn, : xwpef cett, |owep scripsi: émep codd., Turn.
 LIBELLVS I 125
and mind from Light. And all things remained so until the end
of a period.
And now I will tell you that which you have been longing to 18
hear. When the period was completed, the bond by which all
things were held together was loosed, by God’s design; all living
creatures, having till then been bisexual, were parted asunder,
and man with the rest; and so there came to be males
on the
one part, and likewise females on the other part. And thereon
God spoke thus in holy speech: “ Increase and multiply abun-
dantly, all ye that have been created and made, And let the
man that has mind in him recognize that he is immortal, and
that the cause of death is carnal desire.' And he who has
recognized himself * enters into the Good.” And when God had 19
thus spoken, his Providence, by means of Destiny and the
structure of the heavens,’ brought about the unions of male and
female, and set the births going ; and all creatures multiplied after
theirkinds. And he who has recognized himself has entered into that
Good which is above all being; but he who, being led astray by
carnal desire, has set his affection on the body, continues
wan-
dering in the darkness of the sense-world, suffering the lot of death.’
‘But what great sin,’ said I, ‘do those who are in ignorance 20
commit, that they should be deprived of immortality?’ ‘O man,’
said he, ‘it seems you have not heeded what you heard. Did
I not bid you mark my words?’ ‘I do so,’ said I, ‘and I keep
in memory what you have told me, and moreover I am thankful
_ for it’ ‘If then you have marked my words,’ said he, ‘tell me
why those who are in ignorance deserve death.’ I answered, ‘ It
is because the source from which the material body has issued is
that grim darkness, whence came the watery substance of which
the body is composed; . . . in the sensible world,* from which
is drawn the draught of death.’ ‘O man,’ said he, ‘you have a1
understood aright. But why is it that “he who has recognized
himself enters into the Good”, as it was said in God's speech ?’
I answered, ‘It is because the Father of all consists of Light and
? Carnal desire causes souls to be incarnated in mortal bodies, and thereby
causes death,
* T.e. he who has become aware that one part of him
immortal, and has recognized that this part of him is his trueis self.
incorporeal and
Perhaps, ‘ by means of [ ] the structure of the heavens’ (i.e, by the
work-
ing of astral influences),
* Perhaps, ‘(and therefore those who have set their affection on the body
deservedly held captive) in the sensible world’, &c, are
 126 CORPVS HERMETICVM

tov bdrov, é ob yéyovey 6 dvOpwmos.—Ev pyc [addy (Sr)

das kal (wi éorw 6 beds Kal martp, ef ob éyévero 6 dvOpwrros).
édy ody, ([udOns éavrov]] éx (wis Kal pords dy, [ra Kal]
((udOns éavrov)) te ex rodrwy Tvyxdves, eis Cav (kal das)
ndédw xophoes,—raira 6 Topdvdpns elrev. 5
"AXN’ Ere por eltré, [[wGs eis Cwvy xophoa|] (ednr) éyd-
[[eony & vobs éuds]] gnol yap 6 beds «6 Evvous dvOpwros
dvayvepicdra éavréy”» ob mdvtes yap &vOpwror vodv
22 éyovow ;—((épn[v] 6 vods éuoir)) Eddiple), & obros [Achar].
mapaylvopat éye 6 vods Trois dofois Kal dyabois Kal Kabapois io
kal édejpoor [rots evoeBodor|, Kal 4} mapovota pou yiverat
(adrois) BonOea, kal dds ra mévra yvepifover, Kal tov
matépa ikdoxovrat dyamntikés, Kal edxapiotoicw eddo-
yoovres Kal duvodvres, TeTaly|uévoi mpds adrdy TH oropyf.
kal mpd Tod mapadobvat 7) capa (7B) (dim Bavaro puodr- 15
rovrat Tas aicOjoes, eldbres adTady Ta évepyjpara. paddov
6& ovK édow avdris 6 vods Ta mpoominrovTa évepyfuata Tod
odparos éxredecOAvat' mudwpds (yap) dv arokdelow Tas
eiaddous Tay Kaxdv kal aicypav évepynudror, Tas évOupjoes
23 éxkémrov. ois d& dvojros Kal Kakois kal movnpois Kal 20
pOovepois Kal meovéxtats Kai povebor Kal dveBéor wippwdbév
elu, TO TiuwpS éexxwphoas daivovt, doris thy o€drynTa Tod
mupos mpooBdddrgwy (Tov) ((r(or\odrov Bacaviget)), Opdccwn
avtov aicOnrixas, Kal uGddAov él ras dvoulas adrov érAlCet,
iva téxn pelfovos Tinwpias. Kal ob maverat ((oxoTopayGr)), to irs

én’ dpéfers darAérous (... ), THY émiOupiav Exwv dkdbpecTon,

[[cKoropayGv]] [kal] [[robrov Bacavige\] Kal ep abrdy (7d)
mip én mAciov avédvet.—
24 Ed pe wévra, ds éBovdrduny, edidagas, @ voi[s}. eri dé
pot elt (mepl) ths avédou Tis ywopévns, (mas els Cwiy 30
Xpiow.)\—mpos tadra 6 TLopdvdpns ele IIparov pev ev
TH dvadrtoe Tod cdparos Tob bdALKod mapadidws{iv] adrd 7d
1 ops Reitz.: gyut OQ Turn. 2 wat narip A; Kai 6 marnp CDMQ
Turn, 8 dy scripsi: dvra wat codd., Turn, 5 xeppons BCM
6 Hs eis Conv xwpnow hinc ad § 24 transposui 2 Eigjpe B? Reitz. :
ed ¢nut OQ Turn. 10 éya 6 vots Q Turn.: ey abrds 6 vods A: abrés eyo
6 voids cett. | tSfors DQ: dotors cett. 11 trois edaeBGs Bodo: Q Turn.: ois
etoeBodor cett. 12 7a wdyra codd.: fortasse 7a dyra 14 Kat dpvodvres
om. Q: xat tpvodar A | revapévar Reitz.: reraypévws OQ Turn.
15 wapadotvar 7d D Turn.: mapadotvar7® Q: wapabot 76 A: wapadi 7d BCM
15-16 puotrrovrac Turn.: puodrrovres A: pvodcoovtes B: povotacovres
CD'MQ 18 ydép add. B? 20 «at (post axois) om. COMQ
 LIBELLVS I 127
Life, and from him Man has sprung.’ ‘You are right,’ said he
‘If then, being made of Life and Light, you learn to know that
you are made of them, you will go back into Life and Light.’
Thus spoke Poimandres.
‘But tell me this too,’ said I. ‘God said, “ Let she man who
has mind in him recognize himself ;” but have not all men
mind?’ ‘O man,’ said Mind to me, ‘speak not so, I, even 22
Mind, come to those men who are holy and good and pure and
merciful ; and my coming is a succour to them, and forthwith
they recognize all things,’ and win the Father’s grace by loving
worship, and give thanks to him, praising and hymning him with
hearts uplifted to him in filial affection. And before they give up
the body to the death which is proper to it, they loathe the
bodily senses, knowing what manner of work the senses do. Nay,
rather I myself, even Mind, will not suffer the workings of the
body by which they are assailed to take effect ; I will keep guard
at the gates, and bar the entrance of the base and evil workings
of the senses, cutting off all thoughts of them. But from men 23
that are foolish and evil and wicked and envious and covetous
and murderous and impious I keep far aloof, and give place to
the avenging daemon. And he brings to bear on such a man the
fierce heat of fire, and tortures him, tossing him about in the
tumult of the senses ; and he equips the man more fully for his
lawless deeds, that so he may incur the greater punishment.
And that man ceases not to struggle blindly ;he gives way to
boundless appetites, his desire being insatiable ; and so by his
own doing he makes the fire yet hotter for his torment.’
‘Full well have you taught me all, O Mind,’ said I, ‘ even as 24
I wished. But tell me furthermore of the ascent by which men
mount; tell me how I shall enter into Life. |Poimandres
answered, ‘At the dissolution of your material body, you first

? Perhaps, ‘they come to know the things that are’.

23 tov roodrov Bagavite addidi (vide ad rodroy Bacavive: infra): rotroy

Bacaviler rat én’ avrov mip ent 7d méov adder huc transposuit Reitz,
gov scripsi: Opdcce Keil: @pioxe OQ Turn: (wal) Opwoxe |Reitz. @pdc-
26 dmddrovs BC: dwdérovs cett, | 4ecpecroy scripsi : dxopécras °9 Turn,
27 kat rodrov Bucavite: ABCM : kat rodrov dpaviter kat mt mréov Bacavice
DQ
Turn.: seclusi | &p’ airoy seripsi : én’ adrév O Turm.: érdv Q |70 add,
B? 28 én trcfov DQ Turn.: ént rd wAciov ABCM. Fortasse rt tA efor
29e we Turn. : eB por codd. 30 mepi add. B* Turn, 30-31 mas els
oe. xewpyow huc a § 21 transposui 32 mapasiéos Tiedemann: napadiéwow
urn,
 128 CORPVS HERMETICVM

capa els dddrolwow, Kal 7d eldos d elxes apaves yiverar.

kat 7d “#O0s' 7B “Salyort' dvevépyntov mapadidws’ Kal ai
alcdjoes Tod cdparos els Tas davray myyas éravépxovTat,
pépn (rod Kécpov) ywépevat, Kal médw ovviordpevat eis
[ras] (érépas) évepyelas. [kat 6 Oupds Kal érOupia 5
ag cls Thy ddoyov giow xwpel.] Kal odrws dpug Aowwdv dvw
(6 dvOpwmos) dia rijs dppovias. Kal ri mpdry fovy didwor
ry avénrixhy évépyeay Kal Thy petorixiv, Kal rH Sevrépe
THY pnxaviv rv KaxBv dddwv [avevépyyrtor), kat TH Tpitn
thy émibupnrixiy dmariy [dvevépyntov], kal rH TeTdpry Ti to
dpxovrixhy (d)m(e)pupaviay [dmdcovéxrntor), Kal ri} wéumry
7d Opdoos 7d dvéctov Kal rijs TOAuNs Thy mpowéreav, Kal TH
ékrn Tas Epoppas Tas Kaxds ToD mdodrov [dvevepyirous], Kal
26a rH éBddun [dv] 7d évedpeDov eddos, Kai rére, yuprvadels
dnd rev Tis dppovias évepynudrav, ylverac eri rh dydoadiKxhy _ 5
piow, Thy isiav dévapw txov, Kai dpvel ody Tots (éxet) ovon
rov marépar cvyxaipover dé of mapévres TH TovTov mapovoia.
kal dpowwbels rois cvvodow, dxover kal rév duvdpewv, vrrép
Thy bydoadixhy giow obcdy, dori tint idia buvovedy Tov
Oedv. kat rére réger dvépyovrat mpds Tov marépa: [[Kai 20
adroll] es (yap ras) duvdpes éavrods mapadidbact, Kal
duvdpers ((kal adrol)) y.vopevor, év OG ylvovrat. tobro Ere
Td dyabby, (robro 7d) Tédos Tos yvdouv éoynKbor [DewOFvar),
26b Aumév, ri péddeis; od ds wévTa TapadaBav Kabodnyds
yivn trois dglos, bras Td yévos THs avOpwmbrntos Sid cob 25
dd O08 cw ;—rabra elrdy épol 6 Tloiudvdpns éutyn rats
duvdpeow.
[[27-29 éya d& edyapioricas ... Thy idiav Koirnv.])

1 Fortasse mp@rov piv év rH dAdo [| | wapadibws abrd 7d cma (77 pice)

cis Gvadvow 2 Fortasse rd mvedpa 7o dé —|mapadldws codd. : mapadidacn
Turn. 4 oumoréperas DQ Turn, : cwvanordpevat codd, cett. 2.6 Kal (ante
otras) om.QTurn, — | otros BM: obras cett. 7 6 dv6pwnos addidit Keil
9 dédwv M: BéAov codd, cett., Turn. 11 dmepnpaviay B?: mpopaviay OQ Turn.
13 époppds scripsi : dpoppas codd., Turn, |dvevepyqrovs Turn.; dvevépyn-
tov OO 15 dydoakuiy Reitz.: dy5oaridy OQ Turn, 17-20 avyxal-
povot 8... dvépyovrat mpos Tov marépa om. A 18 ray DQ Tur. : rnvav
M: tivev codd. cett. 19 bydoaiinjy Reitz. : dySoaruAv BCDMQ Turn.
| i8i¢ DQ Turn.: Ade’¢ BOM 21 rapadiddac: ADMQ Turn. : maparép-
rovat BC 22 ywopevor DQ: yevduevor codd, cett., Turn. 28 éoxn-
névaa At éoxnedor cett. 26 elmadv enol 6 Morydvdpys DMQ Tum, : eid 6
Tlowpdvdpys éuol codd. cett, 2B §§ 2%-29 (éyd Be... iBlay Koirny) hine
transposui; vide post § 32
 LIBELLVS I 129

yield up the body itself to be changed,' and the visible form you
bore is no longer seen. And your... you yield up to the...,’
so that it no longer works in you ; and the bodily senses go back
to their own sources, becoming parts of the universe, and entering
into fresh combinations to do other work. And thereupon the 25
man mounts upward through the structure of the heavens. And
to the first zone of heaven® he gives up the force which works
increase and that which works decrease ; to the second zone,‘
the machinations of evil cunning ; to the third zone,’ the lust
whereby men are deceived; to the fourth zone,’ domineering
arrogance ; to the fifth zone,” unholy daring and rash audacity;
to the sixth zone,® evil strivings after wealth ; and to the seventh
zone,? the falsehood which lies in wait to work harm. And 26a
thereupon, having been stripped of all that was wrought upon
him by the structure of the heavens, he ascends to the substance
of the eighth sphere,” being now possessed of his own proper
power ; and he sings, together with those who dwell there, hymning
the Father; and they that are there rejoice with him at his
coming. And being made like to those with whom he dwells,
he hears the Powers, who are above the substance of the eighth
sphere, singing praise to God with a voice that is theirs alone.
And thereafter, each in his turn, they mount upward to the
Father; they give themselves up to the Powers, and becoming
Powers themselves, they enter into God. This is the Good;
this is the consummation, for those who have got gnosis.”
And now, why do you delay? Seeing that you have received 26 b
all, why do you not make yourself a guide to those who are
worthy of the boon, that so mankind may through you be saved
by God?’ And when Poimandres had thus spoken to me, he
mingled with the Powers.’*
! Perhaps, ‘ When the time comes for you to be changed, you first yield up
the body itself to nature for dissolution."
2 MSS. : ‘your moral character you yield up to the daemon.’ But it ought
rather to be, ‘ your vital spirit you yield up to the atmosphere’,
8 T.e. the sphere of the Moon, * That of the planet Mercury,
5 That of the planet Venus. 6 That of the Sun.
7 That of the planet Mars. 8 That of the planet Jupiter.
8 That of the planet Saturn.
; 10 I.e, the sphere of the fixed stars, the highest or outermost of the spheres of
eaven,
11 T.e, the men who have ascended to the eighth sphere.
ay Le, knowledge of God, and of the relation between man’s trne self and
od.
18 T.e, he departed to the incorporeal world, in which the Powers reside.
2806 K
 130 CORPVS HERMETICVM
go éy@ 8 tiv elepyeotay rod Towpdvdpov aveypaydpny els
euaurév, kal mrnpwbeis Sv HOchov eEnudpdvOnv. éyévero
yap 6 Tob cdparos Umvos Tis Wuyxfs vais, Kal } képpvorstov
opbaryay ddrnOivh spacis, Kat 4 olwmy pov éyxipov Tod
dyabod, Kal % Tod Adyou ddop{i\a yérynualra} “ayabav’. 5
todo dé ovvéBy por AaBbyri amd [Tod vods pov] [[rovrécri]]
708 ITowpavdpou, ((rovréort)) Tob Tis abbevrias (vods, Tov .. .)
Abyon, (Bev) Oeémvovs yevduevos (...) THs ddnOelas
nrOov.
O15 Sidwmpe é« Woyfis Kal ioydos B8dAns etdoylav TB 10
marpi O66.
31 “Aytos 6 beds Kal warp ray brwv, (5 mpd) dpxA(s dv)
dytos 6 eds, of 4 Bovdy redrcirat dd ray “idtwr' duvdpewr
dys 6 beds, ds yrwoOAvar Botdrcrat, kal yiwdoKxerar Tois
iSiors. 15
dytos el, 6 N6y@ ovotnodpevos Ta bvra
dytos el, dv 4} diats odk Hpatpocer:
dywos el, ob maca pbais eixdy eu.
dywos ef, 6 méons dvvacteias iayvpéorepos:
dytos ef, 6 dons bmepoyis pelfov: 20
dy.os el, 6 xpetrrwv (dv\rav éralvev.
défat Aoyixds Ovolas dyvas dwd Woyis Kai Kapdias mpds
oé dvarerapévns, dvexdddnre, dppyte, com pavotpeve.
82 alrovpérm 7d ph opadrjjva tis yrdoews THs Kar’ ovolay
pv emivevody por Kal évdvvdpwody pe, (iva) [kai] ris 5
X4aptros ravrns (rvxav) dwricw rods év dyvola tod yévous
pov, ddedgods (énovs), viods dé cob.

§§ 31, 32 (dys 6 Beds... riv mdcav éfovclav): Papyrus Berol. 9764 ;

Berliner Klassikertexte, Heft VI (1910), Altchristliche Texte (C, Schmidt und
W. Schubart), pp. ro ff,
2 efnuppabnv A 5 dqopia scripsi: éxpopd codd., Turn, | -yervfjpara
dyabav codd., Turn.: fortasse yévynua dy. (vonpdrav > 6 pa AaBév7
po. BCDMQ 7-8 rod rijs abOevtias Adyou OQ Turn.: tov rhs adOerrias
Adyov Reitz. 8 8ev add. Flussas |(ént rdv wixdov) rijs "AAnOelas Reitz.
Fortasse (émi rd meBiov) ris GAnOeias: cf. Pl. Phaedr. 248 B 10 Fortasse
Buna 12 Ante dyos add, Pap, Gos (5 eds, d dwod)elgas por dwd Tod
mos (anv kal o(as) |Gcds K(at warhp 7H)v Pap.: beds 6 narhp ray codd,
Corp. | Post GAwy add. Pap. ayos ef Lwicse apxn... Pap.: om. codd.
Corp. : (4 mpd) dpxfi(s dv) scripsi: (6 dm’) dpyq(s dv) Schmidt et Schubart
13 idiwv codd. : fortasse elducav | 06 émrede?)rar dwd ray liw(v duvdpewv
4 Bovr}) Pap. (Reitz.) 14 yweanera rots tious codd, Corp. : ywwo(werat
ois) ¢i(Siots) Pap, (Reitz.) 16 dys & (ante 6 Ady) codd, Corp. :om.
Pap. 17-18 ayios ef, d(v) } puais ob enadpwoev dy0s ef, ob maca (dois
 LIBELLVS I 131

And I inscribed in my memory the benefaction of Poimandres ;30

and I was exceeding glad, for I was fed full with that for which
I craved. My bodily sleep had come to be sober wakefulness
of soul; and the closing of my eyes, true vision ;and my silence,
pregnant with good ; and my barrenness of speech, a brood of .. .}
And this befell me, in that I received from Poimandres, that is,
from the Mind of the Sovereignty, the teaching of .. . ; whereby,
becoming God-inspired, I attained to the abode of Truth.
Therefore with all my soul and with all my strength did I give
praise to God the Father, saying:
‘Holy is God the Father of all, who is before the first gt
beginning ; *
holy is God, whose purpose is accomplished by his several Powers ;
holy is God, who wills to be known, and is known by them that
are his own.
Holy art Thou, who by thy word hast constructed all that is ;
holy art Thou, whose brightness nature * has not darkened ;
holy art Thou, of whom all nature is an image.
Holy art Thou, who art stronger than all domination ;
holy art Thou, who art greater than all pre-eminence ;
holy art Thou, who surpassest all praises.
Accept pure offerings of speech from a soul and heart uplifted
to thee, Thou of whom no words can tell, no tongue can speak,
whom silence only can declare.
I pray that I may never fall away from that knowledge of thee 32
which matches with our being ; grant Thou this my prayer, And
put power into me, that so, having obtained this boon, I may
enlighten? those of my race who are in ignorance, my brothers
and thy sons.
1 Perhaps, ‘a brood of holy thoughts’,
2 T.e. who was before the world began to be.
® ‘Nature’ here means the material world, which issued from the ‘grim
darkness’ spoken of in § 4.
cindy é)gu Pap.: Gywos ef, of raga picts elndv equ (2p A)* dys ef, bv 4 pions
(pices A) ob éudppwaer codd. Corp. 19 duvacreias scripsi : buvdoTems
Pap, : Suvdpews codd. Corp, 20 6 mdons iwepoxfis pei{wy codd. Corp. :
6 (rijs? bepoxijs) peiCav Pap. 21 wévtow Plasberg : rv codd. Corp, et Pap.
22 beta Aoyikds Ovaias dyvds codd. Corp. : défar Ao(-yuwds d-y)vas Pap. (Reitz.)
dyvds secludendum? An scribendum dyvjjs? 23 avarerapévys codd. Corp.
(avarerapévas QTurm.); dvateraypévas Pap. 24-265 rijs kar’ obciay judy
codd. Corp, : tis xara tipos Hydy abray (fortasse ris kara 70 tpos hydv) Pap.
25 pot (post énivevady) codd. Corp, (om. A): ye Pap. | évivvapwody por C
26 ioov () Turn. : ¢wriow codd. Corp. cett., Pap. __|dyvotig codd. Corp, :
ebvoia Pap, 27 Post viods 5¢ cod add. Pap, 7d ydp mvedua*pou 7@ Oly mvetvuart
K 2
 132 CORPVS HERMETICVM

(...) & moredo Kal paptupd (Sri) els (wy Kai

gas xopa.
eddoynrds «i, mdrep: 6 ods dvOpwmos ovvayidfew cot
Bovrerat, Kabds mapédoxas at7@ tiv macav é£ovolarv.—
ay ((éya 8é, edxapiotioas Kal eddoyjoas Tov maTépa TaY 5
ddrwov, dvelOny br’ adtod Svvapwbeis, Kal didayOeis rod
mavros tiv dvow, Kal tiv peylotny (Oeacdpevos) Béav.
kal Apypa Knptooew tots avOpdros 76 THs eboeBeias Kai
yvdoews Kdddoss "2 Aaol, dvdpes yryevels, of péOn Kal
tmv@ éavrods éxdedwxéres [[kal]] tH dyvooia tof eo, 10
vanwpate, mavoacbe St kparmaddvres ((Kai)) Oedyspevar Erve
a8 ddbyo,” of dt dkotcavres mapeyévovTo duobupadéy. eye
dé gnuer “Ti éavrots, & dvdpes [ynyeveis], cfs Odvarov
exdeddxare, txovtes eEovoiay tis dOavacias peradaBeir;
peravonoare, of cuvodcioavtes TH wAdvN Kal cvyKowwwry- 15
cavres Th dyvoias amadAdynte Tod oxéz[ewvlou(s, &pacbe
tod) gwrés: petraddBere ths aBavacias, katadeipavres Thy
pOopdv.”
29 «kal of pv adréy Karag¢dAvapicartes dréotnoay, TH Tob
Oavdrov 666 éavrods exdedmxéres of d& mapexddouy didax- 20
Ojva, éavtods mpd moddy pov pipavtes: éy@ dé, dvactioas
avtots, kabodnyds éyevéunv Tob yévous, Tods Adyous SiddoKar,
mas kal tim tpérm cobjcovrat. Kal éometpa (év) abrois
tods ths coplas Adyous, Kal érpdgyioav] (Td omapér) ex Tod
duBpoctov bdaros. dias dé yevouévns, kai THs Tod HAlov 25
avyis dpxopuévns Svec@at, bros ExéAevoa avrois ebxapioTeiy
7 06. Kal dvamdnpdcartes tiv ebyapiotiay Exacros
étpdmn els tiv idtav Koirnv.))

1 «is codd. Corp.: ns Pap. 3 Fortasse 5 ods vids 4 napédwxas

air® riv nacay éfovciay codd, Corp.: wapéSwxas tiv waaay eLovaiav ait@ Pap.
| Post éfouciay air@ add. Pap. e(i)n cot Sdfa Kal viv nat (a)et Kal els robs
o(d)pnavra(s alj@vas T(@)v alaver. (a)uny 5-28 §§ 27-29 (éyd Se...
idiay xoirnv) huc transposui 6 dvelnv OQ: dvéorny Turn. | Fortasse
éviuvapabeis 9 KddAdos A: wAéos BCDMQ Tum. 15 ondvy A:
mAdvy cett. 16-17 dwadddynre Tot oxérous, dvacbe Tod dwrds scripsi
 LIBELLVS I 133
. . . Wherefore I believe and bear witness that I enter into
Life and Light.
Blessed art thou, Father ; thy Man? seeks to share thy holiness,
even as Thou hast given him all authority.’
And when I had given thanks and praise to the Father of all, 27
I was sent forth by him, having had power given me, and having
been taught the nature of all that is, and seen the supreme
vision. And I began to preach to men the beauty of piety and of
the knowledge of God, saying: ‘ Hearken, ye folk, men born of
earth, who have given yourselves up to drunkenness and sleep in
your ignorance of God; awake to soberness, cease to be sodden
with strong drink and lulled in sleep devoid of reason.’ And 28
when they heard, they gathered round me with one accord.
And I said, ‘O men, why have you given yourselves up to death,
when you have been granted power to partake of immortality?
Repent, ye who have journeyed with Error, and joined company
with Ignorance ; rid yourselves of darkness, and lay hold on the
Light ; partake of immortality, forsaking corruption.’
And some of them mocked at my words, and stood aloof; for 29
they had given themselves up to the way of death. But others
besought me that they might be taught, and cast themselves
down at my feet. And I bade them stand up ; and I made myself
a guide to mankind, teaching them the doctrine, how and in what
wise they might be saved. And I sowed in them the teachings
of wisdom ; and that which I sowed was watered with the water
of immortal life. And when evening was come, and the light of
the sun was beginning to go down, I bade them all with one
accord give thanks to God. And when they had accomplished
their thanksgiving, they betook them every man to his own bed.
1 Perhaps, ‘thy son’ or * Man, (who is) thy son’,

dmadddynre Tob cxoTEvOU @wrds codd.,Turn, 22 éywdpny M 24 érpady

70 onapev scripsi : érpapyaay codd., Turn. 25 aBpwoiov Q 26 Gras
scripsi : 6Ans codd., Turn,
 134 CORPVS HERMETICVM

LIBELLVS If

(‘Eppot rpicpeyicrou mpos “AokAnmidv.)

1 [av 75 xwotpevov, & 'AokAnmé, ovk &v rit Kiveirat, Kal
tm6 twos ;—MdXdiora,—Ovx dvdyxn dé peifov evar (rd) ev
@ Kwetrat (i) 73 Kwobpevor ;—Avdyxn.—['Ioxupébrepov dpa
70 kivoty Tod Kivovpévov.—Ioyupérepov yép.—] ’Evartiav 5
de Exew piow dvdykn 76 ev @ Kwelrat TH TOO Kwoupévov.—
Kai révv.—
2 Méyas obv obros (6) kéopos, of peigov odk tort cOpa.—
‘Dporbynrat.—Kai oriBapbs- wemAjpora yap Adkov oo-
Hdtov peyddov ToddAdv, paddrAov S& mdvTov boa ort 10
gopdToOn.—Otros exe.—Yaoya dt 6 Kdopos ;—Zopa.—
3 Kai xwotpevov;—Mdrora.—IInrlkov obv Sei tov témov
elvat ev @ xweirat, Kal moramdy Thy tow; ov odd peifova,
va SuvnOf SéacOa ris popas tiv ovvéxeav, kal pi
OABbpevov rd Kwotpevov brd THs orevdrynros: érioxn Thy 15
4a kivnow ;—Ilappéyebés te xpipa, & Tptopéytore.—Ioramas
d& picews; ((dpa)) (ov) THs evarrias [[dpa]], & AoxAnmé ;
oépart d& evavria pics 7d dooparov.—Qpodsynrat.—
‘Acdpatos obv 6 Témos.
4b 70 d& dodparov 7 Ocidv éorw ||4 6 Oeds. 7d SE Ociov 20
Aey viv ob 7d yervnror, dddAO Td dyévenror, édy pev ody
i Gciov, oboddés err: ed dt 7 (6) Beds, Kal dvovelacror
5 yiverat (...). GAdws Se vontdc 6 Tomoc: vonros yap
In Libellis LI-IX, codicum AQS et Turnebi lectiones adhibui.
Il. 1-4b: Stobaei Anthologium 1. 18. 2, vol. i, p- 157 Wachsmuth (Z¢/. I.
384 Heeren): ‘Epyod é« ray mpds 'AoxAymdv. Tay 7d xwotpevov, ® AoKA, .
GAAR 7d deyevvnTor.
II, 6b-9: Stob. 1. 19. 2, vol. i, p. 163 W (Zed. 1. 398 H): ‘Eppov é« rod
mpos “AokAnmdy, Tay 7d mvovpevov od ev. . . dbo owpata pépp. °
Il. 10-13: Stob. 1, 18. 3, vol. i, p. 158 W (Zed. I. 386 HH): *Ev tairp
(se. “Eppod é« raw mpos ’AakAnmdv), Ovdse ey rav dvTow... evi ExdoTy Tov
ovrav ndvroy,
Codices Stob. : F (Farnesinus, sacc. xiv), P (Parisinus, saec. xv).
Tit. : ‘Eppod mpds Tar Ad-yos naBoArkds A: ‘Eppod rod (om. roo Turn.) rpiope-
yiarou mpds Tar dAdyos KaBoAiwds QS Turn. In codicibus Corp, Herm, desunt
§§ 1-4b zit, (Mav 70 mvovpevoy ... } Ocidv éorw), ita ut incipiat dialogus
a verbis 7} Geds 7d Betov A€yw
83 7d add, Patritius 4 7 add, Patr. 6 76 Wachsmuth: viv FP
8 6 add. Patr. 11 cwpdrow scripsi: odpara codd. 17 rijs évavrias
dpa Wachsm.: ris évavrias dpa FP 20 7) Gcidy FP: 476 Gcidv Meineke
|4 6 Geds Stob. F: # Oeds Stob, P: § Oeds AQ: 7 Oeds S Turn, | 7d Be
 LIBELLVS II 135

LIBELLVS II
A discourse of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius.
Hermes. Is it not true of everything which is moved, Asclepius, 1
that it is moved zz something, and is moved dy something ?—
Asclepius. Assuredly.—He rm. And is not that in which the thing
is moved necessarily greater than the thing moved ?—Asc/. Yes.—
Herm. And that in which the thing is moved must be of opposite
nature to the thing moved.—Asc¢/. Certainly it must.—
Herm. Now this Kosmos is great; there is no body greater 2
than the Kosmos.—As¢e/, Agreed.—Herm. And it is massive ;
for it is filled with many other great bodies, or rather, with all the
bodies that exist.—Asc/, It is so— Herm. And the Kosmos is
a body, is it not?—Asc. Yes.—Herm. And a thing that is
moved ?—As¢?. Assuredly— Herm. Of what magnitude then 3
must be the space in which the Kosmos is moved? And of
what nature? Must not that space be far greater, that it may
be able to contain the continuous motion of the Kosmos, and
that the thing moved may not be cramped through want of
room, and cease to move?—Ase¢/. Great indeed must be that
space, Trismegistus.— Herm. And of what nature must it be, 4a
Asclepius? Must it not be of opposite nature to the Kosmos ?
And of opposite nature to body is the incorporeal.—Asc/.
Agreed.—Herm. That space then is incorporeal.
Now that which is incorporeal is either something that apper- 4b
tains to God, or else it is God himself. (By ‘a thing that
appertains to God’ I mean, not a thing that comes into being,
but a thing without beginning.) If then the incorporeal thing
is something that appertains to God, it is of the nature of eternal
substance ; but if it is God himself, it must be distinct from
substance, (...).! Space is an object of thought, but not in the 5
1 The text of §§ 4b-6a is badly corrupted, and the restoration of it that is
here proposed is very doubtful. What the author meant might perhaps be
expr by writing as follows: ‘It must be distinct from substance, (and
distinct from objects of thought. It is true that God is, in one sense, an object
of thought, for he is not an object of sense-perception ;) but Space is an object
of thought in a different sense’, &c. ;
@ciov codd. Stob.: 79 Gefov AQS Turn. 22 xal (post deds) AQS: om. Turn.
22-23 Fortasse hoc fere modo supple wai dvovatacrov (an dvotatov ?) |
yiverat (nat dvénrov. o8 py GAdA mH pey vonTds 6 eds" ob yap (Calodjoe
bromimre 5 Geds)).) GAAws SE vonrds 5 Ténos
vonr@ otra A: vonrdv ovtws QS: vonrds ofr Turn.
23 vonrds 6 rémos szripsi: }|
 136 CORPVS HERMETICVM

mpdtos 6 beds eorw (gaurd, 6 dé réros) hpiv, obx éavT@,

76 yap vontov TO voodyrt (vonrév éoriv): [aicOjoe bronimre
6 Beds] odKodv odx éavr@ vonrés (6 Témos),—ob yap [dAXo Tt
dv rod vooupévou] bp éavtod voeirar,—rpiv dé. [dAdo ri
Ga eori]] [did rodro ipiv voetra] ef dé vonrds 6 rémos odx (as) 5
6 Geds, [aAN’ 4 réros] [ef SE Kal 6 Oeds oy ds réros] GAN
as évépyera Xwpyrixy, (dAdo ré éar1)) (rod Bod 6 rér05).
6b wav 8 7d Kwotpevoy obk ev Kwovpéve Kwelrat, GAN’ ev
é€orart. Kai 7d Kivobv dé Eornkev: adivaroy yap abréo
ovykweio bat. 10
—Iléseotv, & Tpiopéyiore, ra évOade (kivodvra) ovykweira Tois
kwoupevors ; tas yap oaipas ens ras mavopévas kweicba ind rs
amhuvois oaipas.—Oix torw atrn, & *Aokdymé, ovykivnots, adv
dvrixivmats ob yap spolws xwodvra, ddd’ evavrios adddjdats. 9 Se
evavriaots ((rijs Kunoews)) THY dvrépecow [[ris kunoews|] fer Eorecav"
5
77 yap dvrrumia ordows opis. ai ody mravapevar oaipat, évavrins
, - > ‘me (ACI PA ‘
kwoupevat TH dmavei, “in? adAjAwy
~ 3
tH evavtia
, ©
travricet
s Y
mept Ti
‘
’ RES eo i
evavridrnra abriy imo ris €otoons Kwoivra.!ieee Ra 2 D * q \ ”
Kai dAws éxew addivarov. 297

Tas yap dpkrous ratras, ds dpas pire Suvotcas phre dvareddovous,

‘ ‘ + c- A ¢ - 3 ’

[rept 8€ 7d abrd orpepopevas,| ole KuveicOar éordvar ;—KuveicOat, 20

& Tpopéyore.—Kimow moiav, & Ackdnme j—Thp repi 16 adrd orpeo-
pevyv.i—H
4 ©
d€ mepipopa t mept rd abrd kinois
4 a c 4 A + WANT , i,
eorw
>
ind otdocos
« 4 s

KaTexonévn’ TO yap sept (rd) aird Kwdver rd imép abrd, Kodudpevoy dé

rd tmép adré ‘et Zorn! eis rd mepi (rd) adré. obr@ Kat i) évayria opa
8a gornxev Epaia, ixd ris evavridrnros atnpifopevn, mapdderypa d€ cor 25
tois dpOadpois eMrinroy ppdow, ra emiyeca (eyo) (Ga. olov roy

1 apu&ras scripsi: mpHres codd. 3-4 md roU S: 1 dy rod cett. 4 bp

éaurijs S: ip’ équrod cett. 4-5 jpiv 5é... Hiv voetra om. S | GAdo ré
éo7t hinc ad § 6a transposui 5-6 ei 5& vonrds ... ddA’ 5 Tér0s om. Q
6 ci 58 Kal 6 Beds QS: ef Ge nat ds Oeds Turn. 8 5¢ codd, Corp.: om. codd.
Stob, 9-10 ddtvarov yap ard cvye. scripsi ;dd0varov yap aire ovy. codd,
Corp. :dévvarov ovye. codd. Stob, 11 avyKweicOa S: cvyniveira cett.
11-12 rois xvovpévas codd. Corp. : rois xvotaw codd. Stob. 12 bd rods S:
iad rijs cett. 13 ovysivgats codd, Stob. :xivyois codd. Corp. 13-14 dan’
dyticivnois codd. Corp. et Stob, F: om. Stob. P 14 GA’ évavriws codd.
Stob.: GAA’ évayriae codd. Corp. 14-15 7 82 évavriaons codd.Corp.: 4 8 évav-
tiws codd. Stob. 15 éxe eke Turn. : éxe (om éoraoav) QS: éaraoay
éxec (codd, Stob. ?) Wachsm, 16 ordcts popas codd. Stob. : ordcews gate
popa (pupa S) codd. Corp. | af ov mAavdpevac codd. Corp. : 80 nal mdavd-
Hevat Stob, FP1; &0d wat af rrAavmpevar Stob. P? 17 rH dwar S
17-18 repli riy évavriryta QS : 18 abriy ind ris éordhons nvoovra codd,
Corp.: éordoav airiy in’ abrijs tte codd. Stob. | Kat drrws éxev ddtvarov
om, codd, Stob. 20 wepi...orpepouevas seclusi: mept 82 7d abrd oT pepopevas
A ct codd, Stob. : mepi 58 abrd orpepopévas QS: nepl 68 76 aitd dvriotpepopévas
 —

LIBELLVS II 137

same sense that God is; for God is an object of thought primarily
to himself, but Space is an object of thought to us, not to itself.
That which is an object of thought is such to him who contem-
plates it in thought ; Space therefore is an object of thought, not
to itself (for it is not contemplated by itself), but to us. And if 6a
Space is an object of thought, not as God is, but as the working
of a power by which things are contained, then Space is something
other than God.
Moreover, everything that is moved is moved, not in something 6 b
that is itself moved, but in something that stands fast. And the
mover too stands fast; it is impossible that that which moves
a thing should be moved together with the thing it moves.
Asci. How is it! then, Trismegistus, that the things which in our world move
other things are moved together with the things they move? For I have heard
you say that the planet-spheres are moved by the sphere of the fixed stars ;(and
surely that sphere is itself moved. )}—Herm. In that instance, Asclepius, the two
things are not moved together. Their movements are contrary ;for the sphere
of the fixed stars is not moved in the same way as the planet-spheres, but in
the opposite direction. And the contrariety of the two movements keeps the
fulcrum stationary; for motion is stayed by resistance, The planet-spheres 7
then, being moved in the opposite direction to the sphere of the fixed stars, ...
It cannot be otherwise. Look at the Great Bear and the Little Bear. As you
see, they neither set nor rise; are they moved, think you, or do they stand fast?
—Asci. They are moved, Trismegistus—Herm. And of what kind is their
movement ?—Asc/, It is a movement which circles round one point,—
Herm. Yes, and their revolution round one peint is a movement that is held
fast by immobility. For revolution round one point prevents departure from
the orbit ;and the prevention of departure from the orbit results in revolution
round one pvint. And even so it is that movement in contrary directions is
steadfast and stable, being kept stationary by the contrariety, I will give you 8a
an example which you can see with your own eyes. Take the case of some
1 This passage (‘How is it... makes the matter clear, Trismegistus’, e
e
e
e
ee
e e
§§6b-8a) is obscure, and appears to have been inserted by some one who mis-
understood the meaning of the /zbe//us,
Turn. |otet Stob, P?: # otec codd, Corp.: mare? Stob, FP! | xuveto@a 7
éardava codd. Corp. (om. S) et Stob. P*: xweiaGar kat éordvar Stob. FP?
21 tiv wept 7d adrd Parthey: 7iv wept adro codd. Corp. : tiv mept ra abra
codd. Stob. 21-22 orpepopévny cocd. Corp. : dvacrpepopévny codd.
Stob. 22 mepipopa % wept 75 adrd codd. Stob.: meppopa 7d aitd Kai
mept aiird codd, Corp. | knots gor ind codd, Stob.: xivnois bd codd.
Corp. 23 xwdrver 7d wept (ime, suprascr. ) aizé A: nwdrver 7d brép airé cett,
23-24 xwAvduevov . . . wept (78) avro om. codd. Stob. | 58 76 Turn, :82
tods 7d A: 5 rovs TO QS (KkwAvdpevoy B& rods 7d bwép aird bis scriptum S).
Fortasse xwAvopévov 5@ Tod 24 ei earn codd.: ‘fortasse éviorara:’
Wachsm. 25 gornxev codd, Stob.: éorn } AQ Turn.: éorrv#S | Post
5é oo add, éniyerov codd Stob. 26 éunimrov Patr.: émminrov codd,
Stob.; minrov codd. Corp. | ériyera codd. Corp. : énitenpa codd, Stob.
 138 CORPVS HERMETICVM
d&Oporov [[Aéyoo]] Oecper myspevov' epopevov yap tov vSaros 7 avri-
Turia tay modav Kal rav xeipav ordows yiverar tO avOpdre Tod pi}
suykarevexOjvat rH Batt.—Zahes rd wapdderypa, & Tpropeyeore.—
naoa ov kivnots év ordoe Kai bd ordoews KivEiTaL.
8b (.+.) 4 ody Kivnots Tod Kéopov, Kai mavris dé Kwov5
UdiKod, ovX bird TOY KaTEKTOS TOD GopaTos cupBaive yiverOat,
aN’ dd rev évras els Td KaTEKTOS, Hrou uyxAs [7 mvedparos]
) Gddov twos dowpdrov. capa yap eprpvxov oWy bmd
odparos) Kiweilrat): ad ovdt +d obvodoy copa, Kav f
4 ~ 7

9 dyuxov.—Ilas roiro déyers, & Tpiopéyicte; Ta ovv Eva 10

kai tods AiBous Kal ra GAda wdvra dipvya od cdpard éoTt
Ta Kivobvra ;—Ovdsapas, & ‘AckrAnmé 7d yap Evdov Tob
cépatos, 7d Kwody Td dyuyxor, ob cdpud (éoTw). exeivd ore
76 dudérepa xiwody, kai 7d tod Baordfovros (capa) Kai 7d
Tob Bacragopévou" ((érei)) [Stdrep] (rd) dpuyor (ad)rd Kab’ 15
(atsr0) odder [[émet]] ket. dpas yodv cataBapuvopévny tiv
Wuxiv, drav povy dto cdpara gépy. (bore) kal [ore per]
ev tive Kweirat T& Kwwodpeva, Kai bd Tivos, dfdov.—
10’ Ev xev@ 8 (od) det kiveiobat rad kivobpeva, & Tpicpéeytore ;
—Eigime), @ ‘Aokdnmeé. obdt ev tay dvTwv éoti KEvdr" 20
hovov dé 7d pr dv Kevdv eott. ((rd yap dadpxov)) TO Tis
Umd pews ASyo ((kevov obdérore yeverOat Sbvatas)) 7d dE dv
ovk dv ndtvaro dva dv, ei ph peotov Tis dadpgcws Fv.
[[79 yap brdpxov]] [[kevdv ovdémore yevérOar dtvarat.]|—
‘ © , 4 cm \e4 , tA

UK €or obv Kevd Twa, & Tpicpéyiore, Torabra, olov Kddos 25

1 Gedper (Beapia A) vnxdperov (vyxdpevov S) codd. Corp.: ynxdpevov
@ewpyoor codd. Stob. | Pepopévov yap rod codd. Corp.: pepdpevov Tov yap
codd. Stob, 2 row pi codd. Stob. : px) (om. tof) codd. Corp. 3 ovy-
katavexOnva S | Post Har add, Patr. (ex codice aliquo ?) pire Sova bn’
ard | aapis 7d napaderypa codd, Stob.: capéorarov mapddecyya cimes
codd. Corp. 4 bnd aragens Turn.: imoordce A: tnd orton QS: bno-
araceas codd. Stob. | wuwetrae codd.: fortasse yiverat 5 xécpov
codd. Stob. et QS: ¢éov A Turn. | 88 cold. Corp.: om. codd. Stob.
6 owparos codd, Stob.: «écpov Turn. 6-7 Tov owparos cupBaiver. . .
els 70 eatexTés om, CS 7 els 70 Katextds secludit Wachsm. | Aro codd.
Corp. :1@v vontév codd. Stob. | 7 mvedparos seclusi: 4 Tov mvetparos
Stob. F: 4 a@paros QS 8-9 odpa yap Exbuxov obx bind cwparos mvetrat
scripsi: o@pa yap o@pa empuxov ob mwei codd Corp.: o@pa yap euuxov ob
mvet codd. Stob, 9 # codd. Stob.; om. codd. Corp, 11 dAAa codd.
Corp.: om. codd. Stob, |duxa codd. Stob.: gupuxa codd. Corp.
12 7a xwotvra codd. Corp.: om, codd. Stob. | ovSapas & "AoKAnme
QS Turn, :ob5apés om. A: & om, codd. Stob, 13 70 xwodv Turn, : rod
xwodvros QS et codd. Stob. 14 Baord{ovros codd. Corp.: Baordovra
Stob. F: Baord(orros (os in a corr.) Stob. P 15-16 éwei 1d dyuyov aibrd nad’
aird obday kw? scripsi: didmep Epypuxav (ex dif'vyor corr. énbuxov S) 7d wadetSov
 LIBELLVS II 139
>
animal on earth; look at a man, for instance, swimming. The water flows;
but the resistance mace by the swimmer’s hands and feet keeps him stationary,
so that he is not borne away down stream.—Asc/, That example makes the
matter clear, Trismegistus.—
All movement then takes place wéthin something that stands
fast, and is caused dy something that stands fast... .
The movement of the Kosmos then, and of every living being 8 b
that is material, is caused, not by things outside the body, but by
things within it, which operate outwards from within ; that is to en
ee
e
——e
say, either by soul or by something else that is incorporeal, For
the body which contains a soul is not moved by a body ; indeed,
body cannot moye body at all, even if the body moved be
‘soulless—Asc/, What mean you, Trismegistus? When logs and 9
stones and all other soulless things are moved, are they not
moved by bodies ?— erm. Certainly not, Asclepius. That which
is within the body, and which moves the soulless thing, is not
a body; and that is what moves both the body of him who
carries a thing and the body of the thing carried; for a soulless
thing cannot of itself move anything. Thus it is that you see
the soul distressed by the weight of its burden, when it bears two
bodies at once.
I have now explained to you what is that Jy which things are
moved, as well as what is that zz which things are moved.—
Asc. But surely, Trismegistus, it must be in void that things 10
are moved.—//erm. You ought not to say that, Asclepius.
Nothing that is, is void; it is only that which is not, that is
void. That which exists can never come to be void; (this
is implied in the very meaning of the word ‘existence’ ;) and that
which is could not be a thing which is, if it were not filled with
something existent.—Asc/. But what would you say, Trismegistus,
énel xwei codd. Corp. (pro xaSedsov coni, xaGeaurdv Flussas): dudwep dipuyov
ode dibuxor xuwyce codd, Stob. 16 ody (codd. Stob.?) Wachsm. : ov cocld a
ee
e
|
P
e
Corp, | «araBapuvopévny Patr, : xataBapoupévyy codd. Corp. : «al Bapuvo-
perv codd. Stob. 17 pévy codd. Corp.: om. codd. Stob. | cHpara
codd. Stob. et AS: odpare Q Turn. ee vel @épn codd, Corp. et
Stob. P?: pépe Stob. FP! 17-18 ware xalév tin. .. wal wd Tivos scripsi :
wat ort pev év tur. . . wat ind Tevos codd. (at ind Twos .. . xvetabar Td Kwvod-
Heva om, QS) 19 & xev@ Flussas: év éxeivw A Turn. 20 «i pqs
codd., Turn, : ‘legendum videtur Ed@yper’ Parthey 20-23 obde dv ray bvTaw
tort xevov r@ Tis badptews Adyw* 7d Se dv ob dv HSdvaro civas dy, ef pt) pearov
Tis imdpfews Hy codd. Stob. : obdty 8% Tay dvtwv éotl Kevdvs pdvov 5é 7d ph bv
nevév tare gévov rhs bndptews codd. Corp. (ante gévoy add. «at Turn. : budpfews
ex bneprafews, ut videtur, corr. man. pr. A) 25 ody xeva tia codd, Stob.:
, — codd. Corp. |raaira scripsi: éor rotatra codd. Corp.: om.
codd. Stob.

e
l
 140 CORPVS HERMETICVM

kevos kal Képapos Kai ‘morapds. 6dos' Kal Anvos Kal Ta

‘ ‘ ‘

Gia mévtTa Ta Tapandjoia;—Peb THs ToAARS mAdvns,

® Ackdnmé. Tad paddov wAnpéoctata Kal peorétaTa dvTa,
utairaa
kevdx Hyf
ton
elvar;—Ilas
bY ~
dEyets,
va
©z TtTpropéyiore
ta
;—Ovd
mS Ov

capd eo 6 dnp ;—XGpa.—Todro be 76 cdpua ob did wévTwv 5

Sinker Tav dvt@v, Kal wavra SvijKov mAnpot; o@pa dé ovK €x
TaY
a
TEeTodpov cwudTeV KEeKpapévoy ouvécTHKE; peaTa ovy >

ndvra éotiv, & ad pps Kevd, TOD dépos, ef bE Tod dépos, Kal
Tov Tecodpov cwoudrov’ Kal ovpPatver 6 évavtios ddyos
2 re wt
exgaiverOa, drt &B od‘ ysS peotd, Taira
- ra
mdvTa KEevd43EoTL 10
Tod dépos, éxelvay im’ dhrAwv copdtwv oTEevoywpoupéveor, Kal
BY2 éxbvrev Ténov
£
déEacOa
,
Tov
x
dépa.
37
Taira
~
ob,
bi
&nN odx dys
\

i ra a a , 4 Fhe BS
elvat kevd, Kotka Oct dvopdgev, ov Kevad: vmdpgewc yap
peotd
. éorw [aépos kai mvevparos|.—Avartippytos 6 Adyos,
® Tpiopéyiore.— 15
wai Tovx otv
>
témov
ca
tova &2 @A 76x wav-~ Kweirat
~
Ti a ecitoper;
v

er ft ca i pe a a
acéparov, ® AckAnmé.—T6 ovv ao@patov (robr0) Ti €aTt ;—
Nods ddos ¢€ Grou éavriv éurepiex@v, EAeHOepos coparixtic
[alrAdvns, drabys, dvapys, adtos ev eavT@ éoTds, [[ovy]]-
xepnrikds ((cum)\rdv7ov Kai gwTipiws Tay dvTay, (76) ((rHs
4 ~ ~

Yoxts)) ($s)— - :
w bo

wb ((Té obv gypsy) ((75 ayadbr\) ;—((TS apxéruTov pas)), ob

ta > > Ly “

womep axtivés elow(v) [[rd dyaOdv]] (6 Te voids kai) 4 dAjOea.

er 3 sane ‘ 3 4 ‘ ’g = % « 39 ¢

[[76 dpxérumov gas]] [7d dpyxérumror] [[rHs Wuyis |}—

1 «dSos xevds wai xépapos scripsi ; xadbos keds wal xépapos xevds codd, Corp.
(ante #épapos om, kai A): xddos Kai képapos kevds Stob. F : wddos kat Képapos
Stob. P| «ai worapds Gos AQS Turn. (etiam MC teste Reitz.): om. codd.
Stob.: «al morhpov Reitz. | wat Anvds codd. Stob.: om. codd. Corp,
2 navra codd. Corp.: om. codd. Stob. | omavns Stob. F: mAavys cett.
3 Gom. codd.Stob. |«al waddov QS: 74 waAdov cett. 3-4 peardrara évra,
Tatra scripsi: peorérara radra codd. Stob.: péyiora évra radra codd. Corp.
4-5 ob c@pa éorw codd, Stob.: c@pa éorw (om, od) codd. Corp. 5 o@pa
(post dqp;) codd, Stob.: om. codd. Corp. 6 dfom. A 7 Tav
TEToGpev owudrav scripsi: Tav Tecodpew codd. Stob.: Tay awpdraw codd.
Corp. | xexpappévor S |ouvéorne codd. Stob.: om. codd. Corp.
| Heard codd. Corp., Stob. F : 5& werd Stob. P 8 gore wavta, & pis A:
navra éoriv, & at rs cett. | «i 58 ro dépos, kal codd. Stob. ; ei 5& rod dépos
(om. xat) QS: om, Turn.: ef 5¢ Tod dépos. . . défaca rdv dépa om, A
10 peara QS Turn,: perd codd. Stob. 11 éxeivwy codd. Stob,: om. QS
Turn. Mega pr Ss 12 rémov (ex B marg.) Wachsm. ; rodrov
codd. Stob.: om. QS Turn. | Post dépa add. év réxw abray QS Turn.
13 eivat xevad AQS Turn. : om. codd. Stob. 13-14 dmdptews yap peora
scripsi: indpfe yap peord codd. Stob.: tndpye ydp kal peatd AQS Turn.
14 évayrippytos P1: dvartipyros A | 5 om, A 15 Post rpicpéyore
add. AQ Turn. verba o@pa ear 6 dip rodro 5... mavra dijxov wAnpore § LI
init. repetita. (S habet verba 6 dip rodro St... mavTa dijxov wAnpot, omissis
 LIBELLVS II 141

of an empty jar, or pot, or ...,' or trough, and the like? Are

not such things void?—Herm. How far you are in error,
Asclepius! Do you suppose these things to be void? The
truth is rather that they are completely full—Asc/, What do
you mean, Trismegistus?—Herm. Is not air a body ?—Asel.
Yes,—AHerm. And does not that body permeate all things that
are, and fill them by its permeation? And are not bodies
composed of a mixture of the four elements? All things that
you call void then are filled with air; and if with air, they are
filled with all four elements. Thus we are led to a conclusion
opposite to what you said; we must say that all those things
which you call full are void of air, because the presence of other
bodies in them leaves no space unoccupied, and so they have
no room to admit the air. Hence the things which you call
yoid ought to be called hollow, not void; for they are full of
something that exists—Asc/, There is no gainsaying that,
Trismegistus.—
Herm. Now what was it that we said? of that Space in which Iza
the universe is moved? We said, Asclepius, that it is incor-
poreal.—Asc/. What then is that incorporeal thing ?—Herm. It is
Mind, entire and wholly self-encompassing, free from the erratic
moyement of things corporeal; it is imperturbable, intangible,
standing firm-fixed in itself, containing all things, and maintaining
in being all things that are; and it is the light whereby soul
is illuminated.—
Ascl. Tell me then, what is the Good ?—Herm. The Good is 12b
‘the archetypal Light ; and Mind and Truth * are, so to speak,
rays emitted by that Light.—

1 Perhaps, ‘mortar’ (dApos). 2 See § 4a. 3 Or ‘ Reality’.

yerbis dépos al nvevparos .. . c@ud éotw quae in ceteris Corp. Herm. codicibus
praecedunt) 16 rémov Tov & & mwetrar codd. Corp, : témov év @ ewetrar
7 nav codd. Stob. |etwopey codd. Stob. : efmwpev codd. Corp. 17 &
om. codd. Stob. | rf, codd. Corp.: om, codd. Stob. 18 voids bAos
codd. Stob. : voids, Adyos codd. Corp. 18-19 EdrcVOepos cwparinns wAdyys
‘scripsi: éAev@cpos o&patos mavrés, awAavys codd. Stob.: éAed@epov ohparos
mavTos’ andavijs codd, Corp. 19 Post draéis add, owpar: nat codd. Corp.
dvagis codd. Corp.: dpavjs codd. Stob. | év om. codd. Corp. 20 xwpn-
s ouumdvrew scripsi: xwpyTiKkds Tav wévrav codd. Corp. : ovyyapntixds
f Stob. F: ywpyricds wavtww Stob. P 20-21 10 rijs puxijs pws addidi
vide§ 12 b fin.) 22 ri ov ys huc a § 13 fin. transposui 22-23 ob
€p codd. Stob. : obmep codd. Corp. 23 éerwesS: durives cett. 24 70
apxérunov pas codd. Corp.: 7d dpxérutov mvedparos codd. Stob. | ras
Yoxfis (7s om. Stob. F) hine ad § 12. fiz. transposui
 142 CORPVS HERMETICVM
13 ‘O obv beds tf éorw;—'O pnde(rep)ov tobrav bmdpyor,
adv 8& Kal ((robrois)) rob elvan [[rodrors]] airios, Kal maou Kal
évi éxdot@ tay dvtov mévtwv: obSE yap ovdev brédure, WAL
70 ph) dv. mdvra Sé eore Td (ywbpeva) ex Tov dvTov yiwdpeva,
ovdn[t pip] ex rev pi) dvr: Ta yap pi) dvta od dvow eye um
Tod divacba yevéobat (rt), GMAX Tod pi Sbvacbal rt [7d]
yevéobat
rs
Kal ‘ wédu
4
rd. dvta ob> gpiow
4
Exe [rod pydémor
ww ~ ‘ 2

elvat] [[ré ody gysj| rob ph elvat more. 46 odv beds ob rods
éotiv, aitios 8&bY rod= (voiy)
2
elvat. [ovdé mvebipa,
~
aitios débY Tob~
3 Or
- cA

cdvat mvebpa,| (odd? pas, atrios d8 rod pas evat.] Io

14 d0ev tiv Oedv duel ratrais rais mpoonyopias céBeobat
a x s 4 ~ 4 4

dei, rails pbvo abtd mpooeKeimpévars Kai dAdo obderi. obre

yap tay dddwv heyouéver bear obre dvOpdrov ob're Satpbvev
tis Sivarat kdv Kad’ drocovoby dyabds clvat, } pdvos 6 beds:
[[xal roiré €or pévor, kai oddév dAdo-]] rd d8 Ada wdvra 15
(@)xépnrd fort THs Tod dyabod piccws, copa ydp éort Kal
Wux)) témov otk exovra yxwphoa duvdpevoy rd dyabdy:
1§ Torodrov ydp éott rod dyabod rd péyeOos, dcov early (1)
imapgis mévrov tév dvtor, Kai copdrov Kal dowpdtor,
kal aicOntav Kai vontdy. ((Kal)) roiro tort ((udvor)) 6 beds, 20
(kal obey dddo)). pt) oby etrys dAXO Te dyabdy (i) pdvor —*
tov Oedv), ewe doeBlijo)es* i dAAO ri wore Tov Obcdy }
16 pévoy 75 dyabéy, érel médwy doeB(joyes. N6yo pev oby bd
: Z 3
mdvrov déyerat ,
Td dyabdy, ob, voeirat
~
StA tisuP moré sséotw bd
Cae.

mdvrav: dtd rodro ovdt (6) beds voeirae ind mdvrav a&dN 25
ayvoig Kai rovs Oeods Kal twas trav dvOpdrov dyabods
3 , . A ca ~ ul A >

évoudgover, undémore duvapévous pire vat pire yevérbat dv.

1 6 oby Oeds rt ear AQS: 5 ody Geds orw Turn. : tadr’ oy rt geri codd.
Stob. alkbndérepoy scripsi : pydiv S: pdt ev codd. cett. 1-2 imdpxav,
dy 8 codd. Corp.: dv, dv 88 codd. Stob. 2 rovrois aitios codd. Stob. :
totray airios codd. Corp. | Post aizios add. &y codd. Stob. | «al mar om.
Qs 3 évi Patr.: & codd. Stob. : énl codd. Corp. | Post éxdorw add.
Hépe &p' Exaarov rovrav codd. Corp. —_|dméAcre, mAqy scripsi : dwéAure mAdov
Os Turn. : baéAcewe wAciov A 4 bvrow yevipeva S : dvtow ywdpeva cett.
5 ov scripsi: odxt i) codd., Turn. | nat (vy supraser.) éxev S: pvow éxe cett.
6 7d ivacda QS : rod Sivacba cett. | yevéoa ddAA Tod pH) SbvacGu om. S
6-7 7 yevéoGar Parthey: tt 7d -yevéoOar codd. 8 ri oby gas hinc ad § 12b
transposui | ob voids QS Turn: 6 vods A 9-10 airos 5 rod elvar
mvedua AQS: om. Turn. 12 airGom.S | kai dAdo S: wal Gddw cett.
13 dAdo Acyouérww codd, : fortasse dyabGv Acyopévav | Oey otre seclu-
dendum? Sed yide § 16 14 Kad’ érocovody scripsi: xatanogovoty codd.,
Tum. 15 pévoyom.S | wat rodro . .. dAdo seclusi (vide § 15) —_|For-
tasse 4 pévos b eds. ((5 ydp Ocds dyads torw, ds dmarra Bidods eat pnbey
AapBavov")) 7a 52 dAda K.7.d. (vide § 16 fin.) 16 dydpnrd scripsi : x&pyra
 LIBELLVS II 143
Asc, What then is God?—Herm. God is He that is neither 13
Mind nor Truth,’ but is the cause to which Mind and Truth,!
and all things, and each several thing that is, owe their existence.
Nothing is left over, except that which is not. And all things
that come into being come out of things that are, not out of
things that are not. For not such is the nature of things which
are not, that they can come to be something; their nature is such
that they cannot come to be anything. And not such is the
nature of things which are, that they can ever cease to be. God
is not Mind then, but the cause to which Mind owes its being.
And so, in our worship of God, we ought to call him by 14
these two names ;? they belong to Him alone, and to none beside
him. None of the other beings called ‘gods’, nor any man or
daemon,* can be good in any degree. God alone is good; all
other things‘ are incapable of containing such a thing as the
Good. Neither body nor soul has room enough in it to contain
the Good; for such is the greatness of the Good, that it is 15
coextensive with the existence of all things that are, things
corporeal and things incorporeal, objects of sense and objects of
thought together. And God is the Good, and nothing but the
Good.’ Call nothing else good then, nothing but God ; it would
be impious. And never call God anything but the Good; that
also would be impious. All men speak of the good, but some 16
do not understand what the Good is; and hence it is that some
do not understand what God is. And in their ignorance they
call the gods good, and they call certain men good ; whereas gods
and men can never be good, and cannot possibly become good.

1 Or ‘ Reality’.
? Viz. God" and ‘the Good’. But the writer of § 17 a took the two names
to be ‘the Good’ and ‘the Father’.
8 Perhaps, ‘ None of the other beings, whether men or daemons, that are
called good’,
‘ Perhaps, ‘can be good in any degree, but God alone. ((God is good,
peek as he gives all things and receives nothing;)) but all other
things’, &c.
® Or perhaps, ‘ And God alone (yévos), and nothing but God, is the Good’.

codd., Turn. —|ydp clot QS: yap eos cett. 20-21 kal rotiro tom pdvoy 6
Ges, wat obdév dAdo scripsi (vide § 14): Todrd éoru 4 Beds Turn. : ToDTS ears 7d
dyaddy* robrd éorw 5 Beds AQS 21 efres QS 22-23 doeBnoes (bis)
scripsi: doeBeis codd., Turn. 25 8a rovro . . . ind wdvrow fortasse
secludendum 26 «at rods Geods secludendum? | Post dya8obs add. et
eras, efva: man. pr. A 27 pare eva om. QS
 144 CORPVS HERMETICVM

adddorpidrarov yap éort (rovrwv 7d dyabiv), ((Kal)) rod Beob

[kal] dydpioror, ds adrds 6 Oeds dv. Beol pev ovy of &dXot
mdvres (40dvaror] (dyabol Néyovrat), TeTYunpevor TH TOD Oeod
mpoonyopta: 6 dt beds Td dyabdy (AéyeTat) ov Kara TimHy,
G\Ad Kara giow pia yap % Piois rod Oeos (rf) To{d) 5
ayaboy [kal &v yévos dugorépav, && ob Ta yévn wdvra}.
[5 yap (Beds) dyabds ((eor(v))), (os) &mavra [[eorr]] ddods
kal pndty KapBdrev.| [6 odv Beds mdvra didwor kai oddey
AapBdve.] 6 obv Oeds (7d) dyabdv, Kal 7d dyabov 6 Oeds.
17a = <8 érépa mpoonyopia eativ 7 Tod maTpds mahw, Sia rd mrountiKdy fo
mdvrev’ matpos yup To Troeiv. did Kal peyiory (rév) ev r@ Bia omrovd))
kal eboeBeordrn tois eb gpovotaivy gorw i madoroia’ Kal péyorrov
driynpa kul doéBnud éorw drexvdy twa €& avOpdrav dradhayjvac’
((érep ori karnpapévoy tra Tod jAdlov.)) al Bixny obras Sidwou pera
Odvarov rois Saipoow. 4 8 tipwpia eoriv He, Thy rod dréxvou Wuyi 15
eis capa xaradixacOijva t pire dvdpds pire yuvads pvow Exov. [[érep
éori xarnpapévoy id rod jAiov.|] rovyapody, & AaxAnmeé, pydevi dyre
dréxva curno bis, rovvavrioy 2 ehéqoov tiv cupcpopdy, émordpevos ola
abrov pever Tyswpia.
17b rocabrd cot Kal Taira Achéx Ow, & Aokymé, mpoyvodia 20
Tis THs mdvTov pioews.

LIBELLVS II
‘Eppyod rod tpiopeylarou ddyos iepds.
(8rt) mpa&toc amdvrav 6 beds, kat Oetov (7d wav), kal (7)
pias Oeia.
1a ‘Apxi) trav dvrov 6 eds, Kal vod[s] Kai picewc kal HAn(s), 25
cogpia(s) cis deigwv (rojoas mdvt)a, mdvTov dy apy ((Kai))
708) Oc[eJoy [[Kat]] ((evépyera)) x) pvors [Kal] [[evépyesa]], Kar”
dvdykn(v) Kai Tédos Kal dvavéwown (évepyodea).
2 iv Reitz, : dv AQS (etiam MC teste Reitz.) Turn. | od” om. Q:: xa S
pro ob 4 repiv S: Teppy cett. 5-6 rp Tod dyaGoo scripsi: 70 d-yaOdv
codd., Turn. 6 -yévos QS Tum.: yevdpevos A. 9 7d addidi (rd-ya0dv
Patr.) 16 gicw om. QS | Zxov QS Turn. : Exovres A 23 wp@ros
dndvrow scripsi: déga ndvrav codd., Turn. ; quod ex dos (= mp@ros) dnavrawv
factum esse conicio 24-25 dela dp} A: Oela’ wat dpy7) QS Turn. 25 vod"
kat piceas at BAns scripsi: vods kat pdots wat Hy codd., Turn. 26 codias
els Beitiv momoas mavra, mavrov dv dpxh scripsi: copla els deifw andvrov dvs
dpx7) codd., Turn. 26-27 xa} Tod Geod evépyera H) pdots scripsi : 7d Befov Kal
 LIBELLVS II 145
For the Good is utterly alien to gods and men;' but it is
inseparable from God, for it is God himself. All the other gods
are called good merely because men have sought to honour them
by giving them a title which belongs to God; but God is called
the Good not by way of honouring him, but because that is his
nature; for the nature of God is one and the same with the
nature of the Good. God then is the Good, and the Good
is God.
And? the other name of God is ‘ Father’, He is called the Father, because I'7 a
he is the maker or begetter of all things; for it is the part of a father to beget.
‘And for this reason the begetting of children is held by those who think aright
to be the most weighty concern in human life, and the most pious of deeds.
That a man should depart from life and leave no child is a great misfortune,
and a great sin; it isa thing accursed in the sight of the Sun, Such a one
is punished by the daemons after death; and the punishment is this, that the
soul of the man who has no child is condemned to enter a body that is neither
that of a man nor that of a woman. Therefore, Asclepius, never be glad on
behalf of any man that he is childless, but pity his misfortune, knowing what
manner of punishment awaits him.

Let this suffice. What I have taught you to-day, Asclepius, 17b
is a beginning of knowledge of the nature of all things.

LIBELLVS Ill

A holy discourse of Hermes Trismegistus.'

That God is the first of all things, and the universe ts
divine; and nature ts divine.
God is the source of all that is; He is the source of mind, and1a
of nature, and of matter. To show forth his wisdom has He
made all things; for He is the source of all. And nature is
a force by which God works ; nature operates in subjection to
necessity, and her work is the extinction and renewal of things.
1 Perhaps, ‘they call [ ]certain men good; whereas [ ] men can never’, &c.,
and ‘is utterly alien to [ ]men’.
® § 17a was probably added by another person.
8 The text of Libellus III, as given in the MSS., is almost entirely meaning-
less, and sense can be made of it only by altering it largely.
4 Le. derived from God, or dependent on God.

% (} om. A) vais wal evépyera codd., Turn, 27-28 Kat’ dvaryeny scripsi : «at
avayencodd.,Turm., 28 dvavéwow évepyodoa scripsi: dvavéwors codd., Turn,
2806 L
 146 CORPVS HERMETICVM

1b Av yap oxéros [[dretpor]] ev dBioow, kal dup ((dmetpor)),

kal mvedpa Aewrov voepov, Suvdpet Oeia (.... ov Ta EV Xdet.
((ddtoptorer & dvtev amdvrev kal dkatacKevdoTor,)) avelOn
3} gas &ytov: [[xal émdyn bn’ dupo <£ bypas ovotas]) («al
éyévero Td) oro1xeia [kal Deol rdvres]. [[Karadiarpodor pdcews 5
2a évordpov)] [[ddiopiorwy St dvtav dmdvtwy Kal dxarackend-
orer]] (rev (yap) Sdwv dopa bévrev)) dmeywpicOn Ta Ehagpa
els tnpos, ((dvaxpepacbévroc (rod mupds 7H) mvedpart
bxeiaOat)) Kal ra Bapéa (KarnvéxOn, Kal) eBepedOn ip?
Sypa endynSrovGh Enpt)
(obelg) dupoc,[mupi](Kat[[rdv (Om? duno) & _°

bypas obctas.)) Siopicbévrwr}| [Kal]

[[dvaxpepacbévray mvevpart 6x<ioOas)).
ab (kal dinppdOn (4 muplvy ovola) adv rois ev adr Beois-))
al SfOn 6 ovpards év kbkdrois émrd, kai Oeol [rais] ev dotpwv
iSéas dmravépevor adv toils abrdv onpelos dmact [[Kait
SinpOpd0n adv trois ev avrf Oeois}| Kat mepie(t)Alyoq 7d
[mepixdxdror] a(iO)épi(ov) Kuxdi@ Spopjpati, mredpar Bio
6x ovpevov.
ga dvix 8¢ Exacros beds did ris (las Suvdpews 7d mpoorax Bey
ait®: Kal éyévero Onpia terpdroda kal épmera Kal évudpa 20
7,7 % 2. ¢ iP. ‘ ‘A \

kal mrnvd, [kal waca omopd evoropos] Kal xépros kai dvOovs
mavros xdon, (Kata Sialpeoi(v) gdoean Evorropa,)) Td oméppa
Tis madtyyeveotas év éavrois []omepporonodvra{s}.
gb (.++) Te yeréoes tav dvOpdrav, [els Epywr Oeiov yvaouw,
kal dicews evepyovouc paptupiav, [kal mAjO0s dvOpdmev] 2
kal révrov trav br obpardy deororelay, kal dyabdv éniyvoow|
els 7d avédverOar ev avéjoe Kal mrAnOiverOar ev mrHOEL.
kat macav évoapk(oyi Wuyijy did Spopjparos Ody éyxuKdiov,
trapackeydcas els Kxatomr(e)lav ovpavod [kai Spopyparos
obpaviav Oedv] ((Kal mévrov tov bn’ ovpaviv Seororteiar)), w °
kai ((els yroow Betas duvdpews)) [pyar Oefwv] kal picews
1 & codd., Turn.: fortasse én’ | dpuocw Q: dBicay cett. 2 deig
évra év codd,, Turn.: fortasse Oeiqg Cdifje)ov Ta ev 3 dbiopicray . . .
dwatacxevaoroy huc a § 2 a wt. transposui 4 nal émayn.. . obctas hinc
ad § 2a fim.transposui —_|bp’ dppw QS | bypa Ss dypas cett. 5 xara-
Siapodo. Turn, : karadiepoor A: xaradiatpaor QS: warad. .. . évondpou hinc
ad.§ 3a transposui 7 dnexwpic@n scripsi: dmodiwpic@y codd., Turn.
9 ép' QS: ig’ cett. 10 byp& obcia dypos scripsi: bypG (bypa S) dupw
codd., Turn. 10-11 xai éwdyn . . . ovaias huc a § 1b transposui 14 &
(ante dorpav) om. S 16 mwepietdixOn scripsi: mepreAnyn A: meptedryye: QS :
mepAnyet Turn. 17 aidépiov scripsi: dépt codd., Turn. |«vedi S: wuwdly
cett. 20 @npiaom, S_ | wat épwerdom.S 21 Kal... évoopos seclusi :
fortasse ward macay omopdy évoropa 22 xaTd «.7.A. huc a § tb fin.
 LIBELLVS III 147
There was darkness in the deep,’ and water without form; and rb
there was a subtle breath,’ intelligent, which permeated* the
things in Chaos with divine power. Then, when all was yet
undistinguished and unwrought, there was shed forth holy light ;
and the elements came into being. All things were divided one 2a
from another, and the lighter things were parted off on high,
the fire being suspended aloft, so that it rode upon the air; and
the heavier things sank down, and sand was deposited beneath
the watery substance, and the dry land was separated out from the
watery substance, and became solid.
And the fiery substance was articulated,‘ with the gods therein ; 2b
and heaven appeared, with its seven spheres, and the gods, visible
in starry forms, with all their constellations. And heayen
revolved,* and began to run its circling course, riding upon the
divine air.
And each god,° by his several power, put forth that which he ga
was bidden to put forth. And there came forth four-footed
beasts and creeping things and fishes and winged birds, and
grass and every flowering herb, all having seed in them according
to their diverse natures; for they generated within themselves
the seed by which their races should be renewed.
(...’ And God ordained the) births of men, and bade mankind 3 b
increase and multiply abundantly. And He implants each soul
in flesh by means of the gods who circle in the heavens. And to
this end did He make men, that they might contemplate heaven,
and haye dominion over all things under heaven, and that they
might come to know God’s power, and witness nature’s workings,
1 Or perhaps, ‘ upon the deep’.
2 Or ‘a fine airy substance’, or ‘a subtle spirit *.
* Or perhaps, ‘which was moving upon’,
4 Or ‘ was organized’; that is, the mass of fire was fashioned into an ordered
whole made up of distinct and interdependent parts.
5 Or ‘was wrapped round (the world)’.
8 The ‘gods’ here spoken of are earth, water, and air, i.e. three of the four
elements. (Fire, the fourth element, has already been dealt with.)
* The making of man must have been here described in a passage now lost.

transposui |xara dialpeoww picewy Evonopa scripsi : karadiaipodar (-draipdar QS,

-biepwor A) qiicews Evardpov codd., Turn. 23 éavrois A; abrois QS Turn,
|oreppoyovovyra scripsi : éomeppoddyouv: ras codd., Turn. 24-26 eis Epywv
+. dyabav éniyvwow seclusi: haec duplicantur infra, vv. 31-2 inf. 24 Gelav
Gow QS Turn, : yaa Ociav A 25 évepyovons scripsi : évepyotoay codd.,
Turn. 27 «is 7d codd., Turn.: fortasse (éeéA)evoé re vel cin te
28 évoapkoi scripsi: év capat codd., Turn. 29 wapackevicas scripsi:
Tepagroplas codd., Turn, 80 Kat ndvrow.. . deoworeiay addidi (vide supra)
31 dicews QS Turn, : picewy A
La
 148 CORPVS HERMETICVM
évepyelas ((uaptupiar\), els re onpelototr) dyabdy [[els
yvaow Oeias dvvépews)], pofpas 'dxAoupévns' yvavat dyabav
kal gavrwv, kal waoav [dyabdr] dadadovpyiar ebpeiv,
4 (omdpxe(t) Te adtoic Bidoai te Kal Ad(av\ioOjvar mpos
poipay Spopurjparos (éy)kukAXior Oedv, kal dvadvOivat els “o! wn
(eee. Kal of pév dvopactol) Ecovrat, peydda drropynpo-
vedpata Texvoupynudroy emi THs yiis Karadumévres: (trav Se
moAdd)ay (ra) dvépata (6) xpbvoc dpavpdéce. Kal macav
yéveciy éuytxov capkds kai Kaprod omopas [kal mdoas
texvoupyias] (Siadé~erar POopd) rd (dt) édXatrovpeva dva- 10
vewOjoetat [avdykn] [kal dvavedoet] Ocdv [kal piceas]
(éy)KuKAioNn évapiOuley Spoptpart. toi) yap Oclijoy (éxxpé-
fatal) 4 maoa Koopiki) ovyxpacis, ptoet dvaveovpérn:
ev yap 7G Oc[(]B kal 4 pivots kabéoTynKer,

LIBELLVS IV

‘Eppot mpos Tar. 15

6 kparnp. [1 povas.|
* * * *
ra [[ewed) tov mdvta Kbopov éroinoey 5 Snpuovpyds]] [od
Xepoly GARa Ayo] [[ore obrws brokduBave, ds Tod rapovros
kal det dvros kal mdvta momjoarvros Kal évds pévov, TH Se
aitod Oedjoe: Snptcupyjoavros Td dvra.]| 20
rh (--+) tol)ofro ydp ears 76 (a)odpatror) [[éxefvov]], ox
anrév, obde dparév, odé petpnrér, ode Siacrardy, ode adX@
Tiwi dpotov. ore yap Top éorw ((éxeivoc)), ovre bdwp, obre
aijp, obre mredpa: dda wévra (rad)ra bm’ adbrod (yéyover).
1 paprupiay addidi (vide supra) | onpeiwow scripsi : onpeta codd., Turn,
2 polpas S Turn. : poipys AQ | dxAoupévgs AQS Turn. : fortasse Keyw-
piopevas | Fortasse (&a)yvivar 4 irdpye re avrois scripsi: dpyera
airay AQS Turn. | Bi@onre Kai S | dparaOjva scripsi : cogiaP Ava
codd., Tuin, 5 els d codd., Turn.: fortasse els 7a aroryeia 6 écovra
Turn, : gota: AQS 7-8 trav Be wod\Ady 7a dvdpara 5 xpivos dpavpwoe
scripsi: év dvéyart xpivaw duavpwow codd., Turn. ® énbdyxouv QOS Turn, :
éupuxov A | mdoas scripsi: wagns codd., Turn. 11-12 fedv éyeveNov
EvapiOpulw Bpopnpari scripsi : Oedv kat picews evedov evapOpuiov Spouhuari codd..
Turn. 12-13 rod yap Oeod txxpépara 7 scripsi : 7d yap Getov 4 codd., Turn.
31 dvaveoupévy A: dvabcapovpéevy QS Turn. 14 6e@ scripsi: Oelw codd., Turn.
|xadiornwer QS : cuvéotyxev (suprascr. xa@ pr. man.) A: avyxadéornxev Turn.
 LIBELLVS III 149

and that they might mark what things are good, and discern the
diverse natures of things good and bad, and invent all manner
of cunning arts.
And it is the lot of men to live their lives' and pass away 4
according to the destiny determined by the gods who circle in
the heavens, and to be resolved into the elements. And some
there are whose names will live on, because they have left upon
the earth mighty memorials of their handiwork ; but the names
of the many time will hide in darkness. And every birth of
living flesh, even as every growth of crop from seed, will be
followed by destruction; but all that decays will be renewed
by the measured courses of the gods who circle in the heavens.
For the whole composition of the universe is dependent on God,
being ever renewed by nature’s working ; for it is in God that
nature has her being.

LIBELLVS IV

A discourse of Hermes to Tat.

The Basin.
= * * * * *

Hermes. . . .? For the incorporeal is not a thing perceptible 1b

by touch or sight ; it cannot be measured ; it is not extended in
space ; it is like nothing else. God is not fire, nor water, nor
air, nor breath; but all these things have been made by him.
1 Perhaps, ‘to (be born and) live their lives ’.
2 It must have been said in the lost passage which preceded, that God is
invisible to us, because he is incorporeal.

IV. 1b, 2 gnit,: Stob. 1. 1. 30, vol. i, p. 38 Wachsmuth (deest lemma):

Touro yap éaTt... Vv Koopjoa,
IV. 10-11 b évit, : Stob. 1, 10. 15, vol.i, p.127 W. :‘Eppod. yap moras...
Snoyéypanrat Tod Oct cindy. Codices Stob.: FP.
15 Eppou mpos tar A: Eppov Tov rpicpeyiorou mpos Tov cavTov wov Tat Aoyos
S$Turn. 16 % povds scripsi: # wovas AQS: 9 povas Turn. 17 éwetdi
. « . Sngeovpyds hinc ad § 2 in#t. transposui 18-20 dore...7a ovra hinc ad
§1btransposui 19 ex (@vros corr. dvros S 21 towiro Heeren: rodro
codd. — | dow@parov scripsi : c@pa éxeivou codd, 22 ore épardv Stob. F
22-23 dAdo Twt QS 23 tii buoy codd. Corp.: Twi c@part Sporoy codd.
Stob. 24 navta tabra in’ adrod yéyovev scripsi : mavra 7a. bm’ abrov codd.
Corp. : mévra an’ avrod codd. Stob.
 150 CORPVS HERMETICVM

((dore otras drokduBave, ds (av)rod mpodvTos, Kal del ‘ OvTos,

“ ‘ ae Sar

kal mdvra momjoavros [Kall] évds ((xal)) povou, 7H de adrod

«

Oedrjoer Snprovpyfoavros Ta dvTa.)) ayabds yap av, ‘povp

éavt@ Tobro dvabeivar'.
2 ((émel d& tov mévta Kéopov emoincey 6 Snpoupyés,)) 5
HOeAnoe Kal THY yay KoopAca Koopov Sé Oeiov cdparos
karéreprpe tov dvOpwmov, (eixdva) (gov abavdrov (Gov
Ovnrév. [[kal 6 pev Kdcpos Tar Kdov émdeovexter Too (@ov
kal tod Kécpou Tov Adyov Kal Tov voby.J] (...) Oearhs
yap [[éyévero]] trav tpyov rod Oeod 6 dvOpwros: Kal (emi
roiro ((éyévero)), 7d Tov Kéopor) [eJOavpdoa, kal [elyv@pioat
TOV TOLATAVTA.
3 (kal 6 pev Kécpos (...° 6 6& dvOpamos) Tar (dddov)
(dav [e]rAcovetel [rod Kou Kai Tod Kéopov] Tov Aéyov Kal
tov voov.)) Tov pev ody Nbyov, & Tar, [év] waor Tots dvOparois
éuépioe, Tov St voov ovkért, od pOorav tiaw 6 yap pOdvos
cdk oypar(d)Oev dpxerat, kd dé ovviotatat tats rev vodv
hi éxdvtev dvOpdérov yuxais—Aid ri cdv, & mdrep, ob
maow épépice Tov vobv 6 beds ;— HOeAncer, & Téxvor, TobTov
4 &v péow tals Wuxais domep &Odov (Spicba.—Kat mod avrov 20

iSptoaro;—Kparfipa péyav mAnpooas tovrov Karémepre,

Sods kfipuxa, Kal éxédevoev ait@ knpt£a tais Tay dvOpamov
kapdtas réde “ Bérticov ceavriy } duvapévy eis Todrov
rov Kpariipa, ((yvapi{ovea emi ri yéyovas,)) (Kal) (9) mored-
oven ort dveketon mpos Tov KaTaméuypavta Tov KpaTnpa
[9] [[yvepifovea emi ri yéyovas]}.” door pev ovv ouriKav
Tod Knptyparos, Kal €Bamticavto Tod vods, odroL peréoxov
THs yvéoews, kal TEAELOL EyevOvTO dvOpwrot, Tov votv deEd-

1-3 Gore... 74 bvtahuca§fatransposui 1 adrod mpodytos scripsi: Tod

mapévtos codd. 3-4 dyabds yap dy, pdvy éavT@ rodro dvabetver (avadqva F)
codd. Stob.: dyads dv, péve yap tolrw dvarébeuxey codd. Corp. Fortasse
dyabds yap dv (udvos abrés?), (jBovdnen wavra) aTaG(a) elvat (cf. Pl. Zim.
30 A) 5 éwel.. , Sysovpyds huc a § ta transposui 6 Kocphoas QS :
koopa cett, 7 xaréwenwe QS Turn, : wai xaréweupe A | d6avarou,
nal (ov S 8-9 nat 6 pey. .. 7d vodv hinc ad § 3 Zé, transposui
8 xdapos Tod (wou QS 10 rav épyew QS Turn.: rod épyou A 11 Baupa-
oa wat yroploa scripsi: @atpace kai éyvapice codd., Turn. 13 Fortasse
5 pev xdcpos ((Gov Oeiov) 14 wAeoverre? scripsi: éwAcovéxver codd., Turn.
16 ob pOovayv tialv 6 yap pOdvos Turn.: ov pOovdv" riot yap 6 p0dvos AQS
17 otpavidey scripsi: év@ov S: eOev codd. cett., Turn. | Fortasse (é)
tais |7@v Q Turn, : tov AS 19 rodrov A: rovtey QS Turn,
21 péyavy A: piv yap QS Tum. karémeppe codd,; fortasse xaréarnee
22 xtipa Q: xnpuxa cett. | ex av7@ corr. abrov S | anpvgar om, QS
 LIBELLVS IV 151
You must understand then that God is pre-existent, and ever-
and created
- existent, and that He, and He alone, made all things,
by his will the things that are. For inasmuch as He is good,
1
he 2
And when the Creator had made the ordered universe,
; and so he sent down man,
willed to set in order? the earth also
a mortal creature made in the image of an immortal being,* to be
an embellishment of the divine body. .. . For it is man’s
function to contemplate the works of God; and for this purpose
was he made, that he might view the universe with wondering
awe, and come to know its Maker.
The Kosmos. ..;° but man has this advantage over all other 3
living beings, that he possesses speech and mind. Now speech,
my son, God imparted to all men ; but mind he did not impart
to all. Not that he grudged it to any; for the grudging temper
does not start from heaven above, but comes into being here
below, in the souls of those men who are devoid of mind.—
Tat. Tell me then, father, why did not God impart mind to all
men?—Hermes. It was his will, my son, that mind should be
placed in the midst as a prize that human souls may win—
Tat. And where did he place it?—Hermes. He filled a great 4
basin with mind, and sent it down to earth ;* and he appointed
a herald, and bade him make proclamation to the hearts of men:
‘Harken, each human heart; dip yourself in this basin, if you
can,’ recognizing for what purpose you have been made, and
believing that you shall ascend to Him who sent the basin
down. ® Now those who gave heed to the proclamation, and
dipped themselves in the bath of mind, these men got a share of
gnosis ;° they received mind, and so became complete men. But

1 Perhaps, ‘ inasmuch as He is good, He willed that all things should be

good’.
2 Or, ‘to embellish’.
3 The ‘ immortal being’ is the Kosmos.
* This ‘divine body’ is the earth.
5 Perhaps, ‘is a divine being’.
© Or pene. “and set it among men’. 7 Perhaps, ‘if you will’.
8 Perhaps, ‘ Him who sent you down (to earth)’.
* Tie. knowledge of God,

23 duvapévn codd.: fortasse BovAopévy 24-25 4 morevovoa .. . TOY

kparijpa om. QS 25 Fortasse npds rév (ae) karanéwpavra [rdv xpariipe|
27 peréxov S: perioxov cett.

i —_— — ee, —? eee

 152 CORPVS HERMETICVM

pevotr Soo. d& fyaprov rod Knpbyparos, ovroe ((ol)) (rdv)

ev [[od]] Ady[exjov (Exovres), Tov (de) voiv pi mporedAngores.
5 (kal obra: pér), dyvoobyres emi ri yeydvact Kal bd Tivoc,
[at 8 aicbjoes rovrwy Tails Tay ddoyov (dor TapamAjowat]
[kal ev Oup® Kal év] dpyh [rir] (kal a)xpact (ovr)éxovrai, nn

[od] Oavpdgovres ((r&)) ov [[ra]] Oéas déta, rats [de] ray

copdrov ndovais Kal dpégeou mpocéxorres, kai dia Tadra Tov
dvOpwrov yeyovévat morevovres. Soot dé rhs amd TOD Oeod
Swpeds petéryor, oro, & Tar, kara otyxpiow Tay érépov
abdvarot avti Ovnray ici mwdvra (yap) éumepraBdvtes TO 10
éavtdy vol, Ta éml yfs, Ta ev odpav@, kai ef ri éoTw brép
ovpavov, torodrov éavrods UWdoavtes cidov Td dyabér, Kal
(dévres, cuphopav iyyjoavto thy evOdde SiarpiBhy, (Kat)
karagppovicarres mdvTav tay cwopatikay [kai dowpdror),
Gaémi To ev Kai povoy (dyabdv) omeddovaw. airy, & Tdr, 15
To vod éotiy (évépyeta), emcoTHpn(s) Tov Oeiwv eynopia
kai [1%] To Ooi Katavojoews [Oelov dvros] [[rod KparA-
pos]]}.—
6b Kdya ((rob kparfpos)) BanricOijvat BovAopat, @ maéTEp.—
*Edy pi) mpSrov 7d cGpa piojons, Téxvoy, ceavrov PiAfjoat 20
od divacat- pirjoas dé ceavrév, vodv E~es, Kal rov vody
exov, Kal THs émiothuns peTady y.—llas raira déyets,
& wdrep ;—Adivarov ydp éorw, & Tékvor, wept audpdrepa
yiverOat, Ta Ovnrd Sndradt Kal Ta Ocia. Sto yap dvrev Tév
dvTwv, cdparos Kal dowpdrou, év ols 7d Ovntov Kal 76 Oeiov, 25
4 aipeois Oarépov Karadclrerat 7H éAécOat Bovdopere.
ob yap [éorw] duddrepa [ev] old(v) re [4 e€alpecis] kata-
AaBein’ 7d dé Erepov eAarrw@bey tiv rod érépou ehavépwoer
7 vépyecav. 1% pev ody [évépyera] Tod Kpeirrovos aipeats [[od
Hévor}] 76 édopévm Kaddlorn Tvyxdvet, ((od jdvor)) Tdv 30
&vOpmmov drocwzoyca, dAA& Kal Thy mpds (rdv) Oedv edoéBerav
emideckviaa. 1% 6& ToD EAdtTovos Tov pev dvOpwmov dmdrecer,
1-2 obra of Tov piv Adyor Zxovtes, 7Ov dé voov scripsi (abrol pey Toy Aéyor, Tov
d¢ vovy Flussas); ado pew of Aoyndv Tov vooy Turn.: adrol pev of Aoyikot roy
voy AQS 3 rivos scripsi: tirav codd., Tum. 4 raiz om. QS
5 dpyi xat dxpacig cvvéxovrar scripsi: ai év Oup@ nal ev épyp («. &. 0, Kat opyh
QS) rhv kpdow €xovres codd., Turn. 8 rod QS Turn.: om, A 9 pere-
cxos S | todro QS: obror cett. | odyepnow QOS | érépww scripsi:
épywv codd., Turn. 1l éavrdvot S | éxt yas A: én ris yas QS Tarn.
13 «al (ante caruppov.) addidit Reitz. 14 trav om S 16-17 émorjpns
Tav Ociov edmopia nat rod Bevd xaravojoews sciipsi: emorhun, Tov Delay
évtopia, kal Tod O09 Karavdnots codd., Turn, 17 rod (ante
 LIBELLVS IV 153

those who failed to heed the proclamation, these are they who
possess speech indeed, but have not received mind also. And 5
these, inasmuch as they know not for what purpose they have
been made, nor by whom they have been made, are held under
constraint by anger and incontinence; they admire the things
that are not worth looking at ;? they give heed only to their
bodily pleasures and desires, and believe that man has been
made for such things as these. But as many as have partaken of
the gift which God has sent,’ these, my son, in comparison with
the others, are as immortal gods to mortal men. They embrace
in their own mind all things that are, the things on earth and the
things in heaven, and even what is above heaven, if there is
aught above heaven ; and raising themselves to that height, they
see the Good. And having seen the Good, they deem their
sojourn here on earth a thing to be deplored ; and scorning all
things corporeal, they press on to reach that which alone is good.
Such, my son, is the work that mind does; it throws open the 6a
way to knowledge of things divine, and enables us to apprehend
God.—
Tat. I too, father, would fain be dipped in that basin.— 6b
Hermes. If you do not first hate your body, my son, you cannot
love yourself ;* but if you love yourself, you will have mind ; and
having mind, you will partake of knowledge also— Zuz. What
mean you, father?—/Yermes. It is not possible, my son, to attach
yourself both to things mortal and to things divine. There are
two sorts of things, the corporeal and the incorporeal; that which
is mortal is of the one sort, and that which is divine is of the
other sort; and he who wills to make his choice is left free to
choose the one or the other. It is not possible to take both;
and when the one is slighted, then the working of the other
becomes manifest. The choice of the better is glorious for the 7
chooser ;for it not only saves the man from perdition, but also
shows him to be pious towards God. The choice of the worse is
1 T.e, material things. 2 This ‘ gift’ is mind.
8 That is, your true self, which is incorporeal.
kparijpos) om. QS 20 capa puonoys Q: cdya juonoas S: o@pd cov
piohans cett. 22 petadnn QS Turn. : watadjyn A |Aéyys St Aéyers
cett. 24 yiveobar, rd Ovnrd Sndad} wat Turn.: yiveoOa, wept 7a OvnTa Kal
AQS 25 70 (ante @ciov) om. S 27-28 oldv re xaradaBeiv scripsi :
&y ols re } (é ois } S) ealpeots karadetnera codd., Turn. 28 ri rot
om. QS 81 dwocd(ovea scripsi: dmv@eGoa codd., Turn. 32 ém-
deckvioa scripsi: émdSeixvvow codd., Turn,
 154 CORPVS HERMETICVM

ovdéy dé (Arro1) els Tov Oedv émAnppéArncer [} Todro pdvor):

drt xabdmep af mropmal pécov mapépxovrat, pyre avrai
évepyfjoal te Suvdpevat, tods d& eumodéfoveat, Tov avrov
tpomov Kal obrot povov mopmetovaw ev TO Koop, mapay|ev|6-
8a pevor bd Tov coparixay [pSorav], TodTwr dé obras éxévTor, on

& Tar, r& piv rapa rod Oeod hiv [re] daApge kal brdpet,
ra St dd’ tpav dkodovbnodro, Kai pi dorepnodro’ Emel
6 pev Beds dvatrios, jpeis S& aitton Tay Kakdv, Taba mpo-
xpivortes Tay ayabar,
sb. (+++) opas, & rékvor, méoa nyds det odpara ((Kard rmoO

ovvéxerar)) duegedOciv, kal mécovs Xopods Satpoverv [[Kai

ovvéxerar]] Kal Spdpous dorépwv, iva mpos Tov Eva kai pévov
edy omevowper. (... 4a)ddBarov yap Td dyabdv, Kal
arépavrev, Kal dted€s, abT@ de Kal dvapxov, tpiv de doxody
9 dpxiv txew Thy yrdow, odk avrod (y)obv (rob yvorOn- - 5
copuévov)) dpyh yiverat 1) yvaots, GAN’ Hpiv Ti apxiy
mapéxerat [[Tod yrooInaopEevou)|. AaBapeba ody THS apxijs,
kal ddetowper tdxe Aravti. mdvy ydp ort (Sé)aKoX(iJov
7d 7& ovvyOn Kal mapévta Katadimévra emi Ta madara Kal
dpxaia dvaxdunrew: Ta pev yap paivipera Tépret, Ta de we °

agpava Svomaoriav moet. pavepdrepa dé ort Ta Kaka"

7d 88 dyabdy dgaves Tois pavepois: ov yap popPi) odre Tos
cor attG. ((ddivarov yap dospatov cdépatt pavjvat)) dua
robro, (art) abt@ pév éorw Spowv, Tois Se dddois waow
dvopoov. [[dddrarov yap dodparov cdpart pavfivat.)) [airy »
5
Stahop& rod spotov mpds 7d dvdpo.ov, kai TH dvopolo borépnpa
mpos Td Spotov.|
ro (. ++) [Lf yap povds, mévrav oboe px Kal pifa)] (6 yap
beds) ev macty tori ds dv fifa Kal dpxy. dvev 8 dpxiis
obdévr ayri) d(H} dpxh) e ovdevds GAN’ 7 [€{] abris, ef ye 30

1 8 (post ov) om. S |évAnpédnoev S 2 abrai Reitz.: abrat

AQS (etiam MC teste Reitz.) et Turn, 4 ropntedovaw S 4-5 napa-
yopevor Patr.: mapayevdpevoe AQS (etiam MC teste Reitz.) et Turn.
7 jyav QS Tum.; tuav A 10 pets S: yas cett. 11 xapods S:
Xopods cett. 12 Bpdpovs QSTurn.: Spdpov A 13 dedvy om. QS
Fortasse 79 @v wat pdvov dya0dv (vide § 5 fit.) 15 éyew QS Turn, : éxer A
atrod A: atte QS Turn. | yodv scripsi : ov codd., Turn. 17 AaBé-
peba QS: AaBwpeba cett. 18 dnavre scripsi: daavra codd., Turn. | d¢e-
xodov scripsi: coddv AQS Turn. 20 dvaxdéntw S: dvaxdprrey cett,
21 dvomoriay scripsi: bvemoreiv codd., Turn. | pavepmrepa QS Turn:
pavepwrara A 23 aire QS Turn.: adrod A 26 dvopiw S: dve-
poly cett. 28 révrev odca QS Turn.: ovca névtov A, codd, Stob.
 LIBELLVS IV 155
perdition to the man, and is likewise an offence against God ; for
as processions pass through the midst of the people, but can do
nothing themselves, and obstruct the way for others, even so
these men merely pass in procession in the Kosmos, led along
by things corporeal. This being so, my son, God has done his 8a
part towards us, and will do it; it is for us to do our part
accordingly, and not to fall short. For God is blameless ; it is
we that are to blame for our evils, if we choose the evils in
preference to the goods.
. .+ You see, my son, through how many bodily things in 8b
succession we have to make our way, and through how many
troops of daemons and courses of stars, that we may press on to
the one and only God. ...* For we can never reach the
farther boundary of the Good; it is limitless, and without end ;
and in itself, it is without beginning, though to us it seems to
begin when we get knowledge of it. For the thing to be known g
does not itself begin to be when we get knowledge of it; it is
only for us that our knowledge makes it begin. Let us then lay
hold on this beginning, and make our way thither with all speed;
for it is hard for us to forsake the familiar things around us, and
turn back to the old home whence we came.’ Things seen
delight us, and things unseen give rise to disbelief. Now the
things that are evil are more manifest to sight; but the Good
cannot be seen by things manifest ;4 for it has no form or shape.
It is impossible that an incorporeal thing should be manifested
to a thing that is corporeal; because the incorporeal is like to
itself, but unlike to all else.®
... God is in all things, as their root and the source of 10
their being. There is nothing that has not a source; but the
source itself springs from nothing but itself, if it is the source
1 Perhaps, ‘ to Him who alone is good’, or ‘ to that which alone is good’.
2 oe ‘(But when we have once attained to the Good, it will never
fail us)’.
3 T.e. to the world of the ‘incorporeal’ and ‘divine’, whence we were ‘ sent
down’ to earth,
4 T.e, by our bodily eyes.
5 The writer assumes that a thing can be seen or known only by that which
is like it.
29 év naciv éorw ds dv pita codd. Stob.: om. codd. Corp. | «a? apxi,
dvev 8 codd. Stob.: a dpxi) otaa’ dvev 5 codd, Corp. 80 abr 52 dpyt
scripsi: dpyx7 5¢ codd. | oddevds GAA’ 4 abrijs scripsi: obdevds, GAA’ & abrijs
codd. Stob.: otdevds 4 & abras codd. Corp. |ef ye codd. Stob.: éet codd.
Corp.
 156 CORPVS HERMETICVM

apy gor trav érépov. [adr yap (adrijs) eorw ((apx7)),

drei py ANS apxis Ervxer] [odoa]. povdar oby (€orKkev
6 be6s) [[apxi] (ch yap pords, mavrav oboa (apiOpor)
dpx Kal piga,)) mdévra dpOpdv épmepréxet, bd pndevds
éurreprexopevy, Kal mdvra apiOpov yevvd, id pndevos yevvo- 5
na Heyy érépov dpiOpob. mav St 7d yevvamevov aredés, Kal
draiperov , kal adénrov Kal pevwrdr> 7H Se Terelp ovdey TobT@Y
yiverat. [kal 7d pev adénrov avgdverat amd ths povddos,
adloxerar d&& bd THs abToo dobeveia s, pnxére Suvdpevor Thy
povdda xwpjcat.|
ub abrn cot, & Tér, kara 7d duvardv bmoyéypanrat Tod cod
cixév: fy dxpiBas «i Oedon [Kal voroets| Tots THs Kapolas
éPOadpois, miatevady por, TEKVOV, edpioes Thy mpos Ta avo
dddv: padrAov S€ avry ce th [elkdv] (Bea) ddnyzoet. exer ydép
rt tov “h O€a rods POdaavras Ocdoacbat Karéxet, Kal
dvérxet kabdmep haciv ) Mayvijris {Bos tov oidnpov.

LIBELLVS V

‘Eppod mpos Tar viov.

dre davis (..+) Oeds pavepdraros éoTt.

1a. Kat révde oot tov doyov, & Tdr, diegedevoopat, dws pi)
apintos ys Tod KpelrTovos Gcod dvéparos. ad dé voc mas
(Aéyo" vooivtt yap) Td Soxody Tots moddois apaves pavepo-
TaTov Gol yevyjcETal.
rb (...) od yap dv qv e adpaves qv.’ wav yap 76
pavopevov yerynTov" épdvn yap. Td d& agpaves ael €otu
To yap pavivar ob xpnge (2+. ) del yap €or kal Ta
dr\da mdvra gavepd moi, adros dpavijs dv, os del wv.
|

om. codd.
1-2 airy yap eon, ered pi) dAANs apxijs ETuXEY ovoa codd. Corp. : povds oby
Stob. 2-3 povdd: odv Eouev 6 Beds scripsi: povds obv dpy?) A:
} apy? QS Turn. ; povds oboa ot dpx7 codd. Stob. 4 mdvra dpOpov Eur.
codd, Stob.: kat nav7a dpiOpov éum. codd. Corp. 5-6 -yevopévn A: yerva-
7 Bauperdv codd, Stob. : déaiperov AQS Turn. | 72
pévn cett.
Be reAcig codd.: fortasse TH 5e a-yevvnTy 8-10 Kal 7d pey abgnrov.. »
xwpiaa codd. Corp.: om. codd. Stob, 11 oo codd, Corp.: obv codd,
| Svvardv codd. Corp. : buvardy got codd. Stob. 14 éyea 5€
Stob. vel 75
QS : éxer yap cett. 15 % Géa (post. tov) codd. : fortasse 7d Getov
dyabiv 16 Aifos om. QS
 LIBELLVS IV 157

of all else. God then is like the unit of number. For the
unit, being the source of all numbers, and the root of them
all, contains every number within itself, and is contained by
none of them; it generates every number, and is generated
_ by no other number. Now everything that is generated is 11a
incomplete, and divisible, and subject to increase and
decrease; but that which is complete’ is subject to none of
these things.
In these outlines, my son, I have drawn a likeness of God for 11 b
you, so far as that is possible ; and if you gaze upon this likeness
with the eyes of your heart, then, my son, believe me, you will
find the upward path; or rather, the sight itself will guide you on
your way. For the...* has a power peculiar to itself; it takes
possession of those who have attained to the sight of it, and
draws them upward, even as men say the loadstone draws the
iron,

LIBELLVS V

A discourse of Hermes to his son Tat.

That Ged is hidden from sight, and yet is most manifest.
This doctrine also, Tat, I will expound to you, that you may 1a
not remain uninitiated in the mysteries of Him who is too mighty
to be named God. Grasp the meaning of my words; for if you
grasp it, that which seems to the many to be hidden will become
most manifest to you.
.+..° For all that is manifest has been brought into being; 1b
for it has been manifested. But that which is hidden is
ever-existent ; for it has no need to be manifested. ...; for
God is ever-existent; and He makes manifest all else, but He
himself is hidden, because He is ever-existent. He manifests all

1 Perhaps, ‘that which is not generated’.

® Perhaps, ‘ that which is divine’, or ‘ the Good’.
Bests, ‘for it would not have been ever-existent, if it had not been
hidden’,
AT “Eppod mpds Tar vidv A: ‘Eppod rod tpitpeylarou mpds rov gaurod vidy Tar
QS Turn. 18 Fortasse Ort (nf piv) davis (6) eds, (a9 82) paveporards
tore 20 dytynros S : dudyros cett. 22 yévnra QS 23 Fortasse
08 yap dy (del) Fv el (ui)) davis Fv 24 dpés S: dpaves cett.
 158 CORPVS HERMETICVM

(mavra obv) gavepay, abtos ob davepodrat, ovK avros yerv-

pevos &v gparracle, ([de]] wévra 88) garractay. } yap
garracia péveov TOV yeryytév éoriv: ovdév ydp éotiv u)
pavracia 4 yéveots. 4 dH els dyévyntos (dv) SHdov Sri Kal
apartaciacros: (ef d¢ dpavtaciacros,) Kal dpavijs.
2 Ta & mdvta davtacidy, did mévrov daiverat, kal ev
méot Kal pddtora ols dv adtds Bovdnbf daviva. od ody,
& Tér réxvoy, dat mpdrov TO xuplo Kal marpl, [Kai] (7@)
pov Kal [ody] évt (dyaO) [adr dG ob 6 els], iAcw TvyXelv,
[[ia duvnOAs Tov THALKODrov Oedy voHeat,]] Kai adKTivd co
kav plav adbrod TH of Stavola erdrdpwat, ((iva dvvnbijs tov
Tndtkodrov [Ocdr] vofoa:.)) vonows yap porn 6pa Td adavés,
és kal adri) ddavis oboa: ((el 8& Kal 1d év col ddavés
éoti colt, mas adtos ev EavT@ (dv) Sid rdv dPOaArApay oor
pavicerat;)) ef (St) Sivacat Tois To vod dpbarpois ((ideir)), ~ 5
paviceral, @ Tér- apbdrms yap 6 Ktpios gatverar oid
mavros Tod Kbopou [vénoww| [[ldciv]|- (Kal ry elxdva Tob
Geod Oedoacba:)) Kai KaBéobar avrtis rais xepol ddvacat
[[kal ray efxdva Tod Oeod Oedoacbat)|. [lef d& Kal 7d €v col
dgavés ori cot, mas ards ev cavTe Hid tov d¢0adrpav oo
parjoerat ;]]
3 «i & Oéres avrdv iSeiv, vonoov Tov idtov, vénoov Tov
ceAnvns Spopor, vinooy tev aotépwy tiv Tag. tis 6 Thy
tdéw typav; [tdgis yap maca] [[repidpiotat apiOud Kal
rémp.]] é duos [[@eds]] peytoros rev kar’ ovpavoy Ocav,
@ martes elxovow of odpdviot Oeoi wsavet Baoirel Kal
dvvdotn* Kal obros 6 tyAtKobros ((Beds)), 6 pelfov yas Kal
Oadrdrrns, dvéxerar tmép éavriv Exwv éavrod pikporépovs
moretovtas aotépas: tiva aidodperos, 7} Tiva poBodpevos,
@ Téxvov ;Exaotos TovTey Tay dorépwr ((meprdpioTat apiO ua co ww

kal rém@)) (Sid tZ) o{x) [[rdv] Suooy 7 tvov ((rdv)) Spopov
mo.obvrat (mdvres of) év ovpav@ bytes; ris 6 éxdot@ Tov
47[plérov Kai 7d péyeOos Tob Spbpuov dpicas; (4) a&pxros,
((h)) abriy [[p\] wept adbriy orpedopévn, kai tiv mdvta
83-4 7 pavragia7 scripsi: 4 pavracia } codd., Turn. 4 8} scripsi: 5
codd.,, ‘Turn. 6 paivovra S: palverai cett. 7 pavivar A: pavetra
QS Turn. 8 & Tar réxvoy QS Turn. :rénvov rat A 10 ray S: roy
cett. | wal scripsi: wav codd., Turn. 11 pla S: play cett. | €AAGu-
bs“meee8 Exdapwpat codd. , Turn. 14 airds Turn. : abrov A: éaurdy
év éavrd dy scripsi: év cavt@ codd., Turn, 16 d@Odvws scripsi :
ws codd,, Turn. 17 idetv AQS: NaBety Turn, 18 airijs scripsi :
 LIBELLVS V 159
things, but is not manifested; He is not himself brought into
being in images presented through our senses, but He presents all
things to us in such images. It is only things which are brought
into being that are presented through sense ; coming into being is
nothing else than presentation through sense.’ It is evident then
that He who alone has not come into being cannot be presented
through sense ; and that being so, He is hidden from our sight.
But He presents all things to us through our senses, and thereby 2
manifests himself through all things, and in all things; and
especially, to those to whom He wills to manifest himself. Begin
then, my son Tat, with a prayer to the Lord and Father, who
alone is good; pray that you may find favour with him, and
that one ray of him, if only one, may flash into your mind, that so
you may have power to grasp in thought that mighty Being. For
thought alone can see that which is hidden, inasmuch as thought
itself is hidden from sight; and if even the thought which is
within you is hidden from your sight, how can He, being in
himself, be manifested to you through your bodily eyes? But if
you have power to see with the eyes of the mind, then, my son,
He will manifest himself to you. For the Lord manifests himself
ungrudgingly through all the universe ; and you can behold God’s
image*with your eyes, and lay hold on it with your hands.
If you wish to see Him, think on the Sun, think on the course 3
of the Moon, think on the order of the stars. Who is it that main-
tains that order? The Sun is the greatest of the gods in heaven;
to him, as to their king and over-lord, all the gods of heaven
yield place ; and yet this mighty god, greater than earth and sea,
submits to have smaller stars circling above him. Who is it then,
my son, that he obeys with reverence and awe? Each of these
stars too is confined by measured limits, and has an appointed
space to range in. Why do not all the stars in heaven run like
and equal courses? Who is it that has assigned to each its place,
and marked out for each the extent of its course? The Bear, who 4
revolves upon herself, and carries round with her the whole
1 Or, ‘ presentation through sense is nothing else than coming into being’.
2 I e, the Kosmos,
avrais codd., Turn. 22 airod S: abrdv cett. 24 tupav QS: rnpav
cett. 25 tUny S: rémw cett, 29 modevovras A Turn, : wodiredovras
QS Flussas 30 Fortasse tovrwy éxagros rev dor. 81 obx Spoor
i} icov rov Spéuov scripsi: ob Tov Spoov 4 tcov Spéyov codd., Turn.
82 wootvraS: mowwivra cett. 33 rénov scripsi: tpérov codd., Turn.
34 orpepouévny S: orpepopévy cett.
 160 CORPVS HERMETICVM

kécpov cupmepipépovoa, (..-* Tid. .5 6 dip... .")

ris 5 tobro Kexrnpévos Td dpyavov; Tis 6 TH Oardoon Tods
Spous mepiBardv; ris 6 thy yiv épdoas; tort ydp Ths,
& Tér, 6 rovrav mdvrev montis Kal deonérns: addvarov
yap } rérov 4 dpiOpdv i pérpov gdvdraxOjvar xepis Tod 5
momoavros. maca yap Tagis (roinTh, povn 68 %) aroma
kal dperpla dmotntos. ad otk addéomotos ovde aurn,
& réxvov: Kal yap ef 71 draxrév éomiv, ‘évdets bre karéxer
rodré tort Tov Tpbmov Tis Tagews:' Kai (yap } dragia) bd
rov Seombrny éori, roy pndémw ait tiv rdw tégarra. To
5 ele Suvardév cor Hv mrnve yevopev@ dvantivat eis Tov
dépa, kat péoov dpbévra [ris] ys Kal ovpavod ideiv yas pev
7d orepesv, Oadrdoons St Td Kexvpévov, Torapay O& Ta
pebpata, dépos 7d dvetpévoy, mupds Thy ddrnTa, dorpev Toy
Spépov, obpavod thy taxdtyTa Tic mepl Taira mepiBdoewc. ~ wl
& Oéas éxetvns, téxvov, evtvyeotadrns, b1d pilav pory mavra
tatra (pepdpeva iddvta) Oedoacba tov axivyroy dia (rdv
Kivntav) Kivotpevor, kal Tov apava patydpevor Se dv rrotel,
6 abrn 4 tdfis Tod Kdcpov [Kal obros 6 Kbopos THs Tdews].
ef (88) Bédeis Kal id td Ovyntdv (adriv) Oedoacbat Td emt 20
yijs kai rdv év BvOG, (...). vdnoor, @ téxvov, Snptovp-
yobpevov év Th yaorpi tov dvOpwrov, Kal rob Snpiovpyjparos
axpiBas tiv téxvnv ééracov, kal pdbe tis 0 Snproupydv
Thy Kadiv tabrny Kai Oeiav [rod avOpdrov] eikiva. tis
6 rods dpOarpods meprypdas; tis 6 Tas pivas Kal Ta Ora 25
tpumioas; tis 6 rd orbpa Siavoigas; tis 6 Ta vedpa exreivas
kal decpetoas; ris é dxerevous Tas préBas; Tis 6 Td doTéa
atepporoijoas; tis 6 (7d) Séppa tH capxi mep:Badrav; tis
6 rods Saxridovs Steddv; tis 6 Tots mooi (riv) Bdow mra-
tivas; tis 6 Siopigas rods mépovs; [[ris 6 Tov omARVa 30
éxretvas 3] tis 6 tiv Kapdiav mupapoedj moijoas, (Kal)
[ris 6] ra vedpa (adrh) ovvbeis; ris 6 7d Hap mAarTivas;
c

26 7H Oaddoon Turn.: 6 Oaddoon QS: 6 zis Baddaons A 6 rags

QS Tum. : rdgis duerpia (sed dperpia eras. man. pr.) A 6-7 dronia
wat dyerpia A: dromiqg, xat dyerpig Turn. 7 ovdtv S: odde cett.
8 «i m1 scripsi: ef 7d codd., Turn, 8-9 Fortasse (obx) tvdeés ((Eor1))
(rod régovros) ej 71 Karéxe(ray: todrov) [{ J) tov tpdwov 1H (d}rafia
10 7dv (ante deandrnv) QS Turn.: om. A 15 rhs . . . mepiBaceos
scripsi: viv... mepiBaow codd., Turn, 17-18 bad TOY KuynTaY Kwod-
pevov scripsi: Siaxwvovpevov codd., Turn. 19 atiry codd.: fortasse
Torn 20-21 ent yis A: émt ris yis QS Tum. 24 Thy Kadi
 LIBELLVS V 161
Kosmos, (...; who is it that has...? The air. ..;)' who is it
that owns this instrument? Who is it that has confined the sea
within its bounds, and fixed the earth firm in its seat? Someone
there must be, my son, who is the Maker and the Master of all
these ; it could not be that place and limit and measure should
be observed by all, if there were not one who has made them.
For all order must have been made ; it is only that which is out
of place and out of measure that has not been made. And yet,
my son, even that which is out of place and out of measure is not
without a master. If there is aught that is in disorder, .. . ;?
for disorder also is subject to the Master, but he has not yet
imposed order upon it.
Would that it were possible for you to grow wings, and soar 5
into the air! Poised between earth and heaven, you might see
the solid earth, the fluid sea and the streaming rivers, the wander-
ing air, the penetrating fire, the courses of the stars, and the
swiftness of the movement with which heaven encompasses all.
What happiness were that, my son, to see all these borne along
with one impulse, and to behold Him who is unmoved moving
in all that moves, and Him who is hidden made manifest through
his works !
Such is the order of the universe. But if you wish to see Him 6
through mortal creatures also, both those on earth and those
in the depths of the sea,.... Think, my son, how man is
fashioned in the womb ; investigate with care the skill shown in
that work, and find out what craftsman it is that makes this fair
and godlike image. Who is it that has traced the circles of the
eyes, that has pierced the orifices of the nostrils and the ears, and
made the opening of the mouth? Who is it that has stretched
the sinews out and tied them fast, and dug out the channels of
the veins? Who is it that has made the bones hard, and covered
the flesh with skin? Who is it that has separated the fingers, and
shaped the broad surface of the soles of the feet? Who is it that
has bored the ducts? Who is it that has shaped the heart into
a cone, and joined the sinews to it, that has made the liver broad,
? Perhaps, ‘{...; who is it that has imposed this task upon her? The
air is the instrament by which life is conveyed to all creatures upon earth ;)’.
* Perhaps, ‘it is not without one who will bring it to order, if there is any-
thing that is thus possessed by disorder’.
3 Or, ‘to see all these in one moment of time’,
tatryv QSTurn.: radrqy riv Kadi A 26 dvoifas S: savoigas cett.
80 rods (ante mépovs) om, QS |Tv orAjva QS
2808 M
 162 CORPVS HERMETICVM

((rés 6 rov omdjva éxretvas;)) ris 6 Toy mvetpova cHpAyYOoas ;

rls 6 thy KowWlav ebpdxwpov morjoas; Tis 6 Ta TYmdrara
qels rd gavepdy exrumdcas, Kal Ta aloxpd Kpirypas; ie
roca. réxvat plas bAns, Kal moa epya (ev) pig meprypagi
kal mévra mepikaddg, Kal mdvra peperpynpéva, mavra d& ev 5
Siadopa. tis mévra taira émoinoe; mola prrnp, motos
marhp, ef ph 6 dpavis Oeds, (6) TO éavTod OedAjpart mdvra
8 Snuovpyjoas; Kal dvdpidvra piv i) elkéva xopis dvdpiav-
rorotod 4 fwypdgou ovdeis gnor yeyovévat: tobto dé 7d
Snpiovpynua yopls Snurovpyod yéyover; & Ths moddjjs a °
rugrérnros, & Tis modAHs doeBelas, & ris modrijs ayvo-
pootyns. pndémote, & téxvov Tdér, dmootepions Tob
Snptovpyod 7& Snprovpyjparay padrdov de {... )-
9 [Fkpefrray éotly bcos Kata Oedv svoparos TocovTos."|
(ris yap dddos) éoriv 6 wdvTwv marijp; 7H yap (ov) pévos 15
obros; Kal todro ab’t@ 7d epyov éort, (rd) marépa elvan.
ef d€ ré pe kal Todpnpdrepoy dvdyKu[(ers| eimelv, robrou
éorly (4) obola rd Kineiv mdvra Kal moveivy Kal domep xopls
Tod mowodvros ddvvaréy éort yevérOat TL, o'Tw Kai TooTOY
Ae? ph clvat, el ph wévta det mowodyra, ev obparg, év dépt, 20
év yf, év Bv68, év mavti rod Kécpou (yépet), ev mavri [rod
mavros| 7B dvtt kal TO pH dvTr. oddey yap éorw év wavti
éxelvw d odk Cor atts. eorw adrds Kal T& dyTa kal Ta
pi) dvrar r& py yap dvra épavépwce, rd St pi dvra Exet ev
ple
éauTo. 25
10a - obros 6 Oeod dvéparos Kpelrrov. obros 6 dpavis, obTos
6 gavepdraros. obros 6 T@ vot Ocwpyrds, obros 6 Tots
éhbadpois dparés. obros 6 dodparos, (obros) 6 rokvedparos,
padrov S& mavrols|odparos. ovdév éorw [[obros]] d ovk
Zori(v) ((obros)); mavra yap (@) tort Kal obrés éort. Kal 30
&& Todro abrds dvépara exe dravra, bre évds (adrod mévra)
éort marpés* Kal dt& Tobro adrds dvopa ovk éxeL, Ste wdvTOr
éoti marip.
1 onpayywoas Flussas: ovparyydoas Q Turn. :cuppayyeoas S: oparyydoas A
2 cls Thy wodlav (om. 6) QS Turn. : 6 7H Kotdiay Cos A 5-6 évbia-
popa Q: evdiapopdS: év diacope cett. 12 dnocrepjaons Q Turn. : -ces
A: ex -oe.s corr. -ons S 14 wat xpelrtov Turn, : cat eperrdy Q: Kpeirrdy
(om, xal) AS | cos QTurn.: dads S : Scov A Kpeltroav .. . TOFOUTOS
seclusi. Fortasse [xpelrrav éorly oftos kal) TOY Se0Y dvéparos- [ros] obros
{...)]: vide § 10a zit. 16 aitS QS Tum.: aird A 17 dvd-yen
scripsi; dvay«dtes codd,, Turn. 18 «weiy scripsi: xvev codd., Tum.
 LIBELLVS V 163
and the spleen long, and hollowed out the cavities of the lungs,
and made the belly capacious? Who is it that has so fashioned
the most honourable parts that all may see them, and concealed
the parts that are unseemly? See how many crafts have been 7
employed on one material, and how many works of art are
enclosed within one compass! All are beautiful, all true to
measure, yet all are diverse one from another. Who produced all
these? What mother, or what father? Who but the hidden
God, who has wrought all things by his own will? No one says 8
that a statue or a portrait has come into being without a sculptor
or a painter; and has such a work as this come into being
without a Maker? How blind men are! How impious, how
obtuse! Never, my son, deprive the things made of their
Maker ; but rather....
For who else is the Father of all? Surely, He alone ; and it is 9
his work to be father. Nay, if I needs must speak with some bold-
ness, I will even say that it is his very being to set all things in
motion,’ and to make all things; and as it is impossible for any-
thing to come into being without a maker, so too it needs must
be that He does not exist, if he is not ever making all things, in
heayen, in air, on earth, and in the deep, in every part of the
Kosmos, in all that is and in all that is not. For in all this
there is nothing that He is not. He is both the things that are
and the things that are not; for the things that are He has made
manifest, and the things that are not He contains within himself.
Such is He who is too great to be named God. He is hidden, 10a
yet most manifest, He is apprehensible by thought alone, yet we
can see Him with our eyes. He is bodiless, and yet has many
bodies, or rather, is embodied in all bodies. There is nothing
that He is not ;? for all things that exist are even He. For this
reason all names are names of Him, because all things come from
Him, their one Father; and for this reason He has no name,
because He is the Father of all.

? MSS. : ‘to give birth to all things,’

? Or, ‘that is not He’,

20 def scripsi : det codd., Turn. 20-21 év dépt ev yj AQS: ev yf, ev dep
Turn, 21-22 év navi Tod mavrds om. QS 23 éyra cat Turn, : dvra
abrés kat AQS 24 ph dvra QS Tum, : pd} Exorra A 26 God OS
Turn,: beds A 26-28 6 (sexies) secludendum? 29 nravrocwparos
scripsi :mavrds odparos codd., Turn, 30 4 add, Flussas 31 airods
Turn, :om, AQS
M3
 164 CORPVS HERMETICVM

10b Tis ody oe ebdoyfoat drép cou i} mpbs oe Sbvatro;

mod 8t kat Brérav eddoyfjow ce, dvo, KdTw, tow, Ew;
cd yap (6) t[plémos (rar dvr@v)) od rémos eori(v) (EAAOS)
obdeic)) maps oé [odde] [[ZAXo oddev]] [ray évTev)|, TavTa
év ool. 5
(...) mdvra dd ood: mévra Sides, kal ofdev AapBaver s:
mdvra yap exes, kal ovdty d ovk Exets.
1 more 6€ ce dpvicw; obre yap Spay (xwpis) cov ove
xpévov karaaBeiv duvaréy.
intp rivos 8 kal duvijow (oe); wtp Sv émoineas, 7} bmép 10
dv obk érolnoas; imp dv ehavépwoas, i) dmép dv Expurpas;
dia rié(vos) 8 Kal dpvfjow ce; ds épavTod dv; ads Exov
rt tStov; ds dddos Sv; od yap ef d [ejay a, od ef 3 dv TOL,
ad dd dv Neyo. od yap mdvra ef, kat Gddo oddey Eortv
d ph of c od Gf wav 7d yevdpevor, od 7d pi yevdpevov. 15
vods pey (el), vootpevoss marhp dé, Snuroupyav: Beds dé,
évepyav: dyabds 8é, [kal] mévta roy.
[Ans pev yap 7d A|ewropepéotepov arp, depos de Wux7,
apuyiis 82 vois, vod dé Oeds.]

LIBELLVS VI
‘Eppot Tov rpiopeylorov. 40
Sri éy povo TH OeG 7d dyabdy éorw, ddrdaxdbc Se ofSapod.

1a To dyabdv, & Aoxrnmeé, [ev ovderé eat ef ph ev pov

7@ Oc@. paddov St 7d dyabdvy adrés eotw 6 Beds [dei],
ef 8& obrws,] odciay dvat dei méons Kwijoews Kal yevécews
Epnpov [dt ovdév éori], adrin ((de)) mepi [[8e]] adriy orari- 25
Khv évépyetav exovoalr), dvevde Kal (rabdv) amelputov,
17QS: tis cett. | S%varo Turn, :om. AQS 2 wat om. S 3 od
yap 6 ténos Tay byTwy scripsi : ob yap Tpémos codd,, Turn, 3-4 éariv dddos
obdels mapa cé scripsi ; éort wepi oe codd., Turn. 6 Fortasse (riva 5€ co
népbo Ovoiav;) mavta (yap) amd aod 11 dy (ante éxpuyas) om. S
12 rivos scripsi: r/ codd., Turn, 18 édvy AQS (etiam MC teste Reitz.),
Turn.: dy Reitz. | od fb av rod om. S 14 ef, nat dAdo AS: ef, 70
ado Q Turn. 15 3d pi)od ed. ob & aay scripsi: d wh éort. od ef wav
QS Turn. : 8 ph éorw ob ef ob wavA 17 xa seclusit Reitz. 18-19 tAns
ee ga secluserunt edd, recentiores 18 7d0m.Q 19 82 ded; QS: B
6 Beds cett.
 LIBELLVS V 165
Who then can speak of Thee or to Thee, and tell Thy praise? 10 b
Whither shall I look when I praise Thee? Upward or down-
ward, inward or outward? For Thou art the place in which all
things are contained ; there is no other place beside Thee; all
things are in Thee.
{And what offering shall I bring Thee? For) all things are
from Thee. Thou givest all, and receivest nothing; for Thou
hast all things, and there is nothing that Thou hast not.
And at what time shall I sing hymns to Thee? For it is 1
impossible to find a season or a space of time that is apart from
Thee.
And for what shall I praise Thee? For the things Thou hast
made, or for the things Thou hast not made? For the things
Thou hast made manifest, or for the things Thou hast concealed ?
And wherewith shall I sing to Thee? Am I my own, or have
I anything of my own? Am I other than Thou? Thou art
whatsoever I am; Thou art whatsoever I do, and whatsoever
Tsay. Thou art all things, and there is nothing beside Thee,
nothing that Thou art not. Thou art all that has come into
being, and all that has not come into being. Thou art Mind, in
that Thou thinkest ; and Father, in that Thou createst ; and
God, in that Thou workest; and Good, in that Thou makest
all things.

LIBELLVS VI

A discourse of Hermes Trismegistus.

That the Good is in God alone, and nowhere else.

The Good, Asclepius, must be a thing that is devoid of allra

movement and all becoming, and has a motionless activity that is
centred in itself; a thing that lacks nothing, and is not assailed by
perturbations;*a thing that is wholly filled with supplies (of all
1 Or ‘ passions’.

21 79 om. S 24 Pro elva: fortasse voey —|Sef om. QS 25 abriv

52 wept abriv scripsi: adtis' wept 88 adr codd., Turn, 26 éxovcar
scripsi: €xovga codd., Turn. | ma@@y dmeépyrov scripsi: delprrov A Turn. :
dnépitrov QS Flussas
 166 CORPVS HERMETICVM
mrnpeotdrny xopny(nudrywr. [[ev d& dpxij mévrowv]) mav
BR
yap td xopnyoiy adyabdy [érav] réyerar 3 ((év
Q
deaieapy N
mévrov,’) kal mévra Kal del (xopnyobv, 70) dyaboy eort.
~ , ’

1b Todro dt [év] ovdevi dAd@ mpbceot Ei pi) pove TH Deg.

a > 5 [4 3 -. a 6 lol
-

ovre yap évdehs éori twos, iva éribupjoas atts Kticacbat or

Kakos yévutat odre Tav dvrwv oddéy amdBANToy éeaTLY adT@,

3 dmwoBadav dAuTNOjcera’ [Adwn yap Kaxlas pépos| ovrE
Kpeirroy atrod early ovdév, bp ov ((adiKnOeic)) modeprcer
ore ot{uyov eo adr@, [rd [[adixnOAvac]] kal dia rodro]
[avr]od epacOjcerat ode dvijKoov, @e dpytaOyceTat ovTE 10
aoparepov, & (nrdoe. Tovrwy dé pr (év)dvToc Ti ovcia
(adrod) pndevds, ri drodclrerat 7} pdvov Td dyabdr;
2a domep ‘yap’ obdty trav (Kaxav) év TH Toratry ovcig,
obras év ovdevi rév dddwv Td dyabdy edpeOjoeTat. év Tact
yap roic dAdo mévta éorl (Kakd), Kai év Tots piKpois Kal 15
ev Tos peyddos, kal év Tois Kal’ ev[a] Kal ev adTe TO (Ow
cal - fol col td

7@6 madvrov
wdvrov pelforr
pel kai id duvatrwrdre.
t malay
Odv yap \7ien Ta
yap mAIpy
yevntd, avtis Tis yevécews mabnris ovens. drov dé wdOos,
ovdapod 7d dyabdv: Sov dé 7d dyabdv, oddapod obde ev
mwdOos. Smou yap hepa, ovdapod vig drov & vig, oddapob 20
Hpépa.
2S.
SOev addivaror
107
evd yevéoe:
£
elvat
bg
Tda dyabév,
ia
Ev, povo
fa

dé 7G ayevviiry.
% cal 3 s
ee ’ ;
2b omep dé petovoia mévrav éotiv ev tH tAn Sedopévn,
odrw Kai Tob dyabod. roiroy tiv Tpdrov adyabds 6 Kdcpos,
Kaba Kai adros mdvra mort, (ds) ev TO péper Tod Toreiv 25
dyabés elvat. év S& trois dAdos maow ovK ayabds: Kal
yap maOnrés éort [kal Kwyrtds] Kal mabntdy montis.
galley d¢ 7G dvOpdrm Kara obykpiowy Tod ayabod 7d Kakdv
Téraxtat 7d yap ph Alav Kakdv evOdde 7d dyadr]] [éort.]
[[rd d& evOdde dyabdv popiov rod Kakod 76 EéddyICTOV.]] 30
4 X 2 4 3 4 ta “- s x Ba A

advvarov obv [rd dyabdr] (7a) evOdde Kabapeew THs Kakias:

1 xopyyypudray scripsi: xopyydy codd., Turn. | &v 58 apy (dpxn A)
navreow AQS : év 8 dpy@ mavtws Turn. 2 yap ro xopyyotv AQS: yap
xepyyoiv Turn. Fortasse yap 7d (értodv) xopyyotv | Aéyerat scripsi :
Aeyw codd., Turn. 83 «at mdvra AQS : eal mévrws Turn. 4 rovrw
QS : rodro cett. 5 Fortasse rivos (6 8eds) 6 Kxaxds yévyra Parthey ;
waxes yevéoOa A: xak@s xextnra QS: wands xéernrar Turn. | ore rav
AQS: 085 trav Turn. 8 bp’ od adienbcis TorcyHoe scripsi: ip’ ob
mokepnOjoerar codd., Turn. 9 ottre at(uydy scripsi : ovdé avduydv codd.,
Turn. 10 o¥ scripsi : adrod codd., Turn. 11 évév7os scripsi: évrwv codd.,
Turn. 13 Fortasse 6 | waxdv add. Flussas 15 rots dAAos scripsi : 74
adda codd,, Turn. 16 é scripsi: éva codd., Turn, | adr@ A: ravte QS
Turn. 17 Fortasse dwarwrépy 18 bno d@ wados S 19-20 ovde
 LIBELLVS VI 167
~

that is desired). Everything that furnishes any sort of supply is

called good ; but the Good is the one thing which is the source
of all things, and supplies all things at all times.
And this belongs to none save God alone. There is nothing 1b
that God lacks, so that he should desire to gain it, and should
thereby become evil. There is nothing that God can lose, and at
the loss of which he might be grieved. There is nothing stronger
than God, to do him wrong, and so provoke him to quarrel.
God has no consort, to excite in him the passion of love ; no dis-
obedient subject, to rouse anger in him ; there is none wiser than
God, to make him jealous. And since his being admits of none
_ of these passions, what remains, save only the Good ?
But as no evil can be found in such a being, even so the Good 2a
cannot be found in any other. In all other things all is evil, in
things small and great alike, in each thing severally, and in the
one living being that is greater than all, and mightiest of all.
For all things that come into being are full of perturbations,
seeing that the very process of coming into being involves
perturbation. But wherever there is perturbation, there the Good
cannot be, and wherever the Good is, there no perturbation at all
can be; even as wherever day is, night cannot be, and wherever
night is, day cannot be. Hence the Good cannot be in things
that come into being, but only in that which is without
beginning.”
Yet as participation in all (the ideal archetypes of things) is 2b
distributed in the world of matter, so also participation in the
Good. And in this way the Kosmos too is good, in that the
Kosmos also makes all things,* and so, is good in respect of its
function of making things. But in all other respects the Kosmos
is not good; for it is subject to perturbation, and the things
which it makes are subject to perturbation. It is impossible then 3a
for things in this world to be pure from evil; and that which is
! Viz. the Kosmos.
® Or, ‘only in Him who is without beginning’. In either case, the meaning
is ‘in God’, :
% The Kosmos ‘makes things’, i.e. produces living organisms, working in
subordination to God, who is the supreme ‘ Maker’.

év wados A: obdtv mados QS: ov5t &v 7d aos Turn. 21-24 Didymus De
Trinitate 2. 3 (Testim.): 60ev eipnra xat 7G ‘Eppa TO entudnv Tprapeylory*
“Gduvarov tv yerécer... obTw nat rod dyafot” 23 évy om. Didymus
|deSonevn codd. Corp., Turn., Didymus: fortasse d:adedopévy 25 ds
add. Flussas 27 yap om. QS 28-29 & Bt. . . evOade 7d dyaddy
hine ad § 3 b transposui
 168 CORPVS HERMETICVM

((76 dé evOdde d&yabdy, (b) pdptov Tod Kaxod [7d] eAdxiorov" ‘)

Kakodrat yep evOdde 7d ayabdv. [kaxodpevoy yap ovKéri
ayabdy pévery ph petvav dé, kaxdv yiverat.]
3b ev pov dpa TO OG Td ayabdy éori [7 adtéos eorwy 6 Oeds
To ayabdv}]. (lev d& 7B avOpdre kata obyKpiow TOD KaKod 5
To draddv AéAekTat Td yap ph Alaw Kaxdy évOdde [rd]
dyabov)) (rpocetpyrat). povoy ody, & Aokrnmé, 7d dvopa
Tob ayabod év avOpdros, Td St Epyov ovdapod: addivaroy
ydp. ov yap xwpel cGpa bdrKév, Td mévTobev eogrypévov
kakia, Kai mévos Kai ddynddot, Kal éemibuplais Kai dpyais, to
kal amdrais kal ddgats dvonros, Kal Td mévrov KdéKiotév
éoriv, @ ‘AckAnmié, drt Exaotov Tovray Tay mpoeipnuévoy
[ep]remiorevta évOdde [70] péytoror evar ayabdy, To waAAOv
dvurépBntov Kakov. [) yaortpimapyla] [|] Tov KaKév
mdvrev xopnyds 7 mwAdvn (arn) [% [[amovcial] evOdde rod 15
4A dyabod] éori. Kayo dt xdpw exw TO OG, 7G els vodv por
Badévrt Kav mepl ris [yvdcews] ((amovela(s))) tod ayabod,
ért adbvarév ot airs ev TO Koop clvat. 6 yap Kéopos
mAnpopd éor THs Kaklas, 6 dé Beds Tod dyabod [7H 7d dyabdv
Tod Oeob), 20
4b (...) lab yap eLoyal trav Kaddv mepl adriv efor tiv
ovciav gaivovrat Kal kaOaperepat kal eidixpwéctatrar Tdyxa
mov Kat avrat al ovotat éxelvov.' rTodpnréov yap elmeiv,
® Aokrymé, bri 4 obola Tod Oeod, ef ye ovoiay Exel, Td
kadév ott [rd dt Kadédv] Kai (70) dyabdv. (id be TovbTwv) 25
ovdey Eott KaTadd(y\necOa Tov ev TO kKbopo. TdvTa yap
7a dpOadye brorinrovra cidwAd éott, Kal OoTEp cKLaypadiat
Ta O€ pi bwomintovra (...), wddtora St 4 Tod Kadod Kai
Tod adyabod (...). Kai domep ddOarpds ob Sévatar Tov
Gedy ideiv, ob'rws ovAt Td Kady Kal 7d ayabéy. Tatra yap 30
Hépyn tod Oeod eoriv, [[dAdKAnpa,]] ida avrod pdvov, oikeia,
dxdpiota, ((dAdKAnpa,)) épacpidrara, dy [7H] adros 6 Beds
epg [} atr& rod Ocob epg). ef Stvacat vonoat rov bed,
porsts Td Kadov Kal (79) dyabov, [76 bréphapmpov] Td
"SmepAapmopevov' bd tod Oeob. éxeivo yap Td KdAdos 35
2 6a 5 75 ayaddv arovpevov Q | yap om. QS 5-6 rod xaxoi rd
dyabdv Flussas: rod dyabod 7d kaxdv AQS Turn, 6 AéAexrar scripsi:
réeraxrat AQS Turn, 7 wpocelpyra addidi. Cf. Didymus Z.¢c.: «ard
avyxptow 5& To Kaxod 7d dyabdv.. » Térarat’ TO yap ph) Aiav katy...
dyabdv évOdse mpoaeipyrat 9 & yap S: ob ydp cett. | Fortasse xwpet
{aird) 13 weniorevrat scripsi : éumeniorevra codd,, Turn. 14 dvunép-
 LIBELLVS VI 169
good in this world is that which has the smallest share of evil ;
for in this world the good becomes evil.
The Good then is in God alone. In man, that which is called 3b
good is so called in comparison with evil; for that which is not
evil beyond measure is named good. Thus in men, Asclepius, it
is only the name of the Good that is present; the thing itself is
nowhere to be found. It is impossible ; for there is not room for
the Good in a material body, hemmed in and gripped as such
a body is by evil,—by pains and griefs, desires and angry
passions, delusions and foolish thoughts. And what is worst of all,
Asclepius, each of these things of which I have spoken is in this
world believed to be the greatest good, whereas it is rather an evil
than which none is greater. This error it is that leads the train
of? all the evils. And for my part, I thank God for this very 4a
thought that he has put into my mind, even the thought that the
Good is absent, and that it is impossible for it to be present in
the Kosmos. For the Kosmos is one mass of evil, even as God
is one mass of good.
..» For we need not fear to say, Asclepius, that the very being 4b
of God, if ‘being’ can be ascribed to God, is the Beautiful and
the Good. But it is not possible that the light of the Beautiful
and the Good should shine on anything in the Kosmos. For all
things which the eye can see are mere phantoms, and unsubstan-
tial outlines ; but the things which the eye cannot see are the
realities, and above all, the ideal form of the Beautiful and the
Good. And as the eye cannot see God, so it cannot see
the Beautiful and the Good. For the Beautiful and the Good
are parts of God ; they are properties of God alone; they belong
to God, and are inseparable from him ; they are without blemish, —_
—

and most lovely, and God himself is in love with them. If you 5
are able to apprehend God, then you will apprehend the Beautiful
and the Good, ....?_ For that Beauty is incomparable, and that
1 Or, ‘supplies’ or ‘ furnishes ’.
! # Perhaps, ‘ which are the light that God sheds forth around him’.

Bdvrov S | ré&iv nav S: r&v Kandy cett. 17 BadrdAdv7i S: Baddvrt cett. e

e
22 cikupwéorara A: clAccpvéorepar cett. 23 ai oboa Q: ai odo S:
ai obgia: cett, 25 éort wat 7d dyaddy scripsi : éo7u" 7d 88 maddy Kal d-yaOdy
codd., Turn. 26 KxaTaddprecbat scripsi : karakaBéobar codd., Turn.
26-27 ydp ra QS: yap 76 cett. : fortasse yap ra 7H 27 oimaypapia S:
oxoypapiaa Q Turn. 28 Fortasse (aAn97) 29 Fortasse (i5éa)
30 ov6é scripsi: ofre codd., Turn. 30-31 yap wépy AQ: ydp pepe S: yap
74 pépy Turn. 34 70 bwéphapmpoy QS Turn. : 7d bwépAaumoy A.

ii
aOae
 170 CORPVS HERMETICVM

dobykpirov, Kal éxeivo 7d dyadov adpiynrov, domep kal avros

6 Oebs. ds odv Tov Ocdv voeis, obrw Kal Td Kaddv Kal (7d)
dyabdy vée. dkowdvnta yap Taba Tois ddXots [Ta drwy
(dov] cori, 8a 7d dxdprota elvat Tod Oeod. dv wep rob
cod gnrfs, Kal mepl rod Kadod ¢nreis. pia ydp cor eis 5
aird drropépovea ddds %) pera yvdoews edoeBera,
6 dev of dyvoobvres, Kal ph ddetoavres iv [wepi] THs
ebocBelas dd6v, kaddv Kal dyabdy ToApadot A€yew dvOpwrov,
nde dvap Ocacdpevor el ti éorw dyabdv, adda mavTi KaK@
mepleAnupevoy, kal Td Kakdv moTeboayTa ayabév eivat, Kai to
obras av’T® xpépevoy akoptaTos, kal goBovpevoy adrob
orepnOqvat, mévra S& dywvigépevoy iva wh pdvov Exp, adda
kal ératvén. rowadra ta avOpdrea ayabd Kai [rd] Kade,
& Aokdymé, & obre puycty Suvdpeba obre puofjoa 7d yap
mdvrav xadenérarov, Srt xpelav abrav Exouev, Kal (fv 15
rovTey xwpls ov duvdpeba,

LIBELLVS Vil
[‘Eppod rod rpicpeyiorov. |
¢ ” Led ,

rt péytatov Kakov év Trois avOpdmos mepl rod Oeob

ayvecta.
ta lot dépecbe, & dvOpwrot, peOUovres, Tov Tis dyvwcias 20
dkparov [Adyov] éxmdvres; dv ovde Pepe Sbvacde, GAN’
Hn adrov Kal éueire. oriire vi avres, dvaBdewavtes Tots
Ths Kapdlas dpOarpots, Kal ef pi) wdvres SdvacGe, of ye Kal
duvdperot.
Ib 9 yap Ths dyvwcias Kakia émikdifet wacav Tiv yijv, a5
Kai ovecypel Thy €v TO odpatt KaTakekdetopevny Wuyxjv,
‘ ’ n

Hi) Goa evoppicacOat rois THs owrnpias Aipéot. pr

~ 3 3 - ~

1 Post dovyxpirov add. S wal éxeivo rd Kaddos aavyxpiTov | dya@ov

dpipnrov QS Turn. 3 ayabiy 7d dpipnrov A: fortasse dyafdv dAdAqrov
5 (nris Turn, : (nrets QS : Cyrfis ex Cnrets corr. man, pr. A | éorw eis At
eorw % eis QS Turn, 5-6 Fortasse rept rod xadod (nat rod dyabod) (yreis.
pia yap éorw eis ard 9-10 pdt dvap . . . wax@ mpoethnupevoy bis
scriptum Q 10 mepreAnupévoy scripsi: mpoeAnpupévoy codd., Turn.
14 jooqce QS: pofjoa cett.
18 tmept St i epi cett. 22 ixeire S: éycire cett. |vqpovres S:
vapavres cett, 22-23 ois ris Kapdias dpPOadpois QS Turn. : rots dpOadrpois
 LIBELLVS VI 7X
Good is inimitable,’ even as God himself is. As then you appre-
hend God, even so you must apprehend the Beautiful and the
Good. For they are incommunicable to all other things, because
they are inseparable from God. If you seek knowledge of God,
you are also seeking knowledge of the Beautiful.? For there is
one road alone that leads to the Beautiful,” and that is piety joined
with knowledge of God.
Hence those who have not that knowledge, and have not 6
travelled on the road of piety, are not afraid to call a man
‘beautiful and good’;* and that, though the man has never even
in dream seen anything that is good, but is encompassed by every
kind of evil, and has come to believe that the evil is good, and in
this belief, is insatiable in his dealings with evil, and fears to
be deprived of it, and strives with all his might not only to
keep it, but to increase it. Such, Asclepius, are the things which
men deem good and beautiful. And we cannot shun these things
nor hate them; for the hardest thing of all is this, that we have
need of them, and cannot live without them.

LIBELLVS VII
That ignorance of God is the greatest evil in men.
O men, whither are you being swept away? You are drunken; 1a
you have drunk up the strong drink of ignorance ;‘ it has over
powered you, and now you are even vomiting it forth, Stand
firm; turn sober; look upward with the eyes of the heart,—if
you cannot all, yet those at least who can.
This evil of ignorance floods all the land; its current sweeps rb
along the soul which is penned up in the body, and prevents it
from coming to anchor in the hayens of salvation. Suffer not

1 Perhaps, ‘is unspeakable’.

? Perhaps, ‘the Beautiful (and the Good)”.
* Among the Greeks, the phrase ‘beautiful and good’, applied to a man,
was in frequent use, and meant something like ‘a gentleman’.
* Le. ignorance of God, which implies estrangement from God,

THs Kapsias A 23 Kai ci ph wdvres SivacGe secludendum? |xat (post

of ye) om, QS 26 ovoctpe scripsi: cvppOeipa codd., Turn. 27 ui)
(ante é@oa) QS Turn.: «ai py A | &voppioagéa scripsi: évoppifec@a codd.,
Turn,
 192 CORPVS HERMETICVM

2a ovykarevexOijre Toryapoiy TO TOAAG pevpari avappoig

dt xpyodpevor, of Suvdpevor AaBéobar Tod [THs cwrnpias]
Ayuevos, evoppiodpevor TobTw, (nTHraTE Xelpaywyov, Tov
ddnyfoovra dpas ent Tas THs yvdoews Oipas, drov éort Td
Aapmpoy gas, Td Kabapdy ckérous: drov ovde els pedvet, 5
GANG wdvres vipovow, dpopavres Th Kapdia. els Tov (otros)
épabfvat Oédovra od ydp éaTw dkovoTss, ode Aexrés, ovdE
dpards bb0adpois, dAAG vG Kal Kapdig.
ab mparov St dei oe mepipphgacOa: dv gopeis XiTava, ((rév
okorewdy mepiBodov,)) 7d Tis dyvoolas tpacpa, Td THS 10
kaxias ‘orhpypa', tov tis pbopds Seopér, [[rdv oKorewvov
meptBoror,]] Tov Kavra Odvarov, Tov aicOnr(iK)dv veKpov, Tov
mepipopyrov tapov, Tov evoxov Apariv, (((Tdv) éxOpov)) Tov
[O’] dv (éplecar pucodyra kat [8] dv (emiBu)ule)is (o)or
3 pbovodvra. to.odrés éoriv dv evedioe [[éxOpdr]] xiTdr[a], 15
dyyxov oe kéto mpds airév, iva pi) dvaBrépas kal Oeacd-
pevos 7d KdAXOS THS dAnOelas, Kal Td €[y]Kel pévov ayabdr,
piofons thy Tobrou Kakiav, vowoas adrod Tiy émiBovrry iv
émeBovdevoé oor, Ta [Soxodvra Kat pi] vouegopeva, aiaOnri pa
dvatoOnra mosey, Ti moddAf brn adTa amoppdgas, Kal 20
pvoapas jdoviis gumAjcas, iva pire dKodys mepl dv axovelv
oe del, pire BdEmps [wept Sv] (2) Bdémew oe dei.
* * cS *

1 Ex ovyxarayeire corr, ovynarexeire S: ovyxarevexOijre cett. 2-3 of

duvdpevor . . . evoppiodpevor om. S 3 (ntioere S: Cyrpoare cett.
4 Sényhoovra Tum. : édyyyoavra AQS 6 roy QS Turn: 7d A
7 épacdqva S 10-11 73... orhprypa codd. : fortasse Tov. . . oTHHOva
11 7d ris pOopas S: Tov THs POopas cett. 12 aio@yrov QS Tur.,
man. pr. A: aic@yridv man. post. A, Flussas | veapiv S: venpdv
cett. 13-14 tov Gy idlecar poodvra scripsi: toy 8? dy gidet poodvTa
codd., Turn. 14-15 xai dv émOupeis cor pOovoovra scripsi : wat & dv poet
 LIBELLVS VII 173
yourselves then to be borne along down stream by the strong
current, but avail yourselves of a backflow, those of you who are 2a
able to reach the haven, and cast anchor there, and seek a guide
to lead you to the door of the House of Knowledge.’ There you
will find the bright light which is pure from darkness ; there none
is drunken, but all are sober, and they look up and see with the
heart Him whose will it is that with the heart alone He should be
seen. For He cannot be known by hearing, nor made known by
speech ; nor can He be seen with bodily eyes, but with mind and
heart alone.
But first you must tear off this garment? which you wear,—-this 2 b
cloak of darkness, this web of ignorance, this [prop] of evil, this
bond of corruption,—this living death, this conscious corpse, this
tomb you carry about with you,—this robber in the house, this
enemy who hates the things you seek after, and grudges you the
things which you desire. Such is the garment in which you have g
clothed yourself ; and it grips you to itself and holds you down,
that you may not look upward and behold the beauty of the
Truth,’ and the Good that abides above, and hate the evil of this
thing, discovering its ill designs against you. or it makes sense-
less what men deem to be their organs of sense, stuffing them up
with the gross mass of matter, and cramming them with loathly
pleasures,so that you may neither hear of the things you ought to
hear of, nor see the things you ought to see.
* * * *

1 Le, knowledge of God, which implies union with God,

2 T.e. the body.
3 Or ‘ of Reality’.

pSovodvra codd., Turn. 15 yxutév scripsi: xirava codd., Turn. 17 éxe?

pévoy scripsi: éyee(pevov codd., Turn. 19 Soxodyra xat ph) As BoxodvTa
éxot QS: Boxodvra wor kat Turn.
 174 CORPVS HERMETICVM

LIBELLVS VIII

Eppod rov rpiopeyiorov.

e ~ a ‘

drt ovdtv Tay dvT@v amréAdAUTAL, GAMA Tas peraBodrds

amwneias Kai Oavdrovs mAavepevor Néyouct'.
> 4 ‘ Ps 3 s

1a ep? uyijs kal odparos, & mai, viv Aexréov, tpdr@ pev
moim d0dvaros % Wvyy, évepyeia St moram@ (...) éort on

ovoTtdcews cdparos kai diadvcews,

tb (...) wep oddty yap adray 6 Odvaros: adda (d\vo[ nud
éoriv 4 Oavdrov mpoonyoptals 7] Kevov Epyoy. [7 Kata
orépynoi' Tod mpérov ypduparos Aeydpevos Odvaros dvr Tod
adbdvaros.| 6 yap Odvaros ardded[s] éoriv, ovdiv St TOY to
év TO Kbopo adwbddvTal. ef yap SevTepos Beds 6 Kdopos, Kal
(gov abévarov, adtvaréy éort Tod abavdrov (pou pépos TL
amobaveiy: mévra dé td év TO Kbop@ pépn éorl Tod Kécpov.
[padtora St (dOdvaros) 6 dvOpwros, Td AoytKdy CBov.]
2 mpatos yap wévrav, ((Kal)) dvrws [[Kal]] didtos Kal ayév- 15
vos, [kai] (6) Snpioupyds tev drwy Oeds: SeUrepos dé 6 Kar’
eixéva adrod in’ abrod yevopevos, kal bm’ avrod cuvexspuevos
kai tpepbpevos, ((delfwo(s dv, ds)) dbavarigéuevos [as] bd
adsdiov (dvros Tov) marpés [[delCwov ds}] [a0dvaros|. 7d yap
del{wor Tod didflov diadépe. 6 pév yap (marip) brs érépov °
ovk éyéveror ei St Kal éyévero, bp’ éavtod: (uadAdov de)
ovmore éyévero, GAN adel (€or: 6 SC Kéopos del) yiverau,
Td yap altioy (r\ob [didiéy éore] (evar) 7d wav (6 matip):
6 8& marip adbris éavrod aitios. 6 d4 Kdopos brd Tod maTpos
adi(ov dvr)os [kal] aOdvaros yéyove. 25
3 kal dcov qv Tis HAns broKe(pevoy TO éavTod (Oedjpuari),

83 @avdrovs QS Turn, : bavdrov A |AéyouowA: A€youow of dvOpanor

QS Turn. 5-6 Fortasse évepyeig 5& moramp (ouvicrata: rd owpara Kal
Kadverar’ yéveots yap kat pOopa dvépard) cits cverdcews cdparos kat diarvcews
7 abros 6 S: abray 6 cett. 7-8 bvopd éorw % Oavarov mpoonyopia Kevov
épyov scripsi: vénpt éorw dOavarov mpoonyopias i Kxevdy épyov codd,, Turn.
10 dmwderd Eorw scripsi: dmwhelas éoriv codd., Turn. | Post ray add. pev S
11 7@ (ante Kdopuw) om. A 18 davariCépuevos Turn. : eal dbavariCopevos
AQS 19 ddiov Tum, : idlov codd., Flussas 20 éper QS: Biapéper
cett, 23 76 ydp alriov rod efvat rd wav 6 marip scripsi: 7d yap dldiov of
 LIBELLVS VIII 175
LIBELLVS VIII

A discourse of Hermes Trismegistus,

That nothing that exists perishes, but men are in error
when they call the changes which take place‘ destructions’
and ‘deaths’,

Hermes. We have now to speak, my son, of soul and body ;1a

I must explain in what way the soul is immortal, and by the
working of what sort of force ... of the composition and
dissolution of a body.’
. . For death has nothing to do with any ot them? Therb
word ‘death’ is a mere name, without any corresponding fact.
For death means destruction; and nothing in the Kosmos is
destroyed. or seeing that the Kosmos is the second God, and
an immortal being, it is impossible that a part of that immortal
being should die ; and all things in the Kosmos are parts of the
Kosmos,
First of all things, and in very truth eternal and without 2
beginning, is God, who is the Maker of the universe ;and second
is the Kosmos, which has been made by God in his image, and is
kept in being and sustained by God. The Kosmos is ever-living;
for it is made immortal by the Father, who is eternal. ‘ Ever-living’
is not the same as ‘eternal’, The Father has not been made by
another ; if he has been made at all, he has been made by himself ;
but it ought rather to be said that he has never been made, but
ever is, But the Kosmos is ever being made. For the cause of
the existence of the universe is the Father; but the Father is the
cause of his own existence. The Kosmos then has been made
immortal by the Father, who is eternal.
The Father took all that part of matter which was subject to his 3

* Perhaps, ‘ by the working of what sort of force (bodies are composed and
dissolved ;for birth and destruction are names which men give to) the com-
position and dissolution of a body’.
? T.e. any of the things in the Kosmos.

aldév eon 7d wav codd., Tum, 24 aimos scripsi: didios codd., Turn.
|sascripsi: 6% codd., Turn. 25 dibiov évros scripsi; didios Kat codd.,
‘urn. 26 baonelpevov A: droxeipevov QS Turn,
 176 CORPVS HERMETICVM

7) nav 6 mwarhp coparorojoas Kal dyxaoas émoince

apaipoedés, rolro avtG 7d moby mepibeis, ovcav Kal adriy
abdvarov, kat tyovoay aidtoy tiv bAdrnra. mdéov dé, Tar
zwov Ta mod 6 TaThp éyxaraomelpas TH opaipa domep ev
dvtpw Karékdeoe, mdon woldryTt Koophoat Bovdébpevos 735
per’ abrod (dor. th St dBavacla mept(é)Badre TO map
capa, iva phy (i) OAn, [Kal] tis TobTov avatdcews Oedifoaca
dmoorivat, SadvOj «is thy éavrijis aragiav. dre yap fv
dodparos % Un, & réxvov, draxros Hv exer Oe kai évOdde
(draxrév) ti mept Ta [GAAG] puxpd [rod] ((Oa) eiAovpevor, = to
rd rhs abéjoews Kal [rd THs] perdoews [dv Odvarov of dvOpwrrot
4kadrodow). airy dt ) dragia (mept ra émiyera (Oa ylverat
ray yap ovpavtov ta odpara play régw Exel, ty eihnxev
dwd rod marpds thy dpyivr typetrat Ot abryn bd ris éxadoTou
dmroxaracrdcews ddiddvtos, 4 O& dwoxardoTacts Tay érvyeioy 15

cwpdrav (Siadvbctons ylverar rijs) ovotdoews: (r)f de

diadioer (r)abrn dmoxablorarat cis ra adiddura odpara,
rovréott Ta GOdvara: Kal obrw orépnars ylverat Tis aicby-
cews, ok dmrodeta ((fwtic)) [Trav copdror),
5 7d 8& tplrov [[¢Gor]] 6 dvOpwmos, kar’ cixéva tod Kécpov 20
yevopevos, (v)od(v) kat& Bothnow Tob marpds Exov mapa Ta
Xa. émtyera (Sa, ob pbvov mpds tov Sebrepoy Oedv ovpma-
Oevav %xov, dddAd Kal @&voravy Tod mpdrov. Toi wey yap
aicbdverat ds cdparos, Tob dt voy AapBdver ds dowpdrov

2 rodro scripsi: tovrw codd., Turn. |ab7g om. S 8 ddavarov S :

a@dvarov cett. 4 (gow scripsi: t8e@v codd.,Turn, | 7d om.S 6 dmo.ov
scripsi: moidy codd., Turn. | mepréBade scripsi: mepBaddv codd., Turn.
9-10 évOdde draxrédy 7 wepl 72 puxpd (Ga efdodpevoy scripsi : évOdde Ty wept 7a
GAAa pupa noid cidoupévgy AQS Turn. 12 wept Flussas: éwt codd., Turn.
16-17 7TH 88 Bardon ravrp scripsi: % Se diddvors air) codd., Turn,
19 drddaS: drddea cett. 21 vodv Flussas :of AQS Tum. 23 mpwrov
QS Turn, : mpsvrov (id est marpds (a)i7od) prima manu, ut videtur, ex mpwrov
corr. A 24 alc@dvera Turn,: aicderae AQS
 LIBELLVS VIII 177
will, and made it into a body, and gave it bulk, and fashioned it
into a sphere. This quality® the Father imposed on the matter;
but matter is of itself immortal, and its materiality is eternal.
Moreover, the Father implanted within this sphere* the qualities
of all kinds of living creatures, and shut them up in it, as in
a cave ; for he willed to embellish *with all manner of qualities the
matter which existed beside him, but was hitherto devoid of
qualities. And he enveloped the whole body with a wrapping of
immortality,® that the matter might not seek to break away from
the composite structure of the universe, and so dissolve into its
primal disorder. For when matter was not yet formed into body,
my son, it was in disorder; and even in our world, it retains
something of disorder, which besets the small living creatures ;*
for the process of growth and decay is a remnant of disorder.
But it is only the living creatures upon earth that are involved in 4
this disorder. The bodies of the celestial gods’? keep without
change that order which has been assigned to them by the Father
in the beginning ; and that order is preserved unbroken by the
reinstatement of each of them in its former place.® But the
reinstatement of the terrestrial bodies is brought about by the
dissolution of their composition; and through this dissolution,
they are reinstated by absorption into the bodies which are
indissoluble,® that is, immortal. When this takes place, conscious-
ness ceases, but life is not destroyed.
And the third being is man, who has been made in the image 5
of the Kosmos. Man differs from all other living creatures upon
earth, in that he possesses mind, for so the Father has willed ;
and not only does man find himself to be in union with the
second God,” but he also apprehends by thought the first God.
He perceives the second God as a body; he apprehends the first
1 T.e. out of this part of matter he made the sphere of heaven.
2 Viz. spherical deve. 5 T.e, in the sublunar world.
4 Or, ‘to set in order’.
® That is, he enclosed the world within the immortal sphere of heaven.
® The creatures which live in the sublunar world are here called ‘small’, in
contrast to the Kosmos itself, which is ‘the great living creature’, and to the
heavenly bodies.
7 I.e. the heavenly bodies.
8 That is, by the cyclic movement of the heavenly bodies, which brings each
of them back to the same point again when it has travelled round its orbit.
* ‘The indissoluble bodies’ are the cosmic elements, earth, water, air, and

10 Te, he feels himself to be a part of the Kosmos, and to be organically

connected with every other part of it.
2808 N
 178 CORPVS HERMETICVM

[kad vod rod dyabot|—Todro ody ov amédduTat 7d (Gov ;—

Eddipnoov, & réxvov, kal vdnoov ri beds, ri kdopos, ri (Gov
abdvarov, ri (Gov diddvrov. Kal [vdnoov drt] 6 pev Kbopos
bd Tod Oeod Kal ev TO Oe, 6 St AvOpwmos bd Tod Koopou
kal év 7 Kdopo dpx?) d& Kal mepiox?) Kal ovoracis mévTov §
6 beds.

LIBELLVS 1X
Eppod Tov tpiopeyiorov.
¢ ~ a ,

mept vonoews Kai alcOjoews [kal dre év pov@e TS be@ Td

Kaddov Kal 7d dyabéy éoriv, dddrAax6O1 6é oddapod),
1a Xés, & Aokdrnmé, tov TédcLov an[od|édoxa Aéyors viv dé 10
dvaykaiov iyyodpat dxédovbor éxeivm Kal tov epi aicbjoews
Noyor dteEedOeiv.
tb aiobnots yap Kat Nonows Stadopay pév Soxodow éeyxew,
drt pev bAtKh eot, 4 SE ovaiwdys- Epol SE Soxodow
duporepar jvGc0ar Kat pi) diatpetoOar, ev dvOpdmrois Aé-yoor 15
év yap Tots dAdows Coors 7) alcOnors TH poet Frwrat, év de
avOpédrors (r)f vonee.
1c vonoews St 6 vods Siadéper Tooodror Saov 6 eds BedrnTos.
} pev yap Oedrns id Tod Oeod yivera:, } St vinots bd Tod
vod, ddeAp? ovoa Tob Néyov. Kal dpyava (rabra) aAdjAov- nhfe)

ore yap 6 Aédbyos [[éxpwveirat]] (... ) xwpls vojoews, odrE

4} vénors [patverat] ((éexpwvetrac)) xopis Adyou.
2 4 ovv aicdnors Kal vnows dudporepat eis Tov dvOpwrov
ovvetrecpéovow dhAHAaLS, OowEp cvpmemrAcypévat’ ovTE yap
xopis alcbjoeas Suvariv voijoat, obre aicbécbar yxoupis 25
vonoews [duvariv dt vénow), (...) xepis alcbijcews
vociabat, kabdmrep of Sid Tov dveipwy pavragopevor dpdépara:
8 Kwnoews QS: vonoews cett. 10 dméSwxa scripsi: dmodéiwxa codd.,
Turn. 13 vénous Flussas: xivyots AQS Turn. 15 Aéyw Flussas :
Aéyy AQS Turn. 16 dAdo S: dAdo cett, : fortasse dAdyous 17 rH
vohoe scripsi: 7 vénots codd., Turn, 18 88 (post vorcews) Turn. : om,
AQS 20 vod QS Turn,: av’ov (i.e. dvépmmov) A | a5eAp} QS Turn. :
ddedpes A 21 tuporetrarQ | Fortasse (xaradapBdverar) xopls 23 9
your QS: 7 ody cett. 24 ovvenetptovow S 25 duvardv Q Flussas :
 LIBELLVS VIII 179
God as bodiless.— Zaz. Do you say then that this living creature*
does not perish ?—/ermes. Speak not of man as perishing, my
son. Think what God is, and what the Kosmos is, and what
js meant by a living creature that is immortal, and a living
creature that is dissoluble. The Kosmos is made by God, and is
contained in God; man is made by the Kosmos, and is contained
in the Kosmos; and it is God that is the author of all, and
encompasses all, and knits all things together.

LIBELLVS [X

A discourse of Hermes Trismegestus.

Concerning thought and sense.

Yesterday, Asclepius, I delivered my crowning discourse ;* 1a

and to-day I think it necessary, by way of sequel to that discourse,
to expound the doctrine of sense.
Men think that there is a difference between sense and thought, rb
in that sense is connected with matter, and thought with in-
corporeal and eternal substance. But I hold that sense and
thought are united, and cannot be separated,—that is to say, in
the case of men. In the lower animals, sense is united with
instinct ; in men, sense is united with thought.
Mind differs from thought to the same extent that God differs 1c
from divine influence. Divine influence is put forth by God;
and thought is put forth by mind, and is sister to speech.
Thought and speech are instruments of one another; speech
cannot be understood without thought, and thought cannot be
uttered without speech.
Sense and thought are infused into a man together, being 2
intertwined with one another, so to speak ; for a man can neither
think without perceiving, nor perceive without thinking. It is
sometimes said that men may think without sense-perception, as
when one sees imaginary things in dreams ; but I hold rather that
1 Viz. man,
2 The Greek original of the Latin Asc/epius was entitled ‘The Crowning
Discourse of Hermes’.
® «Divine influence’ probably means God’s operation in a man, i.e, divine
inspiration.
Bvvarat cett. 25-26 svvardy vopoa... apts vongews om.S 25 aicbéoba
Turn, ; aicOjvar AQ 26 Forlasse (matron A€yovrat dvOpwror éviore) xupls
N 2
 180 CORPVS HERMETICVM

éuol dt dowel (...) 7d yeyovévat dugorépas tas évepyetas

év Th TOV dvelpwv det eypnyopodot yap (. . .) aicOjoe.
Sinpynrat ydlp 4 aicOnots) eis re 7d cpa Kal eis Thy puxiv
kal drav dpudbrepa ta pépn THs aicOjoews mpds dddAnArAa
cupdoviion, tére (ovpBaiver) tiv vinow éxdaivetjoOa, ur

amoxunbeioav wb ToD vod.

3 6 yap vots Kite mévTa TH vonpara, dyabd per, Stray brs
Tod Oeod Ta oméppara Kd Bn, évaytia Sé, bray bw6 Tivos TOY
Satpdr{ijor, [undevds pépovs Tod Kdcpou Kevod dvros datuovos,]
((Soris drevcedOav)) 7TH (uh) bd Tod Ocod mepworticpére to
[Safpors] [[Sores drretoeAOar]] Eorreipe ris idias évepyeias 7d
onéppa, Kal éxinoey 6 vois 7d orapéy, potxelas, dédvous,
matpotumlas, epoovAlas, aoeBelas [dyxdvas, kaTd Kpnyuvaev
48 Katagopds, kal dda mavra boa Saipsver epya). tod yap
Ocod Ta oméppara drfya, peydda pér(rot) kal Kadad Kai 5
ayabd, dpert) kal cwppocivn Kal eoéBeia. edotBea dé
éore Oeob yvdous: dv 6 Emtyvods, mAHpns yevdmevos TdvTov
tov ayabay, Tas vonoes Olas toxe, Kal ob Tois moAXois
potas.
4b = Sia Tobro of ev yvdoe dvTes ode TOLs ToAXOIS dpérkoVELY, 20
obte of moAAol adrois' peunvévar dé Soxodc1, Kal yédora
dgroxdvovet, picodpevol Te Kal KaTappovodperol, kal Taxa
mov kal govevopevot. Thy yap Kakiavy évOdde Seiv olkeiv
eimmon, év TO EavTas xwpio odoav xwpioy yap abris 4 yi,
ovx 6 Kdopos, ds Evtot more épotct BAaopnpodytes, 6 pévTor 25
OcoreBis mévra bmosrice alvT)joyspevos THs yvaoews.
mdvra yap TO ToLvT, Kav Tois dddors (7p) [Ta] Kaxd, dyabd
éort: Kal émiBovdevopevos mdvta avadépe: eis tiv yvaour,
kal Ta kaka povos dyaborotel.
5 émdvere wad ent tov Tis aicOjcews Abyor. dvOpdrmuvov 30
ody Td KolvaroaL aicbHciy vojoe: ov mas dé dvOpwros, as
mpoeimov, amoraver THS vonoews: [GAN O pey rukds, 6 dE

1 Fortasse épot 5% Sone? (nGdAdov eddoyor elvar) | 7d (ante yeyorévac)

AQS: 76 Turn. 2 éypnyopoto: AQS: éypyyopéar Turn, | Fortasse
Covvéfevnrar det vdnais) alcbjoe 3 Sinpyra yap 4 aloOnous scripsi:
dippyrat ye codd., Turn. | «is (post wat) om. QS 5 éepaiverbat
scripsi : éxpoveicOa codd,, Turn. 8 rov om, S bad rivos QS Turn. :
ind tivay A 9 dapdévew scripsi: Sarpoviey codd., Turn, | «evod QS
Turn. et man, post. A: «avod man. pr. A 15 pévro scripsi: wey QS
Turn.: 58 A 17 dom, A | wAnpers QS: wArjpns cett. 23 5S:
dety cett. 24 <dmov, év scripsi: etmopey codd., Turn, 26 dyriaxé-
 LIBELLVS Ix 181

both thought and sense-perception have taken place in the dream-

vision ; for when we are awake, thought is always combined with
sense-perception, Sense belongs in part to the body, and in part
to the soul ; and when the body-sense and the soul-sense are in
accord, then it results that thought manifests itself, being brought
forth as offspring by the mind.'
For all man’s thoughts are brought forth by his mind,—good 3
thoughts, when the mind is impregnated by God, and bad
thoughts, when it is impregnated by some daemon, who enters
into the man that has not been illuminated by God, and deposits
in his mind the seed of such thoughts as it is the special work of
that daemon to beget; and the mind brings forth those things
which spring from this seed,—adulteries, murders, acts of
parricide and sacrilege, and all manner of impious deeds.
But the seeds which God deposits in the mind are few in number, 44
but potent, and fair, and good ; they are virtue, and self-control,
and piety. Now piety is the knowledge of God ; and he who has
come to know God is filled with all things good ; his thoughts are
divine, and are not like those of the many.
Hence it is that those who have attained to the knowledge 4b
of God are not pleasing to the many, nor the many to them.
They are thought mad, and are laughed at; they are hated and
despised, and perhaps they may even be put to death. For evil,
as I have told you before, must needs dwell here on earth, where
it is at home ; for the home of evil is the earth, and not the whole
universe, as some will blasphemously say in days to come. But
the pious man will endure all things, cleaving to his knowledge of
God. For to such a man all things are good, even though they
be evil to others. When men devise mischief against him, he
sees all this in the light of his knowledge of God; and he, and
none but he, changes things evil into good.
But let us return to the doctrine of sense. It is a property of 5
man that sense in him is joined with thought; but as I have
already told you, it is not every man that profits by his power of

1 The text of § 2 is badly damaged, and this attempt to give the meaning of
what the author wrote is largely conjectural.

Hevos scripsi: aig@duevos codd., Turn. 30 ris A: om. QS Turn,

31 aicénow scripsi: dv@pwrov codd., Turn.
 182 CORPVS HERMETICVM

oboiddys.| 6 piv yap peta Kaxias [bArKés] (voet), ds Epny,

amd rév Saipovev 7d onéppa THs vonoews iaxwn, of de pera
rod dyabod [odoiwdas], Ud ToD Oeod cwgdpevor, 4 pév yap
Océs, mévrov Snptovpyds [Snuoupy] ov, mévra morel [per]
Eavt@ Spoia, tadra 3, ayabd yevopeva, év TH XpHoEL THS5
évepyclas “apopa’ yap Koopixi gpopd, tpémovea Tas
yevéoets, mods movi, Tas pev pumaivovoa TH Kakiz, Tas dé
Kabaipovoa TO ayada.
6 Kal yap 6 kécpos, & AckAymeé, atcOnow idiav Kat noqow
txet, ody dpuotav rH avOpwmeia, ode (obr)ws morkidny, ddda) = °
[ws 8] Kpetrr@ Kal dwAovorépav. 4 yap aloOnots Kal vonois
rod kéopou pla ori, 76 ndvra moteiv Kai els EavTdv droroteiy,
Spyavov ((dvra)) THs ToD Oecd Bovdrjocws, Kai [[dvras]] (emt
rodro) [épyavo] moinOér(ra), va mévtwn (Tov) map’ éavTge
awd Tod Oeod AaBdv ra oréppara (Kal) guddrrav év éavT@ '5
wdvra mop évepyas. ((pepopevos St wdvra fwororet*)) Kal
Stadtov mdvra, dvaveoi [Kal] (rd) dta-[robro|-AvOvTa, domep
dyabds [Cais] yewpyds TH KataBodAf dvavéwow adrois [pepo-
pevos] mapéxon, ovk Eotwv & pi) (woyovei- [[pepdpevos de
mdvta Cworotei'|| Kal dod témos éori Kal Snprovpyos wis. 20
77a 8 cdpata ad LAns, ev diapope [Ta wev ydp eoriw Ex
yas, ra bt €€ Hdaros, ra St e& aépos, Ta OE Ex mupds*] MavTa
dé éort otvbera, Kal Ta pev paddov, Ta JE dmdovoTEpa:
HGAXov piv ra Baptrepa, Arrov dé T& Koupdrepa. 70 dE
tdxos avdrod ris popas tiv TotkiAiay Tév [ror] yevéoewy 5
épydferat. mvo ydp, ovoa muKvordrn, mporeiver Ta Told
8 Tols odpact pera Evds mAnpdpatos THs fans. [warp pev
obv 6 beds Tod Kdopov, 6 St Kécpos Tav &v 7G Kécpo* Kal
6 piv Kécpos vids Tod Ocod, Ta SE ev TH Kdop~ (viol) [b79]
rod Kécpov.] Kal eikéros Kéopos KéxAnTal KoopEllTal) yap 30
lL pevom. A — | tAmcds codd., Turn, : fortasse bAucis 2 toxwyv scripsi:
ioxea codd., Turn. 4 dy scripsi: dyptoupyav codd., Turn. 6 aopé
codd., Turn. : fortasse (éBaiver &:)apopa |tpéovaa scripsi: tpiBovea codd.,
Turn. 7 mods codd., Turn, : fortasse mor id Jas 9 liiay QS Tum, :
idia A | vénow Flussas; «ieyow AQS Turn. 10 o¥ras scripsi: ds
codd., Turn. 10-11 dAAa scripsi: GAAws 5¢ codd,, Turn, 12 16
ndvra scripsi: 7@ mdvra codd., Turn, | éaurdy scripsi : éauri codd., Turn.
13-14 «al ém rodro tonOévra scripsi: kal dvrws dpyavoroney codd., ‘Turn.
14 ndvrov rév scripsi: mévracodd., Turn, 16 moet S: nop cett. | évepyas
A: &apyas QS Turn. 17 ra dadvGévta scripsi: xat bd TodTo AvoevTa
codd., Turn. 18 avrois suprascr. prima (?) man. A 19 mapéxov
scripsi: mapéxee AQS Turn. | ob« Turn,: om. AQS: fortasse ob yap
21 An é&virapopa? 21-22 é« ys OS Tur. : é« rijs ys A 23 Pro
 LIBELLVS IX 183

thought; for one man’s thoughts are combined with evil, as

I said, because he has got from the daemons the seed from which
his thinking springs, and other men’s thoughts are combined
with good, because they are kept safe by God. God is the Maker
of all things, and makes all things like to himself ;' but though
good when first made, they . . .? when the cosmic force works on
them ;*° for the movement of the Kosmos varies the births of
things, and gives them this or that quality ; it fouls with evil the
births of some things, and purifies with good the births of others.
The Kosmos also, Asclepius, has sense and thought ; but its 6
sense and thought are of a kind peculiar to itself, not like the
sense and thought of man, nor varying like his, but mightier and
less diversified. The sense and thought of the Kosmos are
occupied solely in making all things, and dissolving them again
into itself. The Kosmos is an instrument of God’s will; and it
was made by him to this end, that, having received from God the
seeds of all things that belong to it, and keeping these seeds
within itself, it might bring all things into actual existence. The
Kosmos produces life in all things by its movement ;and decom-
posing them, it renews the things that have been decomposed ;
for, like a good husbandman, it gives them renewal by sowing
seed. There is nothing in which the Kosmos does not generate
life; and it is both the place in which life is contained, and the
maker of life. The bodies of all living beings are made of matter. 7
They are diversely made, but all are composite, in greater or less
degree ;the heavier bodies are more composite, and the lighter
less. It is the swiftness of the movement of the Kosmos that
causes the diversity of the births. For the cosmic life-breath,
working without intermission, conveys into the bodies asuccession
of qualities, and therewith makes the universe one mass of
life. [ ]* And rightly is the Kosmos so named ;° for all 8

1 T.e, makes all things good.

2 Perhaps, ‘ they come to vary in quality’ (i.e, some of them become bad).
8 Or‘ when they come into action’? The phrase is obscure, and perhaps
corrupt.
4 [*God then is the father of the Kosmos, and the Kosmos is the father of the
things contained in it; the Kosmos is son of God, and the things contained in
it are sons of the Kosmos.’]
5 The word «écpos means (1) order, (2) ornament, (3) the ordered universe,

dmAovcrepa fortasse Hrrov 27 wAnpdmaros S | ras Coms Turn.: rot

Tas Cons AQS 29 rate S: rd GE cett. 29-30 bo rod Kdopou wat
cixdTws Kdogpos om. S 30 swogpeira: scripsi: woope? codd,, Turn.
 184 CORPVS HERMETICVM
Ta mdvra TH ToKiAle Tis yeverews, Kai TO adiadeint@ THs
(ois, kal (7) dxomidoT@ Tis évepyelas, Kal 7O TrdXe (THs
popas, kal 7G drpénr@) THs dvdykns, kal TH cvotdoe Tov
orolxetov, kal TH TdECL TOV ywopévav. 6 adrds ody Kécpos
kat "dvaykaiws' kat olkeiws Kadotro. 5
9 mdvrav ov Tov (gov 4 alcOnots Kal vénos eoaber
eretcépyerat, elamvéovoa dd Tot mepiéxovros: 6 dé Kdopos,
draf haBaov dua TO yevéoOat, 47d Tod Oeod AaBady Exel.
6 dt beds ody dorrep évfors Joga avaicOnrds éort Kal dvdnros:
td yap deroSatpovias BrAacpnpoiot. ((Kal robro eorw 1 10
aioOnots Kat vonots Tod Oeod, 7d Ta mdvta adel Kwweiv.))
wdvra yap boca tori, & ‘AockArAnmeé, tadra & TO OG éott,
kal bd Tod Oeod yivdpeva, Kai éxeidey Hprnpéva, Ta pev did
copdtov évepyotvra, ta dé did obatas yruxikis Kwodvra, Ta
dt dia mvedparos (woroobyrTa, Ta dt Ta KeKUNnKOTa trodexs- Col5
preva. [kal eckdrws.] [[m@AAov de Aێy@ Gre ovK adTis adra
ext, GAG Td adyOes aropaivopa, aitds dravré éorw]|
[od« t£abev airda mpoorapBdver, tw dé émididots.] [[xal
TobT6 éorw 4 aicOnows Kal vénows Tod Ocod, Th Ta mdvTa del
kiveiv.]| Kal odK €orat more xpévos bre arodepOnoeral Te » ie]

tav dvtwv: [dray dé héyw Tav dvTwv, éyw TOD Oeod-] Ta yap
évra 6 Beds Exet, Kal ode adrod oddev exrds obre adbrds
ovdevds. ((uaddov SE A€yw Ste odK adrds adTa& Exel, GAG
Td ddnOes amopalvopat, adtos dravTd eatw.))
10 =taird oot, ‘Ackdrnmeé, evvoodvTt (uev) adnOH Sdgerer din, 25
(ui €v\vootvrt b& dmiota: TH yap voHoat Enetat TO MioTEDoal,
7 dmioricat d& TH ph vopoa. 6 yap Abyos [pu] od POdve
Héxpt Tis ddnbetas: 6 dt vots péyas eori, kal bd Tod
Abyou péxpt Tivds ddnynels, POdver méxpe THS dAnOelas: xai

1 rd (ante mévra) om. S 3 Th ovotace Flussas : 7H ovamdoe A Turn. :

TH oxdoe QS 4 ddfee S: rager cett. 4-5 6 airds .. . Kadoiro
secludendum ? 5 dvaynaios QS: draynaiws cett.: fortasse dvaddyas
| olxetos S: oiretws cett. 6 xat 4 vénows S: wai vdnors cet. 7 dnd
scripsi ; é7d codd., Turn. 8 7& (post dua) om. S ie scripsi: ind
codd., Turn. 13 xai (ante éxeidev) om, QS 13-14 bd cwpatav A;
bid rev owparav QS Turn, 15 7d (ante xexynxdra) om. QS 18 mpoos-
AauBarav S$ 19 xat 4 vdyows Q: Kai vénots cett. 20 dmodepbcicera S
22 obd6ty éxrds om. S 22-23 airds obievds Turn.: abrov obderds AQS
23 Fortasse Aéyw ov drt 25 évodyrs S.— Desinit S in verbis doxAgme
évoovrt 25-26 Sdferev av, pi) evvootyre scripsi : dfecev, dyvoodvTe codd.,
Turn. 26 1@ ydp vorjou Enerat scripsi: 7d ydp vonoai éom codd., Turn.
27 70 (ante dmorfjoa) om, A | 7@ ph scripsi: 7d pi) codd., Turn, | ob
 LIBELLVS IX 185
things in it are wrought into an ordered whole by the diversity of
births and the incessant continuance of life, and by its unwearied
activity, and the swiftness of its movement, and the immutable
necessity that rules in it, and by the combining of the elements,
and the fit disposal of all things that come into being. Thus the
name ‘Kosmos’ may be applied to it in a secondary sense as well
as literally.
Now the sense and thought of all living creatures enter into 9
them from without, being breathed into them from the atmo-
sphere; but the Kosmos received sense and thought once for
all when it first came into being, and has got them from God.
God is not devoid of sense and thought, as in time to come some
men will think he is; those who speak thus of God blaspheme
through excess of reverence. And the sense and thought of God
consist in this, that he is ever moving all things. For all things
that exist, Asclepius, are in God, and are made by God, and are
dependent on him, whether they be things that put forth activity
by means of their bodies,’ or things that effect movement by
means of soul-stuff,? or things that generate life by means of vital
breath,° or things that receive into themselves the bodies that life
has quitted.* And there will never come a time when anything
that exists will cease to be; for God contains all things, and there
is nothing which is not in God, and nothing in which God is not.
Nay, I would rather say, not that God confains all things, but that,
to speak the full truth, God ¢s all things.
What I have told you, Asclepius, you will deem true if you 10
apply your thought to it; but if not, you will not believe it; for
belief follows on thinking, and disbelief follows on want of
thinking. Speech does not attain to truth ; but mind has mighty
power, and when it has been led some distance on its way by
speech,” it attains to truth; and having thought over all things,

1 This probably means vegetables.

? This probably means animals (including men).
® Te. by being drawn into the body of a man or beast in the process of
breathing. These things are probably the two lighter elements, fire and air.
* Probably the two heavier elements, earth and water.
5 I.e, when the pupil’s thoughts have been started in the right direction by
the teachers words.

scripsi ; wou A: wor Q Turn. 20 PpPaver pexpe Reitz.; POdver exe codd.,
Tum | PO@drec. 2. dAqdefas secludendum?
 186 CORPVS HERMETICVM

mepivonoas Ta mdvra, Kal edpdy ovppova trois wd Tob

Noyou EppnvevOeiow, ewiotevee, Kal TH KaAG ioTe: emaverrav-
gato. ror(ap)odv [[r& mpoetpypuéva]] [vrs rod Beod) vojoact
pey mord ((r& mpoetpnpéeva)), pr) vonoact d& dmora.
raira kal rocaira rept vojoews Kal aicOjoews AcyérIw. 5

LIBELLVS X
Eppov rov tpicpeyiorou.
e ~ - ,

Kneis.
1a Tov xbes Aoyov, @ AokAnmEé, col dvéOnka: Tov dé oHpepov
Sikatdy éore TH Tar dvadecivat, éwei kal rev (y)evikev Adyar
Ta&v mpos abtoy AcAaAnpevov EoTiv entropy.
1b 6 pev obv Ocds kal matihp, kal 7d dyabdv, & Td, tiv 10
atti exer pdow, paddov dé [Kal] évépyerav. 1 piv yap
gvolis yevéoews Kal avéioeds éott mpoonyopia, admep earl
wept Ta peTaBAnta Kat kwytd (4) d€ Tod Oeod evépyera mepi
Ta dperdBAnra) Kai axivyra, rovréots Ta Oeia [re], ((dv))
kal (r&) dvOpareva [[dv]| adros Bobderar elvat. adddAaxod dé 5
(mepl) évepyerdv [[xabas Kal emi tav dAdowv]) edidééaper
Ociwy te kai dvOpwriver: & det voety emi tobrov ((Kabes Kal
emi tav &ddov)).
2 % yap robrov evepyeia 4} OéAnois éort Kal 1) ovoia adrod
Td Oé\av ndévra eva. ti ydp éori(v 6) Oeds Kal warijp 20
[xal 7d dyabov] } 7d Tév mdvTwy clvat obKért dvT@v; GA
irapéis atrn tav dvtwv. Todto 6 Oeds, TooTo 6 marrp.
rot (d& mpdceott) 7b dyabédy, (roLobTo bv) 6 pnder(i) mpéo-
3 rovyapodv scripsi: tois oty codd,, Turn. 5 xat aigéyoews in A et C
abesse testatur Reitz,
In Libellis X et XI, codicum AQ et Turnebi lectiones adhibui.
X. 7-8 b :—Stobaei Anzhol. 1. 49. 48, vol.i, p. 416 Wachsmuth (£c/. I. 1000
Heeren): ‘Eppov €« trav mpos Tar. Ove qKodoas év rots -yermois.. . atiry Kaxia
puxijs.
X. 12,13 :—Stob. 1. 47.9, vol. i, p. 305 W. (Zc. I. 770 H.): ‘Eppod éx raiv
mpos Tar. ‘O pev dvOpwmos 7d bevrcpov bsov pera tov xéspov, mp@roy 5& Trav
Ovntav.—yuxy 5& dvOpdmov dxeira , .. 6 Cavaros Tod cd&paros.
X. 16-18 :—Stob. 1, 48. 3, vol. i, p. 310 W. (Zcl, I. 774 H.) : ‘Eppod. Mas
Toto Aéyets, @ watep... dvOpwrwos dy TH olefoe,
X. 19 a,b :—Stob. 1. 49. 49, vol. i, p. 417 W. (Zed. I, 1002 H.): Tod abrod
(sc. ‘Eppod). Wux?) 5¢ dvOpwntvn .. . THS ToadTys UBpews,
X. 22 b-25 :—Stob. 1. 47. 8, vol. i, p. 303 W. (Ze/. 1. 764 H.): “Eppod é« trav
mpds Tat. Kowwvia 5€ govt puyav ... bmd 8 To évds mavra,
 LIBELLVS IX 187
and found all to be in accord with that which has been expounded
to it by speech, the mind believes, and finds rest in that goodly
belief. And so, if men grasp with their thought what I have said,
they will believe it ; but if they do not grasp it with their thought,
they will not believe it.
Concerning thought and sense, let this suffice.

_LIBELLVS X

A discourse of Hermes Trismegistus.

The Key.

Hermes. The teaching which I gave yesterday, Asclepius, 1a

I dedicated to you ; and it is only right that I should dedicate to
Tat that which I am about to give to-day ; for it is an abridgement
of the General Discourses which I have addressed to him.
Know then, Tat, that God the Father is of one nature with the 1b
Good ; or rather, the working of God the Father is one with
the working of the Good. ‘Nature’ is a term applied to birth
and growth, and birth and growth have to do with things subject
to change and movement; but God’s working has to do with
things free from change and movement, that is, with things
divine ; and it is God’s will that what is human should be divine.
Of forces at work, divine and human, I have spoken elsewhere ;
and in dealing with our present topic, as well as in other matters,
you must bear in mind what I have taught you concerning them.
The force with which God works is his will ; and his very being 2
consists in willing the existence of all things. What else is God
the Father but the being of all things when as yet they are not ?
It is this* that constitutes the existence of all things that are.
Such then is God, such is the Father, And to him appertains
the Good ; for the Good is a thing that can appertain to none
1 Viz. God’s will.

7 7d 6¢Q: Tov de cett, 8 yenxév Patritius: é«ndy codd. (etiam MC

teste Reitz.), Turn. 10 Fortasse [al] 7@ dyadg 12 giots yevécews
scripsi: ptgews codd., Turn. 16 mepi évepycidy scripsi: évépyeray codd.,
Turn, 21 i 7d Turn.: «f rod Q, man. pr. A: 74 70d man. post. A
22 Grapfis adr) Turn. : braptw adrav (avry ex adrév corr. man. post.) A:
drape atriv Q 23 rottw 62 mpdcear: 70 dyabdy scripsi: rodTo Td ayabdv
codd., Turn. | 8 pydev? scripsi: ¢ wn dev codd., Turn.
 188 CORPVS HERMETICVM

eott Tay GAdov. 6 piv yap Kdopos [Kal 6 iALos] 7Tav Kara
petovotay (dyabav) kal airds maztp, ovKéri d€ Tod dyabob
rois (dors iows aizids cori ovde (yap) Tod (hv et d€ [rodro
obras tye], mévrws pévror dvayKkagopevos bd 70d [dyabod]
Oernparos (rod Ocot), oF xwpis ovre elvat (TL) obre yevér
Oa 5
3 duvarév. aitios 8€é, oc marhp Toic Téxvoic, Kal THS omopas
kal tis Tpopis, (mapa rod Oeod) rhv (x)opuriav AaBodv Tod
ayabod [did Tod HAlov], 7d yap dyadéy eore 7d moinTiKoy:
Tobro dt ob duvariv éyyevécOat GAA@ Tivi H pdvm Exeivo, TO
pndey piv NapBdvovri, wdvra dt Oédovrs elvat, ov yap pa; 10
® Tér, woodytt 6 yap mov édAdumys EoTL TOAAG xpbveo,
ev &' dre pev movi, dre d& od motei, Kal modryTas Kal
moodrnras (motel) wore pev yap wood Kal mod (motel), dre
be r& évavtia. 6 St eds [Kal marip Kai 75 ayabdr] 7
4a(Oerew) dva ra mévra (wdvtwv maryp). [obras pal] - 5
[radra] [[7 duvapeve ideiv]] kal yap tabra Oé\a civat, Kat
((obrws dpa)) éore Kat abrda. pdrdiora dé adrd ((€ort 7d
dyabdv, ® Td) Kai yap ra adda. révta did Tobro EoTw.
4b (...) ov yap rob ayabod 7d yvapiferOat [[éori 7d
ayaboy & Tar] (7G Suvapévm ideiv\\.— Emdjpocas pas, [s)
@ wdrep, ths ayabis Kai Kaddlorns Oéas: Kal ddLyou deiv
(émyeoxidaOn pou 6 Tod vod dpOarpuos bmd THs ToLadrns
"Oéas'—Od yap domep 4 Tod HAlov dxris mupadns ovoa
Karavyd¢et kal pew trovet tods dpOadpods, orm Kai 4 Tob
dyabot Oéa rotvavriov dé exrdpret [Kal] emi rooobrov, ed’ 25
dcov Sdvarat 6 Gewpevos SéEacbat THY Emetopory THs vonThs
Aapmndivos. dévtépa pev ydp éotw els Td KabixvetoOat,
5 aBraBis dé, Kal méons abavaclas advdmdews. (kal p)iv of
Ouvdpevot mA€ov Tt adptoacOat tis Oéas KaraxoipifovTat

5-6 yeveoOa Svvardy A: éorae dvvardy Q: yevéoOu ora dSvvardy

Turn. 6 &s marip Tots Tréevors scripsi: 6 waThp ray Téxvew codd.,
Turn, 7 xopnyiav scripsi: dépefw codd,, Turn. 10 pév A: om.
Q Turn. 12 ev @ codd., Turn.: fortasse os ye 12-13 modrnras
xat moodéryras more scripsi: mowrnTos «at moodTnTos codd., Turn. 16 70
Suvapevy ideivy hinc ad § 4b transposui | yap Tatra scripsi: ydp todro
codd., Turn. 17 wat avra scripsi; kal airG Q: kat aird cett. |6
av7d AQ: 8&8 ai7é Turn. 17-18 gor. 1d dyadov, & Tar huc a § 4b
transposui 18 rotro Q: todroy cett. 19 Fortasse yvwpifecda
(érav) 21 dyaéjs wat secludendum ? 22 émeauidcOn scripsi:
éceBaobn codd., Turn. 22-23 ro:adrns Oéas codd., Turn.: fortasse
To.asTns pappapuyhs 23 muppwins Q 25 82 Turn.: om, A: 0 (#)
eras. Q | €eAdprew A: éxAdpre cett. 26 Ocwpevos scripsi; Suvdpevos
codd,, Turn, 27 Kxai«veto@a Turn, : xatinvetodar AQ 28 5e Kat
 LIBELLVS X 189
save God alone. It is true that the Kosmos also is father of
things which are good in so far as they partake of the Good ; but
the Kosmos is not, in like measure with God, the author of what
is good in living creatures ;for the Kosmos is not the author of
their life ; or if it acts as an author of life, it does so only under
the compulsion imposed on it by God’s will, without which nothing
can be or come into being. The Kosmos is to the things within 3
it as a father to his children, in that it is the author of their
generation and nutrition ; but it has received from God its supply
of good.’ It is the Good that is the creative principle ; and it is
impossible that the creative principle should come to be in any
save God alone,—God, who receives nothing, but wills the
existence of all things. I will not say ‘ maes all things’; for he
who ‘makes’ things falls short of the fulfilment of his function
during long intervals of time, in that he is sometimes making, and
at other times not making. And moreover, he who ‘makes’
things makes only qualities and magnitudes ;? for he makes things
have certain magnitudes and qualities at one time, and contrary
magnitudes and qualities at another time. But God makes by his
will the very existence of all things ; and it is in this sense that he
is the Father of all things, For God wills things to be, and, in 4a
that way,® these things also have existence. But the Good itself,
my son, exists in the highest degree; for it is by reason of the
Good that all other things exist.
. . . For it is a property of the Good that it becomes known‘ 4b
to him who is able to see it.— Zar. Father, you have given me my
fill of this good and most beautiful sight; and my mind’s eye is
almost blinded by the splendour of the vision.— Hermes. Nay, the
vision of the Good is not a thing of fire, as are the sun’s rays ;
it does not blaze down upon us and force us to close our eyes ;
it shines forth much or little, according as he who gazes on it is
able to receive the inflow of the incorporeal radiance. It is more
penetrating than visible light in its descent upon us ; but it cannot
harm us ; it is full of all immortal life. Even those who are able 5
to imbibe somewhat more than others of that vision are again and
1 T.e. of life, or power to give life to things.
2 Qualities and magnitudes, dat not substances.That is, a ‘maker’ works on
something that already exists, and merely makes some change in it,
$ T.e.as being willed by God. ‘ Perhaps, ‘ that it wills to become known’.
adons adavacias Turn. : dt mdons wal davacias AQ | dvdwrews* kat piv of
scripsi; dvdmAews jv. of codd., Turn. 29 dppicarOa A
 190 CORPVS HERMETICVM

modrdks 64 bd ToD cdparos: (dmrodvbévres SF ToH cdparos)

els Thy Kaddorny Sw (évérvxov), Gcmep Ovpavds Kal
Kpévos, of tpérepor mpbyovor, évrervxjxaciw,—Eide Kai
hyecis, & mérep.—Elbe ydp, & téxvovs viv d& ert arovodpev
mpds Thy dw, Kal obras obK icxvouev dvamerdoat Hud 5
rods TOD vod dpOadpovs, Kai Oedoacba 7d KaéAXOS TOU ayabod,
éxeivolv] 73 apOaprov, 7d (aA)déAn[w]rov. Tore yap adbrd
det, drav pndey wepl avrod Exns elmeiy } yap yraous
abrod Babeia ciwmy éort, Kal Katapyla Tacdy Téy aicOhoewr.
6 ore yap GdXo Tt SvvaTat vojjoat 6 ToiTo vojoas, oTE G20 10
rt bedcacba 5 TodTo Oeaodpevos, otre mepi aAXov Tivds
dxotcat, ovre Td civodoy Td TOya KiVijTal Tacev yap Tov
copatixay aicOiocéy Te Kal KuioEwy emtAabdpuevos dTpEpel:
mepidprpav dé [rdvra] Tov vodv, [kal] rhv bAnv yuyiy ava-
AapBldver Kal avédeer Sid Too odparos, kai ddov avroy 15
els ovolay petraBdddg«. advvarov ydp, @ Téxvoy, uxhy
dmobewOqvar év cdpatt avOpdmov (uévovcave a\dAA xpi)
peraBrnOiva adriv, Kal ottw d7) Oeacapévny rod ayabod
(rd) KdAXos [7B] arodewOjivat.—
7 Ils déyets, & wérep ;—I1 dons Wuyi, & réxvoy, Siatperfs 20
peraBonal (ro\Xal) d4.—IT Gs réAwv Statperijs;—Ovk« ijovoas
év Tois yevixois, Ort amd yuads Woyhs THs Too mavTds Taoat
ai Woxal cow abrat ((domep drroveveunpévat)), (al) év TO
mavtl Kdopm kvrwdotpervat [[Somep drovevennpévat)] ; todTrory
tolvuy tay wWuyav moddai al peraBodral, tov pey ent 7d 25°
edtuxéotepov, Tay St emi Td evavtiov. al piv yap épmeradders
ovoat els Evudpa peraBdddovow, ai dé evudpor eis xepoaia,
ai St yepoaias els merewd, ai dé dépiae eis dvOpdrous: ai
8? avOpdéreat, adpxiv dbavactas [t\rxodca1, cfs Saipovas

1 &) scripsi: 58 codd., Turn. | érd Q Turn,: awd A 2 donep

scripsi: érep Q Turn,: domep (A?) Flussas 3 évrervyjxaow A: éxretu-
xqeacw Q Turn. 4 8 om. Q 5 ov« Turn.: om. AQ 7 éxeivo
scripsi: éeivov codd., Turn. | dAdAnrov scripsi: aAynrov codd., Turn,
9 BaGeia scripsi: xat Oeia AQ (etiam MC teste Reitz.) Turn. 11 dAdo
codd., Flussas : dv@pwmov (id est dvov) Turn, 12 76 (ante cGpa) Q (et M
teste Reitz.) Turn. : om. A (et C teste Reitz.) 13 émAaddpevos Reitz. :
émaAaBépevos codd. (etiam MC teste Reitz.), Turn, 14-15 dvadapBaver
scripsi: dvaAdume codd., Turn. 19 7d (ante kaddos) addidit Reitz.
20 Siatperds (?)Q | 21 woddat 54 scripsi: om. Q: 88 cett. 23 ciow
aira: ai év Heeren: elow atta: év codd. Stob.: iow ai re év codd, Corp,
Turn, | 7@ (ante wav7i) Q Turn., codd. Stob. : om. A 24 droveun-
pve Q 25 al (post moAAat) codd, Stob.: om. codd. Corp., Turn.
25-26 éni biscodd, Corp., Turn, : eis biscodd.Stob. 26 yapcodd. Stob. :obv
 LIBELLVS X 1gI
again sunk in blind sleep by the body ; but when they have been
released from the body, then they attain to full fruition of that
most lovely sight, as Uranos and Kronos, our forefathers, have
attained to it—TZa?, Would that we too, my father, might attain
to it—Hermes. Would that we might, my son. But in this life
we are still too weak to see that sight; we have not strength to
open our mental eyes, and to behold the beauty of the Good,
that incorruptible beauty which no tongue can tell. Then only
will you see it, when you cannot speak of it ; for the knowledge of
it is deep silence, and suppression of all the senses. He who has 6
apprehended the beauty of the Good can apprehend nothing else;
he who has seen it can see nothing else; he cannot hear speech
about aught else ;he cannot move his body at all ; he forgets all
bodily sensations and all bodily movements, and is still, But the
beauty of the Good bathes his mind in light, and takes all his soul
up to itself, and draws it forth from the body, and changes the
whole man into eternal substance. For it cannot be, my son,
that a soul should become a god while it abides in a human body;
it must be changed, and then behold the beauty of the Good, and
therewith become a god.—
Tat. What do you mean, father, by saying that the soul ‘must 7
be changed’?—/Hermes. Every separated soul, my son, passes
through many changes.— Zaz. And what is a ‘separated’ soul >—
Hermes. Have you not heard me say in my General Discourses,
that all these souls which shift about from place to place through-
out the Kosmos are, so to speak, parted off and portioned out
from one soul, even the soul of the universe? Now these souls
undergo many changes, by which some of them pass to a happier
lot, and others to a worse lot. Souls of the nature of creeping
things change into things which dwell in the waters ; souls which
dwell in the waters change into beasts which dwell on land; souls
which dwell on land change into birds of the air; souls which fly
in air change into men. And human souls, when they have
attained to a beginning of immortal life, change into daemons,

codd. Corp., Turn 27 peraBaddovow codd. Stob.: peraBdéddovra: codd.

Corp., Turn. | évv3por codd. Stob.: trav ev8pwv codd. Corp,, Turn.
28 werard codd. Stob, : mrnva codd. Corp., Turn. 28-29 ai 8 avOpdmera
+++ Gxovom scripsi: ai 5& dvOpimva dpyiv abavactas toxovow codd. Stob, :
ai 88 dvOpdrea al aavacias Exovoa A: al 88 dvOpdreat &avactas éxoucat
Q Turn.
 192 CORPVS HERMETICVM

peraBdddovawn, €£0’ obras els Tov TOY OeGv Xopdv xwplev]odat

[xopo? 8& Séo Ody, 6 piv Tov Thavopéver, 6 8 rdv dmravdv"]
8a kai abrn wuyijs 4 TeActordrn Boga. ux?) dé eis dvOpdérrov
capa ciceOodca, édv Kaxi pelvy, od[re] yederar dbavacias,
[obre rod dyabod peradrapBdvel,| madicovpros St thy dddv 5
broorpéhe: thy emt ra Eprrerd: ((kal } kaxodaipwv, dyvoqoaca
éavriy, Sovrever cdpaow ddAdoKédros Kal poxOnpots.)) Kal
atrn karadikn Wuxis Kakijs.
8b kakia 8 ypuyis dyvwcla: Wuxi) yap pndéy yvoioa Tay
dvrov, pnd Thy TobToy ptow, pdt Td dyabdy, TUPdrrovea 10
8, évrwdooe ra) Trois cwparikois méOect, [[Kal 4 Kaxodaipoy
dyvofcaca éautivy Sovrcter odpaci dAdoKérois Kat pox On-
pois,]] Bomep dopriov Bacrdfovea Tb cdpa, kai ovK dpxovea,
9 add’ dpxopévn. airy kaxla wuxis. Todvavtiov St dperi
Wuxiis yvaorss 6 yap yvods kal dyads Kal evoeBis, Kal ~ 5
#8n Ocios.—Tis S€ éorw odtos, & mdétep;—'O pi) moddra
AadGy, pnd wor dkovwor. 6 yap Sadéyots cxorAd{ov Kai
dxoais, & réxvor, oxiapayel’ 6 yap Beds Kal mari [kal 7d
dyabdr| obte déyerat obre dkoverat. [[rovrov d& obras
exovros év aot rots obow')] Sat aicOjoes elot’ [did 7d pi) » °
10a divacba evar yxwpls avrodl|. yvaots bt alcOjoews word
Siadépet. alcOnois piv yap ylverat roi (bdtKob) émikpa-
rodvros, (dpydvo xpopévn TO odpart,) (da 7d ph divacba
elvat xwpis avrot-)) yvaars 8 [éorw emiotipns Td Tédos,
émaripun St Sdpov Tob Oeod: waca yap émiarhpy) dodparos, 5 &

dpydve xpwpévyn adr 76 vol 6 S& vobs TG cdpari (evavTios).

dudorepa obv ywpel cis oGpa (ciodioa ux), Te TE vonTe
kai ra idixd. ((kal rodro ddAws elvar addvarov')) €& dvti-
écews yap Kal evavtidryntos Sef ra mdvra ovveotdvat, [[Kal
1 peraBdddovow Meineke: peraBddAdovea codd. Stob.: petaPdddovrat
codd. Corp., Turn. ef’ AQ: ef 8 Turn.: efrdy codd. Stob. | Tov
(ante e@v) codd. Stob., Turn. : om. AQ | xopdv xopodat scripsi : xopoy
xopetiovor AQ: xopdy drAavav xopetovar Turn, : x@pov (om, xopetovor) codd.
Stob. 2 xopot codd. Corp., Turn.: x@por Stob. P?: x@pov Stob, FP*
| dpavay Q: dmAavay cett. 3 8% (post YvxA) codd. Stob.: om, codd.
Corp., Turn, 8-4 els dvOpbrov cHpa eiceAPotca codd, Corp., Turn. : is
dvOpwrous éADodca codd. Stob. 4 ov yevera scripsi: obre -yeverar codd.
Corp., Turn, : otore revgerar codd. Stob. 5 ore tod dyalod peradap-
Bave codd. Corp., Turn. : om. codd, Stob. | wadiooupros A Turn. :wadl-
cuptos Q: madicauros codd. Stob. | & om. A 6 imoorpéper codd.
Corp., Turn.: éroarpéer codd. Stob, | émt codd. Stob.: els codd. Corp.,
Turn. 6-7 «al... poxOnpois huc a § 8 b transposui 7 «al (ante
airy) secludendum? 9 Woxijs dyrwoia codd. Stob.: Yuxijs } @yvwoia Q:
 LIBELLVS X 193
and thereafter pass on into the choral dance of the gods; [ ]?
that is the crowning glory of the soul. But ifa soul, when it has 8a
entered a human body, persists in evil, it does not taste the sweets
of immortal life, but is dragged back again ; it reverses its course,
and takes its way back to the creeping things; and that ill-fated
soul, having failed to know itself, lives in servitude to uncouth
and noxious bodies.’ To this doom are vicious souls condemned.
And the vice of the soul is lack of knowledge. A soul that has 8 b
gained no knowledge of the things that are, and has not come to
know their nature, nor to know the Good, but is blind\—such
a soul is tossed about among the passions which the body breeds ;
it carries the body asa burden, and is ruled by it, instead of
ruling it. That is the vice of the soul. On the other hand, the 9
virtue of the soul is knowledge. He who has got knowledge is
good and pious; he is already divine.—7Zué And who is such
a one, my father ?—/ermes. One who does not speak many
words, nor listen to much talk. He who spends his time in
disputations and in listening to men’s words is beating the air,
my son; for knowledge of God the Father cannot be taught by
speech, nor learnt by hearing... . Knowledge differs greatly
from sense-perception. Sense-perception takes place when that
which is material has the mastery; and it uses the body as its
organ, for it cannot exist apart from the body. But know-
ledge [ ]‘ is incorporeal; the organ which it uses is the 10a
mind itself; and the mind is contrary to the body. A soul
then, when it has entered into a body, admits into itself both
things of the mind and things material. It cannot be other-
wise ; for all things must needs be composed of opposites
1 T.e. the troop of the star-gods, who circle in the heavens.
* [‘ There are two choral groups of gods ; the one is that of the planets, and
the other is that of the fixed stars’).
* I.e. it undergoes a series of reincarnations in the bodies of irrational
animals,
* [‘is the perfection of science, and science is a gift of God; for all science ").

Wuyijs éorly 4 ayveoia cett. | yvotdoa codd. Corp., Turn. : émyvotca codd.
Stob. 10 rovrov Q: rotrow cett. | pydériv. . . 7d dyaddy secluden-
dum ? 11 6é codd. Stob.: om. codd. Corp., Turn. | évrwaocerat
Tiedemann: écridooa Q: évrivdcoe codd. cett., Turn, 13 domep... Kar
secludendum ? —_|ov« dpxovea codd. Corp., Turn.: ob kardpxovsa codd. Stob.
(odnér’ dpxovoa Meineke) 17 biaddyors scripsi: 50 Adyors codd., Turn.
18 cxopaye? Q 19-20 tovrov ... obow hinc ad § Ioa transposui
26 xpopévous Q: xpapeévy cett. 27 els capa eiodica Yuyn, ra Te scripsi :
eis cwpara te codd., Turn, 28 rd (ante idAudy Q Turn: om. A
2806 Oo
 194 CORPVS HERMETICVM
tobT0 dddws elvar addvarov.]| ((rovrov St obras €xovros ép
mao Trois obety,)) (... ‘we
1ob =Ti{s] ody 6 bduKds Beds ddé, (6 Koa pos) ;—O(8) Kakds
(9) Kéopos, obxéla]re St adyabds: brtKds ydp, Kai [ev}radnrés,
kal mp@ros piv mévrov mabnrav, Sebrepos St rev dvtav, [kal 5
abrodens] kai adrds [more piv yevdpevos] dei [8] dv, dv ot
ev yevéoel, Kai ywopevos del (rH) yevéce: Tv Toy Kad Tov
mooav. Kwnros [y|dp(a) aoa yap ((yévears)) ddix} kivnots
11 [[yéveots]] €or. 4 Sd vonth ordots Kwvel riy vAtKkhy kivnow
tov tpémov rodrov. émel 6 Kbapos odaipé éort, Touréore
Kepadn, [kepadijs dé ovdtv drepdvw ddxédv, Somep oud? modap
ovdéy vonroy broxdtw, wav d? druKév,] ["vois d Kepar
atrn’ opatpias kivovpévn, tobro éort kePantk@s,] doa o
Mpoojverat 7H wpe ris Kepadfs ratrys, (vd...) ea
1 Wx}, aOdvara réguxer, [domep] [[ev yoy 8 copa:
memoinpevov]| [kal] mre Too cdparos riy Wuxiy Exovr,
Ta 8 méppw 70d dpévos avnts, wréov Exovra Tis Wouxiis
capa. [wav 8& (Gov]] dare rd wav ek Te dSdLKOD Kal vont
gouvésrnker. ((émptxoy 8% (rod) odparos Teroinpevon,
(rd) (ray 84 ¢Bov.))
12 kal 6 peév Kécpos mpadron ((rav dAdov (gory) 6
dvOpwmos devrepov (Gov perd tov Kébcpor, mpatov de rr
Ovnrév [[rav [wer] ddAdwv Ldeor]] [rd Euuxov exe]. ob
dé [[udvor]] ov« dyads ((udvov)), GAAS Kal Kaxés, ds 6vn
6 piv yap Kbopos odk dyabds, ds Kwnrtés, ob Kakds 6é,
aBdvaros: 6 St dvOpwmos Kal ds Kwyros (ovK ayaés),
13 s Ovytds Kaxés. uy St dvOpdmov dxetrat Tov Tp
Tobrov, 6 vobs [év 7 AOyw, 6 Adyos] ev TH Wuxi, 4 de
év TH mvedpart: 7d (8%) mveDpa, Sipxov bid (trav) [pre

1-2 rovrov . . . ofow huc a § 9 transposui 3 Té seri

codd., Turn, | 63¢ Turn. : 8e AQ 3-4 OF Kakds 6 kéopos
seripsi (vide § 12): & wadds kéopos AQ (etiam MC teste Reitz.), Turn,
4 obmér scripsi :ode gor: codd., Turn. | ma6yrds scripsi: ebrdOnros
osurn, 5 mdvrov A: om, Q Turn. “3
6 more piv yevdpevos Turn.:
Mev mor? piv yevduevos Q: pév more yevdpevos A 7 7h -yevéoe scripsi:
yéveow Q: yéveots cett. 8 «wnrds dpa scripsi: mwyrds tor: Q: xe
yap cett. 11 Kepadjs 5 Turn. : xepadry 52 QO: Keadd 82 A
vonrov Q Turn, : ob5t vonrdy A 12
12-13 F we (ews 58 (7) Kepars
13 Kepadrtxds Q 14 é g addidit Flussas : fortasse éy @ padiora
yuxn 16 menoinpévov Q Turn.: aerompévoy (sed o supra -ov)
scripsi:
wAeiy Q: Ady el A: mAnpy Turn. A | mel
17 ra 5t Turn. :7d 6 AQ”
|&nrd scripsi: &v #7d AQ: & § 7) Tum. 18 Sore Turn. : dowe obyp
AQ.
 LIBELLVS X 195
and contraries. And seeing that this is so in all things that
exist, . . .—
Tat. What then are we to think of this material God, the 10b
Kosmos ?—Hermes. The Kosmos is not indeed evil, but it is not
good, as God is; for it is material, and subject to perturbation.
It is first among all things that are subject to perturbation, but
second among things that are. The Kosmos also’ is ever-existent ;
but it exists in process of becoming; it is ever becoming, in that
the qualities and magnitudes of things are ever coming into being.
It is therefore in motion ; for all becoming is material movement.
That which is incorporeal and motionless? works the material 11
movement ; and it does so in the following way. ‘The Kosmos
is a sphere, that is to say, a head; and so, all things that are
united to the cerebral membrane ® of this head,—the membrane
in which the soul is chiefly seated,—are immortal, for they have
in them more soul than body; but the things which are at
a distance from the cerebral membrane‘ are mortal, for they have
in them more body than soul. Thus the universe is composed of
a part that is material and a part that is incorporeal;° and
inasmuch as its’ body is made with soul in it, the universe is
a living creature.
The Kosmos is first among all living creatures ; man, as a living 12
creature, ranks next after the Kosmos, and first among those
which are mortal. Man is not merely not-good ; he is evil,
inasmuch as he is mortal. ‘The Kosmos is not-good, as being
subject to movement ; but it is not-evil, as being immortal. Man,
on the other hand, is both not-good, as being subject to movement,
and evil, as being mortal. And the soul of man is vehicled thus. 13
The mind has for its vehicle the soul ; the soul has for its vehicle
the vital spirit ; and the vital spirit, traversing the arteries together
1 Le. as well as God. 2 Viz, the soul of the Kosmos.
8 The ‘cerebral membrane’ or meninx of the Kosmos is the outermost
sphere of heaven; and ‘the things which are united to it’ are the fixed stars
and planets.
* T.e, all sublunar things. 5 T.e. of body and soul.

Fortasse Garep obv (5 GvOpwnos, otra kai) 19 owvéorneey Q: avvérrnee cett.

21 mp&rov |Flussas: mp@ros AQ (etiam MC teste Reitz.), Turn. | 6 be
AQ Turn.: 6 pév codd. Stob. 22 dyOpwnos 7d devrepov codd. Stob.
|mp&rov St A-Turn,: mp&ros 6¢ Q Flussas 26 ovw dyads addidit Reitz.
27-28 rodv tpémov .. . 5& Yuyi) fortasse secludendum 28 52 (post 4) codd.
Stob.: om. AQ Turn, 29 mvedpart Tum., codd. Stob.: c@par: AQ
| Post mvedpar: add. 7d mvedpa &v 7O owpate Turn. | 5& (post 70) add.
Parthey | dejeor Stob. F: dtofwoy Stob. Ps duper AQ Turn.
O02
 196 CORPVS HERMETICVM

kal] dprnpidv [kal] (werd 708) aiparos, KielTd[¢@ov] (oGpa)

kal domep pdptov tivd Bacrd¢et. 615 kal Ties THY Yuxiy
alua évdmoav eva, opadddpevot TIC dicewc, od« eidéres
bru mp&roy Sei [[rod mvetparos avaxwphoavros cis] (e€edOeiv)
rhy Wwoxiy, kal tore, (rod mvedparos dvaxephoavros «is))5
(rd meptéxor), 73 alua mayfvat Kati Tas PréBas, kai ras
dprnplas kevwbelras [75 ¢Gov] karad[e|mreiv. kal Tobro €oTty
6 Odvaros Too cHpaTos.
14a ek pds 8¢ dpyfs ra mdvra fpryrat, S€ dpxy ex Tod évds Kal pdvov.
kal } pev apy xweirar, iva mavtov apxh yevnra’ 7d Be év pdvov EorTnKer, 10
kal ov Kivetra.
4b [kal] rpfa rolvuv Tabra, 6 Oebs [kai matip Kal 76 ayabév),
kal 6 kéopos, Kat 6 dvOpwmros: Kal Tov pev kéapov 6 beds
txet, Tov 8 dvOpwmov 6 Kbopos. Kal yiverat 6 pev Kécpos
700 Ocod vids, 6 dk dvOpwmos Tod Kécpou (vids, Kal Tod Oeov) 15
15a damep eryovos. ovk &pla) dyvoei tov dvOpwmov 6 Oeds, ddd&
kat mdvu yvoplte, Kal Oéde yvopiferOat, rovro pévov
owripiov dvOpémr@ éativ, } yrdors Tov Oeod airy eis Tov
“Oduprov dvdBacis: tobr@ pov dyaby ((yiverat)) Wox7.
rb (.+.+) Kal ovdémore dyabt) (uével), Kaxt de [[yverat]] ue °o
kar’ dvdykny yiverat.—Ilés rodro eyes, @ Tpiopeytore ;—
Puyhv madds Oéara, & Téxvov, [<ladriy Siddvow adris
pndéro emidexouévny, Tod cdparos abris ere ddfy(ov) br(ros)
kal pndérw 7d wav dyxopévov, TOs Kady pev| Brérew
mavraxod, pndéema[re Se] reOodwpévy|y] bd rev Tob THLATOS 25
maar, re oxeddy Hprnpévyn THs Tov Kéopou Wuxis. drav
St byxoOfj 7d cdpa, Kal Kataondon adriy els rods [rod
adparos] dykous, ((éyyerve AROnv')) diadrdoaca de éavrhy

2 pédprov Usener: tpdmov codd., Turn, 3 évduoay codd. Corp., Turn. :

vopifovew codd. Stob. |rijs pioews scripsi: riv ¢tcow codd., Turn.
4 def codd. Corp., Turn. : 5) codd. Stob. | rod mvetdparos dvayxwphoarros
codd. Stob.: 73 mvedpa dvaxwpyom codd, Corp., Turn. 5 wai tore AQ
Turn. : om. codd. Stob. 6 76 (ante afya) om. A | xara scripsi: Kat
codd., Turn. |rds (ante dprnpias) om. A 7 KevoPeioas Karadcneiy
scripsi : cevaeloas 7d (Gov eaTadcinew codd. Stob. : KevaOqvat, kal réTe 7d (ov
xaGedciv codd. Corp., Turn. 7-8 torw 6 @avaros codd.Stob.: éart Gavaros
codd. Corp., Turn. 9 Fortasse dpyijs (rod voi) |xat pévou secluden-
dum? 10 mavrow scripsi: wadw codd., Turn, | &v pova Q: ey pdvov
cett. : fortasse év (at) udvov 11 xa (ante of) Turn.: om. AQ 13 pev
(post rov) om, Q 16 éyyovos scripsi: €«yovos codd., Turn. | ob« dpa
scripsi: ob ydp codd., Turn. 19 dAvpmov dvaBacts A: bdvumdv éorw ava-
Baois Q Turn. | rovr@ pévy Tumn.: ofrw pdva AQ a yiverar huc a
§15b dit, transposui | dya0H yuxH (dat.) Q 20 Fortasse (pica
 LIBELLVS X 197
with the blood, moves the body, and carries it like a burden.
Hence some have thought that the soul is the blood. But those
who think this are mistaken as to its nature; they do not know
that at death the soul must quit the body first, and then, when
the vital spirit has withdrawn into the atmosphere, the blood must
coagulate along the course of the veins, and leave the arteries
emptied. This is the death of the body.
All things’ are dependent on one first cause;? and that first cause is depen- 14 a
dent on the One and Only, The first cause is moved, that it may come to
be first cause of all things; the One alone stands fast, and is not moved.
There are these three then,—God, Kosmos, Man. The Kosmos 14 b
is contained by God, and man is contained by the Kosmos, The
Kosmos is son of God; man is son of the Kosmos, and grandson,
so to speak, of God. God then does not ignore man, but15a
acknowledges him to the full, and wills to be acknowledged by
him. And this alone, even the knowledge of God, is man’s
salvation; this is the ascent to Olympus; and by this alone can
a soul become good.
and it never remains good, but becomes evil by 15>
necessity—
Zar. What do you mean, thrice-greatest one ?—
Hermes. Look at the soul of a child, my son, a soul that has not
yet come to accept its separation from its source ; for its body is
still small, and has not yet grown to its full bulk. How beautiful
throughout is such a soul as that! It is not yet fouled by the
bodily passions ; it is still hardly detached from the soul of the
Kosmos. But when the body has increased in bulk, and has
drawn the soul down into its material mass, it generates oblivion ;
and so the soul separates itself from the Beautiful and Good,

1 § 14. was probably not written by the author of Libellus X,

2 Viz, Mind?
® Perhaps, ‘(The soul is good by nature; but when it has entered a body,
it is corrupted), and no longer remains good *.

wey yap dyabi) ) Puy" Evowparwbeica 58 poddverai,) Kat odkéT ayabh (péver)
|5 AQ: om. Turn. 21 avaykny yiverar AQ: avayeny 8 yivera Turn.
22 airiy Flussas: éavrivy AQ Turn. 23 dAlyou évros scripsi (dAlyou
Flussas): dAtyor Turn, : 6A’yor Gykwro A: dAtyor dykwro Q 24 dryre-
prévov Turn, : dyxwpévov A: dyeoupévov | m&s wads scripsi: m&s caddy
wey AQ: Tas, Kadi péy Turn, BAéra Q: Badérew cett.; fortasse
éuPderew 25 pydénw scripsi: pndérore dé codd., Turn. | TePorAwpery
scripsi: OoAwpéevny Q: TePoAwpevny celt. 26 nprnpern Q: Hprnpérny cett.
28 diapicaca Q
 198 CORPVS HERMETICVM

[leyyvervd AHOnr]] [kal] rod Kadod Kal dyabod, ob(kért robrov)

peradapuBdvet, (r\f St AfOyn Kaxd yiverat.
16 7d dé [adrd] (€vavriov) cupBaiver [kai] tois rcv odparos
égotow. dvadpapovoa yap %) Wuyi) eis (rd) éavtic (rod
mvebparos xwpiferat, kal 6 vous rHs Wuyxfs) [[ovoréAderaL 5
7) mvedpa els 7d aipa, 4 Se Wuyi) els 7d mvevpal] 6 dE rods
kabapos yevipevos trav évdupdrav, Oeios dv dice, cdparos
wupivou (émt)\aBdpevos meprmode? wdévra rémrov, Katadimdv
Thy wpuxiy Kkpice Kal tH Kat
4 4 fol ?
dgiav dixp—Ila@s
3s7 ‘4 A
rodro
=~

Aéyeis, @ mérep, (bri) 6 vods THs Wuyis xopiferat [Kal % 10

Wuxi) Tod mvedparos], [cod efrévros evdupa clvat Tod pev vod
17 tiv wpuxiy, ris 6& puxfs 7d wvedpal;—Zvvvoeiv sez, &
Téxvov, Tov akovovra TH héyorrt [kal ovpmveiv], Kal d¢vrépav
exe tiv dxody THs Tob Aéyovtos govas. 1 otvOcots [rdv
evdvpdtar] rovrov év odpart ynive yivera. addvaroy yap 15
Tov vodv év ynive caépart yupviv abroy Ka’ éavrdv
edpda(acb)au obre yap 75 yhwov cGpa Suvaréy éort Tydu-
katrnv dbavaciav éveyxeiv, obte tiv tocatrny dperiy
dvéxerbat ovyxperifopevoy ait mabntiv cGpa. daBer
ody domep meptBohiy Thy Woyijr: i 88 Woy, Kal adriy 20
Geta tis ovoa, Kabamepel mep(Bodrf) TS mvevpart xphrat,
76 de mveipa rd [(Gor] (cGpa) Stoked ((cuorédrderau (yep)
7d (uev) mvedpa els 7d alua, Se yvyy els 7d mvedpya.))
18 drav ody 6 vots draddayf Tod ynivov céparos, Tov itov
evOds évedicaro xitGva, tov mbpwvor, dv od jddbvaro €Xov 25
eis 7d yijivoy cdma KaToKhoal. yi yap wip ob Baordééeu
waoa yap préyerat
> Zz
Kal Faebd ddlyou omwOipos:
> SIS Ye 2
Kal ‘ did. TodTO
= s

kal 7d Udwp mepixéxura tH yh, domep epuya kal reixos

avréxov mpods tiv Tod mupds Prdya, voids dé, détratos dv
mdvrov Tav [Oelwr] vor[palray, kal 7d dédrarov mévtov Tay 30
1 ob«ém rovrov scripsi: ob codd., Turn. 2 rH Be AnOy Kaxi scripsi :
% 5 AHO Kaxia codd., Turn. 4 7d éavrijs scripsi : éavriy codd., Turn.
5-6 ovoréddera. .. . nvedpa hinc ad § 17 fiz. transposui 7 Bica Q:
toe cett. 11 dupa codd. Corp., Turn. : dévayuv codd. Stob, 12 @
om. codd. Stob. 18 kat ovpmvety codd, Stob.: xat cvpmvéew codd. Corp.,
Turn, 15 Post rovrew add. & réxvoy codd, Corp., Turn.: om. codd.
Stob. 17 épdcacGa scripsi: éSpdoa codd., Turn. |Post gore
add. ri codd, Stob. 18 rooatrnv AQ, codd. Stob.: roravrny Turn.
19 dvéyeo@a codd. Corp,, Turn, : dvacyécGar codd. Stob. ovyxpariCs-
pevoy codd. Stob.: avyxpmpariCépevoy (-(apevoy Q) codd. Corp., Turn.
| abr Wachsmuth ; aiz@ codd. Stob.: air codd. Corp., Turn, Fortasse
avyxpurionévny mabnr@ adpare 20 oby codd. Corp., Turn.: om.
codd, Stob, | wepiBorrw codd, Corp., Turn. + mwepiBédraiov codd. Stob.
 LIBELLVS X 199
and no longer partakes of that; and through this oblivion the
soul becomes evil. :
But when men quit the body, the process is reversed. The 16
soul ascends to its own place, and is separated from the vital
spirit ; and the mind is separated from the soul. Thus the mind,
which is divine by nature, is freed from its integuments; and
taking to itself a body of fire, it ranges through all space, leaving
the soul to be judged and punished according to its deserts.—
Tat. What do you mean, father, by saying that the mind is
separated from the soul ?—Hermes. My son, the learner ought to 17
share in his teacher’s thought; he should be quicker in his
listening than the teacher is in his speaking. It is in an earthy
body only that the mind and the soul are joined together. The
mind cannot, naked and alone, take up its abode in an earthy
body ; a body of earth could not endure the presence of that
mighty and immortal being, nor could so great a power submit to
contact with a body defiled by passion. And so the mind takes
to itself the soul for a wrap; the soul,—for the soul also is in
some measure divine,—uses as its wrap the vital spirit; and the
vital spirit controls the body. For the vital spirit is enveloped in
the blood, and the soul in the vital spirit. The mind then, when 18
it departs from the earthy body, clothes itself forthwith in its own
proper vesture, that is, a vesture of fire, which it could not retain
when it took up its abode in the earthy body. For earth cannot
sustain fire ; even a little spark is enough to set it all in a blaze;
and it is for this very reason that the earth is encompassed by
water, which serves as a barrier and defence to protect it from the
flaming heat of the fire! But mind, which is the keenest of all
things incorporeal, has for its body fire, the keenest of all the
1 J, e, the fire of heaven, or the heat emitted by the heavenly bodies.

20-21 airy Ocia 71s codd, Corp., Turn. : airy tis Bela codd. Stub, =21 xafa-
mepel mepBodrF scripsi (abamep mepBorH Parthey): «abdwep of mept AQ: xada-
nepel mupt Turm.: xabdrep bmnpérou Stob. P? ‘yeimnpérn B®): Kaddnep vanperis
Stob. F 22-23 ovoréAdeTa... eis TO mvetpa huc a § 16 transposui
24 otv codd, Corp., Turn.: om. codd. Stob. 25 iivvaro éxwy codd,
Stob,: évvato éxwy Q Turn.: édvvaro éxov A 27 yap yaAéyerce codd.
Corp., Turn, : yap yi} pAéyerar codd. Stob. |wat (ante 5:4) codd. Corp.,
Turn, : om, codd, Stob. 28 ral (ante 7d) codd, Stob.: om, cudd. Corp.,
Turn, 29 vois St d¢draros codd, Stob.: voids dgdraros Q Turn,; ds
éfvraros A |év AQ Tum. : om. codd, Stob. 830 ndvraw Tay vonTayv
scripsi: mévray TOv Ociwy vonpdtwy codd. Stob.: mavrav Oelay vonparwy A:
névtav vonpdray Belov Q Turn, | wat 7d dgtrarov codd. Stob,: Kai dgvrepos
codd, Corp., Turn.
 200 CORPVS HERMETICVM

orotxeloy exer capa, Td wip. Snucoupyds yap dv [mdévrwr]

6 voids dpydvm t@ mupi mpos Thy Snutovpyiay ypnra. Kai 6
pev Tob wavrds Tav mdévrwv (Snpioupyss), 6 dé Tod dvOpémov
Tév émvyelwv pbvov- yupvis yap dv Tob mupos 6 ev avOpdr@
voids ddvvaret ra Oeia Snpsoupyeiv, dvOpadmivos dv TH olkhoes. 5
Iga Wuxi) 6& dvOpwmrivn, ob waca pév, } St edoe Bis, Satpovta
tis éort Kal Oeiar Kal 4 troadrn yuy7, [[merd 7d dwadda-
Yijvat ToD odparos|) tov rijs evoeBelas ayava dyoricapévn,
—dydv d& edoeBeias rd yvdvat tov Bedv Kal pndéva dvOpd-
mov adikfjoat,—ébdrn vobds yiverat (kal) ((uerd 7d dradda- 10
Yijvat Tod odpatos,)) ((drav Saipov yévnrat, rupivov ruyeiv
céparos téraxtat mpds tas tod Obeod imnpecias.)) 4 Se
doeBis yx? péver ent ris idias ovcias, bp’ Eavris Kodago-
pévn, kal yiuvor cdpa (nrovca eis 5 eiaédOn.
I9b =dvOpdmwov 8é AXo yap cepa od ywpet dvOpamimy Yuynv. od8é ~ 5
Burs early cis dddyou (gov capa Wuyxiv dvOpemimmy xarawecciv' Geod
yap vépos obros, puddocew Wuyi dvOpamlmy dnd tis ToaiTns USpews.
20 —Ilés oy xoddfera, & mdrep, dvOpwrimm wuyy;—Kal ris éore
peifav xddaois [dvOparivns oxijs], 3 réxvov, } doéBea; moiov wip
Tocaitny pddya exer Sony i doéBera; moiov dé Saxerdv Onpiov (rocot- 20
tov loxver) [Sore] Avpavac {rd) c&pa, Soov adriy rip ux 7
doéBewa; i) ody épGs doa xakd mdoye Woy) } doeBijs, Buodons adris
kal xexpayvias “ xaioat, préyoua’ ti eirw, ri moujow ovk olda’
tec Biopat 7 Kaxodaiporv ind tov KateysvTav pe Kakdy. [ovre BXére
otre dxotw.]” abra ai gwval ob xodatouéerns eloi Wouxns; i) os of 25
modXol Boxoicr kai od Soédfes, & réxvov, Gre Wuyi eEeAOoica rod
QI caparos Onpidfera; Sep dori mrdym peyiotn. yi) yap Koddtera
Tovrov tov tpdérov. 5 yap vois, [[srav Saipwr yérnra, mupivov Tvxeiv
Oopatos réraxrat mpds Tas Tod Beod timnpecias,|] [kai] eiodis els riv
doeBii Wuxny, alkitera adriy rais tov dpaprimatoy paoriéw, i? Sy 3°
paorifopern [aveBis yuxn] (Koddgera) rpérera (yap) emi ((Braogn-
pias, xal)) ddvovs kat UBpes xa [[Sracgnuias xail] Bias mouxidas dv

1 o&pa 7d wip codd. Corp., Turn. : 7d wip cpa codd. Stob, 1-2 ydp
dv 6 vois dpydvy scripsi : yap dv 6 vods rav wévrw épydvw codd. Stob. : yap dy
Tov tiv otpavdv AQ: ydp dwavtay roy obpavav Turn, 4 tav éni yas
pévov codd, Stob. : ray émyeiav mévrav codd. Corp., Turn. | dv@phmw codd.
Corp., Turn. : dvOpdmos codd, Stob. 5 dvOpémvos (dvios Q) codd. Corp.,
Turn.: dv@pémov codd, Stob, |olenoe codd, Stob, : doucnoe codd. Corp.,
Turn, 6 ob codd. Corp., Tum.: om. codd. Stob. 7 roatry yuxi
codd. Corp., Turn.: roar «at (om. vy) codd. Stob, 8 dyorcapévn
codd. Stob, :jyanopévn Oeds yiverar codd. Corp., Turn, 9 7dr Bedy codd,
 LIBELLVS X 201

material elements. Mind is the maker of things, and in making

things it uses fire as its instrument. The mind of the universe is
the maker of all things; but the human mind is a maker of
earthly things alone; for the mind which is in man is stripped of
its vesture of fire, and therefore cannot make divine things, being
merely human, by reason of its place of abode. Now the human Iga
soul,—not indeed every human soul, but the pious soul,—is
daemonic and divine. And such a soul, when it has run the race
of piety,—and this means, when it has come to know God, and
has wronged no man,—becomes mind throughout; and it is
ordained that after its departure from the body, when it becomes
a daemon, it shall receive a body of fire, so that it may work in
God’s service. But the impious soul retains its own substance
unchanged ; it suffers self-inflicted punishment, and seeks an
earthy body into which it may enter.
But it can enter a human body only ;} for no other kind of body can contain 19 b
a human soul, It is not permitted that a human soul should fall so low as to
enter the body of an irrational animal; it is a law of God that human souls
must be kept safe from such outrage as that— Taf, Tell me then, father, how 20
are human souls punished ?—Hermes. Why, what greater punishment can there
be, my son, than impiety? What fire burns with so fierce a flame as impiety?
What ravenous beast has such power to mangle the body, as impiety has to
mangle the very soul? See you not what tortures the impious soul endures?
It cries and shrieks ‘I am burning, Iam all on fire; I know not what to say or
what to do; wretch that Iam, Iam devoured by the miseries that have hold
on me.’ Are not such cries as these the outcries of a soul that is suffering
punishment? Or du you too, my son, suppose, as most men do, that a soul,
when it quits the body, is turned into a beast? ‘That is a very great error.
Souls are punished thus: the mind, when it has entered an impious soul, 21
torments it with the scourges of its sins, and by these scourgings it is punished;
it is impelled to blasphemies against God, and murders and outrages and
? This passage (§§ 19 b-22 a) contradicts what is said elsewhere in Libellus X,
and cannot have been written by the same person.

Corp., Turn. : 7é Oetov codd. Stob. 10 bAy codd, Stob.: #5) Turn. : 78: Q
11-12 bray . . . imppecias huc a § 21 transposui 13 doeBhs codd,
Corp., Turn,: dseBotds codd, Stob. 14-15 els & cloén@y dvOpwreov
om, 5€)Q Turn.; eis 8 eloéAOp dvepdmvov A: elaedOeiv, els dvOpwmvov Bé
codd. Stob, 15 cpa om, man. pr. A 17 gvAdoca Stob, P:
puddocey cett. 18 dvOpwnivyn Wx} Q Turn.: Yuxt dvOpwrivy A 1p
® Turn, : } om.Q:4 om. A 19-20 noioy wip... doéBera om. Q 22 4
Q Turn.: om. A 28-29 Srav . . . inrypeoias hinc ad § 19a transposui
29 elodts Turn, :ciodvverai A: eladivaca Q 30 adocBR scripsi: doeBeordrny
codd,, Turn, | dpyaprnudroy scripsi : duaprayéyrev codd., Turn. | adore
Q Turn.: wdorng A 31 doeBis Yux A: 4 doeBhs wuxh Q Tum.
32 Fortasse BAagpnylas (51 dy 5 Beds doeBetrar), cat
 202 CORPVS HERMETICVM

by dvOporo aSixodvra. els 38 Thy edoeB Wuxi 6 vods euBas SSyyet

adriy ent rb Tis yadoews pas’ 4 dé tova’rTn Wux7 xdpov oddérore toyet
(rov Gedv) imvotca ebpnuoicd re, (kal) mdvras dvOpdmous Kai Néyors Kal
22a epyois mdvra ef rrowioa, pipoupern airs tov warépa. 1b, & réxvov,
edyaporotvra Th OeG Sei ebyerOar Kadov Tod vod ruxeiv. 5
els pev obv rd Kpetrrov Woy? peraBaiver’ eis 8¢ 7d CAarrov ddi-
vatov.

22b Kotvovia dé éort Wuxayr Kal Kowwvoiat(v) ((al)) per

[[e4]] trav Ocdv rais rév dvOpérav, ai 8 rév dvOpdrev Tals
TOv Gdéywv, émipedodvrat Se of Kpeirroves TOY éXaTTéveY, 10
Beot ev dvOpdmov, dvOpwro St trav ddbywr [fear], 6 d
Oebs mévrav: mévrwv yap obtos Kpetrroy [kal mdvra abrod
éAdrrova], 6 pev ody Kéopos brdketat TE Oecd, 6 dS? dvOpw-
mos 7@ Kéopw, Ta d& dhoya 7B avOpdrw 6 dt beds dip
wdvra kal epi wévta. Kal Tod pev Oeod Kabdmep dxrives al 15
evépyetatr Tod dt Kbcpov [dxrives] ai dvoes tod St dvOpé-
mov, al réxvat kal émiorhpat. Kai al pev évépyeat, did Tod
Koapou évepyota(ayt, Kai ent tov dvOpwmov (Sijkovor) Sid
tév 700 Kécpov guotxdy axrivors ai St dices dd Tov
oroxeiwr. [oi 8¢ dvOpwmot Sid rév Texvav Kal émiornpdr.] 20
23 kai airy 4 tod mavrés éore Sioiknots, Hprnpévon (rdvrov)
ex Tis évds (rod Beob) picews, kal diokouménen de’ évds Tod
vod (ov) obdév éott Oerdrepov Kal évepyécrepov, Kal évwriKd-
Tepov avOpdrov pév mpds Ocots, OeGv St mpds avOpdrovs.
obrés éoTw 6 dyads Saipwv: paxapia Wey} % Tovrov 5 be

mijpuc, Kaxodaipwy St [Wuy7] 4) Tobrou Kev}. — [1s rodro

médw éyes, & métep;— Ola odv, & réxvoy, bri maca
Wuxi) voiv Exe; [rdv dyabdy: epi yap rovrov viv 6 Aéyos,
ov rod bmnpetixod mepl ob Eumpoober eipixapev, Tod Kara-
2 toxee Q Turn: éxe A 3 tpvotca Flussas: smvoica AQ Turn.
| edpnpodod re Turn.: eipnuodca 8 AQ 3-4 Adyos Kad Epyors Q Turn.:
Epyas wal Adyos A 4 e rotodoa Flussas :éurootca AQ Tum. 8-11 ai
de tov dvOpinav ... dy dddyov (gw codd. Stob,: om. codd. Corp., Turn :
(gar seclusit Meineke 12-13 advrov yap... abrod éAdrrova codd. Corp.,
Turn.: om. codd, Stob. 14-15 imép wdvra codd. Corp., Turm.: imp
dmavra Stob, P: iwepamwavra Stob, F 15 xabdmep derives codd. Corp.,
Turn.: k«aQdmep ai derives codd. Stob.: xaBamepel durives Meineke
16 dxrives (post «écpov) codd. Corp., Turn. : af derives codd. Stob.: seclusit
Wachsmuth 17 Kat émorijpa codd. Corp., Turn.: «al al émarijpat codd,
Stob. 18 évepyodoa scripsi : évepyoda: codd., Turn. 21 nayrés éore
codd, Corp., Turn.: mavrds (om, éor:) codd. Stob. | Aprnpévav mévroy
scripsi: jptnuévn codd., Turn. 22 rijs évds rod Oeod ppicews scripsi: ris
évés picews codd. Stob.: ris rod évds pioews codd. Corp., Turn. | wat
Siocxoupévey scripsi: nat Bijeovea codd, Corp,, Turn., Stob, F : «at 4 d:oleovca
 LIBELLVS X 203
manifold deeds of violence by which men are wronged. But when the mind
has entered a pious soul, it leads that soul to the light of knowledge ;and such
a soul is never weary of praising and blessing God, and doing all manner of
good to all men by word and deed, in imitation of its Father. Therefore, my 22a
son, when you are giving thanks to God, you must pray that the mind assigned
to you may be a good mind.
A soul then may rise to a higher grade of being, but cannot sink to a lower
grade,
There is communion between soul and soul. The souls of the 22 b
gods are in communion with those of men, and the souls of men
with those of the creatures without reason. The higher have the
lower in their charge ; gods take care of men, and men take care
of creatures without reason. And God takes care of all; for He
is higher than all. The Kosmos then is subject to God; man is
subject to the Kosmos ; the creatures without reason are subject
to man; and God is above all, and watches over all. The divine
forces are, so to speak, radiations emitted by God; the forces that
work birth and growth are radiations emitted by the Kosmos ; the
arts and crafts are radiations emitted by man. The divine forces
operate by means of the Kosmos, and their operation reaches
man by means of the cosmic radiations to which birth and
growth are due; and the forces that work birth and growth
operate by means of the material elements. Thus is the 23
universe administered. All things are dependent on the
being of God alone, and are administered by means of mind
alone. There is nothing more divine than mind, nothing more
potent in its operation, nothing more apt to unite men to gods,
and gods to men. Mind is ‘the good daemon’!; blessed is
the soul that is filled with mind, and ill-fated is the soul that is
devoid of it— Zar, Again I ask you, father, what do you mean by
that ?*—Hermes, Do you think then, my son, that every soul has
1 T.e. the author of a man's happiness.
2 T,e. by speaking of souls ‘ devoid of mind’.

Stob. P | 8° codd, Corp., Turn. ;7of (om. &’) codd. Stob, 28 ob

add. Flussas —_|ob5év codd. Corp., Turn. ; 6 62 voids codd. Stob. 24 apbs
Qcovs codd. Stob. : xpds rods Oeods codd. Corp., Turn. | & om, A |mpds
avOpismous codd. Stob.: mpds rots dvOpmmrovs AQ Turn. 25 parapia codd.
Corp., Turn.: of & paxapia codd, Stob. | } (post parapia yux}) codd.
Corp, Turn.: 7 codd. Stob, 26 wAypys scripsi: wAnpeordtn codd.,
Turn, | «evn codd. Corp., Turn,: «evwrarn codd, Stob. 27 A€yes
médw A: médw A€yes cett. 28 éxe 7d dyabdv A: Exe Tov d-yabdy cett.
| tobrov viv 6 Adyos Heeren: rodrou 5 viv Adyos codd. Stob. : rovrou éoriv tiv
6 Adyos codd. Corp., Turn. 29 ob Tod wrnpeTicod wept od codd. Stob. : ob
nepl rod imnperixod ov codd. Corp., Turn.
 204 CORPVS HERMETICVM
24a mepmopévov drd ris dixns.] ([Wux) yap Xewpis vod ovre Te
eimeiv ob’ tp£a Sdivarat.|] moddAdKis yap égiorara 6 voids
THs Woyxis: Kai ev éxelvy 7H Spa odre Préret Hh Wuxi} ode
dxovet, dAN addy (do Eorxe: (Wuxi) yap xepis voi “ ore
rt ebreiv ctr’ Ep€ar Sévara..”)) THrtKadTn Stvapils ott Too 5
vod. GAX’ odd vwbpas uyis avéyerat, GAA Karadetre
Ti [ev] TO odpare mpoonprnpéevny Kai br’ adbrod dyxopévny
Kdto. % d& ro.adrn wuxy, @ Téxvov, vodvy obx exer BOev
vd dvOpwmov Hyciobat det tov ToLodTov.
24b 6 yap dvOpwros (dv éort Oeiov, Kai rois dAXows (Hots ov 10
ovykplverac Toic émvyetoic, GAAA Tois ev odpave [dvw Aeyo-
pévois] Oeotss paddov dé, ef xpi) ToAuHoavtas elmeiv 7d
adnbés, Kat brép éxeivous éoriv 6 dvtws dvOpwros, 7} mdévTos
25 Ye (codvvapodow adArrols. ovddels pev yap Tdv odpaviov
Gedy emt yin Karededoerat, ovpavod tiv Spov Karadumdy: 15
6 d& &vOpwros kal eis Tov ovpaviv dvaBaiver, Kal perpet
avrov [kal olde mota pév éotw adtod tyrnda, moia de
tamed, kal ta dda mévra axpiBds pavOdve): Kal Td
mévrev peifov, ovde Thy yav Katadimoy dvew yiverat tocod-
tov Td péyeOds eoriv att@ tis éxrdcews. 815 ToAunréov Oo

eimeiv Tov pev ((emiyetov)) dvOpwroy [[émtyeror]] evar Ovyrov

Oedv, tov St odpdvioy Oedv aOdvatov dvOpwror.
Siérep dia robrwy ra mdvra SioKkeiras tev dbo, Kocpov Kal
avOpérov, b1rd Se [[rod]] évds ((r0d)) (Beod) ra wévra.

1 xwpts vod codd. Stob.: xwpis tod vod codd. Corp,, Turn. 2 ot’ Epéa
codd, Stob,: ovré 7 efpfa codd. Corp,, Turn. égictara: Meineke: éfi-
mrara codd. Stob,: ééory codd. Corp., Turn. 83 7 codd. Stob,: om. codd.
Corp., Turn. 6 GAN’ ob5e . . . dvéxerar codd. Stob. : om. codd. Corp.,
Turn. | Fortasse vadp@ yx o(vvev) —'7_—s Ti év codd. Stob. : iv ro.adrny
yuxiv codd, Corp., Turn. mpoonptn.érny codd. Corp., Turn. : mpooxet-
hévny codd, Stob. |nat bx’ avro Q Turn. : «ai wpds (suprascr. dx” man. pr.)
airod A; xara wayra codd, Stob. 8 4 88 rowadry codd. Corp., Turn. : 4
toaity 5¢ codd. Stob. (An 3)?’ Wachsmuth) — | @ codd. Stob. ; om, codd.
Corp., Turn. 9 Hyetobas Sef codd, Stob.: Se? A&yea#a codd. Corp., Turn.
10 (adv éor Befov codd. Corp., Turn.: Gefov (@dv gor: codd, Stob, 10-11 xa?
Tois GAAos (wos ob avyxpiverar codd, Corp., Turn.: «al ovd2 rots dAAors
(gots ovyxpivdpevoy codd, Stob.: fortasse «. 7. a. ¢. ob ovyeperov 1l trois
émvyetous scripsi: T@v émvyeiwy codd. Corp., Turn.: trav émvyeiav risiv codd.
Stob. | & otpavS avo codd. Corp. Tum.: dvw év ovpar@ codd. Stob.
12 ef xpi) codd, Corp., Turn, : éxpiv codd. Stob, |ToApnoavras codd.
 LIBELLVS X 205
mind?[{ ]? Oftentimes the mind quits the soul; and at such 24a
times, the soul can neither see nor hear, but is like a beast
devoid of reason. For a soul without mind ‘can neither say
aught nor do aught’*; so great is the power of mind. Nor does
mind endure a torpid soul ;it abandons the soul which is fastened
to the body, and held down in the grip of the body. Such a soul,
my son, has no mind in it; and therefore such a one ought not
to be deemed a man,
For man is a being of divine nature; he is comparable, not to 24 b
the other living creatures upon earth, but to the gods in heaven.
Nay, if we are to speak the truth without fear, he who is indeed a
man is even above the gods of heaven, or at any rate he equals
them in power. None of the gods of heaven will ever quit 25
heaven, and pass its boundary, and come down to earth; but
man ascends even to heaven, and measures it; and what is
more than all beside, he mounts to heaven without quitting the
earth; to so vast a distance can he put forth his power. We
must not shrink then from saying that a man on earth is a mortal
god, and that a god in heaven is an immortal man.
All things then are administered through these two, the Kosmos
and Man; but all things are governed by God alone.
1 [That is, the good mind; for it is of the good mind that I am now speak-
ing, and not of that mind of which I spoke before, namely, the mind which
is employed in service, and is sent down by penal justice.’
2 A quotation from Theognis, |. 177 Bergk.

Stob.: roApioavra codd. Corp., Turn. 12-13 rd ddAnOés secludendum?

13 wat codd. Corp. Turn.: om. codd. Stob. 14 ye codd. Corp.,
Turn. : om, codd. ‘Stab, 14. ovdeis codd. Stob, : 6er:s codd. Corp., Turn.
15 OeGv codd, Corp. Turn.: om. codd. Stob. |viv scripsi: ys codd.,
Turn. | xaraAcirer Turn.: xaradimdy cett. 16 «ai (ante els) codd.
Stob.: om. codd. Corp., Turn, 17-18 kat olde... dxpiBas pavOdver codd.
Corp., Turn. :om. codd. Stob. :fortasse retinendum «at [ ] dxpiBds pavOdver
17 éorw abtod Q: torw aitg Turm.: aire éorw A 20 70 (ante
péyebds) codd. Stob.; om. codd. Corp., Turn. | air codd. Corp.,
Turn. : abrot codd. Stob. éxtdcews codd. Corp., Turn.: éxaragews codd.
Stob. 21 cinetv codd. Stob.: éorly eiwetv codd. Corp., Turn.
22 ovpdvioy Gedy Wachsm. : obpavdy Gedy codd. Stob. :odpaviov (odpavdy (?) Q)
elvac Gedy codd, Corp., Turn. 23 Siorxetra codd. Corp., Turn.; om.
codd. Stob. 24 7d codd. Corp., Turn.: om. codd. Stob.
 206 CORPVS HERMETICVM

LIBELLVS Xi. (i)

Nod pos “Eppa

Ia [[Kardoyxes ody Tod NOyou, ® Tplopéytore ‘Eppf, Kal

Héuvnoo T&v eyopévor.
Ib as 5€ poe érpdOev cimeiv odk dxvicw. rel 4ohAd TOAAGY
kal radra Sidpopa mepi rod mavris Kal rod Oeod eimévrav 5
éyd 7d addnbes odk tyabov, oF por mepl robrov, déorora,
Stacdpnoov: coi yap dv kat pave moretoasus tiv weph
s Z A A .

Tovrov pavépworv. [6 xpévos.] dxove, @ Téxvov, ds Exe 6 Beds

kai 7d 1ap.])
(6) Geds, 6 aldv, 6 Kécpos, 6 xpévos, 4 yéveots. Io
6 Beds (rov) aidva rrote?,
6 aidy dé rév Kécpor,
6 Kdopos d€ rdv xpévor,
6 xpévos d& riv yéveotv.
Tod dt Oeod [dome] odcia éorl 7d dyabdy, [rd Kaddv, 4 1§
evdatpovia, 4 copia)
Tod 8 aldvos, 4 ravrérns,
Tob dé xdopou, 4 Ta&gLs,
Tov d& xpévov, 4 peraBorr,
Ths 8& yevécews, % Coy [kal 6 Odvaros). 20

evépyerat dé
Tod Oeod vods Kai Wuyy,
Tob d€
aidvos, Xeanacia Kal AlamoNH,
Tob 8&
Kécpou, drokardoracts kal dvtanoxardoraais,
Tod dé
xpévou, aténors Kal pelosis,
Tis d&
yevéoews, morérys (kal mocérns),
35
6 obv aldy év TB O68,
6 b€ Kéopos ev TO aidnt,’ lel tA

6 8 xpévos év 7B xébopy,
4 88 yéveats ev 7B xpove.
4 2 “a 4

1 vot Q: vois A Turn, 2-9 Kkardoxes ... 7) way hinc transposui; vide
post § 6a 10 6 xéopos Q Turn: om. A | 6 xpévos om. Q 13 rov
(ante xpévev) Q Turn. : om. A 14 riv QTum.: om, A 21 évép-
 LIBELLVS XI (i) 207

LIBELLVS XI. (i)

A discourse of Mind to Hermes

God, Aeon,’ Kosmos, Time, Coming-to-be.

God makes the Aeon,
the Aeon makes the Kosmos,
the Kosmos makes Time,
and Time makes Coming-to-be. S

The essence of God is the Good,

the essence of the Aeon is sameness,
the essence of the Kosmos is order,
the essence of Time is change,
and the essence of Coming-to-be is life.
The workings of God are mind and soul,
the workings of the Aeon are immortality and duration,
the workings of the Kosmos are reinstatement in identity and
reinstatement by substitution,
the workings of Time are increase and decrease,
and the workings of Coming-to-be are quality and quantity.

The Aeon then is in God,

the Kosmos is in the Aeon,
Time is in the Kosmos,
and Coming-to-be is in Time.
1 Or ‘ Eternity’.

yerat Turn. : évépyeca AQ 22 déavagia nat dtayovy scripsi: diapov} nat

déavacia Turn,
 208 CORPVS HERMETICVM

kal 6 pev aidy Eornke wept Tov Ged,

6 8& Kécpos Kivetrat év TO adv,
6 d& xpévos mepasobrat ev TH kbopy,
9 O& yéveots yiverat év TO xpiveo.
3 ny} wey ody mdvrav 6 Beds, [ovata dé 6 aidv, HAn de 65
kbapos,] Stvapis St Tod Oeod 6 aidv, Epyov S& Tod aidvos
6 Kéopos, yevdpevos ovtrore, kal del yiwdpevos id Tod aidvos.
51d ove POapiceral more: aiov yap apbapros. ovde arro-
Aeirai Te Tov &Y TO Koop, Too Kécpouv wd Tob aidvos
€umeptexopéevov. Lh 88 Tod beod [[opéa}] (ovata) ri[s]éore; c

Td dyabdv Kal Td Kadédv.| [Kal 4 ((copia)) eddatpovia Kai

4a[h] maoa dpery.] Kal 6 aldy Kooper [ody] tiv (WAnr),
dOavaciav Kat Siapoviv evOels rH OA’ [) yap exeivns
yéveors] [[Hprntat éx Tod aldvos, kabdmep Kai 6 aidy ex Tod
Oeod']] ) yap yeveors [kal 6 xpévos év ovpavG Kal év yf elow 15
dvres] Sipuris, vy ev ovpavG adperaBAjtrwn Kai apOdpron,
ev 0& yij peraBdnTan kat POaprarn. (3 Kéapos ody) (iprn-
Tat €k Tob abe, xabdrep kal 6 ai@y ék Tob Oeod-)) kai TOD
pev aidvos ° 4hyoy 6 Oeds, Tod St Kédcpou 6 ald [ris dé
yijs 6 odpavés). 20
4b [kal 6 pev Beds ev 7G 1G, 6 SE vobs &Y TH Wuxh, H Se
Wuxi év Tij oAg-] [wdvra 6¢ tavra da Tod alévos.] 7d dé
nav TovTo copa, ev @ Ta mdvTa éori odpara, (puxis
mrijpés eoriv* 82) yoy) mArpns Tod vob, kai (6 vods) rob
Beod. § (xpuyy Sd?) evrds pev adrd mAnpot, éxrds St wepirap- bo 5
Bdver, fworowica 7d mav, exrds pev Toro Td péya Kal
Tédetov Gov [Tov Kécpor], évTos & mdvra Ta (Ga, Kal dv
pev év 7B ovpavG Stapévovea (év) th tavréryti, kétw dé émi
Tis yiis (dpa) TH yevéoe: peraBdddovea.
5 ovvéxer d& robro (rd ma) 6 aldv,—eire [8] dvdyKny, 30
elre mpovoiav, eire tow, [Kai] e(re) te GAXO oterae 7}
oinOnoeraé tis,—rTobTo tort [walv, 6 Beds evepyav. 4 de
evépyeta (rod) beod Suvdpei [ovca] dvumépBAntos, 7 ore Ta
avOparea obre T& Ocia mapaBddrAx dv tis. 6, (@) ‘Epph,
pi[derojre tay kdrw pyre Tov dvw Spody re Hyjon TO OG 35

1 Trav deiv Q: Tdv Gedy cett. 10 ri scripsi: ris (vel 71s) codd., Turn.
11 % (ante edSa:povia) Turn, :om. AQ 13 evOels TH Ay Q: ’vOels 5 aly
TH UAp cett.: fortasse évOels éxeivy 14 yéveots om, Q 16 dipuns
scripsi: divers codd., Turn. 16-17 aperaBrnrav Kai dpOdproy ... pera-
 LIBELLVS XI (i) 209
The Aeon stands fast in connexion with God,
the Kosmos moves in the Aeon,
Time passes in the Kosmos,
and Coming-to-be takes place in Time.

God then is the source of all things; the Aeon is the power of 3
God; and the work of the Aeon is the Kosmos, which never
came into being, but is ever coming into being by the action of
the Aeon. And so the Kosmos will never be destroyed ; for the
Aeon is indestructible. Nor will anything in the Kosmos perish ;
for the Kosmos is encompassed by the Aeon. And the Aeon 4a
imposes order on matter, putting immortality and duration! into
matter. For things come into being in two different ways; the
things that come into being in heaven are immutable and
imperishable, but those that come into being on earth are
mutable and perishable. The Kosmos then is dependent on
the Aeon, as the Aeon is dependent on God ; the Aeon’s source
of being is God, and that of the Kosmos is the Aeon.
And this whole body,?in which all bodies are contained, is filled 4 b
with soul ; soul is filled with mind; and mind is filled with God.
Soul fills the whole body within, and encompasses it without,
giving life to the universe ;without, it gives life to this great and
perfect living creature,’ and within, to all the living creatures.
In heaven above, soul persists in sameness; on earth below, it
changes as things come into being,
That which holds this universe together‘is the Aeon; (some 5
perhaps think, or will think in time to come, that it is Necessity,
or Providence, or Nature, or something else 3) that is to say, it is
God at work. And God’s working is unsurpassable in power ;
nothing human or divine can be compared to it, Deem not
then, Hermes, that anything on earth below or in heaven above is

? Le. finite duration, as opposed to immortality.

? Le. the body of the Kosmos, 5 Viz. the Kosmos.
* Or ‘keeps the universe in existence’.

Bdnrév nat pOaprav scripsi: dperdBAnror nad apOaprot ... weraBAntol Kat
‘p0aprot codd., Turn, 18-19 Fortasse rod pev aidvos dpyd 21 77
(ante Yuyx7) om. Q 23-24 yYuyijs . .. 4 5¢ addidit Reitz. 29 dpa rH
yevéoe scripsi: riv yéveowy codd,, Turn. 30 rotro rd wav scripsi: rodrov
codd., Turn, 31 cire mpdvoray AQ: cire did mpdvoav Turn. 32 éorw
scripsi: éo7e may codd., Turn, 33 duvdpet scripsi: Sdvayus odaa codd.,
Turn. 35 yjre (ante av xdrw) scripsi: yydérore codd., Turn.
2806 P
 210 CORPVS HERMETICVM

érel ris ddnOclas exmeoh: oddév yap Spo.ov TO [dvopoto Kai]

pore kat evi, [kal] pnde ddr Twi hynon THs Suvdpews
éxxwpelv: tls yap Kar’ éxeivoy; (ris dAdos airtos) [etre]
fwms, Kat dOavactas Kai peraBodrs morc; Th de adbroy
dddo (épyov i) 76 Trolein ; od yap apyds 6 Oeds+ eel mdvra 5
dv qv dpyd dravta yap wANpy Tob Oeod. GN ovde Ev TO
kéopm éotiv dpyla ovdapod [odd Ev tin ddAdQ}: dpyla yap
dvopa Kevdv éort, Kal Tod motodvTos Kal To ylvopeErou,
~ lat s ~

Gatdvra St Sef yiverOar Kai det Kal Ka6’ ExaoTon TOmrON

[dorfv]. 6 yap mody év maoly éorw, odk & Tun ipu-
pévos, obd& Ev Tt mroidv, GAA wadvTa, (mavTaxod) (av evep-
a » xX a 3
2 SOX

ddvapis yap [[dv évepy?s]] ovK adtdpxns eott Trois

? -

yis)).
yiwopévots, GAA ra yiwdpeva dn’ aire.
1a ((katdoyxes ov Tob Adyov,
i”. ~
TplopEyLoTE
[4 = 4 c
Eppij,
=~
Kat \
péuvnoo Tay Aeyopévov.)) 15

LIBELLVS XI. (ii)

(Nod mpos “Eppynv)
tb (... ds d€ poe empdOev eimeiv odk dkvjow. me ~
J
Tore TOAAGY kai Tadra Sidépopa mepi Tod mavrbs Kal Tob
cod eirévrav éyd 7d adnbes odk Euabov, aU por mepi TovToU,
Sécrora, Siacdpnoor col yap dv Kal povo morevoarpe THY
mept tovrov gavépwow.—
[6 xpévos] “Axove, & réxvor, ws Exet 6 Beds Kai Td Tav.))
6b Béaca SH 80 éuod tov Kécpoy dwoKeipevoy TH of SWel,
[76 te KddAos adrod axpiBGs Katavénooy,] copa [per]
axijparov, Kal of madatbrepov ovdéy éor[alt, dia mavrds dé i) mm

y axpaiov Kal véov [kal pGddov akpatérepov]. ide Kal rods

brroxetpévous etd Koopous, Kekoopnpevous ager alwvio, Kai
1 ob Q: ovder cett. 3 éxyopeiv scripsi: éyxapeiv codd.,, Turn. |ear’
scripsi: per’ codd., Turn. 4 wat (ante peraBodjs) Turn.: om. AQ
|monrfs scripsi : modryTos codd., Turn. 4-5 airov dAdo Epyor i} TO maeiy
scripsi: abrds dAAo Tt monceev codd., Turn. 8 «xevdv man. pr. Q Turn, :
xavoy A, man. post. Q @ txacrov rémoy scripsi: éxdorou Témov codd.,
Turn. 10 fonv Q: pony cett. LL ob8é év rim Tom Q: od5e & 7 nOLdy
cett. 14-15 § 1 a huc transposni. 15 Fortasse \eAeypévar
17-22 § 1 b huc transposui 23 8) scripsi: 5écodd., Turn, 25 obdév
éore scripsi :obey éora codd., Turn. 27 éxrd om. Q
 LIBELLVS XI (i) ail

like to God ; else you will err from the truth ; for nothing can be
like to the One and Only. And deem not that God resigns
aught of his power to another ; for who is as God is? Who else
is the author of life, and the maker both of immortality and of the
changing life of mortals? And what is God’s work, if not to
make things?' God is not idle; if he were, then all things would
be idle; for all things are full of God. Nay, in the Kosmos also
there is no idleness anywhere ; idleness, whether of the Maker or
of that which he makes, is a word devoid of meaning. It needs 6a
must be that all things come into being, and that things are
coming into being always and everywhere. For the Maker is in
all things ; his abode is not in some one place, nor does he make
some one thing; no, he makes all things, and everywhere he is at
work. The things that come into being have no independent
power ; to God is subject all that comes into being.
Grasp this my teaching then, thrice-greatest Hermes, and keep1ra
in memory what I tell you.

LIBELLVS XI. (ii)

A discourse of Mind to Hermes
Hermes. . . . But I will not shrink from speaking as the1b
thought has come to me. Many men have told me many and
diverse things concerning the universe and God, and yet I have
not learnt the truth, I ask you therefore, Master, to make this
matter clear to me. You, and you alone, I shall believe, if you
will show me the truth about it.
Mind. Hearken then, my son, and I will tell you how things
are, as to God and the universe.
Look upon things through me,? and contemplate the Kosmos 6b
as it lies before your eyes, that body which no harm can touch,
the most ancient of all things, yet ever in its prime, and ever
new. See too the seven subject worlds,* marshalled in ever- 7
lasting order, and filling up the measure of everlasting time as

1 T.e. to make living creatures, or in other words, to put life into the
universe and all things in it.
2 T. ec. ‘ with the eye of the mind’; for it is Mind that is speaking.
5 I. e, the seven planets.
P 2
 212 CORPVS HERMETICVM

Spbu@ dtapdpw tov aldva dvamAnpodvras. wris dé mévra

TAfpyn, wip St oddapod (...+ T)R yap gidia (ray evav-
tiwv)) kal s (r)ffal ovyKpdeei [[rav
=
évavriov]]
2 4
[kal]v trav
~
dvopotwy
2

(73 wip) das yéyove, katahaprbpevoy bmd THs Tob [Beod]

(jAdov) évepyetas, (rod) mavtos dyabod yevvijropos, kal méons 5
tdgews dpxovtos, Kal iyepévos Tév emda kbopov. cedrvny
(ibe, éxeivov mpddpopov mévrav, dpyavov ris ptoews, Thy
kdt@ bdnv petaBdddAgoveav: Thy Te yhv, peony Tod mavros
((iSpupévnv)), broordOuny tod Kadoi xécpou [[idpupévnr]],
Tpopor kal TLOnvny Tay éemyciov. Oéacat St Kai Td WAHOOS 10
x s ta fol 3 s cA s a ~

tav dbavdtov <dwv dcov éort, kal 7d Tov OvnTradv, peony de

dpgorépwy [rav re dbavdrav Kai trav Ovyntav] Thy cedjvny
8a repiropevopévny. mdvra dé wAnpyn Wuyxijs, kal wévTa Kwod-
peva, TH pev mepl Tov ovpavéy, Ta SE wept THY yy. [Kal
pre Te Seka eri ra aptorepa pire Ta dpiorepa emi ra deta, 15
Byte Ta dvw kdtwo phre TA KéTo dvo.|
8b kal ért wévra tadra yeryytd, @ pidrtare ‘Eppa, odKér
€nod xpyces pabeiv. Kal yap cdpard éort, kal yuyny éxet,
(f) Kai kiveirat tabra dé els ev cvveOciv ddivatov yxapis
Tob cuvayévros. Sef ody (roLobrév) Tiva elvat, ((Kat)) ToDTOV 20
9 [[kai]] wévros eva. [év] Staddpwy yap Kai moddAOy ovodr
TOV Kwhoewv, Kal TGV cwopdrov ody dpolwv, pds St Kata
mdvrov Tdzews TeTaly|uevns, ddbvaroy Sto f mAelous Trontas
dvat. pla yap ém modd@v ov rypeitat régisr CHAos SE Tots
moAdois mapéerat, (. . .) Tob Kpelrrovos, Kai épiodot. Kal 25
ef €repos Fv 6 montis Tay peraBAnrdv [fear] Kal Ovntar,
ercOtpynoev dv Kal abavdrovs mojoa, domep Kal 6 Tov
abavdrov Ovnrods. gépe Oé, ei Kai dbo cial, pds oboens THs
3 2 4 2 4 ’ . Va Ley > =

bAns Kal puds ths Wuyhs, mapa rin [dv] abrdv 4 xopynyia
[rAs moijoems|; ef d& Kai mapa dudorépas, mapa tivt Tb 30
2 Fortasse obdapod (yis) vel obSupod (carw): vel wip 4 &v) obpand(péry)
_ 2-4 rh yap pirig tov evavtiv nal rH avyepdce t&v dvopoiwy scripsi: 9 yap
pdla nat ) ov-yepacis Téy évavriov Kai r&v dvopotow codd., Turn. 6 dpxov-
Tos wat wWyepdvos Turn. : dpxov Kai Hyepov AQ 7 t6e scripsi: 8é codd.,
Turn, 8 peraBaddAovoay Q Turn. : peraBddAdAgovoa A 9 Tov Kadod
codd., Turn. : fortasse GAov 70D =. 10 rpopav Q, tpopdr cett. 11 écov om,
Q | 70 (ante 7&v Ovnrayv) eras, man. post. A 11-12 Fortasse péons
[oa]dpporépwv [ ] rijs cedhvns weprropevopérys 17 yern7a QD | BA: om.
Q Turn. 21 évisadpdpwr? 22 trav mvjceow QTum.: 7dr koqoews A
23 rafews rerapévys scripsi : TaxvTyTos Teraypevns codd., Turn. 25 map-
éverar Q Turn. ; wapérerar A | fortasse (éxOpds yap Zorat 6 Hrrwy) Tod Kpelr-
Toros | Eprodar Turn. : ép@or A: ep cor Q 27-28 d@avdrous moijom
« «4vnrovs AQ Turn.: d0dvata moijoa.. . Ovnrd Flussas 28 ef Turn.:
 LIBELLVS XI (ii) 213
they run their diverse courses. And all things are filled with
light ; but nowhere is there . . . fire;' for by the friendship of
contraries, and the blending of things unlike, the fire of heaven
has been changed into light, which is shed on all below by the
working of the Sun ; and the Sun is the begetter of all good, the
ruler of all ordered movement, and governor of the seven worlds.
Look at the Moon, who outstrips all the other planets in her
course,’ the instrument by which birth and growth are wrought,*
the worker of change in matter here below. Look at the Earth,
firm-seated at the centre, the foundation ‘ of this goodly universe,®
the feeder and nurse of all terrestrial creatures. See too how
great is the multitude of living beings, both those which are
immortal and those which are mortal; and note how the Moon,
as she goes her round, divides the immortals from the mortals,
And all are filled with soul, and all are in movement, immortals
8a
in heaven, and mortals upon earth,
Now all these have been made. There is no need for me to 8 b
tell you that, dear Hermes. It must be so, because they are
bodies with soul in them ;—it is the soul that moves them j—and
body and soul cannot meet in one, unless there is some one who
brings them together. There must then be such a one 3 and he
must needs be one. The movements are diverse and many, and 9
the bodies differ one from another, but there is one ordered
system which extends through all ; therefore, there cannot be two
or more makers. Where there are many makers, one order can-
not be maintained ; there will be rivalry among the many; the
weaker will hate the stronger, and they will be at strife. And if
the maker of mutable and mortal creatures had been another than
the maker of immortals, he would have wanted to make immortals
also; and the maker of immortals would have wanted to make
mortals. Yes, and if there are two makers, then, seeing that
matter is one and soul is one, to which of the two does
the
supply of matter and soul belong? Or if it belongs to both, to
} The meaning must have been ‘ nowhere, except in heaven,
is there a region
of unmixed fire’,
? The moon’s movement (relatively to the fixed stars) is more
rapid than
that of any other planet.
° Or ‘the instrument by means of which Nature works’.
* Or ‘sediment ’.
* Perhaps, ‘ of the whole Kosmos’.
én AQ 30 ris morjcews codd, : fortasse els thy woinaw
(ante duporépors) Q Turn, : mept A | mapa
 414 CORPVS HERMETICVM
10 mAeiov pépos; obrm dt vbet, ds wavtds odpatos (GvTos ef
bAns Kal Wuxiis thy ovoracw exovros, kal rod dBavdrov Kai
Tod Ovnrod, kal rod (AoyiKod Kal tod) ddéyou. mdvTa yap
odpata (evra tuvya, Ta O& pi) CGvTa Ody [wédw] Kal?
dauriy éort: Kal uy} dpolos Kal’ éavriv, To wonTh nn
mapakepévn, THs Cas oycla. [[rHS dt (@hs was aitios 6
tov abavdrar.)|| mas odv [[kal ra Ovnra& (pal) (4 Tov dBavd-
tov fo) ddAu (ris) Tav Ovyntdv; mds dE (eHdoyor Tov) TA
abdvata [kal dbavaciay] mowdvra (Ga pi ((Kal ra Ovyra
(Ga) rovetv; ((rAs OA fais mdo(ns) airwos 6 (ris) Tay o
abavdrwv.))
ur Kal Srt pry eort Tis 6 moidv Tabra, SjAdov. sre SE Kal es,
gavepdrarov Kal yap pla yxy, Kal pla (oH, cal pla ody.
ris 8& obros; tis d& dv ddros (ein), ef pH cls 6 Oeds; tin
yap dv dddAw mpémor [Ga] Euypuya woeiv, ef pi) povm 7 5
Cal

6eG; [els ody Beds. ‘yedorsrarov.] Kat Tov pey Kéopor

dporsynoas Eva elvat, kal tov HAtov Eva, Kai tiv cedjvynv
plav, Kat [Oed6rnta] (riv yiiv) wlav adrov 8 rov Gedy
méarov evar Oédgcrs; [wdvta ody abrds motei.] i moddoi,
14b yedotbrarov. ((els dpa xal 6 Oebs. Kai wddw, ef wdvta (Od i)oO

éort, kal Td ey odpavG kal ra év TH yfi, pla de Kara wdévTov

Co, (for 88) d7d Tod Oeod yiverat, [kal abry éori Geds,) bd
rod O08 dpa yiverat mdvra.))
12a al rh péya TO 06 [Coy Kai Wuxhr] Kai aBavaciay Kal
petaBodyv roeiv, cot Tocadra mowbyTos ; Kal yap Bdémets, 25
kal darels, Kal dxovers, Kal dogpatvy, Kal dmrp, Kal mept-
mareis, Kai vocis, kal mveis, Kal ody Erepos pév eo 6
Brérov, repos d& 6 dkovwy, Erepos dt 6 AadGr, GAdos dE
6 dmripevos, GddAos dé 6 doppatvdpevos, Gros dE 6 meEpt-
maréy, kal dddos 6 voGy, Kal GAXos 6 dvamvéwys GARG els 6 30
Taira mdévra (mov).

1 ds Q Turn: ob A 83 Aoyueod xa Tov addidi. (An secludendum «at

ToD GAdyou 2) 6 ovoia scripsi: alria codd., Turn. 8 dAAy scripsi :
ddd codd., Turn, 8-9 7a a@dvara scripsi: 7d dO@dvaroy codd,, Turn,
9 roodvra (Ga scripsi: roodvra, (wiv A: moody, Ta (vow Q: motody, (Wor
Turn. 10 moeiv AQ: wore? Turn. 12 SfAov. Ste 5 wat scripsi:
Sprovdre SF wal Q Turn.: Snrovdre wat A 18 «ai pla (ah secludendum ?
14 efs Q Turn. : om. A 15 dddw dv A: dv dAdw cett. 16 efs ot
Gedbs* -yeXosrarov AQ Turn.: yeAotdraror, els obv Oeds Flussas 17 dpord-
noas éva elvae Turn.: dpordynoer det clvaa AQ | eva (post fjdcov) Q Turn. :
ex del corr. @va A 19 ef mooi scripsi: év TOAAG AQ Turn. 20 (@a
codd,, Turn.: fortasse (ara 25-30 Fortasse wat yap [ ] Aadeis xal
 LIBELLVS XI (ii) 215
which of the two does it belong in larger measure? You must 10
understand that every living body, be it immortal or mortal,
rational or irrational, is composed of matter and soul. All living
bodies have soul in them ; things which are not alive are matter
apart by itself; and there is likewise soul by itself, laid up in the
Maker's keeping ; for soul is the substance of which life is made.
How then can the life which is in the immortals be other than
the life which is in mortal creatures? And how can it be main-
tained that the maker of those living beings which are immortal is
not the maker of those which are mortal also? He therefore
is the author of all life, who is the author of the life of the
immortals.
It is clear that there is some one who makes these things. And It
it is manifest that the maker is one ; for soul is one, and life is
one, and matter is one. And who is that maker? Who else can
he be but God alone? To whom save God alone should it
belong to put soul into things? You have agreed that the
Kosmos is one, and that the Sun is one, and the Moon is one,
and the Earth is one ; and would you have it that God himself is
but one among many? It would be absurd to suppose that there
are many Gods. God also then is one. Moreover, if all things, 14 b
both those in heaven and those on earth, are alive, and there is
one life in them all, and life is made by God, it follows that all
things are made by God.
And why should it be thought strange’ for God to make both 12a
what is immortal and what is mutable, when you yourself do * so
many different things? You see; you speak and hear; you
smell, and feel by touch; you walk; you think ; you breathe.
It is not one that sees, another that hears, and another that
speaks ; it is not one that feels by touch, another that smells,
another that walks, another that thinks, and another that
breathes ;* but he who does all these things is one.

1 Or ‘a hard task’.
2 The Greek verb here translated ‘do’ is the same that is translated ‘ make’
in the preceding clause.
3 Perhaps, ‘ You speak and hear, you walk and breathe, It is not one man
that hears and another that speaks, nor one that walks and another that
breathes’.

dxovers [ ] wat neptmare’s [ ] wat (dva)nveis, wal obx Erepos pév torw [ | 6
dot, trepos 5 6 AadGy, [ ] dAAos HE 6 wepimariiv, [ ] Kal GAdos 5 dvanveay
 216 CORPVS HERMETICVM
2b ddAd odde duvardn [[éxeiva]] xwpls rod ((éxeiva)) (moetv
Tov) Bein evar. domep ydp, dv rovrwv KatapynOfs, odkért
(ov cd, obras, [ovd] dv éxeivay karapynOf, 6 eds, 8 ph
13 a Oéuis éoriv eimeiv, ovKére éorl Beds. ef yap dmodédexrat
pdtv (mov dvOpwmros od) Svvdpevoc eva, mbo@ paddov 5
6 Beds; ef ydp re éoriv 3 ph move’, Kal (6 Beds), & ph Oéms
elmeiv, dredyséori: ef 8& pi 71 dpyds éore, rédetos. (6 Oeds)
[d¢] dpa mdvra move.
13b =mpos odiyov & dy por ceavrdv émidos, & ‘Epyh, padv0r
vonoal Td Tod Oeod Epyor ev dv, tva mdvra yivyra [rd ywvd-10
Heva, } Ta drag yeyovéra, 4 rd péddovta yiverOa}: [[éore
8 robro, & Pidrare, (wxj]| [rodro dé éort 73 kadébv,] robro dé
17C €or: 7d dyabév. [robro torw 5 Oe6s.] ((bomep yap 6
dvOpwros xopls [fais] (rvojs) ob Stvarat Civ, obrws obdi
6 Geds Sévarar (elvar) ph wordy 7d dyabby: ((are 8 rooTo, 15
& pidrrare, (o7}.)) tobro yap Somep (Cw) cal dorep kivyots]
(odoia) earl rob Beod, (rd) Kiwweiv ra mévra Kal fwomoceiv.))
ac d& Kai Epyo atrd Oédres vojoa, iS ré col eyylverat
Gérovrt yevvijcat. add’ odK éxelvm Todro Spowov éxeivos
(y)ap [a] ody Fderau oddE ydp dddo éxet ovvepyoy, adr- 20
oupyds [y] dp(a) dy, del éorw ev 7B Epye, adbrds dv d motel.
ei yap xapiobein atrod, wévra piv ovpmecciobat, mévra 8
TeOvigecOat dvdyKn, ds ph ottons wns. ef O& mdvra (Ga,
[ula dé kat 4 w#,| (. ..).
4b [els dpa kal 6 Oebs. Kal médw, ef mdvra (Od ort, Kal 25
Ta év ovpav® Kai rd év TH yj, pla 8& Kard mdvrov foi bod
Tod Geob yivera, Kai airy éorl beds, bwd Too Oeod dpa
yiverat wévra.]|
4c — [fwi) d€ ori Evoors [vob] (rdparos) kal yuyis. Odvaros
di ovk drddeva tov cvvaxbévrov, Siddvors 8 ris évdceds 30
eort.]
5a [Tofu eixdy rod Oeod 6 aidy,
tod dé aldvos 6 Kécpos,
Tob St kdopov 6 #AL0s,
Tob dé Alou 6 dvOpwros.] 35
Hb ( « «) tiv & peraBorgry Odvardév gacw vat, Sid 7d 7d

1 duvaroy scripsi : dvvarad codd., Tum, | éxciva ante 2 ¥ suprascr. man,

pr A 2 Oedv scripsi: Geod codd., Turn. 8 dQ Tum: #7 A
4 Fortasse obxém: tora 5 dvvduevos scripsi: Suvdpevov codd,, Turn,
 LIBELLVS XI (ii) ary
Nay, it is not possible for God to exist without doing what 12b
I said he does. You, if you cease to do the things I spoke of,
are no longer a living being ;and even so, God, if he ceases to do
his work, is no longer God,—a thing which none may dare to say.
I have shown that a man cannot exist and yet be doing nothing ;13. a
and still more does this hold good of God. If there is anything
which God does not make, then God himself is incomplete,—
a thing which none may dare to say; but if he is idle in nothing,
then he is perfect. God then makes all things.
And if you give yourself up to me,! Hermes, for a little while, 13 b
you will find it easy to understand that God’s work is this, and
this alone, to bring all things into being; and this* is the good.
For as a man cannot live without breathing, even so God cannot 17 ¢
exist without making that which is good ; and that, dear Hermes,
is life. For it is, so to speak, God’s very being to generate
movement and life in all things. If you wish to understand this 14a
by your own experience, note what takes place in you when you
desire to beget offspring. Yet what God does is not like what
you do; for God does not find carnal pleasure in it; he has no
consort to work with him. He works alone then; and he is ever
at his work, and is himself that which he makes.® If what he
makes were separated from him, all things would of necessity
collapse and die ; for there would be no life in them. But seeing
that all things are alive,.... [ ]*[ ]*
. . . But men call the change ‘death’, because, when it takes 15 b

1 T.e. ‘if you think a little’, To ‘give oneself up to Mind’ is to think,

2 Viz, the coming-into-being of all things.
8 Perhaps, ‘ and he himself is in that which he makes’.
*[§ 14¢. ‘But life is the union of body and soul, Death then is not the
destruction of the things which have been brought together (viz. body and
soul), but the dissolution of their union.’]
5 [§ 15a. ‘The Aeon then is an image of God; the Kosmos is an image ot
o “on ; the Sun is an image of the Kosmos; and Man is an image of the
un.”

6 woe, wai 6 Oeds, & pr scripsi: woe, wat ef wh Turn.: mworei ef pi) AQ
7 wh te scripsi: pre codd., Turn. 9 énidys Turn. : émidos AQ
10 vojoa scripsi: vonoes codd., Turn. |yienrae Q Turn.: yiverar A
11-12 gor... (af hine ad § r7c transposui 12 8€ (ante éo7 70 d-yaddv)
AQ: om, Turn, 20 yap ody scripsi: dpa ody codd,, Turn. |dAAo
Turn.: dddoy Flussas 21 dpa dw scripsi: yap dy codd,, Turn. [é
trae? codd., Turn,: fortasse év @ moet 23 (@a codd,, Turn. : fortasse
| 25-28 § 14b hinc transposui: vide post § 11 36 7d (post dd)
om.
 218 CORPVS HERMETICVM

hey cba SiadrverOar, rv St fwiy eis 7d dhaves ywpety [rd

dtadvbpeval.,
TobT@ 7T@ Aébyo, Pidraré por ‘Eppyy, xal ror Koopov
[Serordaipoy as] (8: aldvés) [dxovers] pny peraBddreo Oar,
Od 7d ylverOar pépos (rt THs was) adbrod Kal’ éxdorny 5
Huépav ev TO dpavel, pndérore (St) SiadrverOat. Kai raird
éort Ta Tod Kécpou dO, ' Swices te Kal Kpdeis: Kal %
16a pty diynos orpopy, 4 S& Kpiyis dvavéwois’. (. . «)
mavrépopgos S€ éotiw, ov Tas popdas éyKetpévas Exon ev
éav7G, [[de]] adrds ((52)) peraBdddor. 10
16b = émrel ody 6 Kédcpos mavrépopdos yéyover, 6 Trohoas ri dy
ein; dpoppos piv yap ph yévoiro: ef S& Kal adtds mavrTé-
Hopdos, Suotos Eorar TH Kbopm. Grd& play exov popdiy,
kata tobro éAdrrwv écrat Tod Kécpov. ri ody pdpev adtov
eivat; pr els dmopiay tiv rébyov TepioTiowper: obdev yap ts
drropov trepi Tod Oeob voovpévoic. play ovv exe idéav, [ef Tes
éoriv adrod idéa,] Aris Tais deow oy droctain dodparos
17a(ydp). [kai mdéoas did t&v copdroy Seikvvot.] Kal pi
Bavydons « eort tis dodparos idéa: ear ydp: domep
[} Tob Aébyou] Kai &y Tais ypapais dxpdperar dpdvrar pe 20
[yap] mdvy e£éxovoa:, rAeia St rH pice Kal dparal cict
TAVTEADS.
17b évvoroac St rd Aeydpevov rorunpdrepov, dAnOéorepoy [Se]
17 € ((vojoeic tov meptéxovTa Ta mdvra)), [[Somep yap 6 dvOpw-
mos xwpis (wis ov Stvarat (Av, obras oddt 6 Oeds SdvaTat ph 25
wody To ayabby, TobiTo yap womep (wi) kal domep kivynois
18 dort rob cod, kwelv Ta Tdvta Kal fworoeiv.]| tna dt Tov
Aeyopévay idlav evvoray exe dpeirer, olov 3 éyw (vir)
[yénoor]. mdvra (ydp) éoriv év TO O€G, odx ws ev Tén@
keipeva: 6 pev yap rémos [kal] cOud éort, xal (wav) dpa 20
(xuvntévy 7d 8 dodparov) axivntov, Kat ta (év adre)
keiueva kivnow ovk exer Keirat yap GdAws év dowudr@
[gpavracia}. [[vénoov trav mepiéxovtra ta mévta.j] Kal
[yénoov drt] rob dowpdrov ovdéy ears mepiopiorixéy, [ovde
Taxvrepov, obdé duvardrepov,| abrd dé wdvrov (meptoptatixéy), 35

3 rovry Q Turn: todro A 8 «pipes Q: «pryis cett, 14 popev

scripsi: gapéy codd., Turn, | abrov om. A 16 voovpévors scripsi:
voovpevoy codd., Turn, | ean Turn, : ef 52 dy AQ [di ms A:
ein Ts Q: iris Turn, 17 idéa scripsi : [Sia codd., Turn. | 7 Gbeow
 LIBELLVS XI (ii) 219
place, the body is decomposed, and the life departs and is no
longer seen.
And speaking in this way, dear Hermes, I say that the Kosmos
also is changing through all time, inasmuch as day by day a part
of its life passes away out of our sight, but that it is never decom-
posed. And the things that befall the Kosmos are... . And 16a
the Kosmos assumes all forms; it does not contain the forms as
things placed in it, but the Kosmos itself changes.
Now if the Kosmos is so made that it assumes all forms, what 16b
is to be said of its Maker? Shall we say that he is formless?
Surely not that! Yet if he too assumes all forms, he will be like
the Kosmos; and if he has but one form, he will in that respect
be inferior to the Kosmos. What then are we to say of him?
We must not let the discussion end in unsolved doubt; for in our
thoughts of God, no question is insoluble. We will say then that
God has one form, and one alone, but it is a form that no eye can
see; for it is incorporeal. And marvel not that there is ani7a
incorporeal form. Such things there are; for instance, in pictures
we see mountain-tops standing out high, though the picture itself
is quite smooth and flat.
And if you boldly grasp this conception,’ you will get a truer 17b
notion of Him who contains all things. There are terms which 18
must be taken in a sense peculiar to the thing spoken of ; and of
this, what I am now saying is an instance. All things are in God ;
but things are not situated in God as in a place. A place is
a body,’ and all bodies are subject to movement ; but that which
is incorporeal is motionless, and the things situated in it have no
movement; for it is in a different sense that things ‘are situated
in’ what is incorporeal. And the incorporeal* cannot be enclosed
by anything ; but it can itself enclose all things ; it is the quickest

1 Viz, the conception of incorporeal form, or incorporeality.

2 Perhaps, ‘is something which contains bodies’.
3 ¢The incorporeal’, in this passage, means mind or soul.

Q: ais Speow cett. 20-21 Fortasse ép@yta: piv (7H pavracig): vide
[pavracia], § 18 23 évvoneas scripsi : évvonoov codd., Turn, 24 voqoas
. . . tévta. huc a § 18 transposui. vonges scripsi: vénoov codd., Turn.
24-27 § “7 (omep ... (womoetv) hinc transposui; vide post § 13b 28 6
Aeyov Q: b A€yo cett. 30 odd (ante éore) codd., Turn,: fortasse owpa-
tixds) yel owpd{row meprewtucds) 30-31 wal wav cdpa myrévs rd Be
dparov dxtynrov scripsi: mat o@pa dxivyroy AQ: kat dxivyrov Turn,
83 vénoov ... mavra hinc ad § 17b transposni 34 ovSéy gore Turn. :
ob8é tors AQ
 220 CORPVS HERMETICVM
19 [kal dmepiépioroy Kal] taybrarov (sv) Kal duvvatératov. Kat
(r)o8to0 vénoov awd ceavrod. [Kal] Kédevody cov TH Wuxi
eis iv OF Kat (Bode yar) mopevOfvat, Kal. taxvrepdy cov
THS Kededoews exci Eorat, peredAOeiv dé adrf Kédevoov emi roy
dkeavoy, kat obtws éxel médw raxéws total, ody ds pera- 5
Baca amd rérov eis témov, GAN ds exe? oboa. Kédevoor dd
avrh Kai eis Tov ovpavdy dvanrivat, Kal obdé mrepav denO4-
erat adr’ ovdt adr ovdev eumrbdiov, ob 7d Tod HALov mop,
[ovx 6 aiOrp,] ox 4 (rév dorépor) Sivn [odxi ra Tay dor
dorépov cdpara) mévra 8 Siarepoica dvamrnocerat méxpt 10
Tob éoxdrov odparos. ef 8& Boudnetns Kal adrd (7d) ddov
Stappigacbat, cai rd éxrés, ef yé me éxrds Tod kécpou,
208 Oedoacbat, Eeori oo. i8e bony dbvapiv, boov rdxos Exets.
dra od pév Séivaca rabra, 6 eds dt of; robrov ody roy
Tpérov vonoov tiv Oebv, Sowep vorpara, mdvra év €avT@ 15
exew, Tov Kdcpor, éavrdy, (rd) ddov. ;
20b dy ody pi) ceavriv efiodons TO OG, rov Oedy vofoa
od
Sivaca Td yap bpo1ov ra[v] dpota[v] vonrév. ((mavrds
odparos éxandjoas)) avvaténcov ceavrov TO Gperpiro
HeyéOee [[wavrds odparos exmndjoas]], kal mdévra ypévoy 20
bmepdpas aldv(ios) yevod, Kai voroes tov Oedr. pn dev
adivarov ceav7e bmboryncai ceavrov Hynoa abdvaroy, cat
mdvra duvdpevov vojoat, macav piv téxynv, wacav dt
emioripny. mavtds (dov Hou (.. ‘), mavros 8& trpous
bWnrédrEpos yevod, Kal ravrds Bdbovs Tamewérepos: mdoas 25
d& ras duridéces rdv moor)hrov cbhAaBe év ceavrs,
[wupés, bdaros,] (Beppod Kat Woxpod,) Enpod Kal sypod
kal dod mavrayh (vénoor) eva, év Yi, év Oardrrn, év
ovpavG pndérw yeyer(v\jobat, év ri yaorpt eva, véos,
yépov, TeOvnkévat, Ta pera tov Odvarov’ Kal tabra TAVTA
30
6u0d vojoas, yxpdvous, rérovs, mpdéypara, Trotntas, moo6-
2laryras, Sivacat vopoa tov Ocdv. éeay dt Karakdelons
cov
Thy Wuxi ev 7S cdpart, kal Tarevaeons éavtdv, kal
ers
2 roo scripsi: ofr codd., Turn. 3 els dv 5}
Ova: scripsi; eis Hv 52 xa wopevOqva AQ: éxeive ropevOfwat Bovre yhy mopev~
Q Turn, : om, (sed per (?) erasum) A va Turn. 4 ener
5 «al
5-6 peraBaca awd rénou eis rénov, GAN’ om. A (ante ofrws) A; om, Q Turn.
om, A 8 70 (ante Tod Halo)
10 dvarrjoera Turn.: dvarenrioera A: dvanrhocera CQ
11 Bovanbeins Q Turn,: Bovdndein A 12 rot é«rds Q: mm éxrds cett.
18 1@ dpoiy scripsi: ray dSpolow codd., Turn.
codd., Turn, 21 alwmos scripsi: aidw
22 ceavré (post ddivarov) Q: éy geaur cett.
| twécrnoa
 LIBELLVS XI (ii) 221
of all things, and the mightiest. Think of yourself, and you will 19
see that itis so. Bid your soul travel to any land you choose, and
sooner than you can bid it go, it will be there. Bid it pass on
from land to ocean, and it will be there too no less quickly ; it has
not moved as one moves from place to place, but it ¢s there.
Bid it fly up to heaven, and it will have no need of wings;
nothing can bar its way, neither the fiery heat of the sun, nor the
swirl of the planet-spheres ; cleaving its way through all, it will fly
up till it reaches the outermost of all corporeal things! And
should you wish to break forth from the universe itself, and gaze
on the things outside the Kosmos (if indeed there is anything
outside the Kosmos), even that is permitted to you. See what ana
power, what quickness is yours. And when you yourself can do -
all this, cannot God do it? You must understand then that it is
in this way that God contains within himself the Kosmos, and
himself, and all that is; it is as thoughts which God thinks, that
all things are contained in him.
If then you do not make yourself equal to God, you cannot 20b
apprehend God; for like is known by like. Leap clear of all that
is corporeal, and make yourself grow to a like expanse with that
greatness which is beyond all measure ; rise above all time, and
become eternal; then you will apprehend God. Think that for
you too nothing is impossible; deem that you too are immortal,
and that you are able to grasp all things in your thought, to know
every craft and every science; find your home in the haunts of
every living creature ;make yourself higher than all heights, and
lower than all depths; bring together in yourself all opposites of
quality, heat and cold, dryness and fluidity; think that you are
everywhere at once, on land, at sea, in heaven; think that you
are not yet begotten, that you are in the womb, that you are
young, that you are old, that you have died, that you are in the
world beyond the grave; grasp in your thought all this at once,
all times and places, all substances and qualities and magnitudes
together ;then you can apprehend God. But if you shut up your 21a
soul in your body, and abase yourself, and say ‘I know nothing,
1 T.e. the outermost sphere of heaven,

scripsi : a gees codd., Turn. 24 707 scripsi: 790s (ex corr. A)

codd., Turn, 25 ‘iymddraros Q 26 dyridéces Trav rooryray seripsi:
alo@hoes ray moray codd., Turn. 831 vonoas Turn.; voncas AQ
33 éavrdv scripsi ;éavryy A: attiy Q Tum.
 222, CORPVS HERMETICVM
* Oise vod, obdey Sivaparr PoBodpat rv (kal) Oédaccar:
els Tov otpaviv dvaBiva od Sévapat’ ov« olda ris hunv, ovK
olda ris ropa” ti oot Kai 7d Oe; obdty yap Sévacat Tov
kahov Kat dyadav ((vofjaa)), pirocdéuaros dv Kal Kaxds
[[vofoar]]. 5
arb) yap redela Kaxia rd dyvoeiv rdXv) Oc{iJbvr Td 88 Sdva-
oOat yvdvat, kai Oedjjoat, Kai éAmioat, dd6s ear edOy [’déa]
ToD ayabob gpépovea, Kal padia ddebovtt [[ool]]. mavraxod
ovvavtnoe: ((got)) (6 Oeds), Kal mavraxod bpOjcerat, drov
kat dre ob mpoodoxds, ypyyopodvrt Kotpwpévo, mdéovrt 10
ddebort, vuxrds huépas, AadodvTt ctwmvrt obdkv yap éoriv
22a 8ovK ear [eixévi] (exeivos). elra pps “ débparos 5 Ocbs”;
eupipnoov. Kat ris avrod davepdrepos ; bt abrd rodro mdvra
meroinker, iva did mévrov adrov Bdérps. [rodro éore rd
ayabdv] [[rod Oeod,]] ror ((rob Beds) dperH, 7d adrov 15
paiverbar dd mévrov, ovdiy yap (d)bparov, obd& tov
dowpdrov (6) vots dparat év 78 voeiv, 5 Beds év T@ Troveiv.
22b =raird cot emi rocobroy mepavépwrat, & Tpiopéylore., Ta
dé dia mdvra dpotws Katd ceavriy viet, Kal od Stawpev-
obfon. 20

LIBELLVS XII. (i)

“Eppovd rob Tpiopeyiorou rept vod ‘xowvoo'

mpos Tar
1 ‘O vois, & Tér, e€ adris ris Tod Oe0d odctas éoriv, ci yé
Tis totiv ovcia Oeod Kal mola tis cica Tuyxdve, avros
Hévos axpiBas~
[avrov] oder. 6 vods= ody>
ovK eoTw dmo- 35

1 iv Kai @ddaccay scripsi: tiv OdAagcay codd., Turn. 4 girocwparos

ay wat kaxds A: pihocwparos Kal wands dv Q Turn. 6 rév Gedy scripsi:
70 Oeiov codd., Turn. 7 «b0b rod scripsi: ev@cia, idia rod codd., Turn.
8 dyabod pépovoa A : dyabod, nat pépovea Q Turn, 9 Kai (ante mavrayod) A
(etiam C teste Reitz.) : om. Q Turn. 9-10 Smov kat AQ: émou re at Turn.
10 ypryopodvr: Kotpapévy Q Turn. : ypyyopytt orpopévw MC teste Reitz. : om.
spatio relicto A 12 d codd., Turn, : fortasse (év) g | €orw éxeivos
scripsi: ort elndvi AQ: éorw év eid Turn, 12-16 Cyrillus c. Zudianum
2. 52, Migne 76. 580 B: clra pys... paivecOa 5d wdyrow 12 ira now
(elra pow Aub., ‘ deinde inguit’ Occ.) Cyril. : rapfs codd. Corp., Turn. 13
 LIBELLVS XI (ii) 223
I can do nothing ; I am afraid of earth and sea, I cannot mount
to heaven; I know not what I was, nor what I shall be’; then,
what have you to do with God? Your thought can grasp nothing
beautiful and good, if you cleave to the body, and are evil.
For it is the height of evil not to know God ; but to be capable 21b
of knowing God, and to wish and hope to know him, is the road
which leads straight to the Good ; and it is an easy road to travel.
Everywhere God will come to meet you, everywhere he will
appear to you, at places and times at which you look not for it,
in your waking hours and in your sleep, when you are journeying
by water and by land, in the night-time and in the day-time,
when you are speaking and when you are silent; for there is
nothing which is not God.t' And do you say ‘God is invisible’? 22a
Speak not so. Who is more manifest than God? For this very
purpose has he made all things, that through all things you may
see him. This is God’s goodness, that he manifests himself
through all things. Nothing is invisible, not even an incorporeal
thing ; mind is seen in its thinking, and God in his working.
So far, thrice-greatest one, I have shown you the truth. Think 22b
out all else in like manner for yourself, and you will not be
misled.

LIBELLVS XII. (i)

A discourse of Hermes Trismegistus to Tat,
concerning mind tn men.
Hermes. Mind, my son Tat, is of the very substance of God, if 1
indeed there is a substance of God ; and of what nature that sub-
stance is, God alone knows precisely. Mind then is not severed
1 Perhaps, ‘ for there is nothing in which God is not’.

gavepwrepos Cyril. : pavepwraros codd. Corp., Turn. 13-14 8: aird rot7o

méavra énoincey codd. Corp., Turn. : did rodro wenoinney Cyril. 14 abrov
Baéwps codd. Corp., Turn. : tis adrdv BAémy Cyril, 15 rodro% roi eod dperi
seripsi: Tod (7d Tod Q) Oe0d, Todro 58 aitod dperh codd. Corp., Turn.: rot
Ocov, Todro 4 dpern Cyril. 16 déparov scripsi: éparéy codd., Turn.
18 émi om. A
In Libellis XII.iet XII. ii, codicum QR et Turnebi lectiones adhibui.
21 Fortasse epi vod dvivoy (i.e, dvOpwmivov) 24 airds scripsi ; otros
QR Tarn.
 224 CORPVS HERMETICVM

TETPNMEVOS THs ovaLdryTOs TOD Oeod, GAN Sorep jrdwpévos,

KaOdmrep 7d Tod HAlov das. ovros dé 6 vobs ev piv dvOpa-
mows "Oeds’ cori: Sid Kal tTwes tev avOpdmav Oe(7)oé «ior,
kal 4 (r)otrwn avOpwmrérns éyyts éort Tis OedryTos* Kai
yap 6 Ayabis Aatpov rods pev Oeods (dvOpdrous) edrev 5
aOavdrovs, rods St dvOpamous Oeods Ovnrods. év dé Trois
2dddyos (os (.» .) 4) gious éoriv. sdrov yap (Wuyi, exe?
kai voids éorw, domep drov Kal] (ar, éxei al yoy éorw:
ey 8 Trois dddbyos (dois } Wuyxh [oH] éore Kev?) Tod vod.
6 yap voids wuydv eorw edepyérns dvOpdmov: epyd (eras to
yap avra(i)s [eis] Td dyabdv. Kal trois piv addoyos TH
()dKg) éxdorou dice cvvepye?, tais dé tov dvOpdrov
avrimpdocet. puxi) yap waa, ev cdpatt yevopévn, evbéws
bw6 re ris Admns Kal Tis Hovas Kakiferat- cépatos yap
ouvbérov domep xupol Céover Te Ady Kal 4 Adov7, els As 15
3 ¢uBaoa 4 ~uxh Bamriferat. doas dv obv Woyais 6 vods
emiotation, Tatras palver éavrod Td déyyos, dvtimpdoowy
abraév Tois mpoAtupacw. domep (yap) iarpds dyabds AuTEt
TO oGpa mpoeAnppévov brs vécou Kalwv 7) Téuvev, Tov adrdv
Tpérov Kai 6 vobs (riv) Wuxhy AuTet, EEvpaipav adrAs Thy 20
jooviv, ap’ Hs aoa vooos Yuyfs yiverat. vécos bt peyédn
Wuxis dbeérns: eel ralis tav abéwv) ddgalels mévra rad
Kaka émakodovdel, kai dyabdv oddév, dp ovv 6 vods, dyti-
mpdoowv airh, 7) dyabdv mepiroteirat tH Wuyh, Sowep Kal
46 laps TO odpart Thy dyleav. soa dt uyal dvOpdmwar 25
obK éruxov KuBeprijrou Tod vod, rd a’rd méoyovat tals Tey
adbyov (pov. auvepyds yap adbrais yevduevos, kal dvécas
Tas émtOupias, (...) els as hépovrat tH pbun Tis dpétews,
mpos 7d ddoyov ovrtelvovea. Kal domep TA doya Tov
(Por, ddéyos Ovpotpevar Kai ddoyas émiOvpoieat ob mavov- 30
Tat, ovde Kopov Exovcr Tdv KakGv> Ovpol yap Kat émOvplat
@royor kaxlat drepBdddovoa. ravrais d& domep Tiuwpov
kal €deyyxov 6 Ocds eréoryce Tov vdpov.—
1 Fortasse éfnrAwpévos 3 Oefol scripsi: Geoi QR Turn. 4 rovTwy
scripsi: ato? QR Turn, 5 dvOpdmous addidit Reitz. 7 Fortasse
on vod) 4 iors éoriv 8 Kat puyy éorw QTurn.: ad } pox (om. éorw)
10 Fortasse Yuyav .. . dvOpwriven 11 yap (post épyaferar) om. Q
| abrais scripsi: airds es QR Turn. 12 idia scripsi: &’ QR Turn.
17 70 péyyos Q Turn, R?: om. man, pr. R 18 mpoodrqppacw Q
20 yYuxmv Q Turn, R*: om. man. pr. R 20-21 abrijs rv HSovnv Q Turn. R?:
avriy Tis }5ov7s man. pr. R 22 énet rais ray dBéwv Bofais scripsi : éwecra
 LIBELLVS XII (i) 25

from the substantiality of God, but is, so to speak, spread abroad

from that source, as the light of the sun is spread abroad. In men,
this mind is... Hence some men are divine, and the humanity
of such men is near to deity ; for the Agathos Daimon said ‘ gods
are immortal men, and men are mortal gods’. But in the irrational
animals, there is instinct in place of mind. Wherever there is life, 2
there is soul; but in the irrational animals, the soul is devoid of
mind. Mindisa benefactor to the souls of men ; it produces good
for them. In the case of the irrational animals, mind co-operates
with the special form of instinct which belongs to each several kind
of beast ; but in men, mind works against the natural instincts.
Every soul, as soon as it has been embodied, is depraved by pain
and pleasure ; for pain and pleasure belong to a composite body,
and seethe like juices in it, and the soul steps into them and
is plunged in them. Those souls then of which mind takes 3
command are illuminated by its light, and it counteracts their
prepossessions ; for as a good physician inflicts pain on the body,
burning or cutting it, when disease has taken possession of it,
even so mind inflicts pain on the soul, ridding it of pleasure, from
which spring all the soul’s diseases. And godlessness is a great
disease of the soul ; for the beliefs of the godless bring in their train
all kinds of evils, and nothing that is good. Clearly then, mind,
inasmuch as it counteracts this disease, confers good on the soul,
just as the physician confers health on the body. But those 4
human souls which have not got mind to guide them are in the
same case as the souls of the irrational animals. For mind
co-operates with them, and gives free course to their desires ; and
such souls are swept along by the rush of appetite to the gratifica-
tion of their desires, and strive towards irrational ends; and like
the irrational animals, they cease not from irrational anger and
irrational desire, and are insatiable in their craving for evils; for
irrational angers and desires are passions that exceed all else in
evil, And to punish and convict such souls as these, God has
established penal law.—

1 Perhaps, ‘ this mind is productive of divinity’.

ddga eis QR Turn, 25 4 (ante iarpds) om, RR | byeiav Q 27 Fortasse

yevopevos (6 voids) 28 rds émbupias Q Turn.: tats émOupias R 29. ovv-
reivovom scripsi: guvrevovcas QR Turn, |«a (ante @owep) QR: om. Turn.
|72 dAoya scripsi : 7d %Aoyor QR Turn. 31 ot5t R: obdtvy Q: Kai ovdey
‘Turn, 33 éréornoe Q Tum, man. post. R: peréorgoe man. pr. R
2808 Q
 226 CORPVS HERMETICVM

5 ’Evraida, & mérep, 6 wep! ths eluappévns Adyos, d(v)

eumpoobérv por (dijeEedHrvOas, Kivduveter dvarpérerOa, i
yap mdévros eipaprat T@de Ti porxedoat, 4} lepoovdAjoat, 74
GAXo tt Kakodv Spaoat, did ti kohdgerar 6 [é€] dvayk(acdo)ns
Tis eipappévns Spdoas Td Epyov; eluappévns yap wdvta Ta
epya.—(. . . ;) & Téxvov, Kal xwpis éxelvns oddy [1] TOV
coparixav, o're ayabdy ote Kakév, yevécOat cupBaiver
ciuaprat d& Kal (rdv) 73 KaKdv moufoavra [rd] (KkaKdv) mabeiv:
6 kai did Todro Spa, va wéOn d rdoye bri eSpace. 7d dé viv
éxov, od) mepl kaxias Kal efuappévns (6) A6yos ev dAAors
ev (yap) epi robrwy eipjxaper, viv dé mepl vod eat hpiv
6 Adyos, rh dtvarat vos, Kal mas évdidopis ett, Ev pév
avOpdrois rordode, év St rois dddyos K@ors NAAaypévos Kal
méduv, Ore év pev Trois addyos (ors odk Ear evepyerixéds,
(év d& rois dvOpémos ayabdy épydgerat,) aAN dvopoiws, ) 5
(odk) év m&ot 76 Te Oupikdv Kal Td émiOvpntixiy cBevvier.
Kai tovtoy Tods pev édAdoyipous [dvdpas] Sei voety, rods de
aAbyous. mdvres 8¢ of dvOpwrot civappévy bréxewran, (érel)
kai yevéoes Kai peraBodrq: apxi) yap Kail Tédos Taira elpap-
7 Hévns. Kai mdvres pev dvOpwroe mdéoxovot ra eipappéva: oO

of 5& EAAbyipot, dv Epapev Tov vodv ryeuoveteyv, ody Spotws

Tois AAots mdoxovow, GAA THs Kaxias dwndAdAaypévor ov
(yap) Kaxol dvres mdéoyovot.—l]as madw réyers, & warEp;
6 potyds ob Kaxés; 6 hoveds od Kakés, Kai of EAAoL waves ;
—ANXN’ 6 eAdbytpos, @ Téxvor, ob potxedoas TeiceTat, GAN’
ws (6) porxetoas, ovdé hovedoas, add’ ads (6) hovetcas. Kat
'robrnta' peraBodas adtvarov éott Sucxpvyeiv, domep Kal
8 yevéoews: Kakiay bt 7G vobv exovTt Suexguyeiv ~ort, [810]
kal rod Ayabod Aaipovos, & réxvov, éy@ fxovca éyovTos &
ei kal [el] éyypdpws (efededdxker, wdvy av 7d Tav avOpdrev 3°
yévos OpeAjKe Exeivos yap pdvos, ® Téxvov, [[arnOas]] wos

1-2 ov... defeAnAvOas seripsi: 6... &eAyAvods QR Turn. 4 ia ri

xoddCerat d Turn,: kat eoddgerac #6 QR — |dvayxacdons scripsi: é dvd-yens
QR Turn. 6 7 R Tur, : éore Q 8 ai Tov 7d Kakdv TonTayTa KaKoY
waéety scripsi: xat rd xaxdv wooavta, To nadeiv Turn. : wai Toy KaAdY TOoaVTa
7d naeiv QR?: nal 70 Kaddv wonsayra naGciy man. pr. R 9 Fortasse dad
Touro (etuapra abrov) 5pa{v) 10 od scripsi: 6 QR Turn. 13 (gos
(ante 7AAaypevos) QR: om. Turn. 14 dddyos (post wey rots) Q Turn.:
dadors R 15 dvopoiws scripsi : dvduoros QR Turn, 18 of (ante dv @pwro)
om, Q 22-23 macxovoy, dd\Ad . . . Kaxot dvres om. Q 26 ovde
povetgas om, Q 29-30 A€yorros & ei wal é-yypaos scripsi : Aéyorros dei*
 LIBELLVS XII (i) | 229
Tat. But if that is so, father, it would almost seem that the 5
doctrine of destiny which you have explained to me before is
overthrown, If a man is inevitably destined to commit adultery,
or sacrilege, or some other crime, why is punishment inflicted on
one who has been compelled by destiny to do the deed? It is
destiny that has committed all these crimes.— Hermes. It is true,
my son, that ..., and that nothing, whether good or bad, which
has to do with the body, can come to pass apart from destiny.
But it is destined also that he who has done evil shall suffer evil ;
and to this end he does it,’ that he may suffer the penalty for
having done it. But for the present, we are not discussing evil- 6
doing and destiny. Of those matters I have spoken elsewhere;
but we are now concerned with mind, and the questions we have
to consider are these,—what mind can do, and how it admits of
differences, being of one sort in men, and of another sort in the
irrational animals. And further, we have to consider that in the
irrational animals mind does not work good, whereas in men it
works good, but not alike in all men ; for not in all men does it
, quench the passions of anger and desire. The one sort of men
we must hold to be rational, and the other sort irrational. Now
all men are subject to destiny, inasmuch as all are subject to birth
and death ;* for a man’s destiny begins at his birth, and ends at his
death. And all men undergo what destiny has appointed for7
them ; but rational men (that is, those who, as I said, are governed
by mind) do not undergo it in the same way as the irrational.
They are freed from wickedness ; they undergo what is destined,
but they are not wicked. — Zé. Once more, father, what do you
mean? The adulterer, and the murderer, and all the rest, are
they not wicked ?—Hermes. Nay, my son, the rational man has
not committed adultery or murder, yet he must undergo what is
destined, as the adulterer and the murderer undergo it. It is
impossible for a man to escape from his destined death, just as it
is impossible for him to escape from his destined birth ; but from
wickedness a man can escape, if he has mind in him. I will tell 8
you, my son, what I heard the Agathos Daimon say. If he had
put forth in writing what he said, he would have conferred a great
benefit on the human race ; for being the first-born god, he alone,
1 Perhaps, ‘to this end he is destined (or compelled) to do it’.
? Literally, ‘birth and change’; but ‘change’ here means ‘ death’.
wat el éyypapws QR Turn. 30 éfededixe scripsi: exdedéxer R (ctiam MC
teste Reitz.); é5e5axe Q Turn, (etiam A teste Reitz.)
Q2
 228 CORPVS HERMETICVM

x patdbyovos Oebs, Ta mévta Karidav, Oelous ((dAnOas)) Adyous

épbéygato. fkovoa yodv avtod more AéyovTos dri "Ev Eore
ra mdvra, kai pddtoTa vonta cdpara Caper de duvdpe Kal
évepyeta kal alavi. Kal 6 vods robrou dyabds cori, Smep eotiv
abrod Kal wuxy Tovrov 6 rotodrov dyros, oddév diacrarov no

Tév vontav: as ovv duvaroy voiy, dpxovra mévTor, Kai

9 Wuxiv dvta Tob Oe0b, moretv Srep BobrAcera'. ad dé voet,
Kai Tov Nbyov TodTov dvéveyKat mpds THY meow iy émdbOov
pou év rots eumpoobev, Aéyw SE mepi THs eiuappérns [Tod
vod]. dy yap rods épiatixods Adyous axpiBds apéAn, O °
réxvov, edphoes drt ddnOas mdvrov émixparel 6 vods [1 Tob
Geod yuyy), Kal eipappévys, Kai vopov, Kal Tdv dddov
névrov' Kai ovdéy att dddvaror, ore eiuappévns dmepdve
Oelivat) [voiv] puxiv avOpwnivyny, otre apedjoacav, dmep
oupBaiver, bw Thy elpappévny (Oeivar. Kai Tabra pév emi 15
roooiroy Achéx Ow. [Td Tod Ayabod Aatpovos dpiora.|—
Kai betes, & waérep, radra, Kal ddnOds Kai apedipas.
10 ékeivo bé por Ext Stacdpnoov: Edeyes yap Tov voiv ey ois
adoyors Kors ptoews Sikny évepyciv, ouvepyotvta adtav
rais éppais. ai dt dppal raév ddoyov Kdwv, ds olpat, wéOn 20
elciv: ef Sé Kal 6 voids cuvepyet rats dppais, ai dé dppal
madOn, kal 6 vods dpa maO(nr)és éort, cvyxpolpaltifer rots
nd0cow.—Ebye, ® Téxvovs yevvaiws muvOdvy, Sikatov dé
ukdpe droxpivacbat, mdvra, @ Téxvov, Ta ev oepart [[dod-
paral] maOnrd. Kal kuplws (uev) adrdé éort (( (7) odpara)) be ur

mantra) ((kal ra do@pata de)) (...). wav yap 7d

Kivotvy dodpatov, mav dt 7d Kivobpevoy cpa: [[kal ra
dodpara Se]| [xiveirac bad Tod vob] [kivnots dé méGos"]
méoxe odv audorepa, kai Td Kivodv Kai TO Ktvodpevov, Td
pev dpxov, To de dpxopevov, (ware Kai 6 vods, vy g@pari 30
piv dv, wabytés éoriv,) dmaddayeis b& TOD cdparos, amnd-
Adyn Kai rod méOovs. "paddAov dé more, @ Tékvov, oddéey
amadés, mévra dt mabnrd. Stapéper d& md0os mabnrod.
Td pev yap evepyei, Td St méoxe Ta SE odpara Kal Kal
aita évepyel. 1 yap akivntd éoriv 7 Kivetrat: dmérepoy dé 35
2 a’rod wor? Q Turn.: more aitod R 4 bwép torw QR: Owépy éore
(typographi, ut videtur, errore) Turn, 7 BvAera Turn. 8-9 énidov
vo. man, pr. Ri: yp’. émidov pou R* 13-14 irepavw Oeivar Flussas:
brepavwey otv QR (etiam MAC teste Reitz.) Turn, 15 dciva: Flussas :
eivat QR (etiam A teste Reitz.), Turn.: ogy MC teste Reitz. 18 budyoov
 LIBELLVS XII (i) 229

my son, had seen all things, and spoke words that are in very
truth divine. I once heard him say ‘...’'. Think on these g
words, and apply this teaching to the question which you asked
me just now, that is, the question about destiny. For if you are
careful to put aside contentious arguments, my son, you will find
that in very truth mind is master of all things,—master of destiny,
and of penal law, and of all else ; and for mind nothing is impos-
sible, neither to exalt a human soul above destiny, nor, if the
soul, as sometimes happens, gives no heed, to make it subject to
destiny. As to destiny then, let this suffice—
Tat. This teaching, father, is divine; it is both true and
helpful. But there is yet another thing which I must ask you to 10
explain. You said that in the irrational animals mind works in
the way of instinct, co-operating with their impulses. Now the
impulses of the irrational animals are passive affections,’ I sup-
pose ; and if mind co-operates with the impulses, and the impulses
are passive affections, then mind also must be passively affected,
being polluted by contact with the passive affections.— Hermes,
Well said, my son! Your question shows the right spirit, and it
is only fair that I should answer it. All things that are in a body, 11
my son, are subject to passive affection. It is the bodies themselves
that are subject to passive affection in the primary sense of the
term ; but the incorporeals* also....‘ For everything that moves
something is incorporeal, and everything that is moved is body;
both the mover then and that which is moved are passively
affected, the one being the ruler, and the other that which is
ruled. And so, mind, as long as it is in a body, is subject to
passive affection ; but when it is freed from the body, it is freed
from the passive affection also....5 You must not let yourself

' The saying of the Agathos Daimon, as given in the MSS., is meaningless.
' 2 7a6y, here and throughout the paragraph, might also be translated
‘ perturbations’.
§ The‘ incorporeals’ spoken of in this passage are, or include, mind and soul,
* Perhaps, ‘are passively affected under certain conditions’ (that is, when
they are in a body),
®* The passage here omitted is meaningless as given in the MSS.

man, pr. R: biacapycoy cett. 21 ovvepye? Turn.: avvepyetra: QR

22 ma€yrés scripsi: ma480s QR Turn, | ovyxpwrifer scripsi: cvyxpwpati(av
QR Turn. : fortasse cuyypwri(dpevos 26 nadyra scripsi: r46y QR Turn
29 xat 7d Kvotv Q Turn.: 70 xwodv Te R 34-35 70 B macxe... Kad’
abra évepyet om. Q | «at xaé’ abra Turn.: Kal Kal Kad” gavtda R
 230 CORPVS HFRMETICVM

dv 7, wébos éort, ra 8& dodpara del évepyeira, Kal did

todro maOnrd eort.' pi odv oe af mpoonyoplae TapatTéTw-
cavy "h re yap évépyea xal.rd méOos tavrév éoriv:'
evpnpotépo 8 7G dvépatt xphoacGa ob dumel.—Zadgé-
orata, ® mdérep, Tov Adyov dmodédmxas.— 5
12 Kédkeivo dé bpa, & rékvov, brt S00 tatra TO dvOpdrw
6 Ocds map& mévra ta Ovnrd (Ga éxapioaro, rév Te vodv
kal tov débyor, ivétipa rH abavacia: [rdv 8 mpopopixdy
(A\)érex'] rodrois S& ef Tis xphoatro eis & dei, oddity Tov
aavdrov Siofre, paddrov 8 (7G év cdpatt evar pédvov 10
Stofres,) Kal eEeOdov ex tod oduaros, ddnynOijocerar brd
1g aauporépwr els Thy tay Oe@y Kai paxdpwv yopdy.—Ta yap
GrArAa Ga Abyo ov ypira, @ mérep ;—O#, Téxvov, dda
gpovfi. mdprody dé diapéper Adyos govfs: 6 pev yap ASyos
coos mavrov avOpdrev, idia St éxdotov dwvi éort yévous 15
(@ov.—'AhAa Kal tov avOpdrer, & wérep, Exacrov Kara
vos Sidpopos 6 Abyos.—Aidpopos pér, @ Téxvor, (4 Sid-
Aexros,) es 5&6 dvOpwros, obrw Kal 6 Nbyos cis éote Kal
HeOepunvederat, Kal 6 adtos ebploxerat Kal év Alyint@ Kal
Tlepot&: kat ‘EAMG. =|. « .) ((6 ody Abyos eoTiv eikdY 20
(To vow), kai (6) vods tod Aeod.))
3b 6 yap pakdpios Beds Ayabds Aaipov wuyhy piv év odparti
En elvat, vodv d& év wuyij, [Adyor] (Bedv) St év 7B vB.
14a [Tov ody Oedv ToUTwy matépa.| [[6 odv Adyos éorly Elkay Kal
vods Tod Oeobl] [kal rd capa dé ris iéas, 4 dé idea Tis » 5
Wuxis.] tori ovv ris pev Orns Td Aemwropepéctaroy dip,
dépos St Woy, wuxijs dé voids, vob dt Oeds. Kal 6 pev Beds
mepi mévra kal did wdvrov, 6 dt vods mepl rhv wuyijv, 4 d
Woy?) wepi rov dépa, 6 St dtp epi tiv UAnv.
1-2 Fortasse 7a 5? [alodpara det evepyetrat, nai Bid rodro (det) mabyrd
éort 1 dowpara Q Turn. : o&para (yp’. dowpara man. post.) R | wat
&a Q Tom. R*: 7d did man, pr. R 7 wapd QR Turn: wept C
teste Reitz. | Ora (aa Q Turn. R?: é6vy ray (dw man. pr. R
9 A€éyer scripsi: éyer QR Turn, |tts ex vt corr, R 12-13 yap
ddda (Ga Ady ob Q Turn. R?: yap (@a od man. pr. R 13 yphra
Turn,: xypara: QR 15-16 éxdatou port gate yévous Cuov, adda Kat
Q Turn. : éxdarou yevous (wou par} tor Kady, eal man. pr, R: post «adr add.
adda R* 17 6 (ante Adyos) om, R 18 52 (post es) QOTum. : piv R
 LIBELLVS XII (i) 231
be confused by the use of these terms; . . .’ but there is no
harm in using the better-sounding word.’—Zaz You have ex-
plained the matter most clearly, father.—
Hermes. There is another thing to be considered, my son. 12
There are two gifts which God has bestowed on man alone, and
on no other mortal creature. These two are mind and speech ;
and the gift of mind and speech is equivalent to that of im-
mortality. Ifa man uses these two gifts rightly, he will differ in
nothing from the immortals; or rather, he will differ from them
only in this, that he is embodied upon earth ;and when he quits
the body, mind and speech will be his guides, and by them he
will be brought into the troop of the gods and the souls that have
attained to bliss—Zaz. But do not the other living creatures use 13a
speech, father?—Hermes. No, my son ; they have voice, but not
speech ;and speech is very different from voice. All men have
speech in common ; but each kind of living creatures has its special
sort of voice.—Zat. But among men also, father, each nation
has a different speech.— Hermes. Languages differ, my son, but
mankind is one; and speech likewise is one. It is translated
from tongue to tongue, and we find it to be the same in Egypt,
Persia, and Greece... . Speech then is an image of mind ; and
mind is an image of God.
That blessed god, the Agathos Daimon, said ‘soul is in body, rg b
mind is in soul, and God is in mind’. The rarest part of matter s4 a
then is air; the rarest part of air is soul; the rarest part of soul
is mind; and the rarest part of mind is God. And God deals
with all things, and permeates all things; mind deals with soul;
soul deals with air ; and air deals with gross matter.

1 ‘These terms’ are probably ‘working actively’ and ‘ passively affected’,

both of which are applicable to embodied mind. ‘The author's meaning might
(viz.
perhaps be expressed by writing here ‘for it is Qne and the same thing
embodied mind) that both works actively and is passively affected ’.
actively *, and
"2 Le, there is no harm in saying that embodied mind ‘ works
omitting to say that it is ‘ passively affected’.

20 wat év ddd R 20-21 6 otvy ... Oeod huc a § 144 int. trans-
posui 21 rod vod addidit Flussas 25 # 82 liga Q Tum. R?*: 5éa
man. pr. R 27 Geds (post 6 pev) Q Turn, R?: om, man, pr. R
 232 CORPVS HERMETICVM

LIBELLVS X1L. (ii)

(Eppot mpos Tar.)
4b (+ +) dvdyxn 8 Kai [4] tpdvora kal [}] dvows dpyavd éore
(rijs Stoikijoews) rod Kéopov, Kal ris Tdgews TAs HAs.
I4c kai Tay péev vonrav éxacréy éorw (é) [otaial, ovoia b€ airay 7
tavrérns’ trav b¢ rod mavrés capdtov éxagrov moddd eorw. ((xai on
7 Un pia’)) exeralc) yap ric ravrdryroc ra (a)ovvbera cdpara, Kat
Ty peraBodjy els Gdyra rrorodpeva, det THs TavTétyTos Tiy apOapoiay
odfe. ev 8€ rois [dAdo] ouvbéros maot cdpacw dapibus éxdorov
15a for xapis yip dpOpot cioracw 4 civbeow [i Siadduow] ddvvaroy
yeverOa, ai dé Evddes rv dpibpdy yervdou wai avéovor, kal rddw 10
diadudpevon eis éavras Béxovra. [[kal 4 Ty pia.]]
15b 6 d& cbymas Kébcpos obros, 6 péyas Beds, Kad Tod pelfovos
eixév, Kai hvopévos éxeive, Kal odor thy régw kat(& TH)
BovAnow Tod marpés, mAipwpd éore Tis ons: Kal ovdév
éorwv év TovTw, di& mavtds ToD aldvos ((dmd)) rijs TPOTHS 15
[[d¢ro]|xaracrdoews, ore roi mavrds obre rev KaTd pépos,
5 obx! Cf. vexpdv yap obde ev obre yéyover obre éoriv obre
ora év (7G) kbopo. (Gov yap AOéAncer 6 Tarhp abrd(v)
16 elvat €or’ dv ovveotiiky: 51d Kal Oedy eva dvdykn. was dv
ovv Sbvaito, & Téxvov, ev TH OG, ev rij Tod matpos elKért, év 20
TO THs (wijs mAnpdpar, vexpa eivar; 4 yap vexpérns pbopa
cor, 4) d& pOope drddrca. mas obv pépos tt Sivara
pOapiivar rob dpOdprov, i) dmodéo()at ti Tod bob :-—Ovx
dmobvijcke obv, & marep, T& ev abrG (Ga, dvTa abrod pépn;
— Evgijpnooy, @ Tékvor, mAuvépevos Th ™ poonyopia TOD ‘yivo-
Hévov. ot yap drobvicKe, @ Téxvov, GX ds otvOcra
gépara
4
Staddverat
4
. %a 5x diddvors
2
od> Odvarési éoriv,
2
ddrX‘
3

2 éore OQTurn.: civaa R 5-6 «ai 4 C(uiv?) Han pia huc a § 15 a fin.
transposui 6 éxerat yap ris ravréryros scripsi: éxovra yap Ti TavTi-
m7a QR Turn. | ra om. Q |dovvGera scripsi: ovvéera QR Tum.
11 Sadvdpevoy scripsi: badvéperar QR Turn, “13 ow(wv man, pr. R
(c@{av A teste Reitz.): otowlwr QR? Turn, (avcca{ow CM teste Reitz.)
13-14 xard_riv BovAnow seripsi: «at BovdAnow QR Turn, 14 rijs Cwijs
Q Turn.: ris mp's (ws R 15-16 rod aidvos . . . ore Tod navrds om, Q
| aldvos awd ris mpurns naraordcews scripsi: aidyos, ris naTpyas dmoxatagrd-
cews Turn. : alavos ris dwoxaractaceas R 18 (Gov . . . abrdv scripsi :
(ov... abrd QR: (Gov... atrG Turn. : Cady... atta Flussas 19 ouv-
eorHen scripsi: ovvéornee Q Turn,: ouvéorneey R 20 marpds scripsi :
 LIBELLVS XII (ii) 233

LIBELLVS X11. (ii)

A discourse of Hermes to Tat.

Hermes. . . . And necessity! and providence and nature are 14b
instruments by means of which the Kosmos is governed, and by
means of which matter is set in order.
Each of the intelligibles® is one, and sameness is their essence; but each of 14c
the bodies contained in the universe is many. And matter is one; for the
incomposite bodies* cleave to sameness, and though they change into one
another, they maintain their sameness unimpaired for ever. But in every com- 15 q
posite body there is number; for there cannot be combination or composition
unless there is number. And the units generate number and increase it, and
receive it back into themselves when it is broken up,
Now this whole Kosmos,—which is a great god, and an image 15b
of Him who is greater, and is united with Him, and maintains its
order in accordance with the Father’s will,—is one mass of life ;
and there is not anything in the Kosmos, nor has been through
all time from the first foundation of the universe, neither in the
whole nor among the several things contained in it, that is not
alive. There is not, and has never been, and never will be in
the Kosmos anything that is dead. For it was the Father’s will
that the Kosmos, as long as it exists, should be a living being;
and therefore it must needs be a god also. How then, my son, 16
could there be dead things in that which is a god, in that which
is an image of the Father, in that which is one mass of life?
Deadness is corruption, and corruption is destruction. How then
can any part of that which is incorruptible be corrupted, or any
part of that which is a god be destroyed ?—Zu¢. Is it not true
then, father, that the living creatures in the Kosmos die? And
are they not parts of the Kosmos ?— Hermes. Say not so, my son.
You are misled by the terms that men apply to that which takes
place.* The living creatures do not die, my son; but they are
composite bodies, and as such, they undergo dissolution. Dis-
solution is not death; it is only the separation of things which
* Perhaps, ‘{destiny) and necessity’; see § 21.
? Le. incorporeal things. * T.e. the four cosmic elements,
* T.e, by the common use of the word ‘ death’.
mavros OR Turn, 23 drodéoGat Parthey : droAéoa QR Turn, 27 ba-
Avoyvrat R: baddverar cett.
 23.4 CORPVS HERMETICVM

kpdparos “Siddvois Siadverat d& ox Wy’ dwbAnrat, arn’

iva véa yévnra. mel ris ris (ams eorwy 7 évépyera ; ovyxi
kivnows; ri ody év TO Kéop@ akivytoy; ovdév, @ TéKVOY.—
17 O08 4 yh dxivntés cou Soxel, & mérep ;—O¥, Téxvov, GANG
kal modukivntos povn Ade Kal ordoipos. mds ovK dv yedotov 5
eln thy tpopiy maévrev axivyntov dvat, tiv dtoveay kal
yevvacay ta ndvra; advvarov yap xapis Kujcews perv TL
[rv dtovra]. yedoudratoy dé éndOov, «i 7d Téraprov pépos
dpyby éor[ak: oddty yap Erepov onpalver 7d dxivntov odpa
18) dpylav. av toivey tot Kabodixds, & TéKvov, 7d dy éy 10
Koop Kivodpevoy [7) Kata peloow } avfnoww) 7d de Kevov-
pevov kat (f. 7d 88 Calo» may odK dvdyky 7d avrd (del)
vat dv yap duo cbpras 6 Kbopos dperaBAnTOS, ® Téxvor,
éori, re 58 pépn adtod wdvra peraBdnrd, ovdey 6 pOaprov
4 dmodddbpevov: ai St mpoonyopia: rods dvOpdmous tapdr- 15
rovow. od yap h yéveois éott (wails apx%), arn [iH]
aicOnoews: obde 4 peraBodr} Odvaros, ddd& AHO. TOUT@Y
rotvuy otros éxévtav, dbdvara mdvra ((é§ Gn may (Bor
ovvéatnxe(v))), 4 Oy [Cex], 7d mvedpa [6 vods], (7) Wuxi
[[eé ob wGv QGov cvvéctnke] wav dpa (Gov aBdvarov 81(& 20
tiv dbavaciav) avtav.
19 mdvtwr 8& paddov (dbdvaros) 6 dvOpwmos, 6 Kal Tob beod
Sexrixds Kal 7 Oe cvvoveractixds. ToT yap pove 7O
(éo 5 Oeds dpire?, vuxrds pev 9d’ dvelpwr, Hpépas de da
cupPorov, Kal dia mdvrav adt@ mpodéyer Ta péddovTa, bud 5 nd

dpvéwv, did omddyyvor, ia mvedpatos, dtd Spvdsr dd Kat

érayyéddera 6 dvOpwmos émicracbat Ta mpoyeyernpéva Kal
20a évectara kal péddovra, KdKeivo dt dpa, Téxvov, drt ExaoTov
rav (ov évt péper emipoitg Tod Kbopov, Ta pev évvdpa TO
dat, Ta SE xepoaia TH yh, Ta O& perdpoia TE dépe 6 8% 30

1 SidAvers codd,, Turn.: fortasse Sidupiors 2 ris om. man. pr. R

| rhs (wis €or 1 evépyaa Tum.: ris (aijs torw évépyea Q: Tijs Ceijs evép-
yea (post évépyaa add. éo7t man, post.) R 4 dxivntés gor Q Turm.: or
axivnros R 5 pévn R Tun.: pévov Q: yp. wévoy man. post. R
| oracipn Q 7 pbav m1 Turn. : pival re Q: puivai 7 R 8 -yeAoud-
tepov R 9 dpydv éo7t scripsi: dpydy éorar QR Turn. ll Gus
ward) Q Turn: Fro R 12 (@y scripsi: (@ovy QR Turn. 13 @& réxvoy
om, R 16-17 (wis apy), GA’ aia@jaews scripsi: (an, ddd’ 7 aic@nas
QR Turn. 17 7 (post odd) om. R 18 éxwvTov R 19 70
mvetpa, 4 Yuyxy scripsi: To mvedpa, 6 voids, yoy} QTurn.: 7d mvedpa, yux7},
6 vods R 20 é¢ dy Flussas: @¢ of QR Tum. 20-21 ba rh
dGavaciay airy scripsi : 8 ad’téy QR Turn, 27 énayyéerar Rs |7
 LIBELLVS XII (ii 235
were combined ; and they undergo dissolution, not to perish, but
to be made new. Why, wherein does life manifest its force?
Surely, in movement. And what is there in the Kosmos that is
motionless? Nothing, my son.—Zzé Do you think then, father, - 7
that not even the earth is motionless >—/Yermes. No, my son, not
even the earth; but the earth, alone of all things, is both in
motion in manifold ways, and at the same time stationary.
Would it not be absurd to say that the nurse of all things? is
motionless, she who brings forth and generates all things? With-
out motion, it is impossible to bring forth anything. And it is
utterly absurd to ask, as you did, whether the fourth part of the
universe is idle; for if you say that a body is motionless, that
means nothing else than that it is idle. Know then, my son, 18
that everything which exists in the Kosmos, everything without
exception, is in motion; and that which is in motion’ must be
alive. But it is not necessary that in every case it should be one
and the same thing that is alive at all times. Considered as one
whole, my son, the Kosmos is exempt from change; but all its
parts are subject to change. But there is nothing in it that
suffers corruption or destruction; if men think otherwise, their
thoughts are confused by the terms in use. Birth is not a begin-
ning of life, but only a beginning of consciousness; and the
change to another state is not death, but oblivion. And this
being so, all the things of which every living creature is composed,
—gross matter, and vital spirit, and soul,—are immortal; and so,
by reason of their immortality, every living creature is immortal.
But more than all the rest, man is immortal; for he can 19
receive God, and hold intercourse with God. With man alone
of living creatures God associates. God speaks to man by
dreams at night, and by signs in the daytime; God foretells the
future to him in manifold ways, by the flight of birds, by the
inward parts of beasts, by inspiration, or by the whispering of an
oak-tree. And so man can boast that he knows things past,
things present, and things future. Mark this too, my son; each 20a
of the other kinds of living creatures haunts but one part of the
Kosmos ; fishes live in the water, beasts on the earth, and birds

1 T.e, the earth,

yeyernuéva R 28 Kdkeivos R 29 piv ydp évvdpa K: pov evvdpa

cett.
 236 CORPVS HERMETICVM

dvOpwmos tobrows mao xparat, yf, Wari, dépe [mupi| dpe de

kal odpavéy, drrerat de Kal robrou aicOjoe.
2ob (...) [6 d& Beds Kal mepl mévra Kal did mévrov.]
Teévépyera ydp éort Sdvapis.' Kal ovdév ddoxodbv eort
vofoat tov bedv, & réxvov, ef St Oédes, [[adrov]] Kal Oew- uv

ax phoat ((adrév)). ide thy rd gv Too Kéopou [Kal Ti edKoopiay

tis tagews| ie tiv dvdyxny Tov pawwopévov, Kal Tiv
mpbvo.ay tav yeyovbroy te Kal ywopévov: ide riv UAny
mrnpectadrny odcav (wis: (ide) tov THAcKoDToy Ocdy Kuvod-
pevoy pera mdvrov (rev évovrer) [dyabdy Kat Kaddv] [Bedy 10
re kat Sapsvov kai dvOpdmov|—AdN abra, & marep,
évépyetat bdrws elatv.—Ei obv évépyetat [Gras] elow, & TéExvov,
id rhvos [ody] évepyodvrat [twd] GAdov (i) Tob) Oeod; 7H
dyvoeis drt Somep rod Kbopov pépy eialy obpavos kai yf Kal
bdwp Kai dhp, Tov adroy tpérov pépyn eat (rod) Oeod (fw?) Kal 15
abavacia Kai] eipalppévn) kal dvdykn kai mpbvora Kai gvors
[kal yux} Kal voids]; [kal rovrwv mdvtov 7 dtapovt] [76
Neybpevov dyabdy.] Kal ovd« [ért] ore te TOY ywopévov 3}
22 T&v yeyovétay Sov ovk tor 6 bebs.— Ev 7h tdrn ody,
& wérep ;—H yap van, @ réxvov, xwpis Beo8 (ri) éorw, iva a9
ronov abti dropepions [rémov]; rf dé [ove] av i} cwpor adriy
ote. elvat, ph évepyoupevny; ef d& evepyeizar, vd Tivos
évepycirat; ras yap évepyeias epaper eivar pépyn Tod Oeod.
ind rivos odv (woroteirat Ta wdvTa (Ga; bd Tivos dbava-
rifera: Ta dOdvata; bd Tivos peraBdddXerat Ta peraBAnta; 5 a

eire 88 HAnv, etre c&pa, etre odolav Pps, tobr Kal ravras
otcas évepyeias Tod Oeod: (6 yap Beds) Kal (ris) UAn(s) Evepyet
thy Odébrnra, Kal Tov copdtov (tiv) coparétyTa, Kai (7)A(s)
ovoia(s) tiv ovotdrnta. Kal Toro totw 6 Beds, 7d war"
aga ev 6& 7G mart! obdév éotw 5 ph ~oriv. SOev ore péyeOos 30
obre témos ore modrns ore aXHMa obTE Xpbvos TapA TOY

1 rovros mao. QTurn,: waa tortas R 6p@ QR? Turn. : épara: man.
pr R 3 «al (post Oeds) om. man pr. 4 tant Kal ddvaps Q:
éort Suvayus cett. 8 yvopévwy scripsi : yevouévav Turn, 10 ayabuv
() ; dyabay cett. 12 Garws (post mdrep, evépyear)om. Q | El ow... elow
om. R 13 évepyodvros man pr. R: évepyodvar cett. 14 &owep rod
nécpov pépn city odpards QR® Turn,: dowep éorlv 5 odpavds man. pr, R
14-15 yj cat Hiwp QTurn.: Béwp wat yf R15 pépy scripsi: péAy QR Turn,
|Peo om, Q 16 elpappévy scripsi: afya QR Turn. 18 ov gor Tt
scripsi: ob ére éori te Turn. : ov ér ri Q yevopévaw R: ywopévery cett.
19 éor: Beds R: éorw Od Oeds cett. 21 rémov scripsi: moody QR Turn.
 LIBELLVS XII (ii) 237
in the air; but man makes use of all these elements, earth, water,
air ; yes, and heaven* too he beholds, and grasps that also with
his sense of sight.
.. . And it is not difficult, my son, to contemplate God in 20b
thought, or even, if you will, to see him. Look at the order of 2!
the Kosmos; look at the necessity which governs all that is
presented to our sight, and the providence shown in things that
have been, and in things that come to be; look at matter filled
to the full with life, and see this great god? in movement, with all
things that are contained in him.—Zzaf. But these, father, are
nothing but forces at work.— Hermes. If they are forces at work,
my son, who is it that works them? Isit not God? Do you not
know that, just as heaven and earth and water and air are parts of
the Kosmos, even so destiny and necessity and providence and
nature are parts of God? And there is nothing that comes to be
or has come to be, in which God is not.—Zaf¢. Is God in 22
matter then, father?—/Yermes, Why, what is matter apart from
God, my son, that you should assign a place to it? What else
but an inert mass do you suppose matter would be, if it were not
worked upon? And if it is worked upon, who is it that works
upon it? I have told you that the forces at work are parts ot
God ; who is it then that puts life into all living creatures? Who
is it that gives immortal beings their immortality? Who is it
that works change in things subject to change ?* And whether
you speak of matter, or body, or substance, know that these also
are manifestations of God’s working ; for it is God that by his
working makes matter material, and bodies corporeal, and sub-
stance substantial. God is the All; and there is nothing that is
not included in the All. Hence there is neither magnitude nor 23a
. place nor quality nor shape nor time‘ beside God; for God

1 Heaven consists of fire, the fourth element.

* Viz, the Kosmos.
* Le. brings to pass what are commonly called deaths and fresh births in
the case of mortal beings,
‘4 Perhaps, ‘nor shape nor colour’.

| ay scripsi: otcay QR Turn. | Fortasse copdv 22 ote QTum.: #R

|yp’. awd man, post. R: 7d cett. 26 tan R: bAnr cett. 27 ovcas
scripsi: ards QR Turn, |«at rijs HAs scripsi: al HAn QR Turn. evepyet
tiv Turn, : évépyea tiv OR 28-29 xal Tay cwparwy.. . ovorornta R?
Turn. : om. Q et man, pr. R_ |ris ototas scripsi: 4 ovcfa Turn. 31 xpdvos
QR Turn. ; fortasse xppa | mapa scripsi: wept QR Turn.
 238 CORPVS HERMETICVM

Oedv core wav yap cott, TO de wav Sid mavToy Kal mepi
wave.
23b rodrov [Tov Adyor], @ Téxvov, mpookiyer Kai Ophoxeve.
Opnoxeia dé rod Oeod pia éorl, ph elvat Kakdv.

LIBELLVS X1TIT

Eppod rob rpicpeyicrov mpos tov viov Tar [evs

© = ~ , \ XN eX ‘ >

dper| Adyos amdxpupos wept wadrryyeveoias [Kal

aovyns erayyeNias |
1 ’Ep rots yevixois, & marep, aivtyparw@dds Kal ob TnAavyas
éppacas, wepi Oecdrntos diadeyopuevos: [[ovK dmexdédvWas]]
gdpevos (yap) pndéva dtvacbat cwOqvar mpd Tis madty- 10
yeveoias, ((ovx dmexdAuwas*)) €“od Te cod ixérou ‘yevopuévou
"eri rhs Tod dpous petaBdoews' werd Td ce Epol Siadey Ojvai
[mvOopévov] rov THs wadtyyeverias Néyov padeiv, drt ToOToy
Tapa tavTa povov ayvoe, (otrw n&iwras) ((mapadidévac jot,))
kai edns “drav péddAns (Tod) Kéopov amaddoTpiodebat ~ 5
[[wapadidéven po.]] (rapaddéow.” eyo de dn) Erotmos eye-
vounv, Kai atrnddoTploca Td ev euol Ppdvnya awd rhs Tod
kéopou admdrns od O€ pou kai Ta& boTEephuata avamdAnpwoor,
as epns po, madvyyeveriay mapadodvar mpobéuevos [ex
govis } KpuBiv)|. dyvod, ® Tpiopéyiore, €€ olas pHTpPAsS 46
2 dvOpwmos (av)ayevyn Oel)n (dv), oropas dé rofas.— 2 réxvov,
aodia (4) mitpa, év otyf (xvouca), Kal oropa 7d aAnOivov
aya06v.—Tivos omeipavtos, @ mdtep; Td yap abvodov
drop@.—Tod OerAjparos rod Ge0b, & Téxvov.—((A€éye por kai
Todro: ris éoTt tTeAEoLoUpyds THS madcyyeveoias ;[6 TOD] a5
Ocod mais dvOpwros cis, Oedrjpare Oeod)) (dmovpyav).—Kal
1 mepi (ante ravra) om, Q 3-4 Lactantius Div. inst. 6.25. 10: *Trisme-
gistus . . . sic locutus est: Hoc verbum, o filt, adora et cole: cultus autem det
unus est, malum non esse” —Yortasse (até) todrov toy Ad-yov, @ Téxvov, (Tov
dedv) mpooktve
In Libello XIII, codicum ABCDMQ et Turmebi lectiones adhibui.
O = codicum ABCDM prima manus teste Reitzenstein.
5 rod D Turn.: om. codd. cett. 5-6 & dpe Adyos dadupupos om, A
9 Gecryros Turn,: Oedryros cett. | ov ABDM: «at ot« CQ Turn.
13 mvopévov OC): xal mubopévov Turn., Bb? 14 napa mdvra Q Turn.:
mepi navra ACM 17 ampAdctpieoa Turn. : dryvipiwca OQ | voy
 LIBELLVS XII (ii) 239
is all, and the All permeates all things, and has to do with all
things.
This God, my son, I bid you worship and adore.!. And there 23 b
is but one way to worship God ; it is to be devoid of evil.

LIBELLVS X/I1

A secret discourse of Hermes Trismegistus to his

son Tat, concerning Rebirth.
Tat. In your general discourses, father, you spoke in riddles, 1
and did not make your meaning clear, when you were discussing
the divinity of man. You said that no one can be saved until he
has been born again; but you did not make known to me what
you meant by this. After your talk with me..., I besought you
to let me learn the doctrine of Rebirth, as this was the one part of
your teaching that I did not know; but you did not think fit to
transmit it to me at that time; you said, ‘When you are ready
to alienate yourself from the world, then I will teach it to you’.
I am now prepared to receive it ;I have alienated the thoughts of
my heart from the world’s deceptions ;and I entreat you to supply
what is yet lacking to me, as you said you would, when you pro-
mised to transmit the Rebirth to me. I know-not, thrice-greatest
one, from what womb a man can be born again, nor from what
seed.— Hermes. My son, the womb is Wisdom, conceiving in 2
silence; and the seed is the true Good—/7a?. And who is it,
father, that begets? Iam wholly at a loss—Hermes. The Will
of God, my son, is the begetter.—7Za¢. Tell me this too; who
is the ministrant by whom the consummation of the Rebirth is
brought to pass?—Hermes, Some man who is a son of God, work-
ing in subordination to God’s will—TZa¢. And what manner of

1 Or perhaps, ‘Let your worship and adoration of God, my son, be in

accordance with this my teaching’,

énot A: év épol cett. | ppévnpa wat dnd D Turn. 18 pot ()Turn. :

pov cett, 19 ws scripsi: ofs codd., Turn. | madvyyevectay MQ Tum, : madcy-
yevecias cett. 21 dva-yevyndein dy scripsi : é-yevv77On O Turn. : éyeri7y man,
pr. Q 22 copia % pyTpa, ev ovyf xvovaa scripsi : copia voepd (coplav voepav
D)év ovypcodd., Turn. 24-26 Aéye por... PeAnpart Geod huc a § 4 transposui
25 redeotoupyos scripsi : yeveoroupyds codd., Turn. 26 Fortasse efs (71s)
 240 CORPVS HERMETICVM
moramds 6 yevvepevos, & matep; [[dpmotpos yap THs ev épot
ovaias Kal tis vontis|}—AAXos [ora] 6 yervdpevos, Oeod
eds mais, To wav, év mavri: ((dpuotpos ydép (eat) THs ‘Ev
éuol' ovdcias, Kal Tis vontis)) (uoipay Exel), eK macdv
duvdpewy ovvectas.—Aivtypa por Eyes, @ WaTEp, Kal ovX uw

és marip vid diadéyy.—Todro rd yévos, & Tékvov, od

diddoxerat, AX’ [[drav OéAn]] bwd Tod Oeod, ((6rav OEAp,))
3 dvapipvioKetar—Adivard por Eyes, @ wdrep, Kal BeBra-
opéva. d0ev mpos Taira dpbds avreimeiv exw (ap) dAASrpios
[vids] wégvxa Tod marpixod yévous;” pity POdver por, wdTEp: - °
yunows vids eipi- Sidppacdy por tis madryyeverias Tov
tpimov.—Ti cima, & réxvov; ((7d mpa&ypa ToiTo ob didd-
oxeTat, ove TH TAACTS ToUT@ ‘arotxelo', di’ ob (ad dpés),
ori ideiv.)) obK exw €éyety WAI Tooro: dpaly) rv’) ev
€uol &rdactov ikav yeyernpévny e€ ed€ov Oeod, kal é“avrov
(SieEeAHAVOa eis dOdvarov caHpa Kal cipe viv obx 6 mpi,
ar’ (dv\eyerviOnv ev vd, [[Td mpaypa Todro od diddéoKerat
oud 76 mracTG TobTw oroyelm Ot ob eoTw ideiv]| Kai
StaredAyral por Td mparov [atyOerov] «idos. ovKért KEeXpo-
(udr)opat Kai adiy Exo Kai pérpov, addérpios dé TodTwr 20
elpi vov, [dpds pe ® Téxvoy dpOadpois] (kal mdévrwv) dca
[Sé] Karavocis arevigoy coparixti dpdoe. ovK dpOadpois
4 rlootros Oewpodpat viv, & réxvov.—Eis paviav pe ov
odtyny Kai olotpnow dpevar éeveccioas, ® TdTep, é“avTov
yap viv ox bpd;—Eibe, ® réxvov, kai od ceaurov diegedn-
AdGeis, (iva des, ph) ds of év Urve@ dvetporrodAovpevot, (4AAA)
xepis trvov.—[Aéye por kai roiro: tis €ort yeveoroupyos
TAS Taktyyevecias ;—'O rod Oeod mais dvOpwros es Oed7-
5 part Ocot.—]] Néiv rd Aotwdv, @ wérep, els apaciav pe
nvéykas. [[7av mply drodapbecis Gpevar)|. 75 yap péyeOos 3°
Brér@ 76 cov 7d abr6, & wdérep, ody TS Xapaxtipt.—Kal év

3-4 ey epot codd., Turn. : évaipou? cwpariucis? 5 ouveatés DQ Turn.

9 €xo scripsi;:@éra codd., Turn. 13 Fortasse 7G whacrG rovrw (é«)
araxelaxy opyary) | ob épGs addidi (épas add. Reitz.) 14 bpa rw’
Flussas ;dpav rt ABCDQ Turn,:opavTs M 15 idéay scripsi: éay codd.,
‘Turn. 16 diefedjAvda Reitz. : éfeAHAv@a codd., Turn, 17 ‘ Vielleicht
aveyerynOnv’ Reitz. : éyervnGny codd., Turn. 19 Sadédvral scripsi: 6d
(8 ob D) qpéAnra OQ Turn.: Beapenédrarar Keil | odmére Keil: ody bre
OQ Turn. 19-20 ReXpaparia pat scripsi : mex pao pa Q: Kéxpwopat cett,
21 Kai ndvrowboa scripsi: dre BE A (O?): bre SEQ: Ore 6) Turn, —22 owpariny
scripsi :o@pare xat O Turn. 23 rowvros scripsi: rovros codd., Turn,
|paviny Q | woe AB: ye cett. 25-26 defeAnrvGes scripsi: Brefert-
 LIBELLVS XIII gt
man is he that is brought into being by the Rebirth ?—Hermes,
He that is born by that birth is another; he is a god, and son of
God. He is the All, and is in all; for he has no part in corporeal
substance ; he partakes of the substance of things intelligible,’
being wholly composed of Powers of God.—Zaé. Your words
are riddles, father ;you do not speak to me as a father to his son.
—Htermes. This sort of thing cannot be taught, my son; but
God, when he so wills, recalls it to our memory.2—Zaé, But 3
what you say is impossible, father ; it does violence to common
sense. When you treat me thus, I have good reason to ask, ‘Am
I an alien to my father’s race?’ Do not grudge me this boon,
father ; I am your true-born.son ; explain to me what manner of
thing the Rebirth is Hermes. What can I say, my son? This
thing cannot be taught; and it is not possible for you to see it
with your organs of sight, which are fashioned out of material
elements. I can tell you nothing but this; I see that by God’s
mercy there has come to be in me a form which is not fashioned
out of matter, and I have passed forth out of myself, and entered
into an immortal body. I am not now the man I was; I have
been born again in Mind, and the bodily shape which was mine
before has been put away from me. I am no longer an object
coloured and tangible, a thing of spatial dimensions; I am now
alien to all this, and to all that you perceive when you gaze with
bodily eyesight. To such eyes as yours, my son, I am not now
visible-— Zaz, Father, you have driven me to raving madness. 4
Will you tell me that I do not at this moment see my own self ?
—Hermes. Would that you too, my son, had passed forth out of
yourself, so that you might have seen, not as men see dream-
figures in their sleep, but as one who is awake.—Zu¢. Now 5
indeed, father, you have reduced me to speechless amazement.
Why, I see you, father, with your stature unchanged, and your
features the same as ever.—/Hermes. Even in this you are

! TI. e. incorporeal and divine,

2 Ie, knowledge of these things comes to us only through reminiscence of
our ante-natal state; and it is God that calls up the reminiscence in us.

Av@as codd., Turn. 27-29 A€ye por, . . PeAjpare Geod hinc ad § 2 transposui
29 d0avaciay C: adaciay ex adavagiay corr. man. pr. B: dpaciay cord. cett.,
Tum. 30 tay... ppevdv hinc ad § 6 transposui Bl Brérw 7d adv
70 at’rd DMQ Turn. : BAémw 7d adrd codd. cett. | Fortasse o@ yap BAémov 7d
péyeBos 6pa TO abrd ov
2806 R
 242 CORPVS HERMETICVM

rotre ebdn: 7d yap Ovnrov dos kad’ hpépav adddAdooerat

xpovm yap tpémerat cls abfnow Kal pelwow, as yebddos (dr).
6 —Ti obv dAnbés ear, & rpiopéyiore ;—TO pi} Oodrovpevor,
& réxvov, 7d pi (ae)proptgdpevov, TS axXpmparov, 7 doXn-
pdriotor, [[rd drpenrov,|] 7d yupvdv, 73 paltdr, rd adro ou

karadnnrév, ((7d drperov,)) 73 dvaddolwrov, 7d dyabdr [[rd

dodparov]|.—Mépnva dvrws, & mérep, ((rév mply dro-
AcipOe’s gppevar-)) Soxoivros ydp pov md aod sogob
yeyovévan, évedpaxOnaar ai aicOjoes (mpoBrnberros) rovrov
por Tod vohparos.— Obras Exet, & Téxvov. Td pay dvadepes btc

[os wip] Kal xarwpepts [ds yh] Kal bypov [ds dwp) Kal
ciumvoov [as ap] (aicOjoa twominre 73 d& Tovros
dvépotov) mas aicOnras olTw vojoets, TO pi} oKAnpov, Td pi)
dypov, rd ‘dodiyywrov", Td pi Stadvopevov, Td povoy durd-
pet [kal évepyeta] vootpevor, Sebpevon St Tod duvapévou voeiv 15
74 ((r3 dodparov)) [rhv év Oe yéveow] ;—addvvaros obv eipt, 3)
ndrep :—M}y yévoiro, & réxvov. émiomaca eis éavrov, Kai
. hedoerat? OédAnoor, Kal yiverat. Katdpynoov Tod ceparos
ras alaOjoes, Kal ora: 4 yéveots Tis OedryTos.
7b (... dei) Kabdpar ceavtiy amd Tév addyor Tis UAns 20
Tipepiav.—Tipwpods yap év éuavtd txw, & mdtep ;—OvK
érlyous, & Téxvov, GAA Kal poBepods Kal modAdobs.—Ayvos,
® wérep,—Mia airy, ® Téxvov, Tipwpia, ) dyvoa,
deurépa hemn*
tpitn axpacia® 35
terdptn emtOupia®
mépntn adiKia®
éxt mAcovegia®
€BSopn darn’
dyddn Pbdvas*

1 Yevdn BIC: Yevd# MDQ: wedda B: Yevdet A Turn. | 6vnr&v BCD

Turn. 4 meptopCépevov scripsi: S:opt{éuevov codd., Turn. 5 gavév
scripsi: paivoy codd.,Turn. —|adrd Q: abr cett. 6 7d (ante dya6dv)
DQ Tum,: om. cett. 7-8 trav... ppevaw huc a § § transposui
9-10 rovrov po: scripsi: Tovrou pov codd., ‘Turn. 11 Kat karexpepts ABC:
7d 8 Katwpepis DQ Turn. 12-13 alc@joe bromimrea’ 7d 52 TodTos
dvépov addidi (aic@oe iwoninres } 58 xopis rovrow addidit Reitz.)
13 aicdnrS D: aicOnras cett. | obrw scripsi: avrdcodd., Turn. 14 dopiy-
yorov codd., Turn, : fortasse dgvvBerov —_|SiaAvdpevov Parthey : dcadvdpevoy
OQ Turn. 15 Sedpevov man. post. B (om. man. pr. B): deopévou codd,
cett., Turn. 16 ody por man. pr. B: odv ei: cett. 17 abrdv man, pr.
B: éavrdv codd, cett., Turn.: ceavrdy Parthey 17-18 Kal Kat édrevoerat
 LIBELLVS XIII 243
mistaken, The mortal form changes day by day; it is altered by
lapse of time, and becomes larger and smaller; for it is an
illusion.— Zaz. What then is real, thrice-greatest one ?—Hermes. 6
That which is not sullied by matter, my son, nor limited by boun-
daries, that which has no colour and no shape, that which is without
integument, and is luminous, that which is apprehended by itself
alone, that which is changeless and unalterable, that which is good.
—Tat. I must indeed have gone mad, father ;I have lost the wits
Ihad. I thought your teaching had made me wise ; but when you
put this thought before me, my senses are stopped up.’—Zermes. It
is even so, my son. The fire which rises, and the earth which
sinks, the liquid water, and the air we breathe, are perceived by
the senses ; but how can you perceive by mere sense a thing of
other nature, a thing that is neither rigid nor fluid, that is incom-
posite and indissoluble, a thing which can be apprehended only
by divine power, and demands one who has power to apprehend
the incorporeal?—Zaé. Is it then beyond my power, father?—7@
Hermes. Heaven forbid, my son, Draw it into you, and it will
come; will it, and it comes to be. Stop the working of your
bodily senses, and then will deity be born in you.
But if you would be born again, you must cleanse yourself 7b
from the irrational torments of matter.»—Zaz. What, father,
have I torturers within me?—Aermes. Yes, my son, and not
a few; they are terrible, and they are many. Zaf. I do not know
them, father.—Hermes. This very ignorance, my son, is one of
the torments.
The second is Grief; *
the third is Incontinence ;
the fourth is Desire ;
the fifth is Injustice;
the sixth is Covetousness;
the seventh is Deceitfulness ; *
the eighth is Envy ;
1 J.e. I find myself unable to apprehend it.
2 I.e. get rid of the evil passions which arise from the material body and
from material objects of desire.
8 The passages printed in smaller type were probably not written by the
author of the Libellus, but subsequently added by some one else.
* Or ‘Being deceived’, i.e, Error.
Q: fortasse al xaTeAcucerat 18 yivera: codd., Tum.: fortasse yerqoerar
19 écra: Turn, : <ire OQ | # om. Q 20 «éGape A; xaBapa codd,
cett., Turn. («a@dépar ex «d@apa corr, man. pr. B) 21 tipwapi@v codd.:
tipepav Turn, | éavr®@ ADQ Turn.: énavr@ cett. 22-23 dAdd wat...
Mia afrn, & réxvoy om. man. pr. M 24 BSevrépa 5é Avan Q Turn.
R2-
 144 CORPVS HERMETICVM

evatn Sdédos*
dexdrn opyn’
évdexdrn mporéreta’
Swdexarn xaxia.
eiol dé Kai 5
abrat rov dpiOpov dddexa, td S€ rairas
mreloves EAdat, & Téxvov, (al) did hic [[ro deopwrnpiov
rod sédparos]) aicbrjcews méoxew dvayKdfover Tov ev (rq
Seopornply Tob cdparos)) dede(u)énov avOpwrov, agpioravrat
8 abrat [ov] dOpsws dd tod édenbévros bd Tod Beod, Kal - i]

obra auvicrara 6 ((dbyos)). (obros 6) rijs madtyyevecias

tporos [Kai] [[Adyos]].
8a Aowrdy otHrnoov, & Téxvov, Kal edphynoor" kal dia
robro ob Kataratcet! 7d deos els Has awd Tod cod.
8b Xaipe Aoimdv, & réxvov, dvaxabatpbpevos tals Tod Oeod 15
Suvdpeow* (mdpetor yap) eis cvvdpOpwor rod Abyou, ABev
jpiv yvaow Oeob rtadrns édAOobans, @ Téxvov, éfnrdOn
4 dyvowa,
8c FAGev Hpiv [yrdors] xapd[s|’ mapayevopérns rabrns, & Téxvor, %)Aimy
pevéera eis rods xapodvras adrhy. 20
Q —(zpirnr) divapiv Kadd emi xapG Thy eyxpdraav. & Sivapts dior’
mpooddBopev airyv, & réxvov, dopevéorara, mas dpa to mapayevérOar
dr@cato tiv axpaciay.
rerdptnv 8€ viv add xapreplay, Thy kara rhs émiOvplas divape.
.é ) 25
6 Babpds obros, & réxvov, Sixavoodvns éotv edpacua. [[yapis yap
xricews|| id mas riv ddixiay e&qracev® ((xepis yap xpicews)) edixaa-
Onuev, & réxvor, adikias drovans.
Zernv divapwy Kad& els fas Thy xard ris wheovekias, (riv) xowwriar.
droordons Sé (ris wheoveglas . . . 30
EBSSunv) emuxadG hv adrnbecav. edye[t] dmary’ GAjOea mapa-
yivera.
i8€ mds To ayabov mewAnpora, & Téxvov, Tapayéevoperns Tis aAnOeias.
pbdvos yap ad? Hpav dméorn (kai af Aowrai rypwpiat),
5 «al Q Turn., om. cett. 6 rairas ACM: ratras ex ratras B
7-9 at da rijs aloOjoews macxew avayKagouar Tov tv TO decpwrnpiy Tod cwparos
Bedepévov avOpwmov scripsi: dad rovrTo Secpwrnpiou rod awparos aidOnriKds
macxev avayKacover Tov évouaBerov dv@pwnov codd., Turn. 8 Fortasse («axd)
nao xew 10 ov« seclusi : (udvov) ov Reitz, | row (ante Geof) om. A 14
xatanavce: DQ Turn.: xarawavow ACM: xaranavcerat Reitz, | Fortasse «al
 LIBELLVS XIII 24,5
the ninth is Fraud ;
the tenth is Anger;
the eleventh is Rashness ;
the twelfth is Vice.*
These are twelve in number; and under them
There are many others also, my son; and by means of the senses
they force the man who is bound in the prison of the body to
suffer what they inflict. But when God has had mercy on a
man, they depart from him together, one and all; and then is
reason? built up in him. Such is the manner of the Rebirth.
And now, my son, speak not, but keep solemn silence ; so will 8a
the mercy come down on us from God.

Rejoice now, my son; you are being cleansed by the Powers 8 b

of God; for they have come to build up in you the body of
reason. The knowledge of God has come to us; and at its
coming, my son, ignorance has been driven out.
Joy has come to us; and at her coming, my son, Grief will flee away, to 8c
enter into those in whom there is room for her.
And after Joy, I summon a third Power, even Continence. O sweetest 9
Power! Let us receive her, my son, most gladly. See how, at the instant of
her coming, she has pushed Incontinence away.
And now I summon the fourth Power, Endurance, the opponent of Desire.

And this, my son, is the tribunal on which Justice sits enthroned. See how
she has driven ont Injustice. We have been justified, my son, without being
brought to judgement ; for Injustice is no longer here.
As the sixth Power, I call to us Unselfishness, the opponent of Covetousness.
And when Covetousness has departed, . ...
As the seventh, I invoke Truth. Flee away, Deceit ; for Truth has come,
See, my son, how, on the coming of Truth, the Good is completed; for Envy
has departed from us, {and the other torments also).

1 Or ‘ Malice’, 2 Or ‘the Word (of God)’.

3 Or ‘of the Word (of God)’. The Logos is an organism, of which the
several Powers of God are the constituent parts; and this organism is built up
in the reborn man, as the body is built up out of the several members.

otra aTedevoerat 17 yao Tod Aco} A Turn, | radrys 5¢ EA9odons DQ

‘Turn, 19 xapa scripsi : ywaots xapas codd., Turn. 21 tpitny addidit
Reitz. | él xapav A 22 abriy & téxvoyv DMQ Turn. : & réxvov, avriy
cett. 23 dmdcera: D 25 Lacunam significavit Reitz. 27 xpiccws
Parthey : «rigews OQ Turn. 28 dwotons AQ Turn, : drovans ex dmapirns
corr. man. pr. B: atpirns CM: anaons D 29 Kar’ abrijs D: xata ris
cett. | 72 (ante xoweviay) addidit Reitz. 81 ém«ad@ scripsi: ér: Kadd
codd., Turn. | pedye Plasberg: gedyee AB: «at pevyee COMQ Tum,
33 wendnpwxa D: werdnpwpa Q | wapayevonérns Patrilius ;mapaywopévns
codd., Turn.
 246 CORPVS HERMETICVM

Th O& dAnbeig Kal 7d dyabdr éreyévero dpa (wf Kal peri.

kal ovkérs ér@dOev obdepia tod oxérovs Tipwpia, add’
10 égérrnoay [vKnOcicat] poll, [[eyvoxas, & Tékvov, Tis
madtyyeveoias Tov Tpdror]]
[rijs Sexados mapaywopevns| 5
otra 34), ’ & réxvov, » cuveréOn (%) voepa
Pp
[yéveots] (ovcia),
[kat ri dadexdrny céedavvet, |
kal Cbed{pnlOnper tH (radrns) yevéoet, Soris odv ervyxe Kara
rd tdeos THs Kara Oedv yevécews, THY cwopaTtiKiy aicOnoww
karadimay éavtov yvepife ex [rovr@v] (Suvdpewv) cvriord- ~ fe)

pevon, kal (yvapioas) edppatverat,—

11a (Ovat)a Kawi{s] yevouevos id Tod Oeod, & mdrep, pavrd-
Copa ody dpdcet dpOadrpar, ahr& rij [dia Svvdpewr] vontixh
ga évepyeia.—((Atrn éorly 4 madryyeveoia, & réxvov, 7d
pnxére pavrdgecbar [els] rd cGpa 7d TptxH dtacrarér,)) 15
(adda 7d dodparor.)—((Ildrep, 1d wav bp [Kai] épavrdy
11 b (vra), év 7G vol)) (6par). év odpavG cit, ev yj, ev Vdart,
ey dépu ev Coors lui, ev puroiss év yaorpi, mpd yaotpés,
pera yaorépar mavraxod (md pept).—(("Eyvoxas, & téxvor,
Tis wadtyyeveoias Tov Tpdmrov.))— a0
IC —[PAAN’ Ere rovrd por eime, was al Typwpiae Tod oKdrovs, oda apiOpG
dddexa, imd Séxa Suvdpewy arwboivra. tis 6 rpdros, @ Tpicpéeyiore
12 —T& cxivos roiro, [[xai]] & réxvoy, 6 ((eat)) SieEeAniOapev, ex Tod
(wopdpov xixhov cuveorn, [[xat rotrov cuveorr@ros €£ dpibpdv Sddexa
dvreav roy dpiOudy,|| (yervavros) picews pias mavropdppovr(s) tas cis a5
mrdvnv rod avOpémov' ((kai rovrov cuverr@ros ex z@diov Sodexa dvrav
rov diptOpdy,)) diagoy(i ae éy avrais elow, & Téxvov, (8adexa.) ((eiat é
kal ddioplorot,)) jvopeva ev tH mpdker’ dxdpioros (yap) eorw i mpo-
méreta rijs puis. [[eloi d¢ kai ddudpecror]]| eixdras ody [[kard rdv dpov
Adyov]] Thy drdcracw rowodvras, kabds (etrov, dOpdas). Kai ((Kard [rd 30
épOov] Aéyor)) dd Séxa Svvdpewy ehabvontat, rouréorw dad rijs Sexddos*

1 Fortasse (post éfnddOy % dyvoia, § Sb), (wapeyévero 4 GdAndaa) rH 52

adnOeiq. 1.7.0. 3 mvndeiom B: vurnOeica cett. 3-4 éyonas .. .
ehuer hinc ad § 11 b fim, transposui 5-8 rijs Sexddos mapaywoperys,
& rénvov, } riv Bwdexdia eedravver, avveréOn % voepd yéveots, wat eewOnpev
Reitz. 6 4 addidit Reitz. 8 eehOnpev Reitz. : ewpjénuev OQ Turn,
| yevéoet codd., Turn, : fortasse cuvOéoe 10 Fortasse é« ((wijs xal pwrds)
oui rapevov 10-11 éavrdy yvopifer (ée ards nal (wis Tvyxavovra,
rat) &e rodtov oumardpevos [wal] evppaiverat coni. Reitz. | cunordpevov
scripsi: ovmordpevos codd., Turn, 12 ovata sasvi) scripsi: d«duwis codd.,
 LIBELLVS XIII 247

Truth! has come to us, and on it has followed the Good, with
Life and Light. No longer has there come upon us any of the
torments of darkness ; they have flown away with rushing wings.
; 10
Thus, my son, has the intellectual being* been made up in us
and by its coming to be, we have been made gods, Whoever
then has by God’s mercy attained to this divine birth, abandons
bodily sense; he knows himself to be composed of Powers of
God, and knowing this, is glad.—
Tat. Father, God has made me a new being, and I perceive 11a
things now, not with bodily eyesight, but by the working of
mind.—Hermes, Even so it is, my son, when a man is born 134
again; it is no longer body of three dimensions that he perceives,
but the incorporeal.—Za#. Father, now that I see in mind,
I see myself to be the All, I am in heaven and in earth, in 11
water and in air; I am in beasts and plants; I ama babe in the
womb, and one that is not yet conceived, and one that has been
born; I am present everywhere.—Hermes. Now, my son, you
know what the Rebirth is —
are II C
(Zat, But tell me further; how is it that the torments of darkness, which
in number, are driven off by ten Powers? How does this come about,
twelve
of which 12
thrice-greatest one!—/Hermes. This earthly tabernacle,’ my son, out
passed forth, has been put together by the working of the Zodiac, which
we have
;and
produces manifold forms of one and the same thing‘ to lead men astray
the Signs of which the Zodiac consists are twelve in number, the forms pro-
as
time they are
duced by it, my son, fall into twelve divisions. But at the same
irra-
inseparable, being united in their action; for the reckless vehemence of
It is with good reason then that they all depart
tional impulse is indivisible.
reason that they
together, as I said before. And it is also in accordance with
that is, by the Decad; for the Decad, my son, is
are driven out by ten Powers,

1 Or ‘ Reality’.
2 T,e. that which was previously called the Logos.
® T.e, the body.
twelve different
4 These ‘manifold forms’ are the several ‘ torments’, i.e, the
kinds of evil passion.

Turn. | rod om. BCDMQ 16-17 Fortasse Mdrep, év 7G vot épav, 7d

nav 6p épavrdv ova 19-20 Zyvoxas.. . Tpémov huc a § to transposui
Turn. : eal & réxvoy
28 & réuvoy,d wat scripsi (b wai, & téxvov Keil) : & réevov M 24 Cwnpdpov
AB: wat 8 réxvov C+ 8 réxvoy DQ: & (corr, ex &) téxvov Turn. 26 tk
Turn. 25 mavropdppovs scripsi :wavropdppov codd.,
r éx (adioy B? in marg.): & dpOpdv OQ Turn.
(ydiav scripsi (ypapera
27 diavyla scripsi :dafvyat codd., Turn. 29 dppijs scripsi: dpyfs codd.,
| déproroe DQ Turn. : adidproroe cett. 80 cov, dOpdws addidi
Turn.
(vide § 7b fin.) $1 édatyovra: scripsi: éAavvopar B: éAavydpevat
cett.
 2.48 CORPVS HERMETICVM

7 yap Sexds, & réxvov, eori yuyoydvos. {on b€ Kal Pads ivopevat eioty
évac’ 6 (8) Tis évddos apiOpds métbuxe Tod [rvetparos] (ris Sexddos
apxy). 4 evds ody Kara Adyov ri Sexdda (eymepiéxer [kal 7 Sexds
tiv évddal.|
13a = |[IIdrep, 7d wav 6p Kai éuavrdv év 7 vot.|| [[Abrn 5
éorily } madtyyevertia, & Téxvov, TO pynKkért havTréfecOat els
7d c@pa 7d TpLxH Stacrarév.]|
13b = [[dta& rdv Aéyor Toirov Tov mepi THs madtyyevectas els dy
brepvnparioduny, tva py Gpev didBoror tod travros els rods
moAXovs, eis ods 6 Beds adrds Oédet.]] 10
14 Eilmé po, & wérep, rd cGpa Tobro Td éx Suvduewy ouv-
eords Avow Ezet wore ;—_Evgpijunoor, kal ph ddivara pbéyyou,
érel [duaprices Kal] doeBi(ces. ph éoBéo)On [cera] cov
6 6dOarpds Tod vod; Td alcOnrov Tis picews cSpa bppwbér
éott [ris] (rod) ovarddovs [yevécews]: Td piv ydp éort ~ 5
Stadurév, 7d Se ddiddvtov, kai Td pev Ovnrév, 75 dt aBdvaror.
dyvoeis drt beds mépuxas Kal Tob évds mais, } Kdyad ;—

15 ‘EBovddéunv, & rérep, thy dtd Tod bpvov edroyiav (uabeiv),

qv, ((Kabas)) ens, emt tiv dydodda yevopévov cov dxov-
a(eaO)ai (ce) rev Suvdpewr |[xabas]] [dydodda] 6 Ioipdvdpyns fe]
Oéomire.—("2) réxvov, kadds omevderss ((kexdOapcat ydp,))
Avodu(evos) T3 oKivos [[Kexabappévos ydp.]| 4 ITopdvdpns,
6 tis abdevtias vots, méov por Tay éyyeypappévor od
mapédaxev, eidds Sti an’ éuavrod duvicopat mdvra voeiv,
kal dxovew Gv Bobdropat, kai dpav ra mdvra: Kal éwérpewé 25
pot éxeivos “mouiy tr& Kadd.' 8d [x] af év waoly ai]
duvdpets Kal év éuol dovot.—Oéro, wérep, dxodcat ((radra)),
16 kai Bovdopat [[rabdra]] vofca.—Hovyacor, & téxvor, Kal
THS appofovons ((7H madvyyevecia)) viv dove evAoylas Tov

2 évas scripsi: é@a codd., Turn. 3 épmepéxer scripsi: yet codd.,

Turn, La % DMQTurn.: # 62 cett. 5-7 Ildrep... vot et Airy...
d:acrarév hinc transposui : vide post § 11a 8-10 did rov.. . OédXer hinc
transposui : vide post §22b 10 éis ods avrovs Oé\a 6 Oeds DQ Turn. : els ods
6 Beds atrds Oédex codd. cett. 11 Fortasse "AAA’ ér: Todd por elwé (vide
§ ric) | 7d (ante o@ya) om. Turn. =|7d (ante é*) om. AB_—| Suvdpews
AB 11-12 svveords BCDM 12 é€e scripsi: éxe D: toyxet codd.
cett., Turn, 13 doeBioes. pr toBéobn scripsi: dmocBecOyoeral Reitz, :
doeBnOjoerai ABCMQ Turn. | gov ex got A: pov BC : aov cett. 14 6
om, Turn. 14-15 wéppwbév tare (rod ex) ris oboidbous yevécews Reitz,
| Fortasse 70 alcOyrév acipa méppwOév ort THs Tod oboiwdous piaews
16 Desinit Q in verbis 7d pév @ynrdv 17 rod évds codd., Turn.: fortasse rod
 LIBELLVS XIII 249
the number by which soul is generated. Life and Light united are a Unit ; and
the number One is the source of the Decad. It is reasonable then that the Unit
contains in itself the Decad.1—]
Tat. Tell me, father, will this body which is composed of 14
divine Powers? ever suffer dissolution ?—ermes. Hush! Speak
not of a thing that cannot be; it would be impious to say that.
Has the eye of your mind been blinded? The physical body,
which is an object of sense, differs widely from that other body,
which is of the nature of true Being. ‘The one is dissoluble, the
other is indissoluble. ‘The one is mortal, the other is immortal.
Do you not know that you have become a god, and son of the
One,’ even as I have ?—

Tat. Father, I would fain be taught that hymn of praise which, 15

as you have told us, Poimandres predicted that you would hear
the Powers sing when you had ascended to the eighth sphere of
heaven.—Hermes, My son, you do well to seek that; for you
are purified, now that you have put away from you the earthly
tabernacle. Poimandres, the Mind of the Sovereignty, told me
no more than stands written in the book ;‘ for he knew that
I should be able of myself to apprehend all things, and to hear
what I would, and to see all; and he left it to me... °
And so the Powers which are in all things sing within me also.—
Tat, Father, I would fain hear that song; I wish to make it mine
in thought— Hermes. Be still then, my son, and listen to the 16

1 The conclusion implied is that the /e# Powers act as one in driving out the
evil passions,
2 That is, the new self of the man who is reborn.
8 Perhaps, ‘son of God’,
+ I.e. in Corp. I, which the author of Corp. XIII takes to have been written
by Hermes.
5 “to think ont what he did not tell me’?

G08 18 marep, did thy Tod B | ebAoyiav D Turn, : ddoyiav C: ddado-

vylav A: dvadoylay ex ddoylay corr, man. pr. B |nadety addidi (pavOavew
add. Reitz.) 19 cov Reitz.: wou O Turn. 19-20 dxotcecbat ce
scripsi: d«odou codd., Turn. 21-22 onevias* nexdapoa yap, Avodpevos
70 oxivos scripsi: omevdes ADoa 1d oxfvos, KnexaSappévos yap codd., Tum.
23 éyypappévay BC 26 woeiv ta waka codd.: fortasse voeiy ra dAda
26-27 al év nao buvdpers wat év enol scripsi: «ai év waaw al buvdpers Kal év épot
codd.: xat év waow nat ai burdpets af év épol Turn.
 250 CORPVS HERMETICVM

bpvov [Tis wadcyyevectas]], dv obK Expiva obrws evKddrws

expdvat {(oor)) [[<épi) [[ooe]] éri redex Tod mavrés}}.
[d0ev rovro ob Oi8doxerat, (ded BA éml tédeu TOD TavTés »))
GAG Kpomrerat év avy fi] [obras obv, [@ Téxvoy,] oTas év
iralbpe tire, vito avenue droBhérov, mepl karaspopav 5
HAlov [8évovros] mpooxdvet dpolws (dt) Kal dvidvros mpéos
ee [jovxacov, & Téxvoy.]
[oprve@dia kpuTr7.|
” (Avoryhr pot mas poxdds (Tod) ((Kdapov))
Tao. piors [[xécpov]} mporSexécbw rod tuvou tiv 10
dkony.
dvotynOt yij, [[dvoryjrw pot mas poxAds]) [6uBpov], Ta dévdpa
ph celecbe-
dpveiv péddw tov [ris KTicews Kbptov] kal 7d wav Kal
7d ev (dvra). 15
dvotynte ovpavol, dvepol Te oTHTe
5 kbkdos 6 dOdvaros [rod Oeod| mporde~doPw pov tov
Aébyov.
pddAw yap duveiv Tov kricavta Ta TavTA,
roy migavra Thy yiv Kai ovpavoy KpeudoavTa, 2)
[kat] (rov) ‘emrdgavra! éx Tod w@keavod Td yAuKd Ldap eis
Thy oixovpévny [kai doikyTor),
bmdpyxew els Starpophy [kal kricw] wavrev ‘dvOpdrevr',
[rov] (kal) émirdgavra nip pavijvat
eis waoav mpagtv Oeois re kal avOpadrots. a5
SGpev mévres Suod abt@ rhv edrAoyiar,
T@ éml Tav ovpavav peredpy, TO mdons picews KTioTN.
18 odés éoriv 6 TOD vo(ds) pov dpOadpos*
[kal] dé£arro ray Suvdpedv pou tiv eddoylav,
ai duvdpes ai év euol, bpveire 7d ev Kai 7d way" 30
ouvacare 76 Oedrjpari pov, Tacat al ev épol duvdpets.
yraots ayia, poriadels ard cob,
dia cod 7b vonrov Pas bpvaly'.
(. . .) xalpw ev xapg voi:
maou. Suvdpes [dpvetre] (xalpere) adv epoi, 38
kal ob pot, eyxpdrera, Uuver®
(xaprepia . . .)°
Stxacootyn pov, 7d Sixaoy tyver be epor
4 ods ex ras corr. man, pr. B: ras ACDM Tur. 5 dwoBdérav om, A
5-6 Karapepiv jAlov D Tarn. : waracpopdy 7od HAlov codd, cett. 8 iprotia
A: vpvobia «purr Turn. : ipvodia xpunrh Adyos &’ BCDM 9 puxds B*;
 LIBELLVS XIII 251
hymn of praise which is appropriate to the Rebirth. I had not
meant to make it known to you so readily. [ ]!
Let every bar ® of the universe be flung open to me;
and let all nature ® receive the sound of my hymn,
Be thou opened,‘ O Earth, and ye trees, wave not your boughs ;
I am about to sing the praise of Him who is both the All
and the One.
Be ye opened,‘ ye heavens, and ye winds, be still ;
let the immortal sphere of heaven receive my utterance.
For I am about to sing the praise of Him who created all things,
who fixed the earth, and hung heaven above ;
who made the sweet water flow from Ocean into the lands wherein
men dwell,
that it might serve for the sustenance of all mankind,’
and gave command that fire should come forth,
to be used by gods and men in all their works.
Let us all with one accord give praise to Him,
who is seated high upon the heavens, creator of all that is.
It is He that is the eye of my mind;
may He accept the praise sung by my Powers.
Ye Powers that are within me, praise ye the One and the All;
sing ye in concord with my will, all ye Powers that are
within me.
O holy Knowledge, by thee am I illumined,
and through thee do I sing praise to the incorporeal Light.*
... I rejoice in joy of mind ;
rejoice with me, all ye Powers.
And do thou, O Continence, sing praise;
(and thou, Endurance ;)
and thou, my Justice, praise the Just through me ;
1 (This hymn therefore is not taught, except at the end of all, but is kept
hidden in silence”) [You must take your stand then in a place open to the sky,
and worship thus, facing to the South, at the hour of sunset; and you must
worship in Tike manner at sunrise, facing to the Kast.’}
2 Perhaps, ‘every recess’.
* Or ‘each several thing (in the physical world)’.
+ Perhaps, ‘ Be silent’.
® Perhaps, ‘ of all living creatures’,
6 Literally, ‘the Light which mind (alone) can apprehend ’,
poxAds cett. 12 Fortasse olynaov 1 yh 16 dvofyere AB: fortasse
ovyare =|re om. AB 17 Tov Ge09 codd,: fortasse Tod aidépos 19 ra
névra om. D; 7d om, Turn, 21 émragavra codd, : fortasse dxerevoavra
23 wat kriow O: kal xrijow Turn.: ‘scheint xat «7. spiiterer Zusatz’ Reitz.
| névrow ray dvOpimow A : fortasse mayraw rav Cony ExdvTov 28 vods
pou Reitz. : yépou DM: vod ABC Turn. 29 pov om. AB 33 ipa
scripsi: dpvav codd., Turn,
 252 CORPVS HERMETICVM
kowovla 7 éun, TO wav Buyer SC por"
Upver adjnOea thy ddAnOeav.
76 dyabov, dyad (7d év epol,) dyer:
(oh kal pas, ad’ fpar eis buds xwpel 4 eddoyla.
evxapicT® cot, wdrep, evépyeia tov duvdpedy (pov) ue

evxapioTe cot, Océ, “Sivamis rev évepyerdv pov".

[[6 wos Aébyos de’ épod dpvei oé-]|
[Oe enod]] [(déEar "7d wav dbyo! doyixhy Ovotay,]
19 Taira Bodoa ai duvdpes al év euol [[rd wav bpvodoi]] 73 ody
OéAnpa Teodor" lo
((76 wav dpvobo(a)t)) (... 7H) off Bovdf (...) [[dad
god én ot 7d Trav,]]
((6 ads Adyos 81’ Eno bpvei vé"))
((Aéyor yap tov émdv rrotpaiver(s ad) 6 vods.))
((80 éuod)) défar dard mévrwy oytkhy Ovoiar® 15
To mav (yap) (dd ood, (kal) emi ot 7d war.))
(roy vobr) To(r) ev Hpi [[o@e wx] Pdrife Pas*
(ri yoxiy . ..) (ode Gu)
[‘mvedpa Océ" [[Adyor yap Tov ody mrotpatver 6 votis]|
‘mvevparopope Snpuoupyé, od el 6 Oeds,"] a6
20 6 ads dvOpwmos Taira Bod [bia mupés, de _dépos, bid yijs, duce
bdaros,] [da mvevparos,| did tov Ktiopdtwv cod,
dard 108 aldvos (ri) edoylav edpoy,
[kai] 8 ¢nr@ ((eSor)):
Bovdf ti of dvarémavpat [[<idovr)}: 25
OeAjpart TO of (dveyevv9Onr). —
a «Tip evdoylay TabtTny Aéeyoon, ® mérep, TEBetKals) kal éy
Kbo po 7? éu@—“’ Ev +6 vontd” déye, téxvov.— Ev 76
vonTe, @ ndrep, Sdvapin ek TOO cod buvov, Kal (did) rijs ons
eroylas émimepdricrai pov 6 voids. mdrv Oérw Kaye 30
méprpar e€ idias dpevis eddroylay 7 O6G.— réxvov, pi
doxéres,—
Ev 76 vO, & warep, & Oewpd déyo,

1 } €yot Turn.: 4 eur cett. 4 dpav Reitz. : jpav O Turn. |peas

D: dpas ex qpas corr. man, pr. M 5 pov addidit Reitz. 7 ba aod
D: dt’ éuod cett. 9 Bowoa scripsi :Bowow codd., Turn. ll 7p of
BovdAg scripsi: 0} i codd.:4 0%) Bova’) Turn, 14 éydy scripsi :ody
codd., Turn. | motpaivers ad 6 voids scripsi: motpaiver 6 vots codd., Turn.
19-20 Festieee mvedpa (éumver), Océ [[ ]] wvedparos yep Snurovpyds avd
pévos s dvOpwmos codd,, Turn. : fortasse 4 ads mais 23 dwd
 LIBELLVS XIII 253
thou, my Unseifishness, praise the All through me;
O Truth, sing praise to Truth.
O Good that is in me, praise the Good ;
O Life and Light, from you comes the song of praise, and to
you does it go forth.
I give thanks to thee, O Father, who workest in my Powers ;
I give thanks to thee, O God,....
Thus crying, the Powers that are in me accomplish thy will; 19
praising the All, they fulfil thy purpose.
It is thy Word that through me sings thy praise ;
for by thee, O Mind, is my speech shepherded.
‘Through me accept from all an offering of speech ;
for the All is from thee; and to thee returns the All.
O Light, illumine thou the mind that is in us ;
O Life, keep my soul alive.
Thy man' cries thus to thee by means of the things thou hast 20
made ;?
but he has got from thine eternity* the praises which he
utters.
I have seen that which I seek;
I have found rest according to thy purpose ;
by thy will I am born again.—
Tat. Father, by your song of praise to God you have put into a1
my world also——‘ Hermes. Nay, my son, say rather ‘my éncor-
poreal world’.— Tat. By your hymn you have put fresh power
into my incorporeal world, and through your song of praise my
mind has been further illumined. But now I too wish to
present to God an offering of praise of my own devising—
Hermes. My son, venture not heedlessly.—Zat. Nay, father, it is
that which I behold in Mind that I would utter in speech.

1 Perhaps, ‘ Thy son’, or ‘The man, thy son’.

2 T.e. by means of his corporeal organs,
3 T.e. from the incorporeal world. It is the divine Mind that puts into him
the thoughts which his lips utter.
* Tat’s sentence is here interrupted by Hermes, but is resumed and completed
after the interruption. Tat’s ‘ world’ is Tat himself, regarded as a microcosm ;
and his ‘incorporeal world’ is his mind.

rod Patr.: and cod codd., Turn. : dnd rod cod Reitz. | edpav scripsi : edpov
codd., Turn. 27 Aéyow scripsi :A€éyouev B: Acyouévny cett. | réOetxas
scripsi: 7éGeKa codd., Turn. 29 diva scripsi: Sdvaya codd., Turn.
|Sa addidi (&@ add, Reitz.) 30 wAj Turn. : mov codd. 33-1 infra:
A€yo. coi Reitz: Aéye ad Ds A€yw oor codd. cett., Turn.
 254 CORPVS HERMETICVM

Sol (ey, @) yevdpxa THs yeveotoupyias,

Tar 0 méumw doyixas Ovoias.
Oeé, od (6) martip’
[od 6] xdpie, od 6 vods,
dé~at (eb)oyé[kJas as Oéders dm’ Epod" 5
cod yap BovAopévou mavra (pot) TedAciTrat.—
Ed, & réxvov" (2)reprypac Sextiy Ovoiay 7G wadvTov marpi
eB, GAN Kai mpbcbes, & réxvoy, “Sia Tod Nbyou,”—
Ebyapioré oot, mézep [(6rt) radrd po alveic edgapeve].—
22a Xalpw, réxvov, (ds) kapmogopijaovros (gov . « +) eK THS 13
adnbcias [ra dyabd] ra dOdvara (ris dperis)) yervyjpara
(érel) ((voepds éyvws ceavrov kal Tov marépa Tov iuérEpov.))
a2b Todro paddy map’ épod, [[THs dpers]] oryhy emdyyeidai,
(&) ((réxvov,)) pndevt [[réxvor]] expalilveiv THs wadvyyevecias
Thy mapddoow, tva pi ds diéBodor (rod mavrds) AoyicOGper, 15
(..-) ixavas yap Exacros hpav (éavrod) emepednOn, eyo
re [6] Aéyar ov re [d] dxobwr, [[voepds eyvws ceavrov Kal
tov matépa Tov tuérepov.|]

3b (( (d)8la tov Adyor Todrov Tov wepl THs madrtyyeveoias [ets

bv] (els ods 6 Beds abrds Oédet)) bmepvnpatiocdpyy, (ovK) 20
((es tods moddAovs,\) iva pi) (AoytcO)Gpev diéBodror Tod
mavrés. [les Tods woAAovs]] [[els ods 6 Oeds avrds Oédex.]]))
1 Fortasse reAcotovpyias 83 ob & marhp scripsi: ob narep O Turn,
4 xvpse scripsi : od 6 «dpos codd., Turn. 5 ebdoylas scripsi : Aoyurds codd.,
Turn. | Fortasse ds (ab) @éActs 6 Fortasse wavra pot TeréAcoTat 7 d,
& réxvoy, éxeppas Keil: od, & réxvov, wéniov codd., Turn. 8 Fortasse dd
tod (cov) Adyou 9 bre rad7d por alveis scripsi: Tadra po alvety
codd., Turn. 10 Kapropopycorros scripsi: Kapmopopyaavros codd., Turn.
12 Fortasse voepds (-yevduevos) =|éyvow D: Eqvas cett. 13 émdryyerda
Flussas : éndyyeAe ACDM Turn: émpyyere B 14 éxpaveiv scripsi:
éxpalvaw codd., Turn. 16 Fortasse (rocatra jyiv elphobw) ixards yap
19 idi¢ scripsi: dd codd., Turn, 19-20 Fortasse [[&d]] tov Ad-yov rovrov
rov mept Ths madryy. ((idia)) eis obs 6 Oeds abrds OAc trey. 21 AoyioId-
uev scripsi: @pev codd., Turn.
 LIBELLVS XIII 255
O thou first author of the work by which the Rebirth has been
wrought in me,
to thee, O God, do I, Tat, bring offerings of speech.
O God, thou art the Father ;
O Lord, thou art Mirtd.
From me accept praises such as thou willest ;
for by thy will it is that all is accomplished for me.1—
Hermes. Good, my son ; you have presented an offering accept-
able to God the Father of all. But add, my son, ‘by thy Word’.
—Tat. I thank you, father.—
Hermes. I rejoice, my son, that you are like to bring forth 22a
fruit. Out of the Truth will spring up in you the immortal brood
of virtue ;* for by the working of mind* you have come to know
yourself and our Father. ;
Now that you have learnt this from me, my son, you must 22b
promise to keep silence, and not to reveal to any one how the
Rebirth is transmitted, that we may not be deemed maligners of
the universe.
And now, no more; for we have both of us done enough to
satisfy our wants, I as teacher, and you as learner.

This discourse about the Rebirth* I have set down in writing 13 b

privately, to be read by those to whom God himself wills it to be
made known, and not by the many, that we may not be deemed
maligners of the universe.
1 T.e, that I am born again.
® The ‘ brood of virtue’ probably ineans good deeds,
3 Perhaps, ‘now that you have got mind’.
* This sentence is not spoken by Hermes; it is an appended note, in which
the writer of the dialogue speaks in his own person
 256 CORPVS HERMETICVM

LIBELLVS XIV

‘Eppod rod rpicpeyiorou "AokAnmi@

ed ppoveiv.
1 ’Emet 6 vids pou Tar drévros cov tiv trav dvrav O€Ayoe
dow pabeiv, bmepbérbar SE por ovK émérpevrev, os [vids]
[[kal}] vewrépw ((xai)) dpre mapedOdu(rt) emd thy yvoow 5
[rav] mept évds éxdorou nvayKkdoOny mrelova cimeiv, Om@s
edmapaxoovOnros att@ yévntat Oewpia. coi O& éy@ Tay
hex Sevrav Ta Kupidrata Kepdrata exredpevo s 61’ ddlyov
AOeAnoa emoreirae [pvoTiKore poy avTa éppyvedoas ], os dv
mndikovT@ Kal émoThpovt THs picews. Io
2 e r& hawépeva mdvta yéyove Kal yiverat, [Ta d& yevynta
obx Of’ éavtod ddr’ bg’ érépov yiverat,|—moANa dé [yevvnrd,
paddov 8 mdvra] re pauvdpeva, kal mévra [ra] didpopa Kai
odx Spora,—ylverae S& Up’ érépou Ta yivdpeva, €or Ts 6
Tatra mov: Kat obros dyévyntos, Wy’ 7 mpecBirepos TeV ~ 5
yevvytav. T& yap yevuntd pnp dp érépov yivecOat Tov
&& yeryntav bvrav ddivaréy te mpecBirepoy mévTov elvat 7}
3 povoy Td dyévyntov. obros dé ((els, Kai)) (wdvTer) Kpeirrov,
kai [[es xal]] pévos dvtws copds Ta mdvra, ds pi) Exov
pndv mpecBtrepov’ dpye yap Kal roy wAHGoyc (Tov yivo- 20
pévev)) [kal] 7S peybe, Kal rA(s) dtaopals) [[rev yevo-
péveor]] [eal] th ovvexela ris mowjoems. émet [ra] d& ra
yervynta dpopevd éort, kaxeivos OH [a] dpards: dia todo yap
motel, iva [a] dpards 7. det ody moidn, alel) dpards [rorya-
poor] éorv. 25
4 obras déiby éort vofoa, Kal vojcavta Oavpdout, Kal
Oavpdcavra éavrov paxaptoat (ds) tov matépa yvoploavra:
In Libello XIV, codicis R et Turnebi lectiones adhibui.
1 ‘Epyod rod tpopeyicrov *AckAnm@ €b ppoveiv Turn, (etiam MC teste
Reitz.) : ‘Epuod mpds AcxAnmdr R (etiam A teste Reitz.) 3 évrey Tum. :
dAaw RK (etiam MC teste Reitz.) 4 éwérpenev R Turn, : Experev M? teste
Reitz. | ds vids Turn.: 6 vids man. pr. R (etiam AC teste Reitz.): ws
5 vids R*: vids seclusi 5 vewrépy wat dpre mapeAOdvr scripsi: «at
vewrepos dpre mapeASdv R Turn, 6 ray seclusit Reitz. 12 obx
ip’ érépov (om. ig’ éaurod aAd’) man. pr. R: odx by’ éaurdy ovx ip’
érépov R? * 13 ra (ante pavdpeva) om. R 18-19 odros dé els, xai navrow
upetrrav, kat pdvos scripsi:obros 8& xpeirray, kai els, wat pdvos Turn. :obros
wal xpeitra, kat cis xa wovas R 20-21 rod rAjGous Tay ywopévey r@ scripsi :
 LIBELLVS XIV 257

LIBELLVS XIV

Hermes Trismegistus writes to Asclepius, wishing

him health of mind.
In your absence, my son Tat desired to be taught the nature of I
things, and would not let me postpone his instruction; and as he
was young, and had only just begun to learn the gxosis, I was
obliged to discourse to him on each several matter at some length,
in order to make it easy for him to understand the doctrine. But
since you are older, and have knowledge of the nature of things,
I have thought fit to select and send to you in writing, in the
form of a short summary, the most important of the truths
I taught him.
The things presented to our sight are many, and all different, 2
and not like to one another; and seeing that all these things have
come into being, and are ever coming into being, and that things
which come into being are brought into being by another, there
must be one who makes these things. And he who makes them
cannot have been generated ; for he must be prior to the things
that are generated. These things, as I said, are brought into
being by another; and it is impossible that anything should be
prior to them all, save only that which has not been generated,
And the Maker is one; he is mightier than all, and he alone is 3
truly wise in all things, for there is nothing that is prior to him.
He rules over the multitude of things made, in virtue of his
greatness; and he rules over all their differences, because he
makes things without intermission. And inasmuch as the things
generated are seen, the Maker also can be seen; for to this end
he makes them, that he may be seen. Since then he is at all
times making things, he can be seen at all times.
Thus is it meet for us to think, and thus thinking, to marvel, 4
and marvelling, to deem ourselves blest, in that we have come to
Te wanda, kal Te R Turn. 21-22 rijs dapopas rH scripsi : rH d:apopG ray
yevouévew wat tp R Turn. 22 éwel scripsi: émecra R Turn. 23 tor,
xdxeivos 6% dpards scripsi: éoriv, éxetvos 32 adparos R Turn. 24 épards 7
scripsi ;ddparos # R Turn. 24-25 mov, det dpards éoriv scripsi: moet.
déparos Tovyapoov (Tvyapotv Turn.) éorw R Tum, 26 dfidv éor Turn. :
toriv dfios R
2806 s
 258 CORPVS HERMETICVM

ri yap yukbrepov marpds yynaiov ; Tis ody éottv obTos, Kal

nas airoy yvoplompev; 7 (yap) TobT@ Thy ToD Bed mpoo-
nyoptav uvon Sikatov dvaxciaOat, 4 Thy Tod moinTod, H THY
rod marpés; 4 Kal ras tpeis, Gedy piv did Thy divapw,
moinriy St dick thy evépyeiav, marépa St did 7d dyabdv. ou
duvdper yap éort dudhopos Tar yiwopévev, évepyeila] dé ev TO
mdvra ywéobat, (ayabds dé éort.. -).
5 wd THs moAvAoylas Te Kal paratodoylas dmadAayéevTas
xp? voeiv dv0 Taira, rd yuwdpevoy Kal Tov mowoivTa: péooy
yap tovtwy ovdév, ovdt tpirov TL. mavrTa ovv vody, Kai 10
mdvta dxotev, tev S00 Tobrwv péuvnco, kal raira eva
vouige Ta mévra, pndty év dropia ((} ev pux@)) TWOEpevos,
ph tav Evo, pi) rv Kdto, pH Tov Oclov, pi) TOY peraBAnTev
[[ [rev] év poy @]} dbo ydp éort ra wdvra, Td ywopevor Kal
Td mowdv. Kat diacthvar Td Erepov amd Tod érépov ov 15
Sivarat: obre yap Tov TmotodryTa xwpis Tod yivopévov Suva-
rov elvat, (ore Td yivdpevor xapls To mowodvros.) éxdrEpon
yap abrav abrd roiré gore 51d obK Eort 7d Erepov Tob Erépou
6 xopicbjvat, [dAd’] (Bomep obdt) adrd éavrod. ef yap 6
mov dAdo ovdév éoriv 4} 7d moody pdvov, amAody, aovv- 20
Gerov, moveiv dvdykn ‘Todro abtd éavT@ @ yévecis ear 7d
mowdy Tod motobvros'. Kai wav 7d ytvopevoy adtvarov bp
éavrod ywépevov cvat, ywopevov dé, bp érépou avdyKn
yiverOar rod dé mowodvros dvev 7d yervnrov ove yiverat
otre got. 7d yap Erepov rod érépov advev dme@dece Tiv 25
idtav giow [orephoer Tod érépov)]. ei rolvu dto0 apodoyntat
Ta dvta, Td ywwopevoy Kal Td moody, Ev éort TH Evdoe, Td
bev mponyotpevoy, 7d dé érdpevor, mponyovpevoy péev 6 ToL
Oebs, érdpevov 8 7d yivdpevov, droiov dy 7.
7 Kal ph did thy woKidiay roy yiwopévoy purdén, PoBod- 30
Kevos pi tamewdrnta Kal ddogiay TO Oe mepidyys. pia
yap corw adrt® dbga, td mov Ta mdvra, Kal Tobro Eort TOD

1-2 nal mds abtoy om, R 2 ywwpiowpey scripsi: yvepicouey R Turn.

|} yap robrw scripsi: } rovre R Turn. 3 pévoy Flussas ; povg R Turn,
6 duvdyet scripsi: Sivaus R Turn. | yvopevey scripsi : yevouévov R Turn,
| évepye? scripsi: évépyera R Turn. 10 o¥2 (ante tpirov) Turn.: oddity R
15 dd Turn, R?; om, man. pr. R 15-16 od Svvara. otre Turn.: ddvvarov.
otd@ R 17 éxarepoy scripsi: éxdrepos R Turn. 21 @ yéveois tare
Turn.: ds yéveois 6 R 26 el roivuy bv0. .. ove Tov pUmov of -yevynoavres
(§ 7) citat Cyrillus c. Zudianum 2. 63, Migne Patrol. tom. 76, 597D (vide
Testim.) 27 ra ovra Cyril. : om, R Turn. | 7d (ante yuwopevov) R
 LIBELLVS XIV 259
recognize our Father ;for what is dearer to a son than his true
father? Who is he then, and how are we to recognize him?
Are we to say that it is right that the name of God alone should
be assigned to him, or that of Maker, or that of Father? Nay,
all three names are his ; he is rightly named God by reason of his
power, and Maker by reason of the work he does, and Father by
reason of his goodness. In power he surpasses the things that
come into being; he is at work in bringing all things into being ;
(and his goodness is shown in . . .).
We ought therefore to get rid of superfluous and idle talk, and 5
keep our thoughts fixed upon these two, the thing made and
the Maker. Between them there is nothing; there is no third.
In all your thoughts then, and in all that you are told, keep in
mind these two, and hold them to be all that is, making no
difficulty or mystery about anything in heaven above or here
below, divine or mutable. All things are but two, that which
is made and that which makes. And the one cannot be separated
from the other; the Maker cannot exist apart from the thing
made, nor the thing made, apart from the Maker. Each of them
is just that and nothing else; and so the one can no more be
parted from the other than it can be parted from itself. For 6
if the Maker is nothing else but that which makes, and that alone,
simple and incomposite, he must of necessity make.... And
again, what is made cannot be made by itself; if it is made, it
must of necessity be made by another ; without the Maker, the
thing made can neither come into being nor exist. If the one is
wanting, the other ceases to be itself. If then it is admitted that
there are two things, that which is made and that which makes,
these two are one in virtue of their union, the one of them going
before, and the other following after. It is the Maker, that is,
God, that goes before ; and it is the thing made, whatsoever it be,
that follows after.
And if the things made vary in quality, do not for that reason 7
hesitate through fear of degrading God, or impairing his glory.
For God’s glory is this, and this alone, that he makes all things ;

Turn, : 7é re Cyril. 28 pér (ante 6 modv) om. R 29 émoiov R Turn, :

6 m Cyril. |av ex édy corr. R 30-31 gudAdtn, poBodpevos Cyril.:
puadty 6 poBodpevos R Turn. 31 pw? Turn.: om. R Cyril. | 7O (ante
Ge) om. Cyril. —|wepidifps Turn, : wepidiby R : meprypdyva Cyril. 82 yap
éorw at7@ R Turm.: yap atr® éore Cyril. | 74 (ante mévra) om. Cyril
|éore ro R Turn. : éo7t 70 rod Cyril.
$2
 260 CORPVS HERMETICVM

bcod domep o¥cia, 4 motors adtG 68 rH movodyre oydev

kaxoy ovd alcypoy vopictéov. Tabra ydp éoTt Ta TdéOn
[ra] rh yevéoet maperopeva, domep 6 ids TO X@AKG, Kal
6 piros TO cdpart aX’ ob're Tov lov 6 xadxoupyds éroincey,
obre tov pirov 5 (rd odpa) yevvqoalvrels [[yeyevynxer]], tr
ovat tiv Kaxlay ((yeyévynxer)) 6 Beds, ) OF THs yeverews
Stapovh) Kabdrep egavbciv more’. kat 5:4 Tobro eroince riy
peraBorddy 6 beds, domep dvaxdbapow ris yeverews.
8 «ra TO py adit (oypddw eeort kal ovpavov mrojoat
kal yiv Kal Oddaccav, Kai Oeods Kal avOpdmovs Kal ra
Goya mévra Kai ra dipuya, TO St 6B od Svvariv mdvra
mov; & ris moAdjs dvolas Kal dyvacias rijs wept Tov
Océv. 7d yap mdvrav Kaww6ratov méaxovety of Towodrot-
rov yap Oedv ddoxovres edroyeiv TO ph Thy TaY mévTov
motnow aire dvaribévat, obre tov Gedy toact, mpds dé TH bij ial5
eldévat, kal Ta péyiota eis avroiv doeBodot, wabos abra
mepitibévres, omrepoiay 7} ddvvapiay. ei yap pi) wdvTa
motel, } dmepnpavav od ror’, } pi Suvdpevoss Smep eotiv
9 docBés. 6 yap beds by pévor Exe maébos, rd dyabdv 6 dé
dyabds odre dmephipavos obre adbvatos. [Toro ydp éorw
6 beds, 7d dyabéy: S raca Sivapis Tob movely wdvTa.]] wav
dH 7d yevynrdy bd TOG Oeod yéyover, Swep éotiv, bd Tob
dyabod Kal [rod] mdévra duvapévov moeiv. ((rodro ydp eorw
6 bebs, 7d ayabdv: (7G 82 dyab)O maca divapes Tod woreiy
mdavTa.)) 25
10 ef OF was piv adrds mole, was SE Ta yvdpeva yiverat
BotrAar pabeiv, ELeori cor iSeiv eixéva KaddAorny Kal dpoto-
rdrnv. ide yewpydv oméppa kataBddaAovra els yiv, Smov pev
mupov, drrov 8& xpiOjv, bmov 8 dAdo Te Tv omeppdrov’ ie

1 ovcia scripsi: c@pa R Turn.: 7d c&pa Cyril. | 8 Turn., Cyril. : 67

R 2 voworéoy scripsi: vou¢épevov R Turn., Cyril. 2-3 7a wdOn ra TH
Turn., Cyril. : 7a ma@yra 7H R 3 6 (ante ids) Cyril.: om. R Turn.
4 obre idv 6 yaduoupyds R Turn. : obre 5 xaAnoupyds rdv toy Cyril. 5b 7d
capa yevvioas scripsi: of yerrpoavres Cyril.: 6 mounrhs yeyevvnxey R Turn.
6 ove scripsi: ovre R Turn. 7 émdiaport) R: bapor7) cett. 9 dra
TO piv adr® (orypaoy . . . ey 8 7H wayrt Cay wal kivnow (§ 10) citat
Cyrillus c. Judianum 2. 64, Migne 76. 600 A (vide Testim.) 9-10 rojoa
kai ya Cyril. : worjjoat xat Oeods wal viv R Turn. 10 @4Aaccav kat R Turn.:
Oddaccay tadra wat Cyril. | Gcovs xat Cyril.: om. R Turn. 10-11 «at
7a dAoya névra nat Ta dbuxa RTurn.; eat mavra 7a ddoya kat dipuxa Cyril.
11 od Swvardy wavra Cyril.; ddvvaroy ratra Turn. 12 rijs (ante woAAjs)
Turn. : om. Cyril. 12-13 & 79s... Tov Oedvom. man. pr.R 13 _xauwd-
rarov R Turn.: devdraroy Cyril. 14 pdoxovres ebdoyetv R Turn.:
 LIBELLVS XIV 261

and the making of things is, so to speak, God’s very being. In

relation to the Maker himself, nothing is to be deemed evil or
foul. Evil and foulness are accidents which follow on the making
of things, just as rust forms on metal, or dirt collects on a man’s
body ; but the metal-worker did not make the rust, nor did the
father who begot the body make the dirt. And even so, God is
not the author of evil; but it is the lasting on of the things made
that causes evil to break out on them. And that is why God has
subjected things to change ; for by transmutation the things made
are purged of evil.
The same painter can make heaven and earth and sea, gods 8
and men, and beasts of every kind, and things without life; and
is it impossible for God to make all things? What fools men
are! How little they know of God! It is a strange mistake ;
such men profess to honour God by refusing to ascribe to him the
making of all things ; but they know not God, and not only that,
but they are guilty of the worst impiety against him; for they
attribute a bad quality to God; they make him out to be either
disdainful or incapable. If God does not make all things, it must
be either because he disdains to make things, or because he
is not able ; and it is impious to say that. God has one quality, 9
and one alone, the quality of goodness; and he who is good
is neither disdainful nor incapable. All that has come into being
then has been brought into being by God, that is, by him who is
good, and is able to make all; for God is the Good, and the
Good has all power to make all.
And if you wish to know how God makes things, and how the 1o
things made come into being, you may see an image of it,—
a goodly sight, and very like. Look at a husbandman sowing
seed, here wheat, there barley, and elsewhere some other kind of
gpaoxovres ebaeBeiv Te kal evAoyelv Cyril. _—|rv (ante mévtwv) R Turn. : om.
Cyril. 15 atré dvariéva RTurm.: dvaridéva abr@ Cyril. |obre
R Turn. : ob Cyril. | toace Cyril. : of6acr Turn. : ofdacw R |mpos Be
7o R: mpds 8 7@ cett. 16 nados Cyril. (Aub.): 7467 Turn. 17 é
yap wh) R Cyril. : ef uy yap Turn. 18 4 (post mavra more?) R Turn. : om,
Cyril. (Aub.) | bwepnpavav od moe? Cyril.: Saepjppavés éorw R Turn.
19 1460s secludendum? 22 6: scripsi: 6? R Turn,, Cyril. | éoriv
bd rov Cyril. ; éori rod R Turn, 23 nayra Cyril.: 7a nav7a R Turn,
24 76 dyaGdv Cyril. :7d yap dyaddv R Turn, | 7@ && dya0@ nao scripsi :
@ maga Cyril.: } aaca R Turn. 24-25 woeiy wavra Cyril.: woeiv ra wavra
R Turn. 26 ef 52 Cyril. : fe R ‘Turn, 26-27 -yiverat, BovrAe Cyril,:
yivera, kat ei BovAe R Turn, 27 tfeori cor ideiy eixdva R Turn: efeori
aot. ide eixdva Cyril, 28 ide R Turn. : om, Cyril, |caraBaddvra R
| els yHv Turn. : els iv viv R Cyril.
 262 CORPVS HERMETICVM

tov adrov dumedov gutevovra Kal pndréay kaita& dda Tov

Sévdpov. obra kal 6 beds ev piv obparG dBavaciay omelpet,
év S8& yf peraBodry, év 88 7G wavti (why Kai Kivnow.
[radra St od modAd éoriv, GAN dAlya Kal edapibunta: Ta
yap mdvra técoapa.| (d00 ydép) éorin, adris 6 Beds Kal 7 5
yéveots, év ols Ta dvta éotiv.

LIBELLVS XVI

[6por] “AoKxAnmod mpos "Appova Bactr€a

[rept Ocod, wep HAns, mepl Kaxlas, mepi efpappévns, mepi

HAlov, wept vontijs ovoias, wep! Oeias ovcias, wept dvOpdrov,
mepi oikovopias Tod mAnpépatos, wept Tv éntd doTépwr, 10
mepl Tod Kar’ eikéva, dvOpdrov.]
ta péyav oot (rodrov) Tov Abyov, @ Baorred, Stereppdpny,
ndvrov tov dddkwv oomep Kopuphy Kal bréuynpa, ob Kata
tiv tév moddav Sbgav ovykelpevov, Exovra 8% moddAjijy
éxelvors dvtinculéw. "havicerac ydp oot kal rots épois 15
tb éviors Adyos avtipwvos.' (...) ‘Epps pev yap 6 ddd-
akadés pou modAdkis por Siadreydspuevos Kal (dia Kai rob Tar
éviore mapévros edeyer drt Sdfet Tots (.. .) évTvyxdvouat jou
trois BiBXlous dmdovaTaTy civat } cbvTagis Kal cagis, Ex dE
tov évavriov (Sppopévois SiaBdrAnOjoerar as) doagis ove, °

kal Kekpuppévoy tov vody TOv Abywv Exouca. Kai ert doa-
georépa (havicerat) tév ‘EdAjvov borepov Bovdnbévtav
Thy hperépay Siddexrov eis thy idiav peOepunvetoa, drep
éorat Tov yeypappévov peyiotn Siactpopy Te Kai aodpeia.
26 S& Adbyos rH warpda Siadréxro Epynvevdpevos exer agi} 25
2 ofrw kat 6 Cyril.: ofrws 6 R Turn. 5 éorw, abrds scripsi: éort,
«at avros R Turn.
In Libellis XVI-XVIU, codicum BCDMR et Turnebi lectiones adhibui.
O = codicum BCDM prima manus teste Reitzenstein.
7 “Appova B: “Appova cett, 8 epi xaxias om, DR Turn, 10 mepi
(ante rav énrd) om. DR Turn, 12 rév om, DR Turn. 15 dyri-
Aefw scripsi: dyridegiv codd., Turn. 16 yap DR Turn.: om. BC
16-17 6 énds SidacxKados DR Turn.: 6 &ddcxadds pov cett. 18 trois
om, man. pr. M | Fortasse (ciceBas) 21 Adyov R: Adyow cett.
|boxes ex €xovra corr. R 21-22 doapecrarn codd., Turn.: ‘ viel-
eicht doapecrépa’ Reitz. 24 éame LB: earar cett. 25-8 infra: 6 &
G
Adyos TH mrarpea Biaréxra Epynvevdpevos exer. . . exer Thy evépyeav Tov Aeyo-
pévow. boov ovv Bvardv éoti go... dvoparaw ppdow codd, Corp. Apud
 LIBELLVS XIV 263

seed. Look at him planting now a vine, and now an apple-tree,

and trees of other kinds; the same man plants them all, And
even so, God sows immortality in heaven, and change on earth,
and in all the universe, life and movement. For in these two,—
God, and the world of things made,—is comprised all that exists.

LIBELLVS XVI
An episile of Asclepius to King Ammon.
Of weighty import is this discourse which I send to you, my1a
King; it is, so to speak, a summing up of all the other discourses,
anda reminder of their teaching. It is not composed in accor-
dance with the opinion of the many; it contains much that
contradicts their beliefs. ... For my teacher’ Hermes often used 1b
to say in talk with me when we were alone, and sometimes when
Tat was with us, that those who read my? writings . . .* will think
them to be quite simply and clearly written, but those who hold
opposite principles to start with will say that the style is obscure,
and conceals the meaning. And it will be thought still more
obscure in time to come, when the Greeks think fit to translate
these writings from our tongue‘ into theirs. Translation will
greatly distort the sense of the writings, and cause much obscurity.
Expressed in our native language,® the teaching conveys its mean- 2

1 Perhaps, ‘¢ And some people will find it difficult to understand.) For my

teacher’, &c.
2 Perhaps, ‘his’, or ‘ our’. 8 Perhaps, ‘with a devout mind’,
* T. e. from the Egyptian language.
5 ‘Expressed in our native language... the cogent force of the words.’
This passage is quoted in a different form by Nicephorus Gregoras. Accord-
ing to him, it runs thus: ‘As far as it is in your power, my King, keep
(untranslated) the teaching which I have transmitted to you, in order that
secrets so holy may not be revealed to Greeks, and that the disdainful mode of
speech of the Greeks, with its showy tricks of style, may not reduce to impo-
tence the impressive strength of the language, and the cogent force of the words.
For such teachings, when expressed in our native language, convey their mean-
ing clearly; for the very quality of the sounds, and the power of the Egyptian
words, have in it (i.e. in our native langnage?) the efficacy of the things signi-
esi; but when distorted (by translation), these teachings become obscure and
ineffectual.
Nicephorum Gregoram (vide Zestim,) inverso ordine legitur cov buvardéy éori
co... dvoudraw ppdow. of yap Toodra Adyo TH waTpYA Siadénrw Eppyverd-
pevot Exovat. . . THY TOY AeyopEevmy évépyerav Exovat | Post évépyeray Exovar
add. Niceph. diaarpepdpevor 5 doadeis re yivovra kat dvevépyntot
 264 CORPVS HERMETICVM
Tov Tov Aéywv vodv: Kal yap adrd Td Tis pwvijs Totdy (. «.),
kal } trav Alyumrtov dvopdrov “divaps' év éavth exer thy
évépyeiay tav eyouévor. scov ov dbvatév éoti cou,
Baciked,—advra St divacat,—rov Nbyov Siatipynoov dvep-
pivevtov, iva pire els “EdAnvas Oy roiadra pvoripia,
pire t tev ‘Eddijver “drepipavos' dpdors Kal éxhedvpevy
kal Oomwep Kexaddromiopévyn é€itndrov Toijon Td cemvdy Kai
ortBapov Kxal Thy evepyntikiy Tav dvondtav dpdou.
*EdAnves yap, ® Bacidred, NMyous Exovor Kevods dmode(~ewy
[evepyntixovds]|: Kal abrn éotly (9) ‘EdAjvey girocogia, “°

Abyov woos. Hueis dé ob Adbyors ypdpucOa, GAA ghwvais

He[ytlorais [rer] epyawr.
3 a&p£opat dé rod Aébyou Eber, rov Gedy émixadeodpevos tov
tév drwy Seomérnv Kai monthy Kal matépa Kal meplBodor,
[kal mévra dvra] tov [éva] Kal eva dvra (kal) r& mara, lal 5
[[7év mévrov yap To mAjpopa Ev éortt]] [kal év Evi] od
"Sevrepodvros' rod évés, ddX audorépwr évds dvros: ((rav
wdvrev yap To TAYpwpa Ev éor.)) Kal Tooréy pot Tov vodv
Staripyoov, & Bacthed, map SAnv Ti Tod rbyou mpay-
Hareiav. édy ydp Tis emtyxeiphon 74 wavta [Kal ev “Soxodvtt'
kai ravrov evat| tod évis ywpioa, éxdeEdpevos thy Tov
wdvrav mpocnyopiav émt mAnOous, obk émi mAnpdparos,
[[Srep éoriv dddvaror,|| rd wav Tob évds AUoas drodécer Td
wav ((Srep éotiv dddvatov.)) mdvta yap ev elvat Sei, ef ye
[8] €oriv,—éore 8é, kal ovdémore maverat [év] dvra,—iva ph
7d TAHpepa AvOF.

4 tos dv ev th yf woddas mnyds bddtov Kai dépos dva-

Bpvotcas ev rois peoardros pépect, kal év 7G adt@ ras
Tpeis dices dpwpévas dépos Kai Udaros Kal yas, éx pias
Pigns jptnpévas.
- 2 Z
80ev Kal (4 yh) wdons OAns wenlorevrat
s a LA ‘4
30
edvat tapteiov: Kal dvadidwor piv abdris thy xopnyiar,
5 dvramohapBdver St rhv dvaber brapgw. obtw yap obpavdv
1 rév Aéyov secludendum? 2 Svvdus Turn, et Niceph.: om. codd.
Corp, (cvvOpen B): ppdots Reitz. |aévp B: éavrf codd. Corp, cett.: aire
Niceph. 4 ndvra 52 Sivacat om. Niceph. |rov Adyov codd. Corp. :
Tov vp’ Huav napadedopévov cor dASyov Niceph. 4-5 dveppnvevtoy om,
Niceph. 6 4 om, Turn. 8-7 Kal éxhedupévy kal owep om. Niceph,
9 xevors B?: xarvods BCMR Turn. : «al vods D 9-10 (od8?) drodelfewy
évepynticots Reitz. 10 % addidit Reitz. 12 peorais Tiedemann: pe-yi-
oras OR: peyioras Turn. 14 ray (ante 6Awy) om, B | DdrAow R
14-15 mepiBodov kai ndvra évra [rdv va] nat ta [dvta ta wévra] Reitz,
 LIBELLVS XVI 265
ing clearly ; for the very quality of the sounds . . .; and when the
Egyptian words are spoken, the force of the things signified works
in them, Therefore, my King, as far as it is in your power, (and
you are all-powerful,) keep the teaching untranslated, in order
that secrets so holy may not be revealed to Greeks, and that the
Greek mode of speech, with its ...,! and feebleness, and showy
tricks of style, may not reduce to impotence the impressive
strength of the language, and the cogent force of the words, For
the speech of the Greeks, my King, is devoid of power to con-
vince ;and the Greek philosophy is nothing but a noise of talk.
But our speech is not mere talk; it is an utterance replete with
workings.
I will begin by invoking God, the Master and Maker and 3
Father and Encompasser of all, who is both One and all things ;
not that the One is two, but that these two? are one; for the
whole which is made up of all things is one. And I beg you to
keep this in mind, my King, throughout your study of my
teaching. For if any one attempts to separate all things from the
One, taking the term ‘all things’ to signify a mere plurality of
things, and not a whole made up of things, he will sever the All
_ from the One, and will thereby bring to naught the All; but that
is impossible. It needs must be that all things are one, if they
exist, (and they do exist, and never cease to exist,) in order that
the whole which is made up of them may not be dissolved.
You can see that in the earth there gush forth many springs of 4
water and of air in its midmost parts, and that these three things,
air, water, and earth, are found in the same place, being attached
to one single root. Hence we believe that the earth is the store-
house of all matter; it gives forth the supply of matter, and in
return receives that thing which comes from above.’ For in this 5
1 MSS., ‘arrogance’ or ‘ disdainfulness’.
* Viz, ‘the One’ and ‘all things’.
3 Viz. light, which is the vehicle of life,
15 kai révra rd dyta B: Kal ndvra dyta cett, | xat rd scripsi : 7a Turn. : roy
codd. 16 76 (ante rAjpapa) om. R 17 bevrepotvros codd., Turn.:
Sevrépou dvros Reitz. : fortasse bvo évros 18 pou D: por cett. 19 darh-
pigov R 20 7a scripsi: 7@ OR: 7d Turn. | Soxotv7: OR : Soxodv re
Turn, 21 xwpicat MR Turn,: xapioa BD: yopiom ex x@pioa corr.
man. pr. C 23 dwodéce Turn, : dwodécas CMR: drodéons D 24-26
Fortasse mdvra ydp év elva def [ef ye... dvtal, va pi) 7d TAjpwpa Avop
25 é (post ef ye) seclusit Reitz. etye &veaotw BR |uw) om. DR Turn.
27 iSos dv ént Tum.: tins ody émt DR: id ody & cett. | 4épos scripsi
(vide § 8): mupds codd., Turn. 29 dépos scripsi: mupds codd., Turn,
 2.66 CORPVS HERMETICVM

kal yf (avv)d(y)er 6 Snproupyés, A€yo 5) 6 HAtos, Thy pev

(. . .),
obctay kardyov, Thy St bAny avdyov" kal mepi abrov
cad eis abrov ‘ra mdvra' &drxov, kai dd éavrod "rdvra!
Sidods: maar rap rd pas apOovor xapiferar. adbros ydp
dépi|,
éoriv, ob a&yabal évépyerat od povov év odparG [kal oa

@dXX Kal er yas (..., kal) eis Tov KaTdrarov Buddy [kat
6 &Bvocor) Sijkovow. (..-) (gore 6 tovrov dyKos*)) ef dé
nis tore Kal vonrh ovata, (r)avrn(s) ([éoriv 6 robrov dyKos]]
[hs] barodoxi dv efn 7d TobTOU Pas. wébev d& airy ovvicrarat
*) emeppe?, abrds pdvos ofdev (5 Oeds. 6 dé FAos,) [7] Kal TO -°

réro Kal 7H pdoe eyyds dv (par, du) éavrobd (mapéxet.

kal 6 pry Beds dpavijs,) ph Up’ Hudv dpdpevos, oroxacp@ dé
7 Biagopéveay vooymievos)’ dé Tovrou Oéa ovK EoTt aToXa-
Covros, aX’ adrh (r)h ower (Oparat). Aapmpirara (yap)
mepiddpret mdvra tov Koopov Tov brepxelpevoy Kai drroKel- 15
pevov: péoos yap ‘pura, orepavnpopdv Tov Kécpov.
(apiixev obdv péperOat (avrov) ob méppobev éavtod, adr’ et
xpi) Td adn bes elweiv, odv éavTd,)) [kal] kabdmep ivioxos
dyads, rd Tod Kéopov Eppa aopadiodpevos kal avadjoas
cis éaurév, ph mas ardkras péporror celal 8& af jviat (. . .) 20
[Coy Kad Wuxi) Kal mvedpa} [kal dbavacia Kal yéveots).
[[adiixer ody Péperbar ob moppwbev éavrod, adn’ ei xpi 7d
8 ddnbis efmeiv, adv éavT@.]| Kal Todrov tov tpérov dn-
puoupyel ra{t alrdvra, Tois pev dbavdrois tiv aidvoy Svapoviy
dmovépov, Kal TH dvepepela [rf\ Tod dards [elavrod, dcov 7
dvamépret é« Tod Oarépov pépous To mpods ovpavov BAé-
movros, Ta aOdvara pépn Tod Kéopov Tpépwr{ros), Te Se
karaldap|Baddoper@, Kal mepikdpmovt: To Tay bdatos Kai
ys al dépos kbros, ((r& év tobross Tois pépeot ToD Kdopov))
(woroidv kal dvaxivaev (eis) yéveow, kal peraBodais [[r& év 3°

1 owvéyer scripsi: det codd. (om. R), Turn. :dye Flussas 2 Fortasse
rept abrov (rdv ndcpov diowcet) 3 «at (ante eis) om. R 3-4 navra
SiSods raat [Kai 7d Has dpPovoy xapiCerar] Reitz. | Fortasse maae Cony d:dovs
4 ydp (ante 7d -_ scripsi: «at codd., Turn. 5 ob dyabal ai évépyerat
D: fortasse ob ai évépyerat 7 Fortasse (rijs yap alcOyris Tod paris ovalas
myn) éarw 5 rodrov dyxos 8-9 ravrns imodoxi) scripsi: atrn éorw 6
rovrou byxos Hs inodox7) codd., Turn. lL gia RK | deyis be éavTod
Criv pw .. .) Reitz 12 phom.B_ | croxacpév B Turn. 13 voov-
scripsi: voeiv codd.: voet Turn. 14 abrh 7H sper Spras scripsi:
pevos 23-24 67-
abri) # dus codd., Turn, 15-16 «al broxeipevoy om. DRTum,
juoupyel 7a mavra Reitz. + Squovpyetrat Gnavra OR: Snptovpye? ta dnav7a Turn.
25 ty dvw wepipepela DR Turn. | airod Reitz.: éavrod BMR Turn.:
 LIBELLVS XVI 267
way the Demiurgus (that is, the Sun) brings together heaven and
earth, sending down true being! from above, and raising up
matter from below. And he.. .? in connexion with himself, both
drawing ... to himself, and giving forth . . . from himself; for he
lavishes light on all things without stint.? For the Sun is he
whose beneficent workings operate not only in heaven, but also
upon earth, and penetrate even to the lowest depths. The 6
material body of the Sun is... ;4 and if there is such a thing as
a substance not perceptible by sense,° the light of the Sun must
be the receptacle of that substance. But of what that substance
consists, or whence it flows in, God only knows. The Sun, being
near to us in position, and like to us in nature, presents himself to
our sight. God does not manifest himself to us; we cannot see
him, and it is only by conjecture, and with hard effort, that we can
apprehend him in thought. But it is not by conjecture that we 7
contemplate the Sun ; we see him with our very eyes. He shines
most brightly on all the universe, illuminating both the world
above and the world below 3 for he is stationed in the midst,
and
wears the Kosmos as a wreath around him. And so he lets the
Kosmos go on its course, not leaving it far separated from him-
self, but, to speak truly, keeping it joined to himself ; for like
a skilled driver, he has made fast and bound to himself the
chariot of the Kosmos, lest it should rush away in disorder. And
the reins are. . .°
In this wise he makes all things.” He assigns to the immortals 8
their everlasting permanence, and with that part of his light which
tends upwards (that is, the light which he sends forth from that
side of him which faces heaven), he maintains the immortal parts
of the Kosmos ;* but with the light which is shed downward, and
illuminates all the sphere of water, earth, and air, he puts life into
the things in this region of the Kosmos, and stirs them up to

1 Tie. light, or life.

® Perhaps, ‘ And he orders all things’.
* The sense required by the context is ‘both drawing life to himself and
giving forth life from himself’,
* Perhaps, ‘composed of visible light’, or ‘ the source of visible light’.
5 Literally, ‘ intelligible substance’.
® Perhaps, ‘ And the reins with which he controls it are his light-rays ’.
7 Te. gives life to all things, 8 T.e. the heavenly bodies.

éavré D 27 tpépov Tiedemann: tpépovros OR Turn. 28 «ara-

Badrdopery Keil : xaradapBavopévy OR Turn. 30 peraBords Turn.
 268 CORPVS HERMETICVM

robrois Tois pépect trod Kbcpov]| (rz) (Ga [EArKos tpéror]

9 peramody Kal perapoppav ‘eis dAAnAa yéevn yevov Kal eidn
eiddv dytikaraddacoopévns THs els GAAnAa peraBodrjs,
kabdmep Kal érl Tay peyddrwv cwpdtoy moet Snpuoupyav.*
marros yap odéparos Siaport) peraBorr}, kal rod pev abavd- 5
rou adidduros, Tod && OvnTod pera Siaddcews: Kai abrn
Sagopa ort Tod aBavdrou mpds 7d Ovyrav [Kal 4 Tod Ovntod
roa Tpos Td abdvaror]. domep St 75 Pas avrod muvév, obrw
kal ) Cwoyovla abrod muxvy tis Kal adiddemtos ‘TS Tér@
kal 7H xopnyla'. ; Io
1ob — kai yap dSapdvev xopoi mepi airdv woAdol kal mok(hats orpar|e}ais
éotkdres, ot Tedvoot Kai tov dbavdroy otk elot méppo evbévde.!
(obro.,) Aaxdvres Hy (uerakv) [rovrav| xadpay, ra rév dvOpdomov
ehopdor, ra d¢ ims Trav Oca emirartépeva evepyodat, Ovehdas kal
karavylot kal mpnornpot Kat peraBodais dépos xai ceropois ere 8€ Atpois - 15
Ir kal moduois dpuvdpevor tiv ((eis Oeovs)) doeBecav. arn yap avOpo-
mots [[ets Ocods|] peylorn xaxia. [Ocdv perv yap 1d eb moreiv,
[dvOpdrav 8¢ rd eboeBeiv,| Sarpdvov 8 rd (rots Oeois) érapivev.] ré
yap Dra ra in’ avOpareav ropapeva f wrdvy [fh] roApa(rac) i) dvdynp
[ivy Kadodow eipappévqr] i dyvoig’ (Kal) raira mévra mapa Bevis dvev= 20
Ouva, povn 8€ 7) doéBera Sixn bworémroxe.
12 aarp Od Kal rpodeds éore mavros yévous 6 fdtos* Kal
Somep 6 vonrds kéapos, tov alcOnt[tx]bv Kécpoy meplexar,
mAnpot [avjrov dyxov [rats] workidats Kal mavropdppors ideas,
obrm Kal 6 fds wdvra (rd) ev 7G Kbopm [reptéxor] | « -) 5 we

dyxot "rdvrav ras yevéoes' kal lexuporore, KapdvT@y dé Kal

pevodvrar (.. .) brodéyerat.

13 ond tobr@ dt érdyn 6 Trav Satpdvey Xopés, wGddov dE

xopot modAol yap odrot Kal rotkidor, bd TH TOY dotépov
[[wAwOidas]] (hyeporia) reraypévot, Exdot@ rovTwv iodpOp0L. 30
diareraypévor odv (kata) ((mduvOidas)) trnperodow éxdorp
tév dorépwy, dyabol kal xaxol dvres Tas gidoels, TovTETTL
2 GAAnAa -yern Turn.: ddAqAoyer] OR 8 dytizaccopevns DR Turn. :
dytixaradAagooperns cett. 8-9 Fortasse Womep 52 7d pas adrod muxvov
Cri xopnyia)), obr@ Kal 4} (woyovia abrod muavh ris Kal dduathernros 9 dia-
Aunros K: diiaAemros codd. cett. : ddiaAuros Turn. 11 Fortasse abrods
(se. Tods @eads) | ovparias R: azparelas O Turn. 12 of (rois Grnrois
évres) civorwot Reitz. 13 odo Aaydvres THy perag? xwpay scripsi:
Aaxdyres tiv tovTwy x&pay DR Turn: Aaxdvres rovrov xd@pay codd. cett.:
Car’) evbévde Aaxdvres (uéxpt) TovTav xwpay Reitz. 15 dépos scripsi :
ups codd., Turn. : mvedparos (= dépos) conj. Reitz. 17 woe? R: roveiv
 ——— ee,ee ee

LIBELLVS XVI 269

birth, and by successive changes remakes the living
creatures and
transforms them.... For the permanence of every
kind of body is 9
maintained by change. Immortal bodies undergo
change without
dissolution, but the changes of mortal bodies are
accompanied by
dissolution ; that is the difference between immort
als and mortals.
And as the light of the Sun is poured forth
continuously, so his 10a
production of life also is continuous and withou
t intermission . , .
For! about him? are many troops of daemons, like to armies
of divers sorts, 10 b
--* To them is assigned the intermediate
Tegion. They watch over the
affairs of men, and execute the orders of the
gods. By means of storms and
hurricanes and fiery blasts, and corruptions of
the air,* and earthquakes, and
famines also and wars, they punish men’s impiety.
For impiety is the supreme II
wickedness of men. All men’s other sins are
committed either by reason of
misleading, or under compulsion, or through ignora
nce, and for all these the
gods do not call them to account ; impiety alone
is subject to punishment.
The Sun then is the preserver and maintainer
of every kind of 12
living beings ; and as the intelligible Kosmos, encom
passing the
sensible Kosmos, fills its material mass with
manifold forms of
every shape, so the Sun also... all things
in the Kosmos...
gives mass and strength to. . ., and when they
fail and sink away,
receives .. . into itself.®

And to the Sun is subject the troop of daemo

ns,—or rather, 13
troops ;for there are many and diverse troops
of them, placed
under the command of the planets, an equal numbe
r of daemons
being assigned to each planet. Thus marshalled
in separate
corps, the daemons serve under the several planet
s. They are
both good and bad in their natures, that is, in
their workings ;
1 This passage (§§ 10 b-11) cannot have been
Corp. XVI; it must have been inserted by a transcr written by the author of
* Perhaps, ‘about them’ (sc. the planet-gods), iber,
® Perhaps, ‘ They dwell with us mortals, and yet
the immortals’.
are not far separated from
* T.e. pestilences.
5 Perhaps, ‘so the Sun also fills all things in the
makes them live. And the Earth, supplying matter Kosmos with his light, and
gives mass and strength to all things, and when for the births of things,
receives the matter back into herself’, they fail and sink away,

cett. 19 dAda 72 om. DR Turn. | wAdvy roAuéra scripsi: mAdvy #

ToAuy codd., Turn, 20 dyvoay R 22 37 scripsi: 8% codd., Turn,
23 aisdyrov Hermippus: alaOntiedv OR Turn.
dyxav codd., Turn. (& ro Koopm ndvra ei 24 dv Syrov scripsi: abrdv
otra nal 6 fds mévra td bv 7h Koop (7G ebpc ig 25-27 Fortasse
bAnv mapéxovea els) ((rds yevéoes)) dyxot purl aAnpdv Coomorer. } 8 yA
mdvra
kapévrowv 38 Kal pevodvrow (rh tans brodéyerat [[ J] xad ioxuporotei,
cett. 28 rotrew R: rovra
29 rp scripsi: rds codd., Turn. 81 d:atetaypévov R Turn.
 270 CORPVS HERMETICVM

ras évepyelas: Satpovos yap ovata évépyeta [elot dé ries

14 adrav Kexpapévor ef dyabod Kal Kaxod.| oUTOL, WAVTWN TOV
éml yas mpaypdtov thy e~ovotay KekAnpopevot, (.. .. atrtot
dé) clot Kai trav éwi yijs OoptBov, kat moxidny Tapayiv
épydfovra: kal Kowf tats médeot kal tois €Oveot kat idia 5
éxdot@. dvamddrrovra: yap Kal dvOédKovct Tas wWuyas
jpav els Eavrovs, éyxabrjpevor Hudy vevpors kal pvedois Kal
prcwi Kai dprnpias [kai abt@ 1O éyxeparo|, SijKovres
15 wéxpt Kal abrav trav omddyxvov. yevopevov yap jpav
éxaorov Kal uxwlévr a mapadap Bdvover dalpoves of Kar’ 10
éxelyny thy (o)rely)m hy Tis yevéoems banpérat , ot (ém)-
erdynoav éxdot@ Tav adorépwv: ovToL yap Kar& orrypiy
évadrrdocovrat, odx of adrol émipévovr es, GAN’ dvaxvKAo v-
pevot. obrot ody eis Ta dbo (dAoya) pépy THs Wuxiis duvres
dua roo cépatos orpoBodow abtiy Exaoros mpos tiv (diay 15
évépyetav. 7d 6% Aoyexdv pépos THS Wuxijs ddéoworov Tov
16 Saipdvev garner, emirASecov eis dodoxiy Tod Geod. (8)r@
ody €v TO AoyixG dis emrddpret [did Tod HAiov] (a6 Tob
Oeod), [[obror St mdvres ddrLyo <ici,|] todre[y| Katapyobvrat
of Satuoves: oddels yap oddev Sévarar obre Satpdver oTE 20
Ocdv mpds play dktiva Tod Beod. ((odro. dt mdvtws dALyor
cicilv))) of 8& dAdo mdvres dyovrar Kal Pépovrat Kai Tas
woyas kal rd cdpara bd tov datpbver, dyamevres kal
arépyovres ras éxetvov evepyetass Kat 6 Adyon ovK (Ex@r)
pas (. . .) éortv, 6 mdavépevos Kal mhavav. Thy ovy 25
entyevov “Stolknow" rabrny maoav Siorxodar 8¢ dpydvev Tay
fuerépov copdrov. radvrny d& Thy Siofknow ‘Eppijs eiuap-
pévny exdrecer.

17 Hptnrat odv 6 vontos Kécpos Tod Oeod [6 de aic@nros Tob

vontod}: 6 d¢ Adtos did Tod vonrod [Kal aicbnrob] Kéopov TIy 30
émippoiy dd rod beod xopnycitat ToD ayabod, TouTégTt THS

1 obsia % évépyaaB 2 xerpappévor BDR | wévrov Reitz. : mavres

OR Turn, 3-4 air 5€ addidi (airoi addidit Reitz.) 6 dvOéAKovce .
scripsi: dveyefpovo: codd., Turn. | ras yuxais B: rds ypuxds cett.
7 éavrovs B: atrods CDMR Turn. 9 ordayxov CD | yevdpevov ex
yevopévaw (?) corr. R 11 orypiy Reitz. : t1yjv OR Turn. 11-12 iwera-
‘ynoav scripsi: érdynoav év R Turn. : érayqoav codd, cett.: éraynoav ip’ Reitz.
14 ddoya addidi, Fortasse eis rd dAoya pépy 17 Sr Keil: 76 CDMR
Turn.: rav B10 rovrq scripsi: rovraw codd., Turn, 24-25 6 Adyou ob«
 LIBELLVS XVI 271

for the being of a daemon consists in his working. To these 14

daemons is given dominion over all things upon earth,.. . They
are also the authors of the disturbances upon earth, and work
manifold trouble both for cities and nations collectively and for
individual men. For they mould our souls into another shape,
and pull them away to themselves, being seated in our nerves!
and marrow and veins and arteries, and penetrating even to our
inmost organs. For at the time when each one of us is born and 15
made alive, the daemons who are at that moment on duty as
ministers of birth take charge of us,—that is, the daemons who
are subject to some one planet. For the planets replace one
another from moment to moment; they do not go on working
without change, but succeed one another in rotation. These
daemons then make their way in through the body, and enter
into the two irrational parts? of the soul; and each daemon
perverts the soul in a different way, according to his special mode
of action. But the rational part of the soul remains free from the
dominion of the daemons, and fit to receive God into itself. If 16
then the rational part of a man’s soul is illumined by a ray of
light from God,’ for that man the working of the daemons is
brought to naught; for no daemon and no god‘ has power
against a single ray of the light of God. But such men are few
indeed ; and all others are led and driven, soul and body, by
the daemons, setting their hearts and_affections on the work-
ings of the daemons. This is that love which is devoid of
reason, that love which goes astray and leads men astray. The
daemons then govern all our earthly life, using our bodies as
their instruments ; and this government Hermes called ‘destiny’,

The intelligible Kosmos then is dependent on God; and the 17

Sun receives from God, through the intelligible Kosmos, the
influx of good (that is, of life-giving energy), with which he is

1 Or ‘sinews’,
? Viz. the part which feels desire, and the part which feels repugnance,
_ ® The ‘light’ here spoken of is not the visible sunlight, but the divine and
incorporeal light of Mind.
* T.e. no planet-god. Such a man is freed from astral influences, or in other
words, is not subject to Heimarmene,

éxov tpws scripsi: 6 Adyos obm epas codd., Turn. | Fortasse (obrés) torw
26 diovenow codd,, Turn.: fortasse ia-yoryy | ovxodor wat &’ R Turn.
 272 CORPVS HERMETICVM
, \ Ea Kk oe a ’
Onpuoupyias. epi de roy HAov af dKre eiot opaipat, rovTov
HpTnpevat, Hf Te Tay amdavaerv Kai (al) e Tov TavOpEevov
> Zs ~ 3 ~ s é ~ r ,

kal pia mweptyeos. rtovtwy d& Trav ohatpav tprnvrat of

daipoves, trav 8& Satpévev of dvOpwrorr Kal otrw mdvra
18 re kal mdvres ard Tob Geod ciow jprnpévor.
s 4 3 4 ~
41d warp pev ou
~ ’ > Z 4 4

mwadvtov 6 beds, Snproupyds dé 6 Fruos: 6 dé Kdcpos dpyavov

Tis Snuiovpyias. Kal ‘ovpavdv piv % vont ovoia diorxei,
ovpavos' dé Oeots, Saiuoves dt Oeois droreraypévor dvOpdrous
19 dtoxodoww. airy 1) Oc@v Kal datpévay orpatid. (mdv\ra dt 6
eds move? did TodTwy éav7G, Kai popia Tob Oecd mdvra éoriv ~°

e 8 mdvra popia, mdvta dpa 6 beds. mdvta ovv moidv

éaurov movei* Kai ovK dv tore mavcatTo (mov), érei Kal
avros dravotos. [kal domep 6 Beds od rédos Exel, ovTws
ote 4 molnais adrod [dpyhy 7] Tédos Exel}.

LIBELLVS XVII
* * * *

el 6¢ voeis, €oriv, & BactArcd, kal copdror (<idwdra) dodpara. ~ 5

—TIloia ; pn 6 Bactheds.—T& év rots éodrrpots patvopeva
[odpara] ov Soxet cor dodpara elvot ;—Obros exe, & Tar,
[Ociws voeis,) 6 Bacireds clrev—Eor St cal dodpara
GdAa* olov ai iSéat od Soxofci cor dodparor elvat, Svjoar ev
cépact atvontat ob pévoy Tay éuyptxwv, GAA Kal TOV 20
dxptyov ;—Ed déyers, @ Tér.—(. . .,) ob rws.dvravaxddoes
eloi Tov dowpdrov mpos Ta cHpaTa, [Kal TOY cwudTwv mpds
Ta dodpara, TovTéott Tod alcOnrod mpds Tov vonToy Kébcpor,|
kal Tod vontod (Kéopov) mpos Tov alcOnrév. 61d mpooktve
Ta ayd\para, & Bacired, ds kal adra& ideas exovra dé Tod 25
[aicOnrod] (vonrov) Kécpov.—
1 Stpnovpyias R: dipcoupyias Turn, 2 «al al &€ scripsi: «al ¢¢ Turn. :
é¢ codd. : ai re & Reitz. 4-6 trav 5 Saipdvev ... 6 5& Kédopos om. R
7-8 Fortasse «ai #rtoy piv 6 Oeds Sid tHS vonris ovsias dione’, HAvos 5é rods
dAXous Oeovs 9 Soxotcw B; drorxotarr cett. | wavra 5é Reitz.: ra 5é
O: rade Turn.
15 eléwda addidi (‘ Ergiinze: efSwda oder eiin oder eixovicpara oder dergl.’
Reitz.) 16 évémrpos DR Turn. 17 dva: DR Turm.: otv BEM
19 Soxodai cor scripsi: boxe? obv ao codd, | doa@part D | elvar, doar
scripsi: evar R: elva otoa cod. Bodl. 16987: otca cett. 18-20 An dow-
para: eva obatijat, Cal) év cdpact pavdperat t 20 ocwpaci Reitz. : owpart
OR Turn, |galvovra: scripsi: pawdpevar codd, | #évev R: pdvov cett.
 LIBELLVS XVI 273
supplied. And round about the Sun, and dependent on the Sun,
are the eight spheres, namely, the sphere of the fixed stars, and
the six planet-spheres, and the sphere which surrounds the earth;"
and the daemons are dependent on these spheres; and men are
dependent on the daemons. Thus all things and all persons are
dependent on God. God then is the Father of all; the Sun is 18
the Demiurgus ;* and the Kosmos® is the instrument by means
of which the Demiurgus works... The... governs the gods ;‘
and the daemons are subject to the gods, and govern men. Thus
is marshalled the army of gods and daemons. Working through 19
gods and daemons, God makes all things for himself; and all
things are parts of God. And inasmuch as all things are parts of
him, God is all things. Therefore, in making all things, God
makes himself. And it is impossible that he should ever cease
from making ; for God himself can never cease to be.

LIBELLVS XVII

* * * *

‘... And if you think of it, my King, there are incorporeal images
of bodies also.’—‘ What sort of things do you mean?’ asked the
King.—‘Do you not think that the images seen in mirrors are
incorporeal ?’—‘ Yes, Tat, it is so,’ said the King.—‘ And there
are other things also that are incorporeal ; for instance, do you
not think that the forms which are seen not only in the bodies of
living beings, but also in those of lifeless things, are incorporeal ?’
—‘Yes, Tat, you are right.’—‘ (Well then, as bodies are reflected
in mirrors,)so incorporeal things are reflected in bodies, and the
intelligible Kosmos is reflected in the sensible Kosmos. Therefore,
my King, worship the statues of the gods, seeing that these statues
too have in them formswhich come from the intelligible Kosmos.’—
1 J, e, the atmosphere.
? T.e. Maker of things; but for this writer, ‘making things’ means giving
life to them,
8 Le, the system of spheres which has just becn described.
* The sense required by the context is: ‘God, by means of the intelligible
substance, governs the Sun, and the Sun governs the other gods (i.e. the gods
who preside over the eight spheres)’.

20-21 GAG xal ray dyvxey om, D 21 Fortasse (otxoivdonep.. .,) obras
|dvankdoas R 26 ala@y7od OR Turn. : vonrod B, Reitz.
2406 sf
 274 CORPVS HERMETICVM

5 obv Baotreds eLavacras en: “Apa éoriv, & mpopfra ’‘

mepl thy tov gévov emipédrcray yeverOat' TH dt émiodon TEp t
Tov ééfs Geodtoyjooper.

LIBELLVS XVIII

[rept tHs bd rod mdBovs To} odparos e€urrodigopevns

Wis) 5
1 Tos THs mappotoou ped@dias Thy dppoviay émayyed)o-
pévos ef kata thy enidecgiv Eur idav TH mpobupia yévnra:
tev dpydvev avappoctia,
[karayédacrov 7d émixeipnua Tay yap dpydvev é£arbe-
votvray mpos Thy xpelav, Tov povooupyiy dydyKn Tapa - fe)

trav Oewpav éemitfeo obd

Oat.|
[6 pay yap dxdparoy [edyvapsves| dmodidwor riy TéEXYHY,
trav St 7d dabevées kaTapéuperas (. - -)-]
[[6 ydép to Kara pbow povorxds Oeds kal tay @ddv
dppoviay ob povov épyagdpevos ddAX Kal dxpt Tov Kata
pépos dpydvev ths oikelas ped@dias Tov puOpov rapaméumov
dxdparés éorww]] [6 Oeds* ob yap mpos Oeod Td képvewv.|
2 [el 8€ more OeAfoavt 76 Texvirn ds wep] paddoTa evayavt-
CerOan rept povaorkjy]
[dpre pev [Kal] cadmeyxrav thy [adr] erideg ris we 9

émoriuns moncapévov, dpri d& Kal addnr&y Tots peArois

épydvos Td [ris ped@dlas] Ayupdy épyacapévor, (TeV de)
kal kaddpo kal mrjxrpy [rhs Bdfs] Thy podmiy emiredodv-
Tev,| ob TO mvevpatt TOO povatkod TIS dvamépmetat TH
airtav, [od 7@ xpelrrové (ris dvamépmerat) Thy airiav, d\AG 25
TO piv drodidwor mpérov rd céBas,] TiN d& To dpydvou
karapéuderat cabpirnta, bre di} Trois wddora Kadois épro-
div xaréorn, TO prev povoovpyS mpds Thy pedpdiay 'éprro-
Sicaa(a)', trav 8& axpoaréy Thy Ayupav gdiy ovAHcad(a).
3 obrwol 8 Kal tuav Tis wept Td cpa dobevelas xdpwv pi 30

mis Tov Oewpav KaTapeppnrat (thy Téxvnv) [edoeBas] [[7d

Hpérepov yévos]], GAG ywwookér@ os axdparov pev [errs]
(rd) mvebpa (. . .) 6 Beds (els) (rd Hpérepov yévos)). (6 ydp
ro ((Beds)), Kar& gvow povoikds [[Oeds]] (rdépxwr), Kal

1 dpa B: dpa CDR: dpa Turn. 2 yivecOu codd., Tum. : yeréoda B?

 LIBELLVS XVII 275
Thereupon the King rose from his seat, and said, ‘ Prophet, it is
time for me to see to the entertainment of my guests ;! but to-
morrow we will continue our discussion about the gods, and deal
with the next part of the subject.’

LIBELLVS XVIUT

When musicians undertake to make harmonious melody, then, 1

if in the performance their good intent is thwarted by the discor-
dance of their instruments, [ ]? one does not impute the blame 2
to the musician’s inspiration, but one ascribes the fault to the
unsoundness of the instrument ; it is this, we say, that has made
the music fall short of perfect beauty, obstructing the musician in
his rendering of the melody, and depriving the audience of the
joy of hearing the clear sweet strain. And even so, let no man g
who is present at this festival find fault with my art by reason of
my personal defects ;but be it known that the spirit which God
ee
Ue
.-a”CC!CCChUhm.
7
breathes into men of my sort is unfailing. For God, who is by
nature a musician, and not only works harmony in the universe at

1 Te. ‘it is dinner-time; I must go’.

a [The writer’s argument is absurd ; for when the instruments are defective,
and fail to do what is required of them, the musician is bound to be jeered at
by the audience.’] ‘This must be a note written by a dissentient reader.

4-5 repli... Wuyfis seclusit Reitz. 7 Fortasse yévorro 10 epi C:

wapa cett. 13 Fortasse karapépperar (6 dxpourhs) 14-17 6 yap...
dxdpards éatw hinc ad § 3 transposui 17 pos Oem Turn. 18 ei 5é
tore BCMR 23-24 Fortasse émreAcoarrav 25 ob 7@ xpeirrom
thy alriav seclusit Reitz. 26-27 tiv... caOpéryra scripsi: TH... caOpd-
ryt codd., Turn. 28-29 éurodicaca Reitz. : éuwodicas OR Turn. : fortasse
évoyAjcaca 29 Fortasse rods 5¢ dxpoards —|ovanoaga Reitz. : cvAnoas
OR Turn. 30-31 pdys DR Turn. : pq tis cett. 31 KaTapéppera
Turn. 833 (xopyye) 6 beds? 33-3 infrar b6 ydp... dxdpards éorw
huc a § § transposui
T2
 276 CORPVS HERMETICVM

[rav dav] dppoviay od pévor (ev TO mavti) épyagspevos,

addd kal dypt Tay kar& pépos [dpydver] ris oikelas ped@-
das tov pubpdy waparéumov, dxdparos eortw,)) del [88 Kai]
doatros éxov ris [olkelas] emorHyns, [dinvexts d& Tats
evdatpovias,] edepyecias St tats adrais dua mavTos KEXPN- wn

4pévos. ef d¢ pddtora [ro Pedig] 7G Snptovpyd ovx om-

jKovcev % THs Ans xpela mpds evrTedH Tiy mosKidlav (; « «
rovyapoov ef more . . .;) dinpxece St adros 6 povooupyos Kata
Sivamv, ph els adrdv riy aitiay avadépmper, THs 8 xoparns
karapenpopeda tiv dcbéveay, bre di} Tov Tovey dmoxadd-
caca [rt do) Tov Tévoy brapaidoaca) THs evpovoias Tov
"pubpev' npdvicer,
5 [dAd& d4] [rod cupwrdparos epi TO dpyavov yeyevnpéevov
obdels more Tov poucoupyov Tidoaro, GAN Sa@mep Td dpyavor
éxdxioe, Torotr@ Tov povooupyoy nvgnoer ‘more THs Kpov-
wews modAdKis mpds Tov Tévoy éumecotans’ Kai Tov Epwra
of dxpoaral mdcova «is éxeivoy [rdv povaoupydy] dva-
pépovrat.|
[kat Sums obk eoxor [ri] Kat adtod airfacww.]
[otro Kal hpeis, & Tiydrarot| 20

("évdov mdédw' 7G pouvoovpyG tiv olkelav évappooacbat

Avpav.]
6 ddda 8) bpO Twa Tov Texitav [Kal Xopis THs KaTa
Apav evepyetas], ef more mpds peyadropuy brddeow ein
mapeckevacpévos, [amep atTG wodrAdkis dpydve Kexpnjtevov]
[kat riv tis vevpas Oepaneiav] (tiv dUpar) 6c’ drroppytev
évappoodpevor, as dv 7d xpeddes els Td peyadomperes
Gepévoy of dxpoaral brepexmdAgtrowTo. [A€éyerat pev on
(as) kal twos Texvirou KiBappdia y diaywvifop évou, THs veupas
payelons, brd Tod Kpeirrovos ] Aéyerae pev Of TWA KiOapo-
dév, Tov THs povooupyl as Epopov Oedv exovra edpevi, emerd?)
évaydviov thy KiOapwdia v mrorovpéry [4] vevpa payeioa mpos
éumddiov Ths dOAncews adt@ yeyévntat, (. - «) [7d Tapa Tob
kpetrrovos edpeves (...) Thy veuvpdy dverAjpwc er avT@, Kal
ris evdokiphocws mapecxe Thy xdpw.| ani pev yap THs 35
veupas abr@ rérriya KaTad mpdvorav Tod Kpeirrovos epi(dvovr a
dvamdnpodv 7d pédos, [kal
> ~ 4 4
THs
‘
veupas
=
puddrrew
~
Ti x@pav,|
4

tov KBapwddr St [rf THs vevpas idoet] Tis Mins mavod-

4 Zxov CD: éxaw cett. —_|i8ias DR Turn. : olxeias cett. 7-8 Lacunam
 LIBELLVS XVIII 277
large, but also transmits to individuals the rhythm of his own
music,—God, I say, can never fail; there is no variation in his
; skill, and his bounties! are the same for ever. And even if the 4
matter which the craftsman has to use does not yield such
obedience to his hand as would bring the work of art to perfec-
tion,.... Ifthen..., but? the musician has done his part as far
ks as it is in his power, we must not lay the blame on Aim, but we
must charge the fault to the shortcoming of the lyre-string, for
that it has lowered the pitch of the note, and so has marred the
beauty of true music.
But I see that it sometimes comes to pass that, when an artist 6
has made ready to deal with a noble theme, he gets his lyre put
in tune by mysterious means,’ in such wise as to bring its
deficiency to a glorious issue, to the amazement of his hearers.
It is told of a certain lute-player, one that enjoyed the favour of
the god who presides over music, that when he was playing the
lute for a prize, and was hindered in his competition by the
breaking of a string,.... For by God’s providence, a cicala
settled on his lute, and made good the defect in the music; and
‘so the lute-player’s grief was stayed, and he won the honour of

1 Le. his gifts of ‘spirit’ to men.

. * Perhaps, ‘it is not he that is at fault. If then the music goes amiss,
ut’, &e,
Sie. by God's help,

(post woxtAlav) significavit Reitz. 9 dvadépopey CM 1l on. ..drapaw-

oaca (irepawoaca C) seclusit Reitz. 15 rosot7va D: rocotrov R | rav
povooupyav R : rov poucoupydr cett. 17-18 dvapéperaaR 19 Sus codd.:
Brws Reitz, |ot# écxov nar’ airod Tiy airlacw Reitz. 20 ayueis DR Turn.:
tyeis BCM 21 TQ povaoupyd ex tov povsoupydy corr. B: 7G povaoupyd
cett. | tvapuécacde BCM Turn, 25 ab7G wodAdms ((hanep)) dpyavy
xexpnpévoy Reitz, 25-26 xexpyuévos xara DR Tum.: xexpnuévoy kat
cett. 27 évapporvncdpevoy R Turn. 28 depévov Keil: O€uevor OR
Turn.: fortasse Oeyévov (rod xpeirrovos) 28-30 A€yerar . . . Kpeirroves
om. Turn.: seclusit Reitz. 29 Fortasse méapydia 33 Fortasse
yeyévnto wept BC: mapa cett. 34 evoeBis D: edpevés cett. | Lacnnam
significayit Reitz. | «at om, B 35 dvr? Reitz. : dpr: OR Tum.
 278 CORPVS HERMETICVM

7a pevov Tis vikns éoxnkévar Ti evdokiunaiv. obras odv Kal

airds alcbdvopar méoxew, & Tipedra rot. dptt pev yap
thy dobéveray KabwpoddyH ca ([forxa] ], [kai mpd Bpaxéos
dppdcrws diaxeiobat,) ev dvvdpe t 8 rod xpelrr ovos daomep
dvamdnpabeions tis [wept tiv Bactdé a] perwdi as (mpoo -5
nvas) ((orka)) pouooupy(jayev.
qb tovrydpro. 7d mépas TIS "dperelas eor[alt Bacthéwr ebxArcta,
kal ((éx)) rev [[éE]] éxelvor tporalov 4} Tob Adbyou mpobupia.
dye 5) lope Toro yap [[6 povooupyés]] (6 Oeds) Bovrerau
[dye 5) omevowpers todo yup 6 povaoupyds Gédet,] [Kal 10
mpds todro Thy AJpay fpyoora:| Kal ((6 poucoupyés))
Aryvpdrepov perwdrjcer, [Kal mpoonvecrepa povooupyjcet,|
So@mep Ta THs broOqKns pelfova [Thy @dyy] Exel.
g émeady odv es Baoiréas aitG pddora Ta ths AUpas
évfppoorat, Kal Tdv éyxoploy Tov tovov éxel, [kal Tov 15
ckordy eis Bacidixods ératvous,] Sijyepe mpOtov éavTov
els Tov tmarov Bactréa Tov Srav [dyabdy Bebr), Kal [bydder
dpédpuevos ris das] Sevtépa raéger mpos Todvs Kat eikéva
éxeliov thy oknmrovxlay exovras KaTaPaiver ered} Kat
abrois tois Bacidebor gidov 7d bobev Kard Babpdv ra TIS 20
@dis KabjKey, Kal d0eviep abtois Ta THS viKkns wempuTd-
veurat, éxeiOev kat ta tev ‘ehidov’ Kar’ dkodovOlay mapda-
g yerOat. xérw roivey 6 povaoupyds mpos Tov péyioTov
Bactréa [rdv brwv Oebr), ds dBdvaTos pév Eore [did mavros|
[di&ds re] kal é€ ddlov 7d Kpdros éxov, Kaddivixos (Se) 25
mparos, ag ob maa al vikar «ls roy(s) é€fis pépovrat
[SiadeEdpevor Thy vixny).
15 ((obrw pév di) rov Oedv edpnpjooper ddA 6} KaTaBaivo-
pev kal émi rods degapévovs map éxelvov Ta oKTTTpa. det yap
[dmd rav Baothéav dpgapévous kal] dd robroy dokovpévovs 30
[[kai]] 48n ((xal)) ovvebigev éavrovds [els éyxdpra] Kat (y)u-
puld¢yev (els) rv mpds To Kpeirrov eboéBerav. [Kat Thy pev
mpornv Katapxiy THs eddyplas dad rovrou évackeiy, THY 68
doxnow dd robrov yupvd ge] (iva év jpiy f kal} yupvacia ths
mpos Tov Oedv eboeBelas Kal ) mpos rods Bacihéas evgpnpla.})) 35
10 éml (rods TovTwr) ématvous Tolvuy Hiv kataBaiver 6 Adyos
2 abrds alg@dvopa Turn. : abtis dowep aicbopa: cett. 3 Kabwpoddynoa
scripsi: «adoporoyeiv éowea codd., Turn, |Bpaxéws CD: Bpaxéos cett.
6 povooupyioav scripsi: povooupyeiy codd., Turn, 7 dpedeias codd.,
| gor? scripsi: ora codd., Turn. 8 kat
Turn. : fortasse éwayyeAias
 LIBELLVS XVIII 279
the victory. And even so I feel it is with me, most honoured 7a
Sirs. Just now I confessed my weakness; but by God’s power
methinks the defect in the melody has been made good, and
I am like to make right pleasant music.
The aim of my endeavour is the glory of kings; and it is the 7b
trophics which our kings have won that make me eager to speak.
Onward then! for so God wills; and the melody that the musician
makes will sound the sweeter by reason of the greatness of his
theme.
Since then his lyre is tuned to treat of kings, and is set to the g
right pitch for songs of praise, he first uplifts his voice to laud
the supreme King of the universe, and comes down thereafter to
those who hold their sovereignty after His likeness. For this

|
our kings themselves would wish, that the song should come down
step by step from heaven above, and that our praise of them

| should be derived in due succession from the Power that has

conferred on them their victories. Let the musician then address 9
his song to that most mighty King, who is immortal, and reigns
from all eternity ; that primal Victor, from whom all victories
come to those who follow after.
Thus let us praise God; but from Him we will pass down to 15
those who have received the sceptre from his hand. For we
must practise ourselves by praising earthly kings, and so habituate
and train ourselves for adoration of the Deity. My discourse 10
éx r&v scripsi: «at (yap) é« ray Reitz,: wal rOv é& OR Turn. 11 mpds
tol7Ty BM : mpés rovro cett. | «at om. man. pr. B 12 Avyupdrepov
R 14-15 Fortasse erred} obv eis BactAéwn Cindum’s av7@ Ta THs Adpas
évipppoora (wal tiv éyxwpiow Tov Tévoy exer] 17 dyaddv seclusit Reitz.
19 «araBalvew C 20 pirov 7G invobev CM 22 adnidov codd., Turn.:
fortasse evAoyiav 22-23 mapd-yecba: Reitz : mepiaryecOar BCM : dyecOa
DR Turn, 24 davaros codd, Turn.: fortasse didios 25 é om,
Turn. | 8 addidit Reitz. 26 rots Reitz. : tov OR Turn. 27 bia-
defdpevor BM: Bradefapevar CDR Turn. 28-35 § 15 (otrw. . . edypia) huc
transposui 28 Fortasse eipnunoapey 28-29 xataBaivouey OR : kata-
Balvepev Turn. 30 rév (ante BaciAéav) DR Turn.: om, cett 31 xat
transposuit Keil 31-32 -yupratew Reitz. : dpvety OR Turn. 33 Tovrou
(post dd) Turn: 7od OR 34 va wat 4% youvacia ev jyiv jf D
34-35 Fortasse iva yupvagia jpiv qf rijs mpds Tov Bedv ebaeBeias % mpds Tods
Baciréas edpnpia 35 roy (ante ded) om, B 36 xaraBalva BR :
xaraBaivew cett.
 280 CORPVS HERMETICVM

[[emelyeras]], kal mpds rovs Tis Kowhs dopadeias Kai eipyivns

mpurdvers ((émetyerat)) Baotdéas, ols [wédat] padiotu 7d Kdpos
mapa Tod Kpelrrovos [Ocod] Kexoptparat, ols i) vikn mpods Ths
éxelvou Sefias mempurdvevtat, ols Ta BpaBeta Kal mpd zis ev
_ modépors [dppwortas] (apioretas) mpoevrpémiorat, dv Ta Tpéb- 5
maia Kal mpd THs cvumAokis iorarat, [ols od Td Baothedew
povoy G\A& kal 7d dpiorevew cuvTéraxrat,| ods Kal mpd Tis
16 Kiwijcews exmAnrrera Td BdpBapov. ((det yap kal rovros
dmodiWovar tas dpoBds, toratrns Hpiv eiphvns edvernpiav
dmréoact. Baciéws St aper (...), Kal rotvoua pévor ro
eiphyny BpaBeverr Bacirteds yap dia rovro eipnrat, ered)
[ri] Bdote)e rela tails) Kopugaic{rnrt] [kar\émepBaiver, Kai
(dtd) rod Abyou [rod els eipHyny] Kparet- [Kai dri ye drepéxew
mépuxe [rs Bacirelas| THs BapBapikfs:| dore Kai robvopa
obtpBorv (eoriv) eipyyns. [rovydprot kal érnyopia Baoidéws 15
modddkis evOds Tov modéuiov [dvacréd\reww méduxer] (avé-
orethev).] GAAa phy Kai of advdpidvres of tovTov Tois
padrora xetpafopévois Sppor tuyxdvovew [eiphvns} dn de
kal pévn cikav paveioa Bacidéos [éviipynoe thy vikny Kal]
7d drpopov [re Kal drpwrov] mpovgévyge [Trois évotxodowv|.)) 20
* * s *
14b ((ovK ori ody (Tois) éxeiae mpds dddAHdovs Stagopd, [ov«
éort 7d dAXoMpbcaAdov exeioe,| dAAA TadvTes EY Hpovodar(v),
[ula 8& mdvrov mpéyveors,| els adtois vobs [6 marip|, pia
aicOnois [dc adbradv épyagouévn} 1d (yap) els aAAHAous
pirtpov Epas 6 adrés, play eépyagémevos appyoviay tay a5
mwavT@v.))
* * + *
1 [mepi evpnplas Tod Kpeirrovos, Kai éyxadptoy Bactdéws. |
adda onetder 6 "Aébyos' cis Tas dpxds Kataddoa 7d
téppa, kal eis edpnplay Tod Kpelrrovos [érerta St Kal Tov

3 Geo seclusi (‘vielleicht zu tilgen’ Reitz.) | mpds R Tarn. : mpd O

4 mpd trois év BR: mpd rijs év cett. 5 dpiorelas Reitz. : dppwarias codd.,
Turn. 8 uxjoews B: xivhoews cett. 8-20 § 16 (Set yap... Trois
évoixodowv) huc transposui 8 rodravy DR Turn, : rovrois cett. ® Fortasse
tocaityy hiv —_| evernplav DR Turn.: evernpiay BC 10 Fortasse dper?
(& 7G elpnvormeiv pavepodrat) 11 éwetdt) Bacar Acia Reitz. : émecdy 77
Baoirciag OR Turn. 12 rais xopupais scripsi : kat xopupadryrt O: wat rH
kopupadtnre R Turn, | éwepBalver scripsi: sxareneuBalver codd., Turn.
13 xai ris cipnvns DR Turn. : rod els elppyny codd, cett. 18 yxemaCdpera D
21-26 § 14b (ove éorw. .. Tov wavTwy) hue transposui 22 eb ppovodat
 LIBELLVS XVIII 281
comes down then to the praise of those who rule on earth, and
hastens on to these our kings, whose rule provides safety and
peace for all; these to whom God has given the topmost height
of sovereignty, and on whom victory has been conferred by God’s
right hand; for whom the prizes have been made ready even
before they win them by their prowess in the wars; whose
trophies are set up even before the armies meet in battle ;who
strike terror into the barbarians even before the troops march
forth to fight. For we must make requital to our kings, for that 16
they have spread abroad among us the prosperity which comes of
this great peace! The virtue of a king is shown in making
peace ; nay, the very name of Ang confers peace ; for the king is
so called for this cause, that with smooth tread* he plants his feet
upon the topmost heights, and prevails by means of reason ;*° so
that this name is in itself a token of peace. Moreover, even the
statues of the king serve as havens to men tossed by the fiercest
storms ; and it has come to pass ere now that the sight of a mere
image of the king has given protection from all fears.
* * * *

Among those then who dwell in that world above‘ there is no 14 b

disagreement; all have one purpose; there is one mind, one
feeling in them all; for the spell which binds them one to
another is Love, the same in all,} and by it all are wrought to-
gether into one harmonious whole.
* * * *

But now the speaker hastens on to end as he began, and to 11

1 Or perhaps, ‘ this great prosperity which comes of peace’.

2 The writer assumes that the word BaotAeds (king) means by derivation one
who treads smoothly, It is as if one took the English word sovereign to be
derived from softly treading.
8 T.e, by reason and not by force; or by persuasive words and not by deeds of
violence.
* Le. among the celestial gods, or in other words, the heavenly bodies.
5 J.e. their common love of God, or of the Good,

DR Turn. : év ppovoiar cett. 23 piavy R: pla cett. | 6 warnp seclusit

Reitz, 24 -+ydp addidit Reitz, 25 pidrpov 6 pws DR Turn. 27 mepi
. . Basidéws seclusit Reitz. 28 eis rds dpyds B: eis dpyds cett. =|xara-
Atom codd.: fortasse dvaxAaca
 282 CORPVS HERMETICVM
mepa-
Geordray Bacidéwv rev eipiygv hpiv BpaBevévtmv|
[Kai Tis
roca tov Abyov. [éomep yap eK TOD kpelrrovos
dvw duvdpews| ipidpe da, obras «is abrd madi Td KpelTTov
dvravaxddoopev Td mépas. | kai (yap) womep 4 ios,
rpodipos dy mdvra v Tay Braor npdro y, adbtos [mporo s 5
dvacxav] Tay Kapta y Tas dmapx as Kapmod rat, xepot peyt-
arais (domep] [els dddpep tay Kapréav Xpepevos] Tals
dxriot [kat xeipes abr@ al dxrives] Ta TOY gutdv dpBpoctw-
déorara [mpdrov] dmodpersueroc, otro 8} Kal jpiv, [dad rod
10
kpeirrovos ap£apévors Kal] THs éxelvou codias Tiv améoppotay
<is Ta [fuére pa] Tay wuxay [drrep| -
Segapévors [kal tadrny|
obpduia gutd, karaxpopévors maduy els avrd<v) [yupvactéov
ra ths edgnplas] [fs adrds huiv eropBpycet] tiv BrAdorny
dmacay (.. -).
12 0€6 piv (odv), [wavaxnpdro kal) (79) marpl TOV hpeTépov 15
uxav, mpds pupiwy oropdrov kal govav thy eddnpiav
dvagéperbar mpémet, Kan ef pi) [7] mpos afiav éorivy eimeiv,
epapidrovs odk dvras TG éyely. ovdt yap of dpriyevels
dvres tov matépa mpos agiav dpveiv exovor, Ta 6& Kara
Sévapiy abrois mperévras drodidéact [kal cvyyvepny Exovorr]
.
[évrabda]. paddov 8 avrd robro edxdera TO OG, TO peifova
abroy elvat (rod) tay éavtob yevynp drov (émaivo v): Kal Ta
Tov
mpoofuia [kat thy xdptv] Kal péolorntla Kai tédos
edgnpudy 7d dpodoyetv Tov marépa dmetpo dvvapo r (elvat) kal
13 "dmeporéppova’, [odrwat d& Kal ra Baciréws ] [pice yap 25
jpiv rots dvOpdrots, Somep éxydvors [am’|éxeivov Tuy dvover,
| ra THs eddnplas Eveotiv.] airnréov dt Ta THs ovyyvepns,
| ei kal ta pddora Taita mpd Tis airjoews mapa Tod maTpos
| (r& téxva) tuyxdver ((Kal)) domep [[kai]] rods [dpriréKous
kal] dpruyeveis (elxds) ((éort(v))) odx dros [[eort]] tis ddvva- 30
plas (xdpwv) droorpéperOar Tov matépa, GAG Kal xalpew
énl ris émryvdcews, obta[at dé] kal (jpas...). 'h yroous
Tod mavtos Arep (wiv maot mpuravever' "kal ri els Oedv
drdpyov
14a evpnplav iy piv eapioaro.' 6 beds yap, ayabds
[kai deeyyis], Kal ev (éavrg [dia mavtds| THs olkelas 35
s

4 6 (ante #Aros)
1 ray elpqyny DR Turn: 14y ri elpnvny cett. 6 dpxds R:
om. M 5 mpw@ros coda, : * Vielleicht aparov’ Reitz. BC: dmo-
9 dmodperd pevos man. post. C: drodpend peva
dmapxds cett. ] Tis éxeivou coplas
dpendpevar cett. 9-13 Fortasse ofrw 5) wat hpiv, [
 LIBELLVS XVIII 283
conclude his speech with praise of God. For as the Sun, who
nurtures all vegetation, also gathers the first-fruits of the produce
with his rays, as it were with mighty hands, plucking the sweetest
odours of the plants; even so we too, having received into our
souls (which are plants of heavenly origin) the efflux of God’s
wisdom, must, in return, use in his service all that springs up
WYUS: ie
To God then, the Father of our souls, it is fitting that praise 12
should rise from countless tongues and voices, even though our
words cannot be worthy of him, seeing that it is a task beyond
our power to tell of him. Even so, little children are not able
worthily to sing their father’s praise ; but they do what is fitting
when they render to him such honour as they can, Nay, this
very thing redounds to God’s glory, that his greatness transcends
the praises of his offspring ;and the beginning and middle and
end of our praise is to confess that our Father is infinite in
power, and.... But we must beseech him to pardon us ;? though 13
his children do indeed get pardon from their Father even before
they ask it; and just as it is to be looked for that a father, so far
from turning his face away from his babes because they can do so
little, should be glad when they acknowledge him, even so... 2
For God, inasmuch as he is good, and has in himself the only 14a
* * * *

1 Perhaps, ‘must, in return, send up to him hymns of praise, using in his

service all the growth that he has fostered in us with his showers’.
2 Sc. for the inadequacy of our praise of him,
® Perhaps, ‘even so does God take pleasure in our praises’.

iy daéppoay [[ }] [ ] els 7a [ ] tay Yuxdr obpdua dura ((Segapevois i

{lL J] Dead od Ls ebpnpias, ((earaxpwpévois madw els SESS ie
Thy BdAdorny dnacay (iN abtos jyiv end Bpicen)), 10 rots éxcivou BC
Tis txelvov cett. | dwopelay D: dndpporav cett. 11-12 obpdmea scripsi:
brepoupava codd,, Turn. 12 airdy scripsi: adrd codd., Turn. 13 érop-
Bpjon D Turn.: érouBphoe cett, 14 dénaca B: dwacay cett, 15 viv
addidit Reitz. 16 pvploy DMR Tum.: pvornpiov BC 17 Kav
scripsi : xa? codd,, Turn, 20 drodidwor R 21-22 ededea .. . yervn-
pate om. R 28 péoa scripsi: peodryra codd., Turn. 28 7d (ante
padara) B(C?)M: om. cett. 29 «al (ante rovs) om. B 32-33 Fortasse
% y@ou Tod natpds Satep 33-34 Fortasse riyv rijs edonpias divayy
34 Hyeis éophaato R: piv ebwphoaro cett. 35 Kal deupeyyns om, R Turn
| av7@ vel atv@ OR Turn.
 ——— le” ell lll eel

284 CORPVS HERMETICVM

dpumperelas txwv 7d mépas, dOdvaros Se dv, kal [év éavTd]

ri drededrytoy Afjétv [mrepiexov] [kal did mrav7ds] [[dévvaos]}
dnd tis [éxeioe] ((der[y]doy)) évepyefas Kal els tovde Tov
kécpov mapéxov, 'rihv émayyedlay eis Siacworikiy edpn-
piav’ (...).
* = x *
14b [[ovK torw ody... dppoviav Trav méytwv.)| Vide ante § 11.
15 [[obrw piv di)... Baodéas edpnpla.]] Vide post § 9.
16 [[Se? yap kal... Tots evorxodorv.]| Vide post§10.
1 dpimpenelas scripsi: dempeweias codd., Turn. év éavrd BCM: &
abrd (vel év aiz@) cett. 3 «ai (ante eis 7évde) om DR Turn, 4 dway-
yedlay R Turn.: éwayyeAlar cett.

rl
Lr
eee
Oe
ee
eS
——
 _
a

LIBELLVS XVIII 285

limit of his own pre-eminence,! and inasmuch as he is immortal,
and from his everlasting energy supplies to this world also its
appointed lot of endless duration, .. ..
* * * *
1 Le, God is limited by nothing other than himself.
 ASCLEPIUS
‘Eppod rpicpeylcrov BiBdos iepa mpos
’"AckAnmiov tpocpornbeioe
(Prologus)
Asclepi, ut
la (Trismegistus loquitur :) ‘ Deus, deus te nobis, o
merito omnium 5
divino sermoni interesses, adduxit, eoque tali, qui
inspiratorum,
antea a nobis factorum, vel nobis divino numine
videatur esse religiosa pietate divinior. Quem si intellegens
simus, si
(deum) videris, eris omnium bonorum tota mente plenis
tamen multa sunt bona, et non unum, in quo sunt omnia.
{omnia unius
Alterum enim alterius consentaneum esse dinoscitur
lod°

conexum,
esse aut unum esse omnia]; ita enim sibi est utrumque
de futuro
ut separari alterum ab a/t(e)ro non possit. Sed
sermone hoc diligenti intentione cognosces.
nobis qui
Ib Tu vero, o Asclepi, procede paululum, Tatque,
intersit, evoca.’ Quo ingresso, Asclepius et Hammona'm] :
na
interesse suggessit. Trismegistus ait: ‘Nulla invidia Hammo
imus a
prohibet a nobis; etenim ad eius nomen multa memin
um et
nobis esse conscripta, sicuti etiam ad Tat amantissim
a.
carissimum filium multa physica (dijexodicaque quam plurim
Tractatum hunc autem tuo (in)scribam nomine. Praeter 2
sissimus
Hammona nullum vocassis alterum, ne tantae rei religio
tum
sermo multorum interventu praesentiaque violetur. Tracta
seclusit
1 Post titulum addunt asclepius iste pro sole mihi est codices:
12 altero scripsi; utro BM : utroque ceé?. 14 tatque (sed
Ménard
priore t eraso) B: atque cett. 18 Tat Thomas : tativ (i.e. Tatium) B: om.
cetl, 19 diexodicaque scripsé : ‘ fortasse diexodicaque’ Thomas: exotica-
que w
 ASCLEPIUS
A holy book of Hermes Trismegistus, t
addressed to Asclepius}
Prologue
Trismegistus. ‘It is God that has brought you to me, Asclepius,
ra
to hear a teaching? which comes from God. My discourse will
be of such a nature, that by reason of its pious fervour it will be
rightly *deemed that there is in it more of God’s working ‘ than
1]
in all that I have spoken before,—or rather, that God’s power
has inspired me to speak. And if you understand * my words,
and thereby come to see God, your mind will be wholly filled
with all things good,—if indeed there are many goods, and not
rather one Good, in which all goods are comprised. For we find
that these two things agree with one another; they are so linked
together that it is impossible to part them. But this you will
learn from my discourse to-day, if you listen with earnest
attention.
But go forth for a moment, Asclepius, and summon Tat to
Ib
join us.’ When Tat had entered, Asclepius proposed that
Ammon also should be present. Trismegistus replied, ‘I do not
grudge permission to Ammon to be with us; for I bear in mind
that many of my writings have been addressed to him, as again
many of my treatises on nature,’ and a very large number of my
explanatory” writings, have been addressed to Tat, my dear and
loving son. As for our discussion to-day, I will inscribe
on it
your name, Asclepius. You may call Ammon; but summon
no
one else, lest a discourse which treats of the loftiest of themes,
and breathes the deepest reverence, should be profaned by the

1 This document was also called Adyos Tédcios, ‘the Crownin

g Discourse of
Hermes Trismegistus’.
2 Sermo = dé-yos. ® Merito = eludtas.
* Omnium divinior = névrov OerdT Epos,
5 Lntellegens = vonoas. ® pvawwd, probably substituted for yevird.
T Brefodicd.
 2.88 ASCLEPIUS
giosae mentis est
enim tota numinis maiestate plenissimum inreli
multorum conscientia publicare.’
etiam adytum ingresso, sanctoque illo quattuor
Hammone
entia, conpetenti
virorum religione et divina (dei] completo praes
singulorum menti- 5
venerabiliter silentio [[ex ore Hermu]] animis
us Cupido sic est
busque pendentibus, ((ex ore Hermu)) divin
orsus dicere.
(Asclepius 1)
est anima: sed
2a Trism. O Asclepi, omnis humana inmortalis
more [vel tempore]
non uniformiter cunctae, sed aliae alio
e] omnis units 10
(creatae sunt animae); non enim [o Trismegist
giste, . . «?)—
qualitatis est anima.—{Asc/. Non enim, o Trisme
continentia
Trism. O Asclepi, ut celeriter de vera(e) rationis
omnia,
decidisti! Non enim hoc dixi, omnia unum esse et unum
creasset omnia ?
utpote quae in creatore fuerint omnia, antequam
a sunt omnia. 1¢
Nec inmerito ipse dictus est omnia, cuius membr
creator omnium,
Huius itaque, qui est unus omnia, vel ipse est
in tota hac disputatione curato meminisse.
ignis.
2b De caelo cuncta (. ..) in terram et in aquam, et in aera
deorsum, ei
Solum quod sursum versus fertur vivificum ; quod
generans est ; 20
deserviens. At vero quicquid de alto descendit
sola in se ipsa
quod sursum versus emanat, nutriens. Terra,
mque
consistens, omnium est ((gener(anti)um)) receptrix, omniu
[[generum]] quae accepit restitutrix. Hoc ergo totum, sicut
anima et
meministi, quod est omnium vel omnia, (constat ex
agitantur, ita 25
mundo). Anima et mundus a natura conprehensa
2) ‘... alio more vel
9-12 In codd. et in edd. prioribus sic legitur: (Trism,
est anima?’ (Trism. :)
tempore.’ (Ascl.:) ‘Non enim, o Trismegiste. . . vera w 14 utpote
“O Asclepi, ut celeriter...’ 12 verae Rohde:
24 omnium @:;
quae ed. Kom.: utpote que G: utpote qui codd. cett.
‘ fortasse unum’ Thomas
 PROLOGUE 289
entrance and presence of a throng of listeners.
For it would be
impiety to make public through the presence of many
witnesses a
discussion which is replete with God in all his majest
y.’ Then
Ammon also entered the sanctuary; and the place
was made
holy’ by the pious awe of the four men, and was filled
with God’s
presence. And the hearers listened in fitting silence
, and with
heart and soul each of them hung? on the words
in reverence, as
through the lips of Hermes the divine Eros* thus began
to speak.
Asclepius I
Trism. All human souls, Asclepius, are immortal.
But souls 2a
are not all of one kind;‘ different souls have
been created in
different fashions ; for souls differ in quality—<{Ase/,
But tell me,
Trismegistus, is not . . .?)"—Trism. How quickly,
Asclepius,
you have lost your hold on the true doctrine!*
Have I not
told you this before, that all things are one, and
the One is
all things, seeing that all things were in the Creato
r’ before he
created them all? And rightly * has it been said of
him that he
is all things; for all things are parts® of him.
Throughout our
discussion then, be careful to remember him, the One
who is all
things,—him who is the creator of all things.
From heaven are derived all. ... (Air) enters into earth
and 2b
water ; and fire enters into air. That only which tends
upward
is life-giving ;" and that which tends downward " is
subservient to
it."* Moreover, all that descends from on high is generat
ive ;“ and
that which issues upward from below is nutritive,
Earth, which
alone stands fast in its own place, receives all that
is generative
into itself, and renders back all that it has received.
This whole
then, which is made up of all things, or is all things,
consists, as
you have heard me say before, of soul and corporeal
substance,"
Soul and corporeal substance together are embraced
by nature,”
) Sancto illo = éyacbévros txetvov (se. rod d5trov) ?
2 Pendentibus = alapoupévey ?
* Divinus Cupido = 6 Betos pws, ive. the yearning for
God which is implanted
in men by God,
* Uniformiter = dpoebas, which may perhaps be a misread
* Possibly, ‘are not souls uncreated ?” ing for dpoerdeis,
® Ratio = A\byos. * Creator = Snuovpyés, or moinThs ?
8 Non inmerito = ove énexédras. ®
10 Quod sursum versus fertur = 7d dvapepés, i.e, Megbra = pépia,
1 Vivificum = (wonody or Cotidy. fire and air,
2 Quod deorsum fertur = 75 waroxpepés, i.e, earth
8 Li deserviens = innpetindy, and water.
1 Generans = yenvytixsy.
Nutriens = Openrindy, 18 Mundus = try. Natura = gbars.
2806
U
 290 ASCLEPIUS

omnium multiformi imaginum {ae]qualitate variata, ut infinitae

ae tamen
qualitatum ex intervallo species [esse] nascantur, adunat
gaad hoc, ut totum unum et ex uno omnia esse videantur. Totus
ignis,
itaque quibus formatus est mundus, elementa sunt quattuor,
aqua, terra, aer : mundus unus, anima una, et deus unus.
calles
3b Nunc mihi adesto totus, quantum mente vales, quantum
noscenda,
astutia, Divinitatis etenim ratio, divina sensus intentione
ate
torrenti simillima est fluvio e summoin pronum praecipiti rapacit
audi-
currentijs]; quo efficitur ut intentionem nostram, non solum
eat.
entium, verum tractantium ipsorum, celeri velocitate praeter
cor-
3¢ Caelum ergo, sensibilis deus, administrator est omnium
sunt.
porum ; quorum augmenta detrimentaque sol et luna sortiti
Caeli vero et ipsius [[animae]} et omnium quae [mundo] insunt
ipse gubernator est ((deus)); qui est ((omnium generum et
omnium specierum per naturam rerum)) effector {[deus]}, A ~

enim omnibus, quorum idem gubernator deus

supradictis
omnium, ((animae)) frequentatio fertur influens per mundum
[et per animam)] [[omnium generum et omnium specierum per
rerum naturam]], Mundus autem praeparatus est a deo recepta-
culum omniformium specierum; natura autem, per species

imaginans mundum per quattuor elementa, ad caelum usque

4producit cuncta dei visibus placitura. Omnia autem ( . .)

desuper pendentia in species dividuntur hoc quo dicturus sum

(modo) (genere}. Genera rerum omnium suae species sequuntur,
ut sit ita] (specierum) soliditas genus, species generis particula.

1 qualitate edd. vett.: aequalitate » 2 nascantur scrigsd: noscantur

5 et deus unus secludendum? ® currenti edd,: currentisw 22 pro-
ducit seripsi: perducitw | Omnia autem (vivifica) ? 24 suae Kroll;
suas w 25 ita seclusit Thomas
 ASCLEPIUS I 291
and are by nature’s working kept in movement 3’ and by this
movement, the manifold qualities of all things that take shape?
are made to differ among themselves, in such sort that there come
into existence individual things of infinitely numerous forms, by
reason of the differences of their qualities, and yet all individuals
are united to the whole; so that we see that the whole is one,
and
of the one are all things. The elements through which all matter
ga
has been indued with form® are four in number,—fire,
water,
earth, and air ; but matter is one, soul is one, and God is one.
And now give me your whole attention, exerting to the utmost
3b
your power of thought and keenness of intelligence. For the
doctrine * which teaches of God’s being needs for its apprehension
such effort of thought’ as man cannot make save by God’s help,
It is like a torrent plunging downward with headlong rush, so
that
in its swiftness it outstrips the man who strives to follow it, and
leaves behind not only the hearers, but even the teacher himself.
To Heaven, a god perceptible by sense,® is committed
the gc
administration® of all bodies; and the growth and decay of
bodies fall under the charge of Sun and Moon. But Heaven
itself, and all things in it, are governed * by God; and he, workin
g
through nature,” is the maker™ of all general and individual forms
of living things. For by all the heavenly bodies, which all alike
are governed by God, there is poured into all matter an uninter-
rupted stream™ of soul. Matter ™ has been made ready by God
beforehand to be the recipient of individual forms of every
shape ; and nature, fashioning matter in individual forms ™ by
means of the four elements, brings into being, up to the height of
heaven, all things that will be pleasing in God’s sight. All.. 274
are dependent on the powers above, and are distributed among
individuals in the way that I will now describe. The individuals
of each kind are fashioned in accordance with" the form of their
kind. The kind is the whole*® made up of the individuals ; the

1 Agitantur = xwobvrat. * Imagines = oxhparat * Species = etdn.

* Qualitatum ex intervallo = te rijs rav mooTHnray (or wov) dactdcesis ?
5 Formatus est mundus = uepdppura bAn? 5 Ratio = dOyos.
7 Sensus = vénars4 8 Senstbilis deus = alcOnrds Beds.
° Administrator = énizporos? 19 Gubernator = xvBepviyrns.
1 Per naturam rerum = 50. ris pboews, 12 Effector=woinrhs or Snywovpyds.
18 Frequentatio = ruxvérns or mixveots, 14 Mundus =
Ban.
© Receptaculum = twodoxy: species = el5n:omniformes = mravTd woppa,
© Per species imaginans = edonowdca?
17 All portions of soul’ or ‘ of vital spirit? ?
18 Seguuntur = dxodovGodat. Soliditas = 16 8dov,
U2
292 ASCLEPIUS

Genus ergo deorum ex se deorum facijelt species ;daemonum

in
genus aeque ; hominum similiter, volucrum, et omnium quae
generat genus. Est et
se mundus habet, sui[s| similes species
m, et tamen non carens
aliud animalis genus, sine anima quide
sis (dolet quibus) 5
sensibus, unde et beneficiis gaudet, et adver
in terra radicum
minuitur atque vitiatur: omnium dico quae
per totam sparsae sunt
incolumitate vivescunt: quorum species
inmortales
terram. Ipsud caelum plenum est [deo] (diis :eorum
ad loca
sunt species). Supradicta autem genera inhabitant usque
[in|mortales sunt al °
[specierum] (deorum) ; quarum omnium rerum
ut homo humanitatis ;
species. Species enim pars est generis,
is sui. Unde efficitur
quam necesse est sequi qualitatem gener
species non omnes
ut, quamvis omnia genera inmortalia sint,
es
sint inmortales. Divinitatis enim genus et ipsum et speci
rum aeternitas est
inmortales sunt. Reliquorum genera {[quo
ndi fecunditate
generis]|, quamvis per species occida(n)t, nasce
rum aeternitas est
servantur: ideoque species mortales sunt ((quo
itas.
generis)); ut homo mortalis sit, inmortalis human
species ;)) omnibus
5 ((Sunt omnes simillimae generibus suis
miscentur.
tamen generibus omnium generum species
20

quaedam quae de his quae factae

(Sunt res) quaedam quae ante factae sunt,
diis et daemonibus (fiunt), aut ab
sunt fiunt. Haec itaque quae fiunt aut ab
suis species.]] Corpora enim
hominibus. [(Sunt omnes simillimae generibus
divino, (in) species figurari sine
inpossibile est (ad genus) conformari sine nutu
sine hominibus non possunt.
adiutorio daemonum; inanimalia institui et coli
defluentes [in
Quicunque ergo daemonum, a genere suo
e et consortio
speciem], alicuius speciei generis divini proximitat
(generi divino) fortuito coniuncti sunt, diis similes habentur.
Quorum vero daemonum species 7” qualitate sui generis perse-

3 sui ed. Rom.: suis w 7 quorum

1 facit scripst: faciet homas
scripst :quarum © 10 ‘quarum véx sanume : fortasse quare non’
16 occidant seripse: occidatw 17 servantur
14 sint man.2B: om.cett.
21 his quae factae G, man. 2 B: his factae ceft.
S: servatur cett.
22 et scripst: aut @ - 29 in Xro//: sunt »
 ASCLEPIUS I 293
individual is a part of the kind. Thus the god-kind produces
individual gods, and the daemon-kind produces individual
daemons. And so too the kind or race of men, and that of birds,
and those of all beings which the universe contains, generate
individuals of like form to their kind. And there is yet another
kind of living beings,’ which are devoid of soul? indeed, yet not
without sensation,’ so that they are gladdened by all that does
them good, and suffer pain from all that impairs and harms them.
This kind consists of all things which are implanted in the soil,
and spring into life with firm-fixed‘ roots ; and the individuals of
this kind are spread abroad over all the earth. Heaven itself is
filled with gods; and the gods are individually immortal. The
other kinds of which I have spoken dwell in the space which
extends from earth to the abode of the gods; and in all these
kinds, the individuals are mortal. For the individual is a part of
the kind,—as a man, for instance, is a part of mankind,—and
must necessarily agree in quality with the kind of which it is
a part. Hence, though all kinds are immortal, not all individuals
are immortal. In the case of the gods, both the kind and the
individuals are immortal. All other kinds, though they perish in
their individuals, are kept in being by their reproductive fertility.®
Thus the individuals are mortal, but the kind is everlasting ;° so
that men are mortal, but mankind is immortal.
But though all individuals exactly resemble the type of their 5
kind, yet individuals of each kind intermingle’ with all other kinds.
[ ]*. All daemons who have dissociated themselves® from their
own kind, and have come to be” united to the god-kind through
close connexion and fellowship with some individual of the god-
kind, are held to be ‘godlike daemons’;" individuals of the
daemon-kind who maintain unchanged the character of their own

1 Animalis = rod (Qvros or Cav exovtos. ‘Sine anima = dyvycr.

3 Sensus = aigOnous. * Incolumitas = dopddraa,
§ Nascendi = yevvioews,
5 Species... generis = Ovyra ra. elén dv atbov 7d ~évos.
" Miscentur = émyplyvuvrac?
® [* There are things which have been made before (viz. the four elements),
and other things which are made out of those which have been made before,
The things which are made are made either by gods and daemons, or by men.
Organic bodies cannot receive their generic forms save by the fiat of the gods;
nor can they be fashioned into their individual shapes without the ministration
of daemons. Inanimate things cannot be constructed and kept in order save
by the hands of men."] Quaedam .. . quacdam = 7a piv... ra Bé,
© Defluentes = anoppéovres ? 10 Fortuito = érvxov,
Diis similes = Oeoadeis.
 294 ASCLEPIUS

verant, (.... Qui vero... .,) ii amantes hominum [[ratio|]

daemones nuncupantur. Similis est et hominum ((ratio)), et eo
et
amplior. Multiformis enim variaque generis humani species,
ipsa "a praedictae? desuper veniens, consortio [omnium] aliarum
specierum multas et prope omnium (generum) per necessitatem 5
coniunctiones facit. Propter quod et prope deos accedit qui se
mente, qua diis iunctus est, divina religione diis iunxerit, et
daemonum, qui his iunctus est: humani vero, qui medietate
generis sui contenti sunt: et reliquae hominum species his similes
erunt, quorum se generis speciebus adiunxerint. 10

6a _Propter haec, o Asclepi, magnum miraculum est homo, animal

adorandum atque honorandum. Hoc enim in naturam dei

transit, quasi ipse sit deus: hoc daemonum genus novit, utpote
qui [cum] isdem se ortum esse cognoscat : hoc humanae naturae
partem in se ipse despicit, alterius partis divinitate confisus. t
O hominum quanto est natura temperata felicius! Diis cognata
divinitate coniunctus est: partem sui, qua terrenus est, intra se
despicit :cetera omnia, quibus se necessarium esse caelesti dis-
positione cognoscit, nexu secum caritatis adstringit. Suspicit
caelum: ((colit terram)), Sic ergo feliciore loco medietatis est a
positus, ut quae infra se sunt diligat, ipse a se superioribus dili-
gatur. {(Colit terram.]| [[Elementis _velocitate miscetur. |]
((Omnia illi licent:)) acumine mentis in maris profunda
descendit ;{[omnia illi licent ;]] non caelum videtur altissimum,
quasi e proximo enim animi sagacitate metitur. ((Elementis » 5
velocitate miscetur :)) intentionem animi eius nulla aeris caligo

1 ratio BAM: rationem vel ratione cett. 1-2 ratio transposuit Thomas
4 praedicto Z: praedictae cet?. 16 quanta BAZ: quanto cett. 22 ele-
mentis codd.: caelo mentis Diels (Elementum p.75) dubitanter 23 Fortasse
omnia illi (adire) licefn|t
 ASCLEPIUS I 295
kind are called ...; and those who associate with men are called
‘daemons friendly to man’.!' And the like is to be said of men;
indeed, the range of men is yet wider than that of the daemons.
The individuals of the human kind are diverse, and of many
characters. They, like the daemons, come from above; and
entering into fellowship with other individuals, they make for
themselves many and intimate connexions with almost all other
kinds. Accordingly, the man who, in virtue of the mind? in him,
through which he is akin to the gods,’ has attached himself to
them by pious devotion, becomes like to the gods; he who has
attached himself to daemons becomes like to the daemons ;‘
those who are content with the intermediate station® of their
kind remain mere men and nothing more; and all other indi-
viduals of the human kind, according as they have attached them-
selves to individuals of this kind or that, will resemble the beings
to which they have attached themselves.
Man is a marvel then, Asclepius; honour and reverence to
such a being! Man takes on him the attributes of a god, as
though he were himself a god; he is familiar with * the daemon-
kind, for he comes to know that he is sprung from the same
source as they; and strong in the assurance of that in him which
is divine, he scorns the merely human part of his own nature,
How far more happily blended are the properties of man than
those of other beings! He is linked to the gods, inasmuch as
there is in him a divinity akin to theirs ;he scorns that part of his
own being which makes him a thing of earth; and all else with
which he finds himself connected” by heaven’s ordering, he binds
to himself by the tie of his affection. He raises reverent eyes to
heaven above; he tends the earth below. Blest in his inter-
mediate station, he is so placed that he loves all below him, and
is loved by all above him. He has access to all; he descends to
the depths of the sea by the keenness of his thought ; and heaven
is not found too high for him, for he measures it by his sagacity,
as though it were within his reach. With his quick wit® he pene-
trates the elements; air cannot blind his mental vision with its

1 Amantes hominum = -piddvOpeorot, ? Mens = vobs.

3 Dits tunctus est = Tots Ocois avyyerns éart.
4 Etves deos accedit. .. et daemonum = nat tov bea eyyifa. . . wat ray
3 ‘Medietas = Headrys. 5 Novit = éyrwxe,
1 Necessarius = dvarykatos. 8 Velocitas = taxivaa?
 296 ASCLEPIUS
confundit, non densitas terrae operam eius inpedit, non aquae
altitudo profunda despectum eius obtundit. Omnia idem est, et
ubique idem est.
6b Horum omnium generum, quae sunt animalia desuper deorsum
radices pervenientes habent: inanimalia autem de imo in §

superna ‘viva! radice silvescunt. Quaedam autem duplicibus

aluntur alimentis, quaedam simplicibus. Alimenta autem sunt

bina animae et corporis, e quibus animalia constant. Anima

(ignis et aeris, superiorum) mundi (elementorum,)inquieta semper

agitatione nutritur: corpora ex aqua et terra, inferiori(bu)s mundi 10
elementis, augescunt. (Spiritus, quo plena sunt omnia, permixtus
cunctis cuncta vivificat.] Sensu(s) [addito ad hominis intelle-
gentiam], quae quinta pars soli homini concessa est ex aethere,
[sed] de animalibus cunctis humanos tantum sensus ad divinae
rationis intellegentiam exornat, erigit, atque sustollit. 15

6C Sed quoniam de sensu commoneor dicere, paulo post et huius rationem yobis
exponam: est enim sanctissima et magna, et non minor quam ea quae est
7 @ divinitatis ipsius. Sed nunc vobis expediam quae coeperam. Dicebam enim
[in ipso initio rerum] de coniunctione deorum, qua homines soli eorum digna-
tione perfruuntur, quicumque etenim hominum tantum felicitatis adepti sunt, 20
ut illum intellegentiae divinae perciperent sensum, qui sensus est divinior in
solo deo et in humana intellegentia—Asc/. Non enim omnium hominum,
o Trismegiste, uniformis est sensus?—Z7ism. Non omnes, o Asclepi, intelle-
gentiam veram adepti sunt, sed imaginem temerario inpetn nulla vera inspecta
ratione sequentes decipiuntur, quae in mentibus malitiam parit, et transformat 25
optimum animal in naturam ferae moresque beluarum, De sensu autem et de
omnibus similibus, quando et de spiritu, tunc totam vobis praestabo rationem.

7b Solum enim animal homo duplex est; et eius una pars simplex,
5 inanimalia serigsé: inanimalium 8 animae scrifsi: animi @
10-11 inferioribus mundi elementis scr#ps¢: inferioris mundi alimentis »
12 sensus scrips? : sensu@ 18 soli G et man,2B: solaceté, 21 divinae
seripst: divinum
 ASCLEPIUS I 297
thickest darkness; dense earth cannot impede his work; the
deepest water cannot blur his downward gaze. Man is all things ;
man is everywhere.
Now of all the different kinds or races, those which possess 6 b
soul’ have roots extending downward to them from above ; and
those which are soulless sprout from roots which reach upward
from below. The one sort? are nourished with two kinds of eee
—
food ;the other sort, with food of one kind only. Animals are
composed of soul and body; and their food is of two kinds,—
food for the soul and food for the body. The soul is nourished
by the ceaseless movement of fire and air, the higher elements;
the growth of bodies is supplied from water and earth, the lower
elements. Mind,’ a fifth component part, which comes from the
aether, has heen bestowed on man alone ; and of all beings that
have soul, man is the only one whose faculty of cognition ‘is, by
this gift of mind,® so strengthened, elevated, and exalted, that he
can attain to knowledge of the truth concerning God.*
As ¢ I have been led to speak of mind,’ I will later on expound to you the 6c
true doctrine concerning mind also; for it is a high and holy doctrine, and one
no less sublime than that which treats of God himself, But for the present,
I will continue the explanation I have begun. I was speaking of that attach-'7a
ment to the gods which men, and men alone, are by the grace of the gods
permitted to enjoy,—that is to say, such men as” have attained to the great
e
e
e
e
happiness of acquiring that divine faculty of apprehending truth, that diviner
sort of mind, which exists only in God and in the intellect of man.®—Ase/, But
tell me then, Trismegistus, is not the mind of all men of one quality {—
Trism. Not all men, Asclepius, have attained to true knowledge.® Many
men, yielding to reckless impulse, and seeing nothing of the truth,!° are misled
by illusions ;" and these illusions breed evil in their hearts, and transform man,
the best of living beings, into a wild and savage beast. But concerning mind
and the like I will fully set forth the truth to you later on, when I come to
treat of spirit also.
Man, and man alone of all beings that have soul, is of twofold 7b
nature. Of the two parts of which he is composed, the one is

) Animalia = tnpuxa, i.e, animals: inanimalia = diya, i.e, vegetables.

* Quaedam... quaedam = 7a py... 7a Bé,
3 Sexsus = voids, which might be translated ‘ mind’ or ‘ intellect’ or ‘reason’.
' Sensus = atcOnats }
5 Divinae rationis intellegentia = 4 rod Oelov AS-you (i.e, Beodcyias) years?
® This passage (chs. 6c, 7a) was probably absent in the original text of
Ascl. 1; it may have been added by the compiler of the composite Asclepius,
| 7 Qutcumgue etenim = boo BH.
® Perhaps, ‘in God and in those men who have gyosis’
° Intellegenlia = yeas? 10 Vera ratio = 6 ddnOs Adyos,
Imago = pavracia!
 298 ASCLEPIUS
simili-
quae, ut Graeci aiunt, odowddys, quam vocamus divinae
autem (altera pars) quadrup lex, quod tAcKév
tudinis formam; est
dicimus , [e quo factum est corpus , |quo
Graeci, nos mundanum
quod in homine divinu m esse iam diximus , in
circumtegitur illud
as tecta sola cum cognati s suis, id est mentis 5
quo mentis divinit
s, secum ipsa conquie scat tamqua m muro corpori s
purae sensibu
saepta.—
7c Asci. Quid ergo oportuit, o Trismegiste, hominem in mundo
constitui, et non in ea parte, qua deus e:t, eum in summa
nos 10
beatitudine degere?—TZrism. Recte quaeris, 0 Asclepi: et
enim deum rogamus, tribuat nobis facultatem reddendae rationis
istius. Cum enim omnia ex eius voluntate dependeant, tum illa
em
vel maxime, quae de tota summitate tractantur, quam ration
Asclepi . Dominu s
8 praesenti disputatione conquirimus. Audi ergo,
et omnium conformator, quem recte dicimu s deum, quo(ni am) 15
a se secundum fecerjit (deum) qui videri et sentiri possit ;—
|
15 quoniam Goldberg: quo w 16 fecit
13 maxime G: maxima ceéé. et viderten
deum qui scripsi: fecerit qui | videri et sentiri @: viderit
possit #: viderit et videre (t eras.) possit M

c. 8 init.—Lactant. Div. inst. 4.6. 4 (vide Zestim.): ‘Hermes in co

libro qui Ad-yos réAcos inscribitur his usus est verbis :
« § Képios Kal rev mévT@v months, dv Gedy Kadeiv vevopi-
kapev, éret rov Sebrepov érroince, Gedy épardv kal alaOnrér,
—aisdnrov 8€ dnpt ob Sia 7d alobdver Oat abrov, mept yap
rotrou, rorepoy ards aicbdve rar (} py, cloadOus pnOncerac),
GAR 8re eis aloOnow dromin te Kal els dpacw,—émel oby
roorov émomnce mparov Kal pdvov Kal Eva, Kadds de atte
épdvn (dv) Kal mAnpécraros mévTov Tov dyabay, nydoOn TE
kal mévy edirnoev as ttov réKov.””
Lactant. Zpit. div. inst. 37.4: ‘Plato de primo ac secundo deo... locutus
est, fortasse in hoc Trismegistum secutus; cuius verba de Graecis conversa
subieci :
“Dominus et factor universorum, quem deum vocare existima-
vimus, secundum fecit deum visibilem et sensibilem. Sensibilem
autem dico non quod ipse sensum accipiat, sed quod in sensum
mittat et visum. Cum ergo hunc fecisset primum et solum et
unum, optimus ei apparuit et plenissimus omnium bonorum.”’
Ps.-Augustin. ¢c. guingue haereses 3: ‘Hermes. . « scripsit librum qui
Aéyos TéAetos appellatur, id est verbum perfectum, . . . Audiamus quid loquatur
 ASCLEPIUS I 299
single and undivided; this part is incorporeal and eternal, and we
call it ‘that which is formed in the likeness of God’. The other
part of man is fourfold, and material; and within it is enclosed
that part of him which I just now called divine, to the end that,
sheltered therein, the divine mind, together with the thoughts ? of
pure mind, which are cognate to it, secluded from all else, may
dwell at rest, fenced in by the body, as it were by a wall.—
Ascl. But what need was there, Trismegistus, that man should 7¢
be placed in this material world? Why might he not have dwelt
in the region where God is, and there enjoyed perfect happiness ?
—Trism. You are right, Asclepius, in asking that question ; and
I pray God to give me power to answer it. For on his will depend
all things, and above all else, the investigation of that which is
highest and most comprehensive ; and such is that with which
our present ifquiry is concerned. Listen then, Asclepius. When 8
the Master, the Maker of all things, whom by usage we name
God, had made him who is second,* a god visible and sensible ;

l Mens = vois. 2 Sensus = vonpara? 3 Viz. the Kosmos.

Mercurius de verbo perfecto: “ Dominus” inquit “et omnium factor deorum

secundum fecit dominum” (‘deum szridendum?’ Brandt). Et post patca,
ut ostenderet quid dixerit, repetiit et dixit: “‘Quoniam ergo hune fecit primum
et solum et unum, bonus autem ei visus est et plenissimus omnium bonorum,
- +. laetatus est et valde dilexit tanquam unigenitum suum.”’
In tabula Mercurium Trismegistum docentem ostendente, quae in pavimento
aedis Senensis insculpta est (A.D, 1488), leguntur in tabella inscripta verba
haec: ‘Deus omnium creator secum* deum fecit visibilem et hunc fecit
primum et solum quo oblectatus est et valde amavit proprium filium qui appel-
latur sanctum verbum.’ (*secum ferferam scriptum est pro secundum.)

Pseudo-Anthimus 4d Theodorum (vide Testim.) §§ 10, 11:

pdoxe yap obrws (sc. ‘Eppiis 6 Tpicpéytotos) mpos
Aokdrynmidv tov larpév: “ dKxove rovyapody, ‘AoxAnmé. 6
ktptos Kal tév mdvrev months, dv Kadelv Oedv vevouixaper,
ere Tov devtepov émoince Oedv dpatov Kai aicOnrév.”...
ca Ul : 4 ‘ 4 x > )

cra médw 6 Tpicpéyiorés pnow: “ ere? ody robrov éroinge

mparov Kal pévov Kai eva, kdédd(ar)os St aire éddvn Kal
mAnpéctatos mévrav tav dyabav, iydobn tre Kal md
epianoer
’
wsa idtov TéKov.
4 ”
300 ASCLEPIUS
eum de(u)m secundum sensibilem [ita] dixerim non ideo, quod
ipse sentiat, (de hoc enim, an ipse sentiat an non, alio dicemus
tempore,) sed eo, quoniam videntium sensus incurrit ;—quoniam
ergo hunc fecit ex se primum et a se secundum, visusque ei
5
pulcher, utpote qui sit omnium bonitate plenissimus, amavit eum
ut divinitatis partwm suae. Ergo, ut ‘tantus et’ bonus, esse|t]
voluit alium, qui illum, quem ex se fecerat, intueri potuisset,
simulque et rationis (suae) imitatorem et diligentiae fecit hominem.
Voluntas etenim dei ipsa est summa perfectio, utpote cum voluisse
et perfecisse uno eodemque temporis puncto conpleat. Cum 10
itaque eum otowdy (fecisset), et animadverteret eum non posse
omnium rerum esse diligentem nisi eum mundano integimento
contegeret, texit eum corporea domo, talesque omnes esse prae-
cepit {[ex utraque natura in unum confundens miscensque
quantum satis esse debuisset]}. Itaque hominem conformat ex 15
animi et corporis, id est, ex aeterna atque mortali natura, ((ex
utraque natura in unum confundens miscensque quantum satis
esse(t) [debuisset|,)) ut animal ita conformatum utraeque origini
suae satisfacere possit, et mirari atque (ad)orare caelestia, et
[injcolere atque gubernare terrena. (Terrena) [{modoj| autem 20
dico [mortalia] non ((modo)) aquam et terram, quae duo de
quattuor elementis subiecit natura hominibus, sed ea quae ab

hominibus aut in his aut de his fiunt, [ajut ipsius terrae cultus,
pascuae, aedificatio, portus, navigationes, communicationes, com-

modationes alternae, quae est humanitatis inter se firmissimus 25

1 enm deum seri~s?: eundem » | ita seclust Kroll 4 facit B:

fecit cett. 6 partum Avol/: partem w |esse Kvoll: esset w
8 fecit F: facit cet. 9 dei ipsa /: de ipsa ceéz. ll fecisset addidi
(creasset addidit Koziol) 18 esset scripsi: esse debuisset w 19 adorare
Rohde ; orare w 23 ut edd. vell.: aut w (sed a exp. B)
 ASCLEPIUS I 301
—and I call him ‘sensible’, not because he perceives things by
sense, (for the question whether he perceives things by sense or
not, we will discuss later on,) but because he can be perceived by
sense and sight ;—when, I say, God had made this being, his first
and one and only creation,’ and when he saw that the being he
had made was beautiful, and wholly filled with all things good,
he rejoiced in him, and loved him dearly, as being his own
offspring. Therefore, being (wise) and good himself, he willed
that there should be another who might look upon the being
whom he had begotten ; and in that act of willing,? he made man,
to be an imitator of his wisdom * and his fostering care.‘ For with
God, to will’ is to accomplish, inasmuch as, when he wills, the
doing is completed in the self-same moment as the willing, And
so, having made man as an incorporeal and eternal being, and
perceiving that the man whom he had made could not tend all
things (on earth) unless he enclosed him in a material *envelope,
God gave him the shelter of a body to dwell in, and ordained that
all men should be formed in like manner. Thus he fashioned
man of the substance of mind” and the substance of body,—of that
which is eternal and that which is mortal,—blending and mingling
together portions of either substance in adequate measure, to the
end that the creature so fashioned might be able to fulfil the
demands of both sources of his being, that is to say, to venerate
and worship the things of heaven, and at the same time to tend
and administer the things of earth. And when I say ‘the things
of earth’, I do not mean merely the two elements, water and
earth, which nature has placed in subjection to men; I mean all
things that men do on land and water, or make out of earth and
water, as for instance tillage and pasture, building, harbour-works
and navigation, and intercourse and mutual service, that strong
bond by which the members of the human race are linked toge-
ther. (For to man is given the charge) of that part of the

? In the earliest form of the text, this sentence probably ran as follows:
6 Kbpios kal roy wdvrow montis, bv Oedy Kadciv vevouluaper, ered Tov dedrepov
émoinge, Bedv Spardy xai alo@nrdy [ ] mprov Kai pdvov Kal eva, xadds & aire
épavy dv Kal wAnpécratos mayraw tiv dycbdv, Hydo0n Te Kat avy epidanoer ds
id:ov réxov. ‘When the Master... had made him who is second, the first and
one and only visible and sensible god, and when he saw that,’ &c.
? Simul = dpa (Bovddpevos) ? 5 Ratio = Aopopds?
* Diligentia = Oepaneia. 5 Voluntas = Boddnots or 0éAnua.
® Mundanus = iduxéds, 1 Animus = vods?
® Colere = Oepaneiay,
 302 ASCLEPIUS
nexus. ‘Et'(...) mundi partis quae est aquae et terrae ;quae
pars terrena mundi artium disciplinarumque cognitione atque
usu servatur, sine quibus mundum deus noluit esse perfectum.
[Placitum enim dei necessitas sequitur, voluntatem comitatur
effectus.] [Neque enim credibile est deo displiciturum esse quod 5
placuit, cum et futurum id et placiturum multo ante sciverit.]
9 Sed, o Asclepi, animadverto ut celeri mentis cupiditate festines
audire quomodo homo caeli vel quae in eo sunt dilectum possit
habere vel cultum. Audi itaque, o Asclepi. Dilectus [dei] caeli
cum his quae insunt omnibus una est obsequiorum frequentatio. ro
Hanc aliud animal non facit nec divinorum nec morfalium, nisi
solushomo. Hominum enim admirationibus, adorationibus, laudi-
bus, obsequiis caelum caelestesque delectantur. Nec inmerito in
| hominum coetum Musarum chorus est a summa divinitate
demissus, scilicet ne terrenus mundus videretur incultior, si rg
modorum dulcedine caruisset, sed potius ut musicatis hominum
cantilenis concelebraretur laudibus qui solus omnia aut pater est
omnium, atque ita caelestibus laudibus nec in terris harmoniae
suavitas defuisset. Aliqui ergo, ipsique paucissimi, pura mente
praediti, sortiti sunt caeli suspiciendi venerabilem curam. Quicun- 20
que autem ex duplici(s) naturae suae confusione (in) inferiorem in-
tellegentiam mole corporis resederunt, curandis elementis hisque
inferioribus sunt praepositi. Animal ergo homo (ex parte
mortale) ; non quod is eo minor, quod ex parte mortalis sit, sed
((mortalitate auctus esse videatur)), ea sorte aptius efficaciusque 25
conpositus ad certam rationem [[mortalitate auctus esse videatur]],
Scilicet quoniam utrumque nisi ex utraque materia sustinere non
9 dei seclusit Koziol 11 facit scripst: fecit w (sed facit corr. B)
| mortalium A7o//: animalium @ 17 laudibus ‘fortasse delendum’ Thomas
19 ergo ipsique Zhomas: ipsique ergo w (sed cum tratectionis signo B)
21 duplicis scréfsé: duplici w | in inferiorem Koziol: interiorem w
~ non quod is 47G: non quo dis 2 25 ea sorte scrips? : eo forie B: eo
‘orte ceft.
 ASCLEPIUS I 303
universe’ which consists of earth and water; and this earthly
part of the universe is kept in order? by means of man’s know-
ledge and application of the arts and sciences.’ For God willed
that the universe should not be complete until man had done his
part. [ ][ ]*
But I see, Asclepius, that you are eager and impatient to be 9
told how man can tend * heaven or the things in heaven. Listen
then, Asclepius. Tendance of heaven and of all things that are
therein is nothing else than constant® worship;7 and there is no
other being, divine or mortal, that worships, but man alone. For
in the reverence and adoration, the praise and worship of men,
heaven and the gods of heaven find pleasure. And not without
good reason*has the supreme Deity sent down the choir of the
Muses to dwell among mankind. The earthly part of the universe
would have seemed but rude and savage, if it had been wanting
in sweet melody ; and lest this should be, God sent the Muses
down, to the intent that men might adore with hymns of praise
Him who is all things in one, the Father of all, and that thus
sweet music might not be lacking upon earth, to sound in concord
with the singing of his praise in heaven. To some men then, but
to very few, men who are endowed with mind uncontaminate,’
has fallen the high task of raising reverent eyes to heaven. But
to all who, through the intermingling of the diverse parts of their
twofold being, are weighed down by the burden of the body, and
have sunk to a lower grade of intelligence,”—to all such men is
assigned the charge of tending the elements, and the things of
this lower world. Thus man is a being (partly divine, and partly
mortal); not that he is to be thought the lower because he is
mortal in part; we ought rather to regard him as exalted by his
mortality, in that he is by such a lot more fitly and effectively
constituted for a purpose pre-ordained. For since he could not
have met the demands of both his functions if he had not been

1 Mundus = xédcpos.
? Servatur = puvddocera, 5S Disciplinarum = émormpav.
* [‘ For that must needs be, which it has pleased God to ordain, He wills,
and it is done.’] [‘ For it cannot be thought that what it has once pleased God
to ordain will ever be displeasing in his sight, inasmuch as he knew long
before, both that it would come to pass, and that it would be pleasing to him.”}
5 Dilectum vel cultum = Oepametav.
S Frequentatio = wixvwars or wexvirns. 7 Obsequium = Opnoxeia}
8 Nec inmerito = obx amekérws,
° Pura mens = vods xaBapds. 0 Jntellegentia = vénais?
 304 ASCLEPIUS
potuisset, ex utraque formatus est, ut et terrenum cultum et

divinitatis posset habere dilectum.

10 Rationem vero tractatus istius, o Asclepi, non solum sagaci
intentione, verum etiam cupio te animi vivacitate percipere. Est
enim ratio plurimis incredibilis, integra autem et vera percipienda 5
sanctioribus mentibus. Itaque hinc exordiar. Aeternitatis domi-
nus deus primus est, secundus est mundus, homo est tertius.
Effector mundi deus et eorum quae insunt omnium simul cuncta
gubernando jjcum]| homine(m) ((cum)) ipso gubernatore(m)
conposvif. Quod totum suscipiens homo, id est curam propriam
diligentiae suae, efficit ut sit ipse et mundus uterque ornamento
sibi; ut ex hac (h)om(i)nis divina conpositione mundus (Graece
rectius xéopos) dictus esse videatur. Is novit se, novit et mun-
dum, scilicet ut meminerit quid partibus conveniat suis, quae sibi
j utenda, quibus sibi inserviendum sit recognoscat, laudes gratesque 15
maximas agens deo, eius imaginem yenerans, non ignarus se
etiam secundam esse imaginem dei; cuius sunt imagines duac
| mundus et homo, [[unde efficitur ut|] quoniam est (et) ipsius una
conpago. ((Nam ut homo ex utraque parte possit esse plenissi-
mus, quaternis eum utriusque partis elementis animadverte esse 20
formatum :)) (unde efficitur ut)) parte ((divina)), quae ex animo et
sensu, spiritu atque ratione [/divinus|] est, velut ex elementis
superioribus, inscendere posse videatur in caelum, parte vero
mundana, quae constat ex igne et aqua (et terra) et aere, mortalis

9-10 hominem cum ipso gubernatorem conposuit scrifsi: in homine ipso

gubernatorem conposuit ‘er PL (?) proposuit Kroll’: cum homine ipso
ore conpositi ceff. 12 hominis e¢. Rom. : omnis w 17 secun-
dam G: secundum ce/f. | sint JZ: sunt ceft, 19-21 nam ut.. . esse
formatum uc @ cap. 11a transposui 21 quae A: qua <ett, | animo
scrips? ; anima w 24 igne et aqua Gd: igne aqua cett,
 ASCLEPIUS I 305
made of both kinds of substance, he was fashio
ned out of both,
to the end that he might be able both to tend the
earth and to do
service to the Deity.
And now, Asclepius, I desire you to listen
with a strong effort 10
of thought, as well as with keen penetration,
to that which I am
about to expound to you.’ It isa doctrine
which the many * do
not believe, but which should be accepted as sound
and true by
men of saintlier mind. Thus I begin. God, the Master of
eternity,* is first ;the Kosmos is second 3 man
is third. God, the
maker of the Kosmos and of all things that are
therein, governs
all things, but has made man as a composite
being to govern in
conjunction with him. And if man takes upon
him in all its
fullness the function assigned to him, that is, the
tendance which
is his special task, he becomes the means
of right order ‘ to the
Kosmos, and the Kosmos to him 3° so that it
seems the Kosmos
(that is, the ordered universe) has been rightly so
named, because
man’s composite structure has been thus ordered ¢ by
God. Man
knows" himself, and knows the Kosmos also, provi
ded that he
bears in mind what action is suited to the part
he has to play,
and recognizes what things he is to use for his
own ends, and to
what things he in turn is to do service, rendering
praise and
thanks in full measure to God, and revering God’s
image (the
Kosmos), not unaware that he himself is a second
image of God.
For there are two images of God 3 the Kosmos is
one, and man
is another, inasmuch as he, like the Kosmos, is
a single whole
built up of diverse parts. For you must note that man,
in order
that he may be fully equipped on both sides, has
been so
fashioned that each of his two parts is made up of four eleme
nts ;
and so, in respect of the divine part of him, which is compo
sed of
other and higher ‘elements’, so to speak, namely, mind,
intellect,
spirit, and reason,® he is found capable of rising to heave
n; but
in respect of his material ® part, which consists of fire, water,
earth,
and air, he is mortal, and remains on earth, that he may not
leave
1 Ratio = déyos: istius = rodde, pointing forward to what follows.
2 Plurimis = rois wrelorots.
8 Aeternitatis dominus = 6 rod aidvos «upuos.
* Ornamentum = xédapnns.
5 Sibi = éavrois, in the sense of aGATAots,
8 Composttio = ovyxdcpnars ? 7 Novit = tyvone,
® Animus = bdvoat Sensus = vods. Spiritus = rvedya (but in a different
sense from that in which the word is used in ch. 6 b). Ratio = Adyos.
® Mundanus = irnés,
2806 x
 306 ASCLEPIUS
vidua desertaque
resistat in terra, ne curae omnia suae mandata
ex parte divina , ex alia parte
dimittat, Sic enim humanitas,
‘Est autem mensura
11a effecta mortalis est, in corpore consistens.
, quam sequitur
eius utriusque, id est hominis, ante omnia religio
ta, si contra cupidi- 5
bonitas. Ea demum tunc videtur esse perfec
sit despectus
tatem ((virtute munita)) alienarum omnium rerum
us cognat ionis divina e partibus
[[virtute munita]}, Sunt ab omnib
ali cupidi tate possi-
aliena omnia, quaecunque terrena corpor
pantu r], quo-
dentur; quae merito (possessionum nomine nuncu
eri coepe runt, 10
niam non nata nobiscum, sed postea a nobis possid
r. Omnia ergo
idcirco etiam possessionum nomine nuncupantu
etiam corpus , ut et ea quae
huiusmodi ab homine aliena sunt,
nobis est vitium, despicia-
adpetimus, et illud, ex quo adpetentiae
io, homo
mus. Ut enim meum animum rationis ducit intent
partem quae rs
hactenus esse debuit, ut contemplatione divinitatis
di
sibi [[iuncta mortalis est]] mundi inferioris necessitate servan
iat atque conte mnat. ({[Nam ut
((iuncta mortalis est)) despic
nis eum
homo ex utraque parte possit esse plenissimus, quater
tum, ||[manibus
utriusque partis elementis animadverte esse forma
quibus 20
f et pedibus utrisque binis, {aliisque] corporis membris,
vero partibus
inferiori, id est terreno, mundo deserviat, illis
quattuor animi, ((ratione)), sensu( s memori aje], atque pro-
divina norit atque
videntiaje], quarum [[ratione]] (usu) cuncta
suspiciat.|
s, quan- 25
[Unde efficitur ut rerum diversitates, qualitates, effectu
[et]
titates suspiciosa indagatione sectetur, retardatus vero gravi(s)
sunt
nimivm corporis vitio has naturae rerum causas quae verae
proprie pervidere non possit-]
rio
rb Hunc ergo sic effectum conformatumque et tali ministe
30
obsequioque praepositum a summo deo, eumque [conpetenter]
con-
munde mundum servando, deum pie colendo, digne et
ti parente m, talem quo munere
petenter in utroque dei yolunta
,
credis esse munerandum,—siquidem, cum dei opera sit mundus

4 omnia scri~si: omnis © 16 inferioris Koziol: interioris o

22-23 sensu
17-19 Nam ut... formatum Azae ad cap. 10 transposutatque providentiae
memoria atque providentia serips?: sensus memoriae possit GZ*: possunt
26-27 gravis nimium scrips: gravi et nimio w 28
celt. 30 conpetenter seclusit Krofl
 ASCLEPIUS I 307
forsaken and abandoned all things that are entrusted to his
keeping. Thus it is that man, though in part divine, has been
made mortal also in part, being placed in a body. Now the ma
right regulation’ of the two parts, that is, of the whole man,
consists first and chiefly in piety ;? and piety is accompanied by
goodness.* But goodness is to be seen in its perfection only
when man’s virtue‘ is fortified against desire,’ and he scorns all
things that are alien to him. Now all earthly things which man
holds in his possession to gratify his bodily desires are alien to all
that part of his nature which is akin to God; and these things
are rightly called ‘ possessions ’,’ for this reason, that they were
not born with us, but we began to get possession ®of them at
a later time. All such things then are alien to man ; yes, and the
body too we must regard as alien, that so we may scorn not only
the objects of our greed, but also that® which is the source of the
vicious greed within us. For according to the view to which my
thinking” leads me, it is man’s duty not to acquiesce in his
merely human state, but rather, in the strength of his contempla-
tion of things divine," to scorn and despise that mortal part which
has been attached to him because it was needful that he should
keep and tend ™ this lower world. [ ][ ]™
Seeing then that man has been thus made and fashioned, and 11 b
has been appointed by the supreme God to such tasks of service
and of worship,” what, think you, should be his reward, if by a
well-ordered life of labour in the world committed to his charge,”
and by honouring God with pious observance, in both respects

1 Mensura = pétpor.
2 Religio = ebaéBaa. 8 Bonitas = dyabérns.
4 Virtus = dpern. 5 Cupiditas = tmOupla.
© Or, ‘are alien to all members of God’s family ’?
1 Possessiones = uthpata, 8 Possidere = nracGat, ° Viz. the body.
1° Rationis intentio = biavoias (or Noyopod) émBodr ?
1 Contemplatio divinitatis = 4 rob Oeiov Sewpia,
12 Servare = puddcoev.
38 [‘Man has a pair of hands and a pair of feet, as bodily members, that
may therewith do service to the lower and earthly part of the universe ;and he
he has four mental parts, namely, reason (Adéyos), intellect (voids), memory
(uhm), and foresight (mpovora), that he may therewith know and reverence
all
things divine.’]
k.Hence it comes to pass that men investigate with anxious search
the
differences of things, their qualities, their workings (évepyelas), and their
dimensions, but being hampered by the evil influence of a body which weighs
them down, they cannot adequately understand the true causes of all that ta
es
place in the world.’]
“ Ministerium = tanpeciat Odbseguium = Opnoxeta or Aatpela?
8 Munde mundum servando = 76 tov nécpov Kooplas puddooer,
X 2
 308 ASCLEPIUS
eius pulchritudinem qui diligentia servat atque auget, operam
suam cum dei voluntate coniungit, cum speciem, quam ille
divina intentione formavit, adminiculo sui corporis diurno

opere curaque conponit,—nisi €0, quo parentes nostri munerati

sunt, quo etiam nos quoque munerari, si fwerit divinae pietati wo

conplacitum, optamus piissimis votis, id est, ut emeritos atque

exutos mundana custodia, nexibus mortalitatis absolutos, naturae
superioris partis, id est divinae, puros sanctosque restituat P—
12a Asc. Iuste et vere dicis, o Trismegiste—Zvism. Haec est
enim merces pie sub deo, diligenter cum mundo viventibus, 1°
Secus enim inpieque qui vixerint, et reditus denegatur in

caelum, et constituitur in corpora alia, indigna animo sancto,

[et] foeda migratio.—Asc. Ut iste rationis sermo processit,
o Trismegiste, futurae aeternitatis spe animae in mundana vita
periclitantur.—Zvism. Sed aliis incredibile, aliis fabulosum, aliis 15

forsitan videatur esse deridendum. Res enim dulcis est in hac

corporali vita qui capitur de possessionibus fructus: quae res

-s
—— animam obtorto, ut aiunt, detinet collo, ut in parte sui qua

| mortalis est inhaereat.

12b Nec sinit partem divinitatis agnoscere invidens inmortalitate

malignitas. Ego enim tibi quasi praedivinans dixero nullum post
nos habiturum dilectum simplicem [qui est] philosophiae, quae
sola est in cognoscenda divinitate frequens obtutus et sancta

5 fuerit scrépsi : foret w 9-4 infra: ‘quae in hoc capite leguntur inter
e.
personas sic fere mihi distribuenda videntur: AS, luste .. . 0 Trismegist
Tr. Ego
‘Tr. Haec est enim... migratio. As. Utiste...malignitas.
enim...confundunt. As. Ut iste... malignitas. Tr. Ego enim... con-
tundunt. As. Quomodo ergo... confundunt? cezus distributions aliquot
et con-
vestigia in G et al. extant’ Thomas. Ego, quod ad cetera pertinet 17 quae
sentiens, verba sed aliis. . . malignitas Trismegisto attribut,
res B: quare cett. 20 inmortalitate scrzfsz: inmortalitati w
 ASCLEPIUS I 309
alike he worthily and fittingly obeys God’s will? For since the
world is God’s handiwork, he who maintains and heightens its
beauty by his tendance is co-operating with the will of God, when
he contributes the aid of his bodily strength, and by his care and
labour day by day makes things assume that shape and aspect
which God’s purpose has designed. What shall be his reward?
Shall it not be that which our fathers have received, and which we
pray with heartfelt piety that we too may receive, if God in his
mercy’ is pleased to grant it? And that is, that when our term
of service is ended, when we are divested of our guardianship ° of
the material world, and freed from the bonds of mortality, he will
restore us, cleansed and sanctified, to the primal condition of
that higher part of us which is divine—Ase/, Right and true, a
Trismegistus.— Zyism. Yes, such is the reward of those who
spend their lives in piety to God above, and in tendance® of the
world around them. But those who have lived evil and impious
lives are not permitted to return to heaven. For such men is
ordained a shameful transmigration into bodies of another kind,*
bodies unworthy to be the abode of holy mind.—As¢d. According
to your teaching* then, Trismegistus, souls have at stake in this
earthly life their hope of eternity® in the life to come.— Zrism. Yes,
But some cannot believe this; and some regard it as an empty
tale; and to some, perhaps, it seems a thing to mock at. For in
our bodily life on earth, the enjoyment derived from possessions
is a pleasant thing; and the pleasure which they yield grips the
soul by the throat, so to speak, and holds it down to earth, com-
pelling it to cleave to man’s mortal part.
Moreover, there are some whose ungenerous temper grudges’
2b
men the boon of immortality, and will not suffer them to get
knowledge of that in them which is divine. For speaking as
a prophet speaks, I tell you that in after times none will pursue
philosophy in singleness of heart. Philosophy is nothing else
than striving through constant contemplation * and saintly piety to
attain to knowledge of God ;* but there will be many who will

' Pietas = éreos? * Custodia = pvdaxh or povpd.

8 Diligenter viventes = Oepanevrinas (vrs?
* Le, the bodies of beasts. 5 Rationis sermo = dé-yos ?
8 Aeternttas = alovdryst
' [nvidens inmortalitate = pOovoica abrois Tis a0avacias.
® Frequens obtutus = wuxviy Bewpia.
* Cognoscere divinitatem = tov Oedy (or 7d Oeiov) ywyvwowew,
 310 ASCLEPIUS
religio. Multi etenim ((inconprehensibilem philosophiam effi-
cient)), et eam multifaria ratione confundent.—Asc. Quomodo
ergo [multi {[inconprehensibilem philosophiam efficiunt]], aut
13 quemadmodum eam multifaria ratione confundunt]?— 77rism.
O Asclepi, hoc modo: in varias disciplinas nec conprehensibiles 5
eam callida commentatione miscentes, épOyqTuiv et musicen et
geometriam. Puram autem philosophiam, eamque (e) divina
tantum religione pendentem, tantum intendere in reliquas oporte-
bit, ut apocatastasis astrorum, stationes praefinitas cursu(u)mque
1°
; commutationes numeris constare miretur;terrae vero dimensiones,
[[qualitates, quantitates,]} maris profunda, (aeris...), ignis vim,
et horum omnium ((qualitates, quantitates,)) effectus naturasque
cognoscens miretur, adoret atque conlaudet artem mentemque
divinam. Musicen vero nosse nihil aliud es¢ nisi cunctarum
{omnium] rerum ordinem scire, quaeque sit (omnes res) divina 15
ratio sortita: ordo enim rerum singularum in unum omnium
artifici ratione conlata(rum) concentum quendam melo divino
14a dulcissimum verissimumque conficije|t. Qui ergo homines post
nos erunt, sophistarum calliditate decepti, a vera, pura sanctaque
philosophia avertentur. Simplici enim mente et anima divinitatem ao
colere eiusque facta venerari, agere etiam dei voluntati gratias,
quae est bonitatis sola plenissima, haec est nulla animi inportuna
curiositate violata philosophia.

(Asclepius Il)

14b [Et de his sit hucusque tractatus: de spiritu vero et de his

similibus hinc sumatur exordium.] 25
Fuit deus et Sy "quem Graece credimus mundum’. [Et
mundo comitabatur spiritus, vel inerat mundo spiritus, sed non
similiter ut deo: nec deo (...).] Haec, de quibus mundus,
idcirco non erant, qu(ija n(a)ta non erant; sed in eo iam tune

2 et (ante eam) om. G | eam GZ: ea cett. 7 © addidit Thomas

8-9 oporterit BA: oportuerit MM 9-10 cursuumque commnutationes
scripsi: cursumque commutationis 12 naturasque serifsé: naturamque w
14 est edd. vett.: esse w 15 omnium om. GC 17 conlata @:
conlatus ed. Rom.: ‘fortasse conlatarum’ Thomas 18 conficit scripsd:
conficiet 19 pura om. BM 22 nulla GZ: nulli cett. 23 vio-
lenta BAL
29 quia nata Thomas: quanta BMP: quando GLY
 ASCLEPIUS I 3Il
make philosophy hard to understand, and corrupt it with manifold
speculations."—As¢/. How so?—Zrism. In this way, Asclepius ;13
by a cunning sort of study, in which philosophy will be mixed
with diverse and unintelligible sciences, such as arithmetic, music,
and geometry. Whereas the student of philosophy undefiled,
which is dependent on devotion to God, and on that alone, ought
to direct his attention to the other sciences only so far as he may
thereby learn to see and marvel how the returns of the heavenly
bodies to their former places, their halts ? in pre-ordained positions,
and the variations of their movements, are true to the reckonings
of number ; only so far as, learning the measurements of the
earth, the depth of the sea, (the . . . of air,) the force of fire, and
the properties, magnitudes, workings, and natures of all material
things, he may be led to revere, adore, and praise God’s skill and
wisdom. And to know the science of music is nothing else than
this,—to know how all things are ordered, and how God’s design*®
has assigned to each its place ;* for the ordered system in which
each and all by the supreme Artist’s skill are wrought together
into a single whole yields a divinely musical harmony, sweet and
true beyond all melodious sounds. I tell you then that the men r4a
of after times will be misled by cunning sophists, and will be
turned away from the pure and holy teachings of true philosophy.
For to worship God in thought and spirit with singleness of heart,
to revere God in all his works, and to give thanks to God,
whose will, and his alone, is wholly filled with goodness,—this is
philosophy unsullied by intrusive cravings for unprofitable
knowledge.®

Asclepius II

{Here let the discussion of these things end; and let us now 14b
begin to speak of spirit and the like.]
Trism. In the beginning were’ God and Matter. The
elements of which the universe’ is composed were not then in
existence, because they had not yet come into being ;* but

1 Ratio = doyiopéds? 2 Stationes = oraces.

5 Ratio = Ad-yos.
* Sit sortita = xexdnpome,
5 Curiositas = weprepyia, or moAumpaypootvn?
6 Fuit = hv.
7 Mundus = 6 wéapos.
§ Nata non crant = obwe éyeydve,
 we

312 ASCLEPIUS
erant unde nasci habuerunt. [Non enim ea sola non nata
dicuntur quae necdum nata sunt, sed ea (etiam quae. ..).
(.. .) quae carent fecunditate generandi, ita ut ex his nihil nasci
possit. |
Quaecunque ergo sunt quibus inest natura generandi, haec et 5
generabilia sunt: de quibus nasci potest (aliquid), tametsi ea ex
se nata sunt. Neque enim dubitatur ex his quae ex se nata sunt
facile nasci posse (...). (.. .) de quibus cuncta nascuntur.
Deus ergo sempiternus, deus aeternus: nec nasci potest nec

potuit: hoc est, hoc fuit, hoc erit semper. Haec ergo est, quae 10
ex se tota est, natura dei.
Ay autem (vel mundi natura) [et spiritus], quamvis nata non
videa{n]tur, a principio tamen in se nascendi procreandique vim
f posside[n]jt atque naturam. Fecunditatis etenim initium in
| qualitate (naturae] (materiae) est, quae et conceptus et partus 15
k in se possidet vim atque [materiam] (naturam). Haec itaque
sine alieno conceptu est sola generabilis, ((quae utique in se vim
* totius naturae habet.))
; 15 At vero ea, quae vim solam concipiendi habent ex alterius
commixtione naturae, ita discernenda sunt, ut {...). Sic locus 20
mundi cum his quae in se sunt videfajtur esse non natus |[qui
|| utique in se vim totius naturae habet]]: locum autem dico in quo
i}

. sint omnia. Neque enim haec omnia esse potuissent, si locus

deesset qui omnia sustinere potuisset. Omnibus enim rebus
quae fuerint praecavendum est loco: nec qualitates etenim nec a5

18 videatur scrifst: videantur w 14 possidet scrifsi: possident w

; 17-18 quae utique ... habet Auc a cap.15 transposuti 17 quae scripst:
\ qui w 20 Sic scripsi: hicw 21 videtur scrifsi: videatur w
24 qui (fost deesset) ex quo corr, MZ: quo B: qui celt,
 ASCLEPIUS II 313
they were already in that from which they were to be
generated,"
Now all things which possess the faculty of generating are
generative ;? and it is possible for something else to be generated
from them, even if they are self-generated.’ For there is no
doubt that from things self-generated can easily be generated . . ..
-. . from which all things come into being.
God is everlasting, God is eternal. That he should come into
being, or should ever have come into being, is impossible. He
is, he was, he will be for ever. Such is God’s being ; he is
wholly self-generated.®
Matter,‘ though it is manifestly ungenerated,’ yet has in itself
from the first * the power of generating ;° for an original fecundity
is inherent in the properties of matter, which possesses in itself
the power of conceiving things and giving birth to them. Matter
then is generative by itself, without the help of anything else."
It undoubtedly contains in itself the power of generating ” all
things.
On the other hand, we must class apart from matter those 15
things which are enabled to conceive only when something else
is intermingled with them; though (such things also may be
ungenerated), Thus the space™ in which is contained the
universe “‘ with all things that are therein” is manifestly un-
generated. (By ‘space’ I here mean that in which all things
are contained.) For the existence of all things that are would
have been impossible, if space had not existed as an antecedent
condition of their being."* For if anything is to exist, space for it
must be provided beforehand: if things were nowhere,” their

} Perhaps éviiv q5n ev 76 é€ oF (or ev rois ef dv 2) EpedXce yevrnoeabai,

2 Generabilia = yevyynrind, 3 Ex se nata = abroyévyynta,
* Sempiternus = dthos: aeternus = aidvs.
* Perhaps roadry 4 Tob Ge0d picts, abroyévvytos bAn oboa,
° Vel mundi natura: added by the translator, as an explanation of #Ay,
" dyévyntos obca paiverar, rather than d-yévynros elvac Borer,
® A principio = & dpyjs.
* Nascendt procreandique = yevvnoews? Vim atgue naturam = Siva 3
0 Tnitinum = apyn.
1 Sine alieno conceptu = dvev cudd%pews Gddorplas.
2 Naturae = yevvicews? 18 Locus = rémos, or xwpa,
1 Mundi = tov xécpov.
15: In se = év ad, which the translator read as év aire,
16 Omnia sustinere = néow bnéxecba?
" Earum rerum quae nusquam sunt = rev pndapod dvtav, The
translator
may perhaps have written se, though he ought rather to have written
essen,
 314 ASCLEPIUS
quantitates nec positiones nec effectus dinosci potuissent earum
rerum quae nusquam sunt.
Sic ergo et mundus quamvis natus non sit, in se tamen omnium
naturas habet, utpote qui his omnibus ad concipiendum fecun-
dissimos sinus praestet. or

Hoc est ergo totum qualitatis (diversae, prout natura est)

materiae, quae creabilis est, tametsi creata non est. Sicuti enim
[in] natura materiae [qualitas] (bonitatis) fecunda est, sic et
malignitatis eadem est aeque fecunda.
16a Ne ergo dix(er)i(tis), o Asclepi et (Tat et) Hammon, quod 10
a multis dicitur; ((dicunt enim [ipsi] deum debuisse omnifariam
mundum a malitia liberare.)) [[Non poterat deus incidere atque
avertere a rerum natura malitiam.]] Quibus respondendum nihil
omnino est; vestri tamen causa et haec prosequar quae coeperam,
et rationem reddam. ((Non poterat deus incidere atque avertere ~ 5
a rerum natura malitiam)): {[dicunt enim ipsi deum debuisse
omnifariam mundum a malitia liberare :]] ita enim in mundo est,
ut quasi membrum ipsius esse videatur. Provisum cautumque est,
quantum rationabiliter potuisset, a summo deo, tunc cum sensu,
disciplina, intellegentia mentes hominum est munerare dignatus. 20
Hisce enim rebus, quibus ceteris antestamus animalibus, solis
possumus malitiae fraudes, dolos, vitiaque vitare. Ea enim qui,
antequam his inplicitus est, ex aspectu vitarit, is homo est divina
intellegentia prudentiaque munitus: fundamentum est enim dis-
ciplinae in summa bonitate consistens. [Spiritu autem ministran- a5
tur omnia et vegetantur in mundo] [[qui quasi organum vel
machina summi dei voluntati subiectus est.]]
\,) [Itaque (haec) hactenus a nobis intellegantur.]

(Asclepius ITT)
16b Mente sola intellegibilis, summus qui dicitur, deus rector
i gubernatorque est sensibilis dei eius, qui in se circumplectitur 30
i 10 dixeritis scrzpsé: dixi 21 solis » : fortasse soli 26-27 qui
quasi... subiectus est Aine ad cap. 17 a transbosut 28 haec addidtt
Thomas
 ASCLEPIUS II 315
properties, magnitudes, positions, and operations! could not be
discerned?
Matter* then, though it is likewise‘ ungenerated, yet contains
in itself the births of all things, inasmuch as it presents a womb®
most fertile for the conception of all things that come into being.
This sum of things therefore is of diverse quality,’ in accor-
dance with the varying action of the generative power of matter,”
which, though uncreated, is creative. For as the generative
power of matter is productive of good, so it is equally productive
of evil’ also.
You must not then, my pupils, speak as many do, who say that 16a
God ought by all means® to have freed the world’ from evil. To
those who speak thus, not a word ought to be said in answer;
but for your sake I will pursue my argument, and therewith
explain this. It was beyond God’s power to put a stop to evil,
and expel it from the universe ; for evil is present in the world"
in such sort that it is manifestly an inseparable part thereof.
But the supreme God provided and guarded against evil as far as
he reasonably** could, by deigning to endow the minds of men
with intellect, knowledge, and intuition.“ It is in virtue of these
gifts that we stand higher than the beasts; and by these, and
these alone,” are we enabled to shun the traps and deceptions
and corruptions of evil. Ifa man shuns them when he sees them
from afar, before he is entangled in them, it is by God’s wisdom
and forethought** that he is protected from them; for man’s
knowledge is based on the supreme goodness of God.
[On this topic then, let this explanation suffice. |
Asclepius ITT
Trism. He whom we name God supreme,” a God apprehen- 16 b
sible by thought alone,” is the ruler and director’ of that god
1 Effectus = evépyea. 2 Dinosci = draxpiveoOa?
3 Mundus = tan. * T.e, as space also is.
5 Sinus = kédmov. Le eS good and partly bad.
7 Materiae = tans. 8 Bonttatis = dyabot : malignitatis = xaxod.
® Omnifariam = ndvros, 10 Mundum = rov xécpov.
1 Jn mundo = 7G xéopm. 2 Membrum = péprov,
13 Rationabiliter = ebddyows?
14 Sensus = vots: disciplina = émornpn: tntellegentia = yao?
18 Or perhaps, reading so/z, ‘ by these gifts we alone (as opposed to the beasts)
are enabled’,
6 Divina intellegentia prudentiague = Th Tov Beov ppovice nai mpovoia ?
W Summus = throros.
18 Mente sola intellegibilis = vontés, or vonce povy KaTaAdnmrds,
19 Rector gubernatorque = broinnris Kal evBepvyrns*
eS

316 ASCLEPIUS
[omnem locum] omnem rerum substantiam totamque |[gignentium
creantiumque]]| materiam, et omne quicquid est, quantumcumque
| 17a est, ((gignentium creantiumque)). Spiritu vero, (qui quasi
organum vel machina summi dei voluntati subiectus est,))
My agitantur sive gubernantur omnes in mundo species, unaquaeque or
\
secundum naturam suam a deo distributam sibi. vAy autem (vel
mundus) omnium est (formarum) receptaculum; omniumque
agitatio atque frequentatio(. . .). Quorum deus gubernator,
dispensans omnibus {[quantum]] rebus mundanis ((quantum))
unicuique necessarium esf: spiritu vero inplet omnia, ut cuiusque 10
naturae qualitas est inaltata.
17b [[Est enim cava mundi rotunditas in modum sphaerae, ipsa
sibi qualitatis vel formae suae causa invisibilis tota ;quippe cum
quemcumque in ea summum subter despiciendi causa delegeris
locum, ex eo, in imo quid sit, videre non possis: propter quod bn 5
multis loci{s] instar qualitatemque habere creditur. Per formas
enim solas specierum, quarum imaginibus videtur insculpta, quasi
visibilis creditur, cum depicta monstratur: re autem vera est sibi
ipsi invisibilis semper. Ex quo eius imum, vel pars (ima), si locus
(imus) est in sphaera, Graece "A:dys dicitur, siquidem ideiy Graece 20
videre dicatur, quo(d) visu imum sphaerae careat. Unde et ideae
dicuntur species, quod sint visibiles formae. Ab eo itaque quod
visu priventur, Graece “Avdys, ab eo quod in imo sphaerae sint,
Latine inferi nuncupantur.]]
17¢ Haec ergo sunt principalia et antiquiora et quasi capita (vel a5
initia) omnium, quéa sunt in his aut per haec aut de his ((mundana,
ut ita dixerim,)) omnia.
18a ([Haec ergo ipsa ut dicis quae est o Trismegiste]] [[mundana
ut ita dixerim]] [[specierum omnium quae insunt uniuscuiusque
1} sicuti est tota substantia.]| 30
' 882 ((De inani vero, quod etiam magnum videtur esse quam pluri-

| 3-4 qui quasi... subiectus est Awe a cap. 16 a lransposut 9 quantum

transposuit Hildebrand: omnibus rebus humanis quantum 7 10 est
scripst: sed (vel est man.2) B: om. GF ll inaltata BAZ: inalata #:
om. GPL 12-24 Caf. 17 b (est euim... inferi nuncupantur) Aine trans-
\ posut: vide post cap. 34 c (p. 326) 26 quia sertpsi : quae w 26-27 mun-
dana ut ita dixerim hue @ cap. 18 a transposud 26-29 (Trism. :)*...aut
| de his,’—(Ascl. :) ‘Omnia haec ergo ipsa ... o Trismegiste ?’—(Trism. :)
iy *Mundana ut ita dixerim...’ w e¢ edd. prior. 28 Haec ergo... Trismegiste
\ hine ad cap.19a (p. 322) transposut | aut BM (sed a exp. B): ut cett.
} 29-30 specierum...substantia Azac ad cap.1'7 b (p. 328) ¢ransposut 81 sgq.:
| cap. 33 a-34 (de inani. .. hominum signa) Aue transposut 31 quod iam
BM: quod etiam ceft.: quod tam Vulcanius
 ASCLEPIUS III 317
perceptible by sense,’ who embraces within himself all substances?
and all matter, and all things without exception that have to do
with birth and production.’ Spirit,‘ which is subject to the will of 17a
the supreme God, and serves him as his instrument,® is that by

means of which are moved or directed® all kinds of beings’ in

the universe, each in accordance with the special character
assigned to it by God. Matter* is the recipient? of all forms ;”°
and the changes and unbroken successions" of the forms (are
wrought by means of spirit). The process is directed by God,
who distributes (life) to all things in the universe, giving to each
one of them as much as it needs, Into all things he infuses
spirit, assigning it to each in larger measure, in proportion as the
thing stands higher in the scale of being."
These ** then are the primary things, the prior things, the heads 17.¢
or first principles ™ of all things in the universe ; for all cosmic™
things are contained in them, or wrought by means of them, or
made of them.
But as to Void," which most people think to be a thing of great 33a

* Sensibilis deus = 6 ala@nrds Oeds (i.e. 5 xdcpos).

2 Substantia = obaia,
* Perhaps, something like wévra dca 34 wor’ otv 7a -yevécews peréxovra.
' mveSpa, in the sense of ‘ vital spirit’, a gaseous substance,
* Organum vel machina = bpyavov.
° Agitantur = nwodvra : gubernantur = kvuBepvavra,
T Species = ei5n,
3 Vel mundus, added by the translator.
® Receptaculum = inodoyn.
10 Formae = pwoppat,
ll Agitatio et frequentatio = kivynors kat minvacis.
2 Naturae qualitas = 4 tis picews modrys.
13 Viz. bAn, poppai, and mvedya.
'* Principalia = 74 mponyotuevat Antiquiora =a mporepa, Capita
= Kepddaa? Jnitia = dpxait? But vel initta may have been added by the
translator.
8 Mundana = xooprd. Ut ita dixerim probably added by the translator,
0 Jnane = keviy,
 318 ASCLEPIUS
mis, sic sentio: inane nec esse aliquid nec esse potuisse nec
futurum umquam, Omnia enim mundi sunt membra plenissima
[[ut ipse mundus sit plenus atque perfectus]] corporibus qualitate
formaque diversis et speciem suam habentibus et magnitudinem,
((ut ipse mundus sit plenus atque perfectus)). Quorum unum est 5
alio maius, aut alio {aliud] minus, et validitate et tenuitate diversa.
Nam et quaedam validiora facilius videntur, sicuti et
eorum
maiora: minora vero aut tenuiora aut vix videri aut omnino non
possunt: quas [[solum]] ves esse adtrectatione ((solum)) cogno-
scimus. Unde contigit multis credere haec non esse corpora, et 1°
esse inanes locos; quod est inpossibile. {Sicuti enim] (Nec istud
enim)) quod dicitur extra mundum, si tamen est aliquid, [[nec
istud enim]] (inane) ((esse)) credo, sic adeo plenum {[esse]]
intellegibilium rerum, id est divinitati suae similium : ut hic etiam
sensibilis mundus qui dicitur sit plenissimus corporum et anima- 15
lium naturae suae et qualitati convenientium. Quorum facies
non omnes videmus (pares), sed quasdam ultra modum grandes,
quasdain brevissimas, (cum) [aut] propter spatii interiecti longitu-
dinem [aut quod acie sumus obtunsi] tales nobis esse videantur ;
(quaedam) aut(em) omnino propter nimiam brevitatem (aut tenui- 2°
tatem non videmus, ut) multis non esse credantur.
33b [[Dico nunc daemonas quos credo commorari nobiscum, et
heroas, quos inter aeris purissimam partem supra nos et in terram,
ubi nec nubilis locus est nec nubibus, nec ex signorum aliquorum
agitatione commotio.| 25
33 c Propter quod, Asclepi, inane nihil dixeris, nisi cuius rei sit inane
hoc, quod dicis inane, praedixeris, ut inane ab igni, ab aqua,
et his similibus ; quod, etsi contigerit videri quid (inane, quod)
© res esse A. Stephanus: eas esse » 10 contingit #: contingitur A/
183 adeo scripsi: habeo M7: abeo ceft, | plenum eum esse B corr, M
18 cum addidit Thomas 20 quaedam autem scripsi: autw 22-25 Cap. 33b
(dico nunc . . .commotio) Aine transposui : vide post cap. 29 a (p. 368)
28 quid inane, quod inane seripsé: quod inane L : quid inane ce??.
 ASCLEPIUS III 319
importance,’ I hold that no such thing as void exists, or can have
existed in the past, or ever will exist. For all the several parts?
of the Kosmos are wholly filled with bodies of various qualities
and forms,* each having its own shape’ and magnitude; and
thus the Kosmos as a whole is full and complete.’ Of these
bodies, some are larger, some are smaller ; and they differ in the
greater or lesser firmness® of their substance. Those of them
which are of firmer substance” are more easily seen, as are also
those which are larger; whereas smaller bodies, and those which
are of less firm substance, are almost or quite invisible, and it is
only by the sense of touch® that we are made aware of their
existence, Hence many people have come to think that these
bodies do not exist, and that there are void spaces; but that is
impossible. And" the like holds good of what is called ‘the
extramundane’, if indeed any such thing exists ;for I hold that
not even the region outside the Kosmos is void, seeing that it is
filled with things apprehensible by thought alone, that is, with
things of like nature with its own divine being. And so our
Kosmos also,—the sensible universe, as it is called,—is wholly
filled with bodies, and living bodies, suited to its character. The
shapes ™ presented by these bodies to our sight differ in magnitude ;
some ™ of these shapes are very large ; others are very small, when
the distance of the objects makes them appear small to us ; and
some things, on account of their extreme minuteness or tenuity,
are wholly invisible to us, and are consequently supposed by many
people to be non-existent.
And so, Asclepius, you must not call anything void, without 33¢
saying what the thing in question is void of, as when you say that
a thing is void of fire or water or the like. For " it is possible for

) Quod etiam... quam plurimis = 6 rat péya 1 rots mrelorois Boxed elvat.
2 Membra = popia.
° Qualitate formaque diversis = rh woidrnrt wat TH poppp Sapéepovar.
* Speciem = elbos, or oxfpua, 5 Perfectus = rédeos
° Validitas=ortPapérns, or arepedrys, or orepeunidrns, Tenuitas =pavérys,
or dpadrns, or Aewropépea.
? Quaedam eorum validiora = 1a pev ariBapwtepa abtav,
® Altrectatio = apn. ® Or ‘ that these things are not bodies’.
*0 J assume the original to have been something of this sort: ob52 yap éxefvo
70 éxrds Tod Kéapov Aeyopevor, ef yé rt Earl, Kevdv pot Some? elvat, obrw “ye wARpes
dv vonray, Tobr’ éort TH OetdtyTt avTod Spolar. Gore wat 6 aloOyrds koopos K.7.A.
ll Facies = oxhpara? " Quasdam ... quasdam = 7a pay. ,. 70. BE.
13 The Greek may have been somewhat as follows : jv yap xai cup palveabai
tt kevdy elvat,—rav yap roxovTow Kevdv vac buvatév,—byuws mvedpards ye Kat
Gépos wevdv ob dy BUvato odd2 7d EXdyiTTOV Elva THY hatvopévwr Elva KEVaY.
 320 ASCLEPIUS
inane possit esse a rebus huiusmodi, ((spiritu tamen et aere,))
quamvis sit breve [vel magnum] quod inane videtur, [[spiritu
tamen et aere]] vacuum esse non possit.
344 Similiter vero de loco dicendum est; quod vocabulum solum
intellectu caret. Locus enim ex eo cuius est quid sit apparet :5
principali enim dempto, nominis significatio mutilatur. Quare

aquae locus, ignis locus, aut his similium, recte dicemus. Sicuti

| enim inane esse aliquid inpossibile est, sic et locus solus quid sit
| dinosci non potest. Nam si posueris locum sine eo cuius est,
inanis videbitur locus ;quem in mundo esse non credo. Quod to
si inane nihil est, nec per se quid sit locus apparet. [nisi ei aut
longitudinis aut latitudinis aut altitudinis addideris ut corporibus
hominum signa.]]))
18b (...) Mundus itaque nutrit corpora, animas spiritus. Sensus
autem (his accedit), quo dono caelesti sola felix sit humanitas ; 15
neque enim omnes, sed pauci, quorum ita mens est, ut tanti

beneficii capax esse possit. Ut enim sole mundus, ita mens

humana isto clarescit lumine, et eo amplius. Nam sol quicquid
inluminat, aliquando terrae interiectu interveniente nocte eius
privatur lumine: sensus autem cum semel fuerit animae com- 90
mixtus humanae, fit una ex bene coalescente commixtione
[materia] (natura), ita ut numquam huiusmodi mentes caliginum
impediantur erroribus.
Unde iuste sensu deorum animam dixerunt. Ego vero nec

N eorum dico omnium, sed magnorum quorumdam et principalium, 25

6 nomini(s) B corr.: nominis JZ: nomine ceét. 11-13 nisi ei...

hominum signa hinc ad cap. 34b (p. 322) sransposut 12 longitudinis
|
| aut latitudinis aut altitudinis (sed -is in -es ubique corr. man. post.) B:
| f longitudines aut latitudines aut altitudines ceé¢. 19 terrae et interiectu
(sed et expunct.) B: terrae et lunae interiectu ceéé. 24 sensum Thomas:
sensus w 25 quorumdam sevifs?: quorumque w
 ASCLEPIUS III 321
a thing to be void of such things as these, and it may conse-
quently come to seem void ;but the thing that seems void, how-
ever small it be, cannot possibly be empty of spirit? and of air.
And the like must be said of Space.? The word ‘space’ is gga
unmeaning when it stands alone; for it is only by regarding
something which is in space, that we come to see what space is ;
and apart from the thing to which it belongs,* the meaning of the
term ‘space’ is incomplete. Thus we may rightly speak of the
space occupied by water, and fire, and so on, (but not of space
alone.) For as there cannot be a void, so it is impossible to
determine what space is, if you regard it by itself. For if you
assume a space apart from something which is in it, it will follow
that there is a void space ; and I hold that there is no such thing
as that in the universe. If void has no existence,‘ then it is
impossible to find any real thing answering to the word ‘space’
taken by itself.
... Gross matter® then is the nutriment* of bodies, and spirit 718 b
is the nutriment of souls. But besides these, there is mind,’
which is a gift from heaven, and one with which mankind alone
are blessed,—not indeed” all men, but those few whose souls "
are of such quality as to be capable of receiving so great a boon.
By the light of mind the human soul" is illumined,” as the world
is illumined by the sun,—nay, in yet fuller measure, For all
things on which the sun shines are deprived of his light from
time to time by the interposition of the earth, when night comes
on; but when mind has once been interfused with the soul of
man, there results from the intimate blending of mind with soul
‘a thing’ that is one and indivisible, so that such men’s thought is
never obstructed by the darkness of error."
Hence it has been rightly said that the souls of gods consist
wholly of mind. But for my part, I hold that, even as regards

' Or ‘of wind’ (wvedya), 2 Locus = témos,

® Principali dempto: lit, ‘when the primary thing is taken away’.
Perhaps dadyros rot rponyoupévov,
4 Nihil = ph ov.
5 Mundus = try (which musi here be taken to mean the two grosser
elements, earth and water).
& Nutril = rpépe.
1 Spiritus = mvedpa (which consists of the two finer elements, air and fire).
8 Animas = puxas. ® Sensus = vois (‘ mind’ or ‘intellect’ or ‘ reason’).
10 Negue enim = ob why, or ob pév obv? 1 Mens = yuxy?
12 Claresctt = pwrilerat, WS Natura = pias.
\t Caliginum erroriius = 1@ onbry rijs wrdvns?
2805 ag
 422 ASCLEPIUS
diorum],
19a —Ascl. Quos dicis [vel rerum capita vel initia primor
divina nudo
o Trismegiste?—Zrism. Magna tibi pando, et
. Deorum
mysteria, cuius rei initium facio exoptato favore caelesti
alia vero
genera multa sunt, eorumque omnium pars intellegibilis,
ur non 5
sensibilis. Intellegibiles dicuntur non ideo, quod putent
quam €0s
subiacere sensibus nostris ;magis enim ipsos sentimus
ebit, et tu,
quos visibiles nuncupamus, sicuti disputatio perdoc
si intendas, poteris pervidere. Sublimis etenim ratio [[eoque]]
ionesque
divin{iJor(um), ((eoque)) ultra hominum mentes intent
loquentis ro
consistens, si non attentiore aurium obsequio verba
suique se
acceperis, transvolabit et transfluet, aut magis refluet
fontis liquoribus miscebit.—
est,
((Asel, Haec ergo ipsa (divinorum), ut dicis, (ratio) quae
O Asclepi
34b o Trismegiste ?))—(( Zrism. [His ergo sic se habentibus]
est, quis —
[et vos qui adestis], scito[te] intellegibilem mundum, id
obtutu dinoscitur, esse incorporalem, nec eius
mentis solwm

naturae misceri aliquid posse corporale, id est, quod possit

nihil tale
qualitate, quantitate, numerisque dinosci: in ipso enim
inis
: consistit,)) (nisi ei aut longitudinis aut latitudinis aut altitud
20
addideris, ut corporibus [hominum], signa.))
gi-
1 19b (...) Sunt ergo omnium rspecierum’ principes dii (intelle
Hos
i biles), (quorum est [princeps] (appellatio) odcrd(pxau).))
les,
} consecuntur dii [[quorum est princeps ote“al) hi sensibi
m
; utriusque originis consimiles suae, qui per sensibilem natura
6 ipsos 5: ipse B: ipsa AZ: om. G 8-9 ratio divinorum, eoque ultra
\ 9 mentes intentionesque w : fortasse
scripsi : ratio eoque divinior ultra »
)
mentis intentionem 10 loquentis Ziomas :loquentias B : loquentia cet?.
Pi
11 acceperis Zhomas: acceperitw 13-14 haec ergo... Trismegiste wc @
‘
cap, 18a transposué 14-19 Cap. 34b (his ergo... tale consistit) Aa
:
15 scito scrifst: scitote w 16 solum seripsé: solo w
transposui 21 Fortasse omnium
19-20 nisi ei... signa huc a cap. 348 transpo sut
y
um 23 consecu ntur 4: sequunt ur ce/r, 24 viris-
} (substantiae) specier
e
que BM : utriusqu ce/t,
 ASCLEPIUS III 323
the gods, this cannot be said of all, but of certain great and chief
gods only.—Asc/. And which are they, Trismegistus ?— Ztism. It
19 a
is a weighty secret that I am about to disclose, a holy mystery that
I am about to reveal to you ;! and I pray for the grace * of Heaven
to aid me as I speak. There are many kinds of gods; some of
them are apprehensible by thought alone, and others are percep-
tible by sense.’ The gods apprehensible by thought are so called,
not because it is held that they are not subject to our perception
;
for we perceive* them® more truly than we perceive those
gods
whom we call visible,* as my discourse will show, and as you
will
be able to see for yourself,—but only if you exert’ to the utter-
most your powers of thought. For so lofty* is the doctrine
of
things divine,’ that it is beyond the reach of any effort of merely
human thought; and if you do not hearken to my words with
keen attention, my teaching will wing its way beyond you, and
flow past you, or rather, will flow back thither whence it
came,
and mingle with its source.—As¢/, And what then, Trismegis
tus,
is this doctrine of things divine, of which you speak ?—TZrism.
Be 34 b
it known to you that the intelligible *° Kosmos, that is to
say, that
Kosmos which is discerned by thought alone," is incorporeal,!?
and that nothing corporeal can be mingled with its being,—
nothing, that is, which admits of determination by quality,
magnitude, or number; for nothing of this kind exists in
it.
You cannot measure it as you would measure a body,
affixing
marks of length and breadth and height.
- +. There are then certain gods apprehensible by thought 19 b
alone, who preside over all departments of the world, and are
_ called ‘Rulers over material things’ ;“ and subordinate to them
are the gods perceptible by sense. These sensible gods bear the
likeness of both the sources of their being ; and these are they

1 Tibi, singular. 2 Favor = xdpis.

8 Pars intellegibilis, alia vero sensibilis = of Bev vonroi, of 5¢ alaOyrol.
* Sensibus = aicOnoa, and sentimus = aicbdvopebat Or, senstbus
= Gewpig,
and sentimus = Sewpodper?
5 Tpsos = abrots. _ §& Vistbiles = dparods,
" Lntendere = ivreivew, or émBdddew 1 8 Sublimis = tndos.
* Ratio divinorum = 6 rév Oclwv Ad-yos, 10 Intellegibilis = vonrés.
1 Qui mentis solum obtutu dinoscitur = vonoer Oewpytés.
© Lncorporalem = dotkparov :corporale = copariusy.
' Qualitas = rodrns or wordy.
‘* Literally, either ‘ rulers of substances’ (dpxovres obatHv)
causes of substances’ (dpyal odsav), The Greek may perhaps have or ‘sources or
oty cot tives vontol, mavrov tov Tijs oboias eidav apxovres, been elaiv
cv mpocnyopia
ota pyat,
Y2
 324 ASCLEPIUS
conficiunt omnia, alter per alterum, unusquisque opus suum
inluminans,
Caeli, vel quidquid est quod eo nomine conprehenditur,
otordpyys est Iuppiter (iraros); per caelum enim Iuppiter omni-
bus praebet vitam.
[Solis otodpyys lumen est; bonum enim luminis per cient
nobis solis infunditur. ] 3
(Decanorum) [[xxxv1 quorum vocabulum est Horoscopil], id
est, eodem loco semper defixorum siderum ((xxxv1 quorum voca-
bulum est Horoscopi)), horum otcudpyys (vel princeps) est quem
Iayrépopdov (vel Omniformem) vocant, qui [diversis] speciebus-
(singulis) diversas formas facit.
Septem sphaerae quae vocantur habent otowipxun, id est sui —
principem, quam Fortunam dicunt aut Eivappévyy, (a) qua inmu-
tantur omnia lege naturae, stabilitate firmissima sempiterna
agitatione variata.
Aer vero organum est vel machina omnium, per quam omnia —
fiunt ; est autem otoudpyys huius secundus (vitae)
27c¢ ((dispensator, qui [est] inter caelum et terram obtinet locum,—
quem Tovem (véarov) vocamus.
Terrae vero et mari dominatur Iuppiter Plutonius; et hic
nutritor est animantium mortalium et fructiferarum (ar)éorum_
omnium, (cuius) viribus fructus [arbusta et] terra(e) vegetantur.
Aliorum vero vires et effectus per omnia quae sunt distri-
buuntur.)) a5
a7b (Ac per hoc] Deus, supra verticem summi caeli consistens,
ubique est, omniaque circum inspicit: Avic est enim ultra caelum—
locus, sine stellis, ab omnibus rebus corpulentis alienus.))
13-14 obordpyny. . . as scripsi : obaapxas ... principes w 4a
qua seripst : quibusw GL: legescett. _| stabilitate7: stabilita- _
teque cett. 17 quam 2: yaa cett. 19-25 Cap. 27 ¢ (dispensator —
. + « distribuuntur) ee transposuit 22 arborum scrifsi: horum
23 terrae scrips?; terra w 24-25 distribuuntur 7: distribuentur
26-28 Cap. 27b (ac per hoc deus. . . alienus) Auc transposut 27 huie
seripsi :sic w ‘iu

13-15. Lydus De mensibus (Wuensch) 4.7 : or 70 Tis TUXNS kal elpap|

tat rijs -yevécems mpoBeBrnra bvopa’ wal pdprus “Eps, &v TO mahoupev ie
Abyy obrws elmwy*
al Kadoduevat énta opaipat éxovow (obarydpyny a
Kadoupévny téynv 7) eluappévny, Hris mdvTa @ddov0l [Kal i
Tov abtav ovK é@ péveuy’).
(Exovew oboidpxny scripst : Exovaw dpxiv Wuensch)
 ASCLEPIUS III 325
who make all things throughout the sensible world, working one
through another, each pouring light’ into the things he makes.
The Ruler of Heaven, or of whatsoever is included under the
name ‘ Heaven’, is Zeus (Hypatos’) ;for life is given to all beings
by Zeus through the medium of Heaven.
The Ruler of the Decani,—that is, the thirty-six fixed stars
which are called Horoscopi,—is the god named Pantomorphos :
he it is that gives to the individuals of each kind their diverse
forms.
The seven spheres, as they are called, have as their Ruler
the deity called Fortune or Destiny, who changes all things
according to the law of natural growth, working with a fixity
which is immutable, and which yet is varied by everlasting
movement,
The air is the instrument‘ with which all these gods work, and
by means of which all is done. The Ruler of the air is the
subordinate distributor® of life; to him belongs the region 27 ¢
between heaven and earth ; and we call him Zeus (Neatos").
Earth and sea are ruled by Zeus Chthonios;’ he it is that
supplies nutriment to all mortal beings that have soul," and to all
trees that bear fruit ; and it is by his power® that the fruits of the
earth are produced.
And there are other gods beside, whose powers and operations”
are distributed through all things that exist.
But God, who dwells above the summit of the highest heaven, 27b
is present everywhere, and from all around he watches all things ;
his abode is beyond heaven, in a starless region, far removed from
all things corporeal.

1 Or ‘the cane of life’. 7/luminans= oe: and pas here implies (on.
2 Te. ‘highest’. 5 Tle. ‘ giver of all manner of forms’.
. Coeiiice vel machina = bpyavov. 5 Dispensator = topias.
ig
° 1.e. ‘last’ or ‘lowest’. 7 T.e, ‘of the underworld’.
Animantium = tupixor, i, e. animals, * Viribus = dwape.
ae© Effectus = bvépyerat,
ee

326 ASCLEPIUS
f 19¢ (Hoc modo coniuncta sunt in)mortalibus mortalia [et his
similia], ((sensibiliaque insensibilibus adnexa sunt; summa vero
gubernationis summo illi domino paret.)) His ergo ita se haben-
’ tibus, ab imo ad summum se admoventibus sic sibi conexa sunt
omnia, pertinentia ad se, [at de mortalibus mortalia] {[sensibilia- 5
que insensibilibus adnexa sunt ; summa vero gubernationis summo
illi domino paret]] [vel] (ut videantur) esse non multa, aut potius
unum. Ex uno etenim cuncta pendentia ex eoque defluentia,
cum distantia videntur, creduntur esse quam plurima, adunata
vero, unum. [vel potius duo, unde fiunt omnia, et a quo fiunt, id est, 10
de materia qua fiunt, et ex eius voluntate cuius nutu efficiuntur.|
g4c ((Hic ergo sensibilis qui dicitur mundus receptaculum est
omnium sensibilium specierum ((vel)) qualitatum [[vel]] cor-
porum; quae omnia sine deo vegetari non possunt. Omnia
enim deus, et ab eo omnia, et eius omnia voluntatis ((et prudenéiae 15
inimitabilés)). Quod totum est bonum (et) decens, {[et prudens
inimitabile]] et ipsi soli sensibile atque intellegibile: et sine hoc
nec fuit aliquid nec est nec erit. Omnia enim ab eo et in ipso et
per ipsum, et variae et multiformes qualitates, et magnae quanti-
tates et omnes mensuras excedentes magnitudinés, et omniformes 20
species. Quae si intellexeris, o Asclepi, gratias acturus es deo.
Sin totum animadvertes, vera ratione perdisces mundum ipsum
sensibilem et quae in eo sunt omnia a superiore illo mundo quasi
17 b [ex] vestimentwm esse contexta.)) ((Est enim (ody)
cava mundi rotunditas in modum spherae 25

ipsa sibi qualitatis vel formae suae causa invisibilis tota :

quippe cum quemcumque in ea summum subter despiciendi causa dele-
geris locum, ex co, in imo quid sit, videre non possis :
propter quod multis locijs] instar qualitatemque habere creditur.
4 atmoventibus 8: admoventibus MG: id moventibus PZ: moventibus 7
5 omni B: omnia cet. Jat de B: ac de MGP: et de L: ac (om.
de) F 6 gubernationis G: gubernatoris ce/¢.: gubernatori 7homas
12-24 Cap. 34¢ (hic ergo. . . esse contexta) hue transposut magni-
20
‘ tudinis scrifs¢: magnitudines » 21 quae scripst: qua(s) (corr. man.
post.) B: quas cett. 22 sin G: si in ceté. 23-24 quasi vestimentum
esse contexta scvipsé; quasi ex vestimento esse contecta w (contexta corr. man.
recent, B) 24-11 infra: cap. 17 b (est enim. , « inferi nuncupantur) Aue
transposut 29 loci Thomas: locis w
 ASCLEPIUS III 327
Thus mortal things are joined to things immortal, and things 19 c
perceptible by sense are linked to things beyond the reach of
sense;' but the supreme control is subject to the will of the
Master? who is high above all. And this being so, all things are
linked together, and connected one with another in a chain
extending from the lowest to the highest; so that we see that
they are not many, or rather, that all are one. For inasmuch as
all things hang on the One and flow from the One, we think
indeed that they are many when we look at them apart, but when
we regard them as united,*® we hold them to be one.
This sensible‘ Kosmos then is the recipient® of all the sensible 34 c
forms ® or qualities of bodies ; and all bodies can receive life only
from God. For God is all things ; from him are all things; and
all things are dependent on his will, and on his inimitable
wisdom.’ And this whole sum of things is good and beautiful,*
and is apprehensible by sense and thought to God alone. Without
God nothing has been or is or will be ;from God and in God and
through God are all things,—all the various and multiform
qualities, the vast and measureless magnitudes, and the forms of
every aspect.’ If you learn to understand this, Asclepius, you
will render thanks to God.
And if you consider the whole, you will learn that in truth”
the sensible Kosmos itself, with all things that are therein, is
woven like a garment by that higher Kosmos.” For matter,” 17b
having no quality or form of its own to make it visible, is in itself”
wholly invisible ; and for that reason many people think that it
is like space, and has the properties of space. It is only by

1 Sensibilia = aiaOnta: insensibilia = dvataOyra (i.e. vonrd).

2 Dominus = kbpros, or 5eondrys.
3 Adunata = jvopéva,
* Sensibilis = alo@nrées.
5 Receptaculum = imobdoxy.
& Sensibiles species = Ta aigOnra etén.
1 Prudentia inimitabilis = 4 dpipnros mpdvowa or copia,
8 Bonum et decens = ayabdv nat raddv,
® Omniformes species = wavrdpoppa edn.
10 Vera ratione = xata Tov adnbq (or opOdv) Adyor,
1. T.e, the intelligible Kosmos.
12 This translation of cap. 17 b gives what I suppose to have been the meaning
of the passage as originally written. In the traditional Latin text, cap. 17 b has
been aiteresl, by interpolations, into a statement to the effect that ‘ one cannot
see into the depths of the earth, because it is a solid globe’.
13 Sibi ipst = abrh Kad abrhy.
| More literally,‘ matter is in itself wholly invisible, as far as depends on any
quality or form of its own’, Causa = vena,
 328 ASCLEPIUS
Per formas enim solas specierum, quarum imaginibus videtur
((quasi)) insculpta, {[quasi]] visibilis creditur :
cum depicta monstratur :
re autem vera est sibi ipsi invisibilis semper,
ex quo eius imum, vel pars (ima), si locus est (imus) in sphaera, Graece §
"Ardns dicitur, siquidem ideiv Graece videre dicatur, quo{d) visu imum
sphaerae careat: unde et ideae dicuntur species,
quod sunt visibiles formae (([specierum omnium] quae (omnibus)
insunt uniuscuiusque, sicuti est, tota substantia.)
Ab eo itaque quod visu priventur, Graece “A:dns, ab eo quod in imo 10
sphaerae sunt, Latine inferi nuncupantur. ))
(.. .)(Species enim, quae divina est, incorporalis est, wt quic-
quid mente conprehenditur.
Cum itaque haec duo, ex quibus constant [forma et] corpora,
incorporalia sint,)) (. . .). 15
85 ((Unumquodque enim [genus] animalfium], o Asclepi, (generis)
cuiuscunque, vel mortalis vel inmortalis, vel rationalis (vel inratio-
nalis), sive sit animans sive sine anima sit, prout cuique est genus,
sic singula generis sui imagines habent. Et quamvis unumquod-
que animal[is genus] omnem generis sui possideat formam, in 20
eadem forma singula tamen sui dissimilia sunt: ut hominum
genus quamvis sit uniforme, ut homo dinosci ex aspectu possit,
singuli tamen in eadem forma sui dissimiles sunt. [Species
enim, quae divina est, incorporalis est, et quicquid mente conpre-
henditur. Cum itaque haec duo ex quibus constant forma et 25
corpora incorporalia sint,|] (Etenim) inpossibile est formam unam-
quamque alteri simillimam nasci horarum et climatum distantibus
punctis; sed inmutantur totiens, quot hora momenta habet
circuli circumcurrentis, in quo est ille Omniformis quem diximus
deus. Species ergo permanet, ex se totiens pariens imagines 30
tantas tamque diversas, quanta habet conversio mundi momenta ;
5 vel pars ima, si locus est imus in serifsi: vel pars (par AZ) si locus est in
w: vel pars (.. .) si locus est in Goldbacher :vel pars (infera), s. 1. e. i. Koszol :
‘fortasse ex quo eius imum [vel pars}, (imo) si locus est in’ Zkomas 6 quod
Thomas: quo w 8 quod sunt sevzpsz : quod sint maz. 2 B, ed. Rom, : quo
sint cett. 8-9 speciernm . . . substantia Auc a@ cap, 18a transposut
12-15 Species enim... incorporalia sint Aue a cap. 35 transposui 12 ut
Thomas: et 0 14-15 /ortasse Cum itaque haec duo ex quibus constant
({corpora)), forma et (GA7) [[ ]], incorporalia sint (= dowpdrew oby dvrav ray bio
Tovrow éf ay auvéaTnKe chspara, THs opps cal rijsbAns) |Cum itaque haec duo,
ex quibus constant formae, corpora (et) incorporalia sint Zhomas 16 sgq. :
cap. 35, et 36 (unumquodque enim... splendore reddentium) Asc transposud
16 animal sev7psé; genus animalium w 17-18 vel inrationalis addidit
Goldbacher 20 animal ser7psz: animalis genus w
 ASCLEPIUS III 329
reason of the shapes'derived from those ideal forms? in the like-
ness of which we see it carved, so to speak, that men suppose it
to be visible ;but in reality, matter in itself is ever invisible 3 for
the substance* of each thing, in so far as the thing is actually
existent, consists wholly of the visible shapes which are present in
all things.
. . + For the ideal form,‘ which is divine, is incorporeal, as are
all things apprehensible by thought alone.
Since therefore the two constituents of which bodies consist
(namely, form and matter) are incorporeal,. . ..
For every living being,’ Asclepius, whatever be its kind,* and 35
whether that kind be mortal or immortal, rational or irrational,”
endowed with soul or devoid of soul,’ bears the likeness of its
kind, according as the character of that kind may be. But
though each living being has in all respects the form which is
proper to its kind, the individuals, while one and all have the
same form, yet differ among themselves. For instance, though
the human race has a common form, so that we can know from
a man’s appearance" that he is a man, at the same time individual
men, for all their sameness of form, yet differ one from another.
For it is impossible that any single form should come into being
which is exactly like a second, if they originate at different points
of time, and at places differently situated ;but the forms change
at every moment in each hour of the revolution of that celes-
tial circle? in which resides the god whom we have named
Pantomorphos. Thus the type" persists unchanged, but generates
at successive instants copies of itself as numerous ™ and different e
e

as are the moments in the revolution of the sphere of heayen ; '®

' Formae = poppat (or oxhpara?). 2 Species = ein or t5éar,

5 Substantia = ovata (or ddoraats, or imaptis?),
* Species = Bos or I8éa, 5 Animal = (on éxor. ® Genus = yévos.
* Rationalis = dNoynds :inrationalis = ddoyos.
® Animans = twpuyos: sine anima = dibuyxos.
®Imago = elév (or ulpnya). 10 Forma = poppt, or elS0s?
1 Ashectus = bis,
'®Te, the Zodiac, over which presides ‘the god who gives all forms’.
13Or ‘ the generic form’. “4 Tantas ... quanta = rocabras. , . boa.
9 Mundus = odpavés, or kéopus in the sense of ovpavds,
 330 ASCLEPIUS
species vero nec mutatur
qui(a) mundus in conversione mutatur,
um]] formae sunt perma-
nec convertitur. Sic generum [[singulor
\) dissimilza.—
nentes, ((singula)) in eadem [[sua]] forma (suz
e ?— Zvism. Vides
36 Asc/. Et mundus speciem mutat, o Trismegist
esse narrata. Quid 5
ergo, o Asclepi, tibi omnia quasi dormienti
ex omnibus natis?
est enim mundus, aut ex quibus constat, nisi
ntis. Nam quae alia
Ergo hoc vis dicere de caelo, terra, et eleme
um umescens vel
magis frequenter mutantur in species? Cael
vel sordescens,
arescens, vel frigescens vel ignescens, vel clarescens
alternantur species. 10
in una caeli specie hae sunt quae saepe
habet semper, et cum
Terra vero speciei suae multas inmutationes
at suos, fructuum
parturit fruges, et cum eadem partus nutric
ates et quantitates
omnium cum reddit varias diversasque qualit
um ((quali-
[[atque stationes aut cursus]|, et ante omnia arbor
es [[species]]. 15
tates)), forum, bacarum [[qualitates]] odores, sapor
conyersiones
((Aft}qua stationes aut cursus)) (mutat.) Ignis facit
eteni m et lunae
plurimas, atque divinas (recipit) ((species)). Solis
lorum nos-
omniformes imagines sunt; sunt enim quasi specu
o splen dore red-
trorum similes, imaginum similitudines aemul
20
dentium.—))
. * * * * * * )
giste P— Zvism.
20a Asc/. Alia haec iterum ratio quae est, 0 Trisme
dominus omnium
Talis, o Asclepi. Deus etenim vel pater vel
religiosiusque]]
quocumaque [alio] nomine {[ab hominibus” sanctius
((ab homini-
nuncupatur [quod] inter nos intellectus nostri causa,
tum tanti {[etenim]] 25
bus sanctius’ religiosiusque)) debet esse sacra
nominibus eum
numinis contemplatione: nullo ((etenim)) ex his
est, ex aere spiritu
definite nuncupabimus. Si enim vox hoc
ntatem vel sensum!
percusso sonus, declarans omnem hominis Tyolu

3 dissimilia scripsé: dissimiles w 14 omnia

1 quia A7vol/: qui w 17 et post lunae add, MPL: et
scripsi : § fortasse omnia’ Thomas :omnis w reddentinm : fortasse reddentes
(omnium stellarum) Xozio/ 19-20
sic dividunt : 8 igc fin.:
21 Alia Asclepio altribui. Edd. priores verba 20a init.: (Ascl.) ‘Haec iterum
(Trism,) *. . . nutuYefficiuntur alia” cap. 22-23 omninum quocumque J:
ratio...” 22 rialis BIZ: talis cet?
omnium yel quocumque cetd.
 ASCLEPIUS III 331
for the sphere of heaven changes as it revolves, but the type
neither changes nor revolves. Thus the generic forms persist
unchanged, but the individuals, for all their sameness of generic |
form, yet differ one from another— .
Ascl. And does the Kosmos also, Trismegistus, change its 36
form
?*— Zrism.
s Why, you must have been asleep, Asclepius ;
you cannot have heard what I have been telling you all this |
while. What is the Kosmos, and of what is it composed, if not
of things which have all come into being ?? When you speak of
the Kosmos then, you are speaking of sky, and earth, and the
elements.* And do not these change their forms as often as
anything that exists? The sky‘ is moist and dry, cold and hot,
bright and obscured by turns; these are the rapidly alternating
(sensible) forms included under the one (ideal or universal) form
of the sky. The earth is ever passing through many changes of
form ; it generates produce, it nourishes the produce it has
generated, it yields all manner of crops, with manifold differences
of quality and quantity ;and above all, it puts forth many sorts of
trees, differing in the scent of their flowers and the taste of their
fruits. Water takes different forms, now standing and now
running. Fire undergoes many changes, and assumes godlike
forms ; thus the aspects of the sun and moon pass through all
manner of forms ; they are like our mirrors, and reproduce (the
ideal or universal form) in visible copies with rival brilliance.
* aM * * 7 * *
Asci, And what is this other doctrine,’ Trismegistus ?— 20a
Trism, It is this, Asclepius. Whether he of whom I speak be
called God, or Father, or Master of all, whatever be the name by
which we name him to convey our meaning in our talk one with
another, it is for men to hallow the name’ with a higher sanctity
by contemplation of his supreme divinity ;for his being cannot
be accurately § described by any of the names we call him. For
if a word is but a sound made by the impact of our breath® upon
the air, whereby a man makes known any thought which has
1 Species here = poppy or (alc@nrdv) el8os in the sense of forma visibilis,
2 Ex omnibus natis = é navtow yev(v)ntav,
8 Elementa = ororxeia (including the heavenly bodies),
* Caelum = 73 wepéxov, or otpavds in the sense of 7d wepéxov, i.e. the
atmosphere, and not the region of the stars.
5 Imagines = ces?
§ Alia... quae est = 6 8 GAdos ab Adyos obros tis torw;
7 Debet esse sacratune = xpi) aypacec@a rd dvopa.
® Defintle = Bdropratinws? ® Spiritus = nvedpa or mvoy.
 332 ASCLEPIUS

quem forte ex sensibus mente perceperit, cuius nominis tota

substantia paucis conposita syllabis definita atque circumscripta
est, ut esset in homine necessarium vocis auriumque commercium,
simul etiam et sensus et spiritus et aeris (nomina) et omnia in his
aut per haec aut de his nomen est totum dei. Non enim spero 5
totius maiestatis effectorem omniumque rerum patrem vel domi-
num uno posse quamvis e multis conposito nuncupari nomine,
hunc vero innomine{m) vel potius omninomine(m) ((esse)), siqui-
dem is sit unus [et] omnia, ut sit necesse aut omnia [[esse]] eius
nomine, aut ipsum omnium nominibus nuncupari. To

20b Hic ergo, solus [ut] omnia] utrizsque sexus fecunditate plenis-
simus, semper Jonitatis praegnans suae, parit semper quicquid
voluerit procreare. Voluntas eius ((eadem)) est bonitas omnis.
Haec [[eadem]] bonitas omnium rerum est ex divinitate eius nata
{natura}, uti sint omnia (fecunda) |[sicuti sunt et fuerunt]], et Cal5
futuris omnibus dehinc ((sicuti sunt et fuerunt)) natura[m] ex se
nascendi sufficiat, Haec ergo ratio, o Asclepi, tibi sit reddita,
a1 quare et quomodo fiant omnia (utriusque sexus)—As¢/. Utriusque
sexus ergo deum dicis, o Trismegiste ?—Z7ism. Non deum solum,
Asclepi, sed omnia animalia et inanimalia. Inpossibile est enim 20
aliquid eorum quae sunt infecundum esse: fecunditate enim
dempta ex omnibus quae sunt, inpossibile erit semper esse quae
sunt. Ego enim et ‘in naturam et sensum et naturam], et
mundum dico in se continere naturam et nata omnia conservare.
Procreatione enim uterque plenus est sexus, et eius utriusque 25
conexio aut, quod est verius, unitas inconprehensibilis est ;quem.
sive Cupidinem sive Venerem sive utrumque recte poteris nuncu-
4 omnia serifsi: omnium w 5 aut de his Thomas: autem his 2: his
autem WG: aut cum his 8: fortasse aut ex his 8 innominem Hildebrand:
innomine BMF: in nomine GP: uno nomine LZ | omninominem /ilde-
brand: omnomine BPF: soninomine Jf: omni nomine G: omnium nomine ut L
|esse Aatc transposuit Thomas 11 solus omni utriusque scripsé : solus
omnia utraque » 12 bonitatis seripsi: voluntatis » 16 natura
Reitzenstein : naturam 18-19 (Trism. :) ‘... quomodo fiant omnia.’—
(Ascl.:) ‘Utriusque sexus ergo. . .” Kroll e¢ Thomas: (Trism.:) ‘. . » quo-
modo fiant omnia utriusque sexus.’—(Ascl.:) ‘Ergo. + .’ edd. priores
20 enim ut BALP (sed ut eras, AZ): enim cett, 23 in (ane naturam) & :
out, cell, | Fartasse Ego cnim et (eum). ..
 ASCLEPIUS III 333
entered his mind through his senses, whenever he wills to do so 1
|
and if a name is nothing more than a few syllables, and is

|
restricted in length, so as to render possible the indispensable
intercourse of man with man by speech and hearing ;—if this is
so, the full name of God must include the names of sense, and
breath, and air, and all names that are contained in sense and
breath and air,’ or are uttered by means of them, or are compose
|
d
of them. For I deem it impossible that he who is the maker of
the universe in all its greatness, the Father or Master of all things,
can be named by a single name, though it be made up of ever so
many others ; I hold that he is nameless, or rather, that all names
are names of him.’ For he in his unity is all things ; so that we
must either call all things by his name, or call him by the names
of all things,
He, filled with all the fecundity of both sexes in one,
and ever gob
teeming with his own goodness,' unceasingly brings into being all
that he has willed to generate ; and all that he wills is good.
4 From his divine being has sprung the goodness of all things in
this world below ; and hence it is that all things are productive,
and that their procreative power is adequate to ensure that all
shall hereafter be as it is now, and as it has been in the past.
Take this, Asclepius, as my answer to the question why and how
it comes to pass that all kinds of beings are male and female.s—
Ascl. You say then, Trismegistus, that God is bisexual?—
QI
Trism. Yes, Asclepius; and not God alone, but all kinds
of
beings, whether endowed with soul or soulless,* Nothing that
exists can be barren ; for if all things that now exist are deprive
d
of fertility, it will be impossible for the now existing races
to
endure for ever. I tell you (that God eternally generates
the
Kosmos,) and that the Kosmos possesses generative power, and
thereby maintains all races that have come into being. For
either sex is filled with procreative force ; and in that conjunction
of the two sexes, or, to speak more truly, that fusion of them
into
one,” which may be rightly named Eros, or Aphrodite, or both at

' Declarans omnem. . . mente perceperit : perhaps something

mévra boa Bobrerat, et me pavraciwadpevos tuyxdver. like 8nd07
(Vel may have been
added by the translator.) Sensum perhaps = payraciay ; ex sensibus
alaOncewy. = bx rev
® Omnia in his = advra 7d ev tobros,
* [nnominem = dvéwupoy :omninominem = TwavTwyupor.
* Bonttas = dyabdrns or ayabdy, 5 Utriusque sexus = dpoevb0yrus,
* Animalia = tupuxa: inanimalia = dWuya. 1 Onitas = tans,
 334 ASCLEPIUS
mente per-
pare. Hoe ergo omni vero verius manifestiusque
sit cunctis
cip(i)to,quod ex (d)om(i)na illo totius naturae deo hoc
umque myster ium, cui
in aeternum procreandi inventum tribut
hilaritas, cupiditas, amorque divinus
summa caritas, laetitia,
ii vis atque 5
innatus est. Et dicendum foret quanta sit eius myster
sensu
necessitas, nisi ex sui contemplatione unicuique ex intimo
((animad-
nota esse potuisset. Si enim illud extremum temporis
utraqu e in
vertas)), quo ex crebro adtritu (eo) pervenimus ut
altera
utramque (se) fundat natura, progeniem [[animadvertas]] ut
deniqu e €0 10
(emittat), avide altera rapiat interiusque recondat,
e marum
tempore ex commixtione communi et virtutem femina
adipiscuntur, et mares femineo torpore lassescunt. Effectus
itaque huius tam blandi necessariique mysterii in occulto per-
petratur, ne vulgo inridentibus inperitis utriusque naturae divinitas
ex commixtione sexus cogatur erubescere, multo magis etiam si 15
visibus inreligiosorum hominum subicia{n]tur.
e2a Sunt autem non multi, aut admodum pauci, ita ut numerari
etiam ((possint)), in mundo [[possint]] religiosi, {[unde contingit
in multis remanere malitiam,]] defectu prudentiae scientiaeque
rerum omnium quae sunt, ((unde contingit in multis remanere 20
malitiam)). Ex intellectu enim rationis divinae, qua constituta
sunt omnia, contemptus ((mundi totius)) medelaque nascitur
vitiorum [[mundi totius]]: perseverante autem inperitia atque
inscientia, vitia omnia convalescunt, vulnerantque animam insana-
bilibus "vitiis}; quae infecta isdem atque vitiata quasi venenis
tumescit, nisi eorum quorum animarum disciplina et intellectus
summa curatio est.
22b Si solis (his) ergo et paucis hoc proderit, dignum est hunc

1-2 percipito Hildebrand: percepto w 2 domino A7vol]: omni w:

seclusit Thomas | deo esti cunctis B: deo est cunctis M: deo hoc sit
eunctis cet?. 8 crebro AfG: cerebro B | adtritu AZG: adtritum 2:
| perveniamus (a eras.) B: pervenimus ce/t. 10 altera
ad ritum 6
seripst: alterius w 11 communi et Thomas: communiat (vel et super-
script. man, 2) B: communi (on. et) cet. 14 nec BM: ne cett.
16 subiciatur scrips? : subiciantur @ 18 contingit A/F: contigit GPL
2 B)
22 medelaque ed. Rom: medullaque w (vel medela superscript. man,
Q5 yitiis wo: ‘fortasse malis’ Thomas
 ASCLEPIUS III 335
once, there is a deeper meaning than man can comprehend. It
is a truth to be accepted as sure and evident above all other
truths, that by God, the Master of all generative power, has been
devised and bestowed upon all creatures this sacrament of eternal
reproduction, with all the affection, all the joy and gladness, all
the yearning and the heavenly love that are inherent in its being.
And there were need that I should tell of the compelling force
with which this sacrament binds man and woman together, were
it not that each one of us, if he directs his thought upon himself,
can learn it from his inmost feeling. For if you note that supreme
moment when, through interaction’ without pause, we come at last
to this, that either sex infuses itself into the other, the one giving
forth its issue, and the other eagerly taking hold on it and laying
it up within, you will find that at that moment, through the inter-
mingling of the two natures, the female acquires masculine vigour,
and the male is relaxed in feminine languor. And so this sacra-
mental act, sweet as it is, and a thing that must needs be done, is
done in secret, lest, if it were done openly, the ignorant should
mock, and thereby the deity manifested in either sex through the
mingling of male and female should be put to the blush,—and the
more so, if the act is exposed to the eyes of impious men.
Now there are not many pious men in the world,—nay, there are e2a
so few that they could easily be numbered ;? for men lack wisdom
and knowledge of all truth,* and hence it is that in the many ‘ vice
persists. For if a man understands the design of God* by which
all things are ordained, he will despise all material things, and his
vices will be healed ; but when folly and ignorance® continue, all
the vices grow in strength, and lacerate the soul with incurable
sores ;and infected and corrupted by the poison, the soul breaks
out in tumours, so to speak, save in the case of those whose
souls are cured” by the sovereign remedy of knowledge and
intelligence.$
If then my words are likely to be profitable only to such men 22b

1 Ex crebro adtvitu = bia unvis naparpBijs.

2 Tta ut numerari etiam possint = eiapibpnror,
3 Prudentia = ppdvnaist Scientia rerum onutium quae sunt= % ndvtov
Tay Svrew émorhun (or yraats)?
4 In multis = év rois wodaois.
5 Ex intellectu rationts divinae = tx rod rov Oelov déyov voeiv,
S Imperitia atque inscientia = dyadia nat dyvaa (or &yvwoia).
1 Curatio = bepareia. E
© Disciplina = émoripy : intellectus = yas or vinos?
 336 ASCLEPIUS
persequi ((tractatum)), atque expedire [[tractatum]] quare solis
hominibus intellegentiam et disciplinam divinitas suam sit in-
pertire dignata. Audi itaque. Deus pater et dominus cum post
deos homines efficeret, ex parte corruptiore mundi et ex divina
pari lance conponderans, vitia contigit mundi, corporibus com- or

mixta, remanere, et alia propter cibos (intrare) victumque quem

necessario habemus cum omnibus animalibus communem ; quibus
de rebus necesse est cupiditatum desideria et reliqua mentis vitia
animis humanis insidere. Diis vero, utpote ex mundissima parte
mater(i)ae effectis, et nullis indigentibus rationis disciplinaeque ~

adminiculis, quamvis inmortalitas et unius semper aetatis vigor

ipse sit eis (omni efficacior) prudentia et disciplina, tamen
[[propter unitatem rationis]] pro disciplina et pro intellectu {[ne
ab his essent alieni]] ordinem necessitatis lege conscriptum
aeterna [lege] constituit: homines ex animalibus cunctis [de] -~

solos ratione disciplinaque (indigere) cognoscens, per quae vitia

corporum [homines] avertere atque abalienare potuissent, ((prop-
ter(ea his comm)unitatem rationis)) (dedit, simul) ipsés, (ne a dfis
essent alieni,)) [ad] inmortalitatis spem intentionemque proten-
dens. Denique et "bonum™ hominem et qui posset inmortalis
esse ex utraque natura conposuit, divina atque mortali: et sic
conpositum ((hominem)) per voluntatem dei [[hominem]] con-
stitutum est esse meliorem et diis, qui sunt ex sola inmortali
natura formati, et omnium mortalium, Propter quod homo, diis
cognatione coniunctus, ipsos religione et sancta mente veneratur,
diique etiam pio affectu humana omnia respiciunt atque custo-
23a diunt. Sed de hominibus istud dictum paucis sit pia mente

8 cupiditatem A: cupiditatum ceft.: ‘forlasse cupiditates’ Thomas

10 materiae scrifsd: naturae w 15 lege seclusit Thomas | homines
scripst: hominem w 16 solos scrips? : de sola @ 17-18 propterea
his communitatem scrifsi: propter unitatem w 18 ipsis scvipsi: ipsos w
| a diis scréfst: ab his w 20 bonum w : for/asse terrenum 22 con-
positum per /*: conpositum est per ceff. (conpositum et per corr. 4)
28 est J: om. cett.
 ASCLEPIUS III 337 —
as these, few though they be,’ it is worth while* to pursue this
discussion, and explain why God has deigned to impart his intelli-
gence* and knowledge to men alone. Listen then. Since God,
the Father and Master, after he had made the gods, made man
of ingredients weighed out in equal measure from the more
corrupt part of matter‘ and from that part which is divine, it came
to pass that evils inherent in matter were intermingled with the
human body, and so persisted, while other evils enter in by reason
of the eating of food, in which we must needs take part together
with all living creatures ;whence it necessarily results that lustful
appetites and all other evil passions find place in the human soul.
But the gods* are made of the purest part of matter, and have
no need of reason and knowledge® to aid them; and accordingly,
though their immortality and the vigour of their everlasting youth
are mightier than any wisdom or knowledge, yet in place of
knowledge and intelligence *God appointed for them an ordered
movement determined by necessity and prescribed by eternal
law. On the other hand, God saw that of all living creatures
men alone had need of reason and knowledge, whereby they
might repel and put away from them the evil passions inherent
in their bodies ; and for this cause he imparted to them the gift
of reason ; and at the same time, to the end that they might
not be severed from the gods, he held out to them the hope
of immortality, and gave them power to strive towards it. Willing
then that man should be at once. . .*and capable of immortality,
God compacted him of these two substances, the one divine,
the other mortal ; and in that he is thus compacted, it is ordained
by God’s will that man is not only better than all mortal beings,®
but also better than the gods, who are made wholly of immortal
substance. Hence man, being joined to the gods by kinship,
worships them with piety and holy thoughts; while the gods
on their side regard and watch over all the concerns of men
with loving mercy. But you must take this as said only of the 23a
few who are endowed with piety. Of the vicious it is better to

1 Et paucis = xat onavlos obo, 2 Dignum = dfwor,

® [ntellegentia = ywiiots, or voos? * Mundus = try.
5 T.e; the ‘celestial gods’ (azz. sun, moon, and stars).
§ Ratio = doyioyds or didvora (discursive reason)? Disciplina = tmorhun.
? Intellectus = Bdvoww?
* Perhaps ‘a thing of earth’,
* Meliorem . . . omnium mortalium = Bedtiova wévrav trav Ovntay,
2806 va
 338 ASCLEPIUS
ne sanctissimus
praeditis: de vitiosis vero nihil dicendum est,
sermo eorum contemplatione violetur.
um deorumque
23b Et quoniam de cognatione et consortio homin
i, vimque
nobis inducitur sermo, potestatem hominis, o Asclep
m, deus ut
cognosce. Dominus et pater vel, quod est summu
nn

qui in
effector est deorum caelestium, ita homo fictor est deorum
inlumi-
templis sunt humana proximitate contenti; et non solum
proficit,
na{njtur, verum etiam inlumina{n]t, nec solum ad deum
an numquid et
verum etiam conformat deos. Miraris, o Asclepi,
sed tuis to
tu diffidis, ut multi?—Asc/. Confundor, o Trismegiste:
qui sit
verbis libenter adsensus, felicissimum hominem iudico,
to miraculo
tantam felicitatem consecutus.—Z7ism. Nec inmeri
stium)
dignus est, qui est omnium maximus. Deorum genus (caele
parte
omnium confes(s)ione manifestum est de mundissima
capita pro
mater(iyae esse prognatum, signaque eorum sola quasi
omnibus esse. Species vero deorum quas conformat humanitas
ex utraque natura conformatae sunt, ex divina, quae est purior
multoque 'divinior’, et ex ea quae infra homines est, id est ex
sed
materia qua fuerint fabricatae ;et non solum capitibus solis,
membris omnibus totoque corpore figurantur. Ita humanitas,
semper memor naturae et originis suae, in illa divinitatis imitatione
perseverat, ut, sicuti pater ac dominus, ut sui similes essent, deos
fecit aeternos, ita humanitas deos suos ex sui vultus similitudine
Statuas,
24a figuraret—Asc/. Statuas dicis, o Trismegiste >— 77ism.
o Asclepi. Videsne quatenus tu ipse diffidas? Statuas animat as

sensu et spiritu plenas, tantaque facientes et talia, statuas futurorum

23
3-7 Et quoniam . . proximitate contenti cifat Augustinus De civ. det 8,
4 inducitur seripsi : indicitur w e¢ Augustinus 7-8 inluminatur Thomas
8 inluminat 7homas 9 conformat Goldbacher : confirmat w (sed o <<
script. B) |deos 5 e¢ M ex corr.: deus BG 14 confessione Rohde:
confusione w 15 materiae scripsi: naturae w 17 conformatae sunt
man. 2 B; conformata est ceé?. | purior 2: prior ceé?. 18 divinior
w ; fortasse superior |infra serzpsé: intra » 20-10 infra: Ita
coy ay . . (cap, 24b) sedula religione servasse ci/at August. De civ.
det 8, 23
 ASCLEPIUS III 339
say nothing, lest by turning our thoughts on them we should
profane the high sanctity of our discourse.!
And now that the topic of men’s kinship and association with 23 b
the gods has been introduced,’ let me tell you, Asclepius, how
great is the power and might of man, Even as the Master and
Father, or, to call him by his highest name, even as God is the
maker of the gods of heaven, so man is the fashioner of the gods
who dwell in temples and are content to have men for their
neighbours. Thus man not only receives the light of divine life,
but gives it also ;* he not only makes his way upward to God,‘
but he even fashions gods. Do you wonder at this, Asclepius ?
Or do you too doubt it, as many do?—Asc/, I am amazed,
Trismegistus ; but I gladly give assent to what you say, and
deem man most highly blest, in that he has attained to such
felicity.\— Trism, Yes, you may well hold man to be a marvel ;
he surpasses all other creatures. As to the celestial gods, it is
admitted by all men that they are manifestly generated from
the purest part of matter, and that their astral forms® are heads,
as it were, and heads alone, in place of bodily frames. But the
gods whose shapes” are fashioned by mankind are made of both
substances, that is, of the divine substance, which is purer and
far nobler, and the substance which is lower than man, namely,
the material of which they are wrought ;and they are fashioned®
not in the shape of a head alone, but in the shape of a body
with all its members. Mankind is ever mindful of its own
parentage °and the source whence it has sprung, and steadfastly
persists in following God’s example; and consequently, just as
the Father and Master made the gods of heaven eternal, that
they might resemble him who made them, even so do men also
fashion their gods in the likeness of their own aspect.—Asc/. Do 24a
you mean statues, Trismegistus?—Z7ism. Yes, Asclepius. See
how even you give way to doubt! I mean statues, but statues
living and conscious,” filled with the breath of life," and doing
many” mighty works; statues which have foreknowledge, and

1 Sermo = déyos. 2 Inducitur = elodyerat,

5 ob pwrifera pdvoy, dAAA Kai purile. * Perhaps, ‘to the gods’.
® Felicissimum indico = opé8pa paxapttw : Jelicitatem = ebtuxlay
“ Stona = onpeias ? Species = oxhuara?
® Figurantur = oxnparicovra. ° Natura = yiveots?
” Sensus = aloOnats. Spiritus = mvetpa.
'2 Tanta = rboade.
22
 34° ASCLEPIUS
rebus prae-
praescias, eaque sorte, vate, somniis, multisque aliis
hominibus facientes easque curantes,
dicentes, inbecillitates
tristitiam laetitiamque pro meritis (dispensantes).
caeli, aut,
24b An ignoras, o Asclepi, quod Aegyptus imago sit
descen sio omniu m quae 5
quod est verius, (. . .) translatio aut
caelo? Et si dicen dum est
gubernantur atque exercentur in
est templu m. Et tamen, quoni am
verius, terra nostra mundi totius
est:
praescire cuncta prudentes decet, istud vos ignorare fas non
at Aegypt ios incass um pia mente
futurum tempus est, cum adpare
sancta 1o
divinitatem sedula religione servasse; et omnis (d)eorum
yeneratio in inritum casura (est, vel) frustra bitur. E terris enim
as, linque turque Aegypt us, terraqu e,
est ad caelum recursura divinit
fuit, viduat a numin um praese ntia desti-
sedes religionum quae
,
tuetur. Alienigenis enim regionem istam terramque complentibus
tum religi onum ( . .) 1 or
non solum neglec
e divino
sed, quod est durius, quasi de legibus a religione, pietate, cultuqu
statuetur pracscripta poena prohibit io.
((et inhabitabit Aegyptum Scythes aut Indus aut aliquis talis
[iJdefst] vicina barbaria.)) Tune terra ista sanctissima, sedes
20
delubrorum atque templorum, sepulcrorum erit mortuorumque
plenissima. ({[O Aegypte, Aegypte, religionum tuarum solae
supererunt fabulae, eaeque incredibiles posteris tuis, solaque
supererunt verba lapidibus incisa tua pia facta narrantibus}] [[et
inhabitabit Aegyptum Scythes aut Indus aut aliquis talis, id est
vicina barbaria.]} {Divinitas enim repetet caelum, deserti homines a5
toti morientur, atque ita Aegyptus deo et homine viduata de-
seretur.| Te vero appello, sanctissimum flumen, tibique futura
praedico: torrenti sanguine plenus adusque ripas erumpes,
undaeque divinae non solum polluentur sanguine, sed totae
(cor)rumpentur. [[Et vivis multo maior numerus erit sepulchro- 3°

1 eaque August.: easque w (sed s expunct. man. post. B) |sorte B e¢

August. : forte cett. |vate, somniis August. : vatas omnes (corr, somniis)
B: fata somnis ¢x vatas omnis corr. Af: vates ominis G 8 tristitiam
lnetitiamque August.: tristitiamque » | «Post pro meritis participium
expectes, v.g. dispensantes’ Thomas 5 Fortasse ba Aegyptum facta sit)
translatio 6 et w: ac August. 8 prudentes »: prudentem August.
10 divinitatem et sedula men. 2 B |deorum Bernays: eorum
11-12 enim est man. 2 B: enim (om. est) #: enim et cert. 14 religionem
B: regionem ceéé. 15 neglectus ed. Rom. 19 id est w: e Bernays:
‘malim de’ Thomas 19-21 Tunc terra... plenissima c7/at August. De
civ, det 8, 26 21-23 O Aegypte... narrantibus Avec ad cap. 25 transposut
25 repetet G et man. post. B: repetit cett. 80 corrumpentur Bernay's
rumpentur o 30-2 infra: et vivis ... alienus Ainc ad cap. 25 transposut
30-1 infra; sepultoram waus 9 e¢ ed. Rom,: sepulchrorum cett.
 ASCLEPIUS TIT 341
predict future events by the drawing of lots, and by prophetic
inspiration, and by dreams, and in many other ways ; statues
which inflict diseases! and heal? them, dispensing sorrow and
joy according to men’s deserts.
Do you not know, Asclepius, that Egypt is an image of heaven, 24 b
or, to speak more exactly, in Egypt all the operations of the
powers which rule and work in heaven have been transferred ®
to earth below? Nay, it should rather be said that the whole
Kosmos dwells in this our land as in its sanctuary. And yet,
since it is fitting that wise men should have knowledge of all
events before they come to pass, you must not be left in
ignorance of this: there will come a time when it will be seen
that in vain have the Egyptians honoured‘ the deity with heart-
felt piety and assiduous service; and all our holy worship will
be found bootless and ineffectual. For the gods will return from
earth to heaven; Egypt will be forsaken, and the land which
was once the home of religion will be left desolate, bereft of the
presence of its deities. This land and region will be filled with
foreigners ; not only will men neglect the service of the gods,
but ...;° and Egypt will be occupied by Scythians or Indians,
or by some such race from the barbarian countries thereabout.
In that day will our most holy land, this land of shrines and
temples, be filled with funerals and corpses.¢ To thee, most
holy Nile, I cry, to thee I foretell that which shall be; swollen
with torrents of blood, thou wilt rise to the level of thy banks,
and thy sacred waves will be not only stained, but utterly fouled

1 Inbecillitates = doOeveias. 2 Curare = Oepanevey,

3 Translatio = perdbeots: descensio = xaTaBaors.
* Servare = observare = 0¢ pe.
5 MSS, : ‘ but, what is harder still, there will be enacted so-called laws’
Yesstden, .ais, penaltypoakyprespoactbed”. Taisousbate Law asdetes sla
date.
al
8 Sepulcrorum mortuorumgue = tupdav nal vexpav,
 342 ASCLEPIUS
us,
rum ; superstes vero qui foret, lingua sola cognoscetur Aegypti
Et his
25 actibus vero videbitur alienus.]) Quid fles, o Asclepi?
urque
aimplius multoque deterius ipsa Aegyptus suadebitur, inbuet
ssima,
peioribus malis; quae sancta quondam, divinitatis amanti
5
deéorum in terra suae religionis merito sola deductio, sanctitatis et
pietatis magistra, erit maximae crudelitatis exemplum : ((et vivis
multo maior numerus erit sepulchrorum ; superstes vero qui
fuerit, lingua sola cognoscetur Aegyptius, actibus vero videbitur
alienus.)) ((O Aegypte, Aegypte, religionum tuarum solae supere-
runt fabulae, eaeque incredibiles posteris tuis, solaque supererunt to
verba lapidibus incisa tua pia facta narrantibus.)) Et tune taedio
hominum non admirandus videbitur mundus nec adorandus.
Hoc totum bonum, quo melius nec fuit nec est nec erit quod
videri possit, periclitabitur, eritque grave hominibus, ac per hoc
contemnetur; nec diligetur totus hic mundus, dei opus inimi- '5
tabile, gloriosa constructio, bonum multiformi imaginum varietate
conpositum, machina voluntatis dei in suo opere absque invidia
(homini) suffragantis, in unum omnium, quae venerari, laudari,
amari denique a videntibus possunt, multiformis adunata con-
gestio. Nam et tenebrae praeponentur lumini, et mors vita 20

utilior iudicabitur ;nemo suspiciet caelum; religiosus pro insano,

inreligiosus putabitur prudens, furiosus fortis, pro bono habebitur
pessimus. Anima enim et omnia circum eam, quibus aut in-
mortalis nata est aut inmortalitatem se consecuturam esse prae-
sumit, secundum quod vobis exposui, non solum risui, sed etiam 25
putabitur vanitas,
Sed mihi credite, et capitale periculum constituetur in eum qui se mentis
religioni dederit. Nova constituentur iura, lex nova.

5 terras B: terra cett. 8 fuerit scripsz: foret w 10 tuis edd. cum

uno FT; suis codd. cett. 17 dei suo operi G: dei in suo opere ceét. | invia
BMP: invidia ceét.
 ASCLEPIUS III 343
with gore. Do you weep at this, Asclepius? There is worse 25
to come; Egypt herself will have yet more to suffer;* she will
fall into a far more piteous plight, and will be infected with yet
more grievous plagues; and this land, which once was holy,
a land which loved the gods, and wherein alone, in reward for
her devotion, the gods deigned to sojourn* upon earth, a land
which was the teacher of mankind in holiness and piety,—this
land will go beyond all in cruel deeds. The dead will far out-
number the living ; and the survivors will be known for Egyptians
by their tongue alone, but in their actions they will seem to be
men of another race. O Egypt, Egypt, of thy religion nothing
will remain but an empty tale, which thine own children in time
to come will not believe ;nothing will be left but graven words,
and only the stones will tell of thy piety. And in that day men
will be weary of life, and they will cease to think the universe
worthy of reverent wonder and of worship. And so religion,
the greatest of all blessings,—for there is nothing, nor has been,
” nor ever shall be, that can be deemed a greater boon,—will be
threatened with destruction; men will think it a burden, and
will come to scorn it. They will no longer love this world around
us, this incomparable work of God, this glorious structure which
he has built, this sum of good made up of things of many diverse
forms, this instrument ®whereby the will of God operates in that
which he has made, ungrudgingly favouring man’s welfare, this
combination and accumulation of all the manifold things that
can call forth the veneration, praise, and love of the beholder.
Darkness will be preferred to light, and death will be thought
more profitable than life ; no one will raise his eyes to heaven ;
the pious will be deemed insane, and the impious wise; the
madman will be thought a brave man, and the wicked will be
esteemed as good. As to the soul, and the belief that it is im-
mortal by nature, or may hope to attain to immortality, as I have
taught you,—all this they will mock at, and will even persuade
themselves that it is false. No word of reverence or piety, no

1 Suadebitur = neicerat, fut. of macxw (Bernays).

2 Deductio = katayoryn.
3 Machina = opyavov.
4 Here follows in the MSS. : ‘ But believe me, it will even be decreed that
he who shall have devoted himself to the religion of mind shall be liable to the
penalty of death ;there will be ordained new law and a new statute.’ This
also must have been added later.
 344 ASCLEPIUS
Nihil sanctum, nihil religiosum nec caelo nec caelestibus dig-
num audietur aut mente credetur.
s
(.. .) Fit deorum ab hominibus dolenda secessio ; soli nocente
e
angeli remanent, qui humanitate commixti ad omnia audacia
mala miseros manu iniecta compellunt, in bella, in rapinas, in 5
fraudes et in omnia quae sunt animarum naturae contraria. Tunc
nec terra constabit, nec navigabitur mare, nec caelum astrorum
cursibus (. . .), nec siderum cursus constabit in caelo ; omnis vox
divina necessaria taciturnitate mutescet; fructus terrae conrum-
pentur, nec fecunda tellus erit, et aer ipse maesto torpore to
26 a languescet. Haec et talis senectus veniet mundi; inreligio,
inordinatio, inrationabilitas, bonorum omnium ( . -).
Cum haec cuncta contigerint, o Asclepi, tunc ille dominus et
pater, deus primipotens et "unius gubernator dei!, intuens in
mores factaque [voluntaria!, voluntate sua, quae est dei benigni- 15
tas, vitiis resistens et corruptelae omnium, errorem revocans,
malignitatem omnem vel inluvione diluens, vel igne consumens,
vel morbis pestilentibus iisque per diversa loca dispersis finiens,
3 fi(e)t (‘corr man, 1, ut videtur’ Thomas) B: fit ceté. 4 remane-
(bu)nt (corr, man. 2) B: remanent cert. 5 conpellunt maz. 1 B et cett.:
conpellent max, 2B 8 Fortasse cursibus (subsistet 9 mutescit 7
mutescet corr, man. post. B: mutescet cevt. 11 linguescit max. 1 B:
languescit A/P: languescet man. 2 B et celt. 12 Fortasse omnium
(defectio) 15 voluntaria sec/usit Bernays 16 corruptelae 7: cor-
ruptela cetz. 18 pestilentiisque ex pestilentibus iisque corr. B: pestilenti-
bus usque cefé,: pestilentibus iisque Bernays

Cap. 26a: ‘Cum haec . . . revocabit.’ Lactantius Div. Just. 7. 18. 384,
(Brandt): ‘Sed et illut non sine daemonum fraude subtractum *, missuiri
a patre tunc filium dei, qui deletis omnibus malis pios liberet. Quod Hermes
tamen non dissimulavit ;in eo enim libro qui Aros rédevos inscribitur, post
enumerationem malorum de quibus diximus subiecit haec :—
éray O) radra yévnrat, & Aokdrnmeé, Tore 6 KUptos Kai
marhp kai beds kai "rod mpdrov Kal évds> Oeod' Snyuoupyéds,
émPréyras Trois yevouévors, kal tiv éavrod Bovdnoww, Toor’
tori 7d dyabdy, dvrepetoas TH aragig, Kal dvaxadeodpevos
Thy wAdvny, Kal Thy kaxlav éxxabdpas, 7} pev Udart TOAAG
kataxdboas, mi) dé mupt dgurdr@ diaxadoas, éviore Se mrodé-
pots Kal Aoipois éxmaicas, yayev emt rd dpxaiov Kal
dmokaréornoev Tov éavTod Kécpov.’
 ~

ASCLEPIUS IIT - 845

utterance worthy of heaven and of the gods of heaven, will be
heard or believed.
And so the gods will depart from mankind,—-a grievous
thing !—and only evil angels will remain, who will mingle with
men, and drive the poor wretches by main force into all manner
of reckless crime, into wars, and robberies, and frauds, and all
things hostile to the nature of the soul. Then will the earth
no longer stand unshaken, and the sea will bear no ships;
heaven will not support the stars in their orbits, nor will the
stars pursue their constant course
in heaven; all voices of
the gods will of necessity be silenced and dumb; the fruits
of the earth will rot; the soil will turn barren, and the very air
will sicken in sullen stagnation. After this manner will old age 26a
come upon the world. Religion will be no more; all things
will be disordered and awry ;! all good will disappear.
But when all this has befallen, Asclepius, then the Master
and Father, God, the first before all, the maker of that god who
first came into being,? will look on that which has come to pass,
and will stay the disorder by the counterworking of his will,
which is the good. He will call back to the right path those
who have gone astray ; he will cleanse the world from evil, now
washing it away with waterfloods, now burning it out with fiercest
fire, or again expelling it by war and pestilence. And thus he

} Inovdinatio = dragiu: invationabilitas = ddoyia,

3 Deus primipotens et unius gubernator det: perhaps, 6 Beds 6 mpwrdpyns Kal
Tod mpwroydvou Beod (sc. Tod Kécpou) Snuwoupyds.

ee —

* Sc. subtractum ab Hystaspis vaticinatione, quam superius citat

Lactantius,
® 100 mpdrov nat évds Brandt, codicum indicia secutus+ tod mparroryevo
os
cont. Davis, ‘dominus et pater et deus et primi et unius dei creator’ snfer-
pretatio Lat. in B et P.
° éxnaicas Brandt; exirecac (‘malitia . . . percussa’ inéerpret. Lat.) B:
ecpesas 47: HKTICAc P: ekTHCaC (‘ excutiens’ interpret. Lat.) Sedulius : eméoas
Bernays,
 346 ASCLEPIUS
mundum revocabit, ut et mundus ipse
ad antiquam faciem
operis effector et
adorandus videatur atque mirandus, et tanti
frequentibus laudum
restitutor deus ab hominibus, qui tunc erunt,
celebr etur. Haec enim mundi
praeconiis benedictionibusque
matio rerum bonar um, et naturae 5
(re\genitura: cunctarum refor
osissi ma restit utio, per[co /acta temporis
ipsius sanctissima et rcligi
.
cursu (dei voluntate), quae est [[et fuit sine initio|] sempiterna
r), et,
26b Voluntas enim dei caret initio, quae eadem est (sempe
((et fuit sine initio. )) Dei enim natura
sicuti est, [sempiterna]
tatis}] bonita (ti)s. —Ascd. ((Volu ntatis )) summa 10
consilium est {[volun
Asclep i, consili o
consilium, o Trismegiste ?—Z7ism. Voluntas, ©
nascitur, et ipsum velle e volunt ate. Neque enim ‘inpen se’ aliquid
quae habet}] vult
vult, qui est omnium plenissimus ; [et ea vult
ea vult quae
autem omnia bona. Et habet omnia quae vult, ((et
15
habet ;)) omnia autem bona et cogitat et vult.
(bonu s).—A s¢/.
27a Hoc est autem deus: eius imago mundus, boni
egist e?—Zr ism. Bonus , 0 Asclep i, ut ego te
Bonus, o Trism
bus,
docebo. Sicuti enim deus omnibus speciebus vel generi
est bonor um, id
quae in mundo sunt, dispensator distributorque
or est et prae- 20
est sensus, animae, et vitae, sic et mundus tribut
id est altern a-
stitor omnium quae mortalibus videntur bona,
atis, augmentorum,
tionis partuum temporalium, fructuum nativit
et maturitatis, et horum similium.
tens, ubique
27b {jac per hoc deus, supra verticem summi caeli consis
est, omniaque circum inspicit. Sic est enim ultra caelum locus, 25
sine stellis, ab omnibus rebus corpulentis alienus.||
obtinet locum,
27¢ |[dispensator qui est, inter caelum et terram
et mari domin atur Iuppiter
quem Iovem vocamus, Terrae vero
ntium morta lium et fructi-
Plutonius; et hic nutritor est anima
terra vege- 30
ferarum. Horum omnium viribus fructus, arbusta, et
quae sunt
tantur. Aliorum vero vires et effectus per omnia
distribuentur.||
conlocabuntur in
a7d [["Distribuentur! vero qui terrae dominantur, et

5 regenitura Bernays: genitura 6-7 peracta temporis cursu Kroll:

is cursu BMPF: per coactum temporis cursum G.
per coacta tempor rat Goldbacher 10 (Trism.):
7 dei addidit Thoma s : volunt ate prius addide
est volunt atis,’ —(Ascl .:) ‘ Bonita s summa consilium, o Trisme-
«, . . consilinm |bonus
giste?’ codd. et edd. pr. 16 mundus boni ex mundus bonus corr. B tor B:
20 sensus /: sensibu s ce/t. 20-21 praesta
addidit Krolt id est et alternationis
ceét. 21-22 id est alterna tionis GF:
praestitor post cap. 19 b (p. 324)
cetl. 24-32 Cap. 27b ef 27 c Aine transposui: vide (p- 360)
infra: cap. 27d Aine transp osui : vide post cap. 37
33-4
 ASCLEPIUS III 347
will bring back his world to its former aspect, so that the Kosmos
will once more be deemed worthy of worship and wondering
reverence, and God, the maker and restorer of the mighty fabric,
will be adored by the men of that day with unceasing hymns
of praise and blessing. Such is the new birth! of the Kosmos;
it is a making again? of all things good, a holy and awe-striking i

restoration® of all nature; and it is wrought in the process

of time by the eternal‘ will of God.
For God’s will® has no beginning; it is ever the same, and 26b
as it now is, even so it has ever been, without beginning. For
it is the very being of God to purpose® good.—Asci. Is ‘will’
then, Trismegistus, summed up in ‘purpose’ ?—TZyism. Will,
Asclepius, issues from purpose; and from will issues each several
act of will.’ Not without effect* does God will a thing, for he
is fully supplied with all things ;and all things that he wills are
good. He has all things which he wills, and wills the things
which he has ; and all that he purposes ® and wills is good.
|
Such is God. The Kosmos is God's image; and since God is
good, the Kosmos also is good.—As¢. Do you say, Trismegistus, 27a
that the Kosmos is good?—Zrism, Yes, Asclepius ; and I will
show you that it is so. God dispenses and distributes goods, {
namely, sense, soul, and life,” to all kinds of beings" in the : )
Kosmos ; and in like manner, the Kosmos gives and supplies |
all things which seem good to mortals, namely, the succession
of births in time,” the formation, growth, and ripening of the
\

1 Regentlura = wart gia. 3 Reformatio = dvavéwns.

* Restitutio=dnoxaraaraois, or énavépOwors. \
Religiosissina = eboeBeatarn ? |
But in what sense ?
‘ Sempiternus = didos (or aidmos 1). 1
5 Voluntas = Bovanass.
{
* Consilium = Bovadh. :
7 Velle = 7) Bovrcabax.
* In place of énpense, some word equivalent to wérnv or dmpdxras seems to }
be needed, }
® Cogitat = Bovdretera. }
20 Sensus = aisOnats: anima = yuyh: vita = (on, i}
Mt Speciebus vel generibus: probably the translator's alternatives for a single ,
Greek word, which may have {
either elSeo or -yéveot,
1 Or, reading fartéum, ‘ the alternation of the seasons’.
 348 ASCLEPIUS
occidentis
civitate in summo initio Aegypti, quae a parte solis
mortal e genus.—
condetur, ad quam terra marique festinabit omne
giste >—
Ascl. Modo tamen hoc in tempore ubi isti sunt, 0 Trisme
Libyco.|]
Trism. Conlocati sunt in maxima civitate in monte
||Et haec usque eo narrata sint. De inmortali vero aut de ur
27e-29b
Multos enim... stellas in-
mortali modo disserendum est.
luminat.|]
29c Secundum etenim deum hunc crede, o Asclepi, omnia guber-
sive ani-
nantem [omniaque mundana inlustrantem] animalia,
Si enim animal mundu s vivens que to
mantia sive inanimantia.
mortal e est. Vivent is
| semper et fuit et est et erit, nihil in mundo
sicuti est; [in|
etenim semper uniuscuiusque partis [quae] est
que vivente,
ipsoque mundo semper uno, eoque animali semper
in eo nullus est mortalitatis locus. Ergo vitae aeternitatisque
15
debet esse plenissimus, si semper eum necesse est vivere.
et ipse semper
[Sol ergo, sicuti mundus sempiternus est, sic
ntator
gubernator vitalium vel totius vivacitatis eorumque freque
vel dispensator est.|
sempi-
Deus ergo viventium vel vitalium, in mundo quae sunt,
sator aeternu s. 20
ternus gubernator est, ipsiusque vitae dispen
aetern a lege
Semel atitem dispensa{vilt(a) vita vitalibus cunctis
go praestatur hoc more, quo dicam. In ipsa enim aeternitatis
tate locus
vivacitate mundus agitatur, et in ipsa vitali aeterni
a)liqu ando nec conrumpe-
est mundi: propter quod nec stabi(t
et quasi constri ctus. 25
tur, sempiternitate vivendi circumvallatus
in se sunt,
Ipse mundus vitae dispensator est his omnibus quae
Et commotio
et locus est omnium quae sub sole gubernantur.
secus vivifi-
mundi ipsius ex duplici constat effectu: ipse extrin
ea quae intra se sunt omnia,
catur ab aeternitate, vivificatque
atque infixis cuncta per
differens numeris et temporibus statutis
Omnia] ((aute m)) tem-
solis effectum stellarumque discursum.
]] tempus
poraria ratione divina lege conscripta, terrenum {[autem
sque varieta te dinosci tur, caeleste
aeris qualitate, aestuum frigori
cap. 40 (p. 364) 10 si
5-7 Cap. 27 ¢-29 b Ainc transposui: vide post GZ : mundu m BMPF 12 in
enim GL: sive enim BAZP | mundus
21 dispensata Zhomeas: dispensavit » |vita B:
seclustt Thomas 24 stabit aliquando Zink:
vitam cefd. | cuncta BAZ: cunctis celt.
31 omni Thomas: omnia »
stabili quando @ (¢odumt loctemt refinxit F)
 ASCLEPIUS III 349 a
!

fruits of the earth, and the like. For you must deem the Kosmos 29c
a second god, Asclepius, a god who governs all living things,
both those which have souls and those which are soulless.
For if the Kosmos has been and is and will be a living and
ever-living being,? nothing in the Kosmos is mortal. It is the
everlasting life of each of its several parts* that makes the
Kosmos what it is; and seeing that the Kosmos is ever one,
and is a living and ever-living being, mortality can have no place
in it, It must therefore be filled with life, and with eternal life,
if it needs must live for ever.
It is God then that everlastingly® governs all the sources of
life® in the Kosmos; he is the eternal dispenser’ of life itself.
But when life has once been dispensed to all the (intracosmic)
sources of life, the supply of it is maintained in accordance with
eternal law ; and the manner of its maintenance I will proceed
to explain. The Kosmos moves ® within the very life of eternity, 30
and is contained in that very eternity whence all life issues ;'
and for this reason it is impossible that it should at any time
come to a stand, or be destroyed, since it is walled in and bound
together, so to speak, by eternal life." And the Kosmos is itself
the dispenser of life to all things in it!* here below, and the place
in which are contained all things which are subject to control
beneath the sun. The movement™ of the Kosmos itself consists
of a twofold working ;™“ life is infused into the Kosmos from
without by eternity ; and the Kosmos infuses life into all things
that are within it, distributing all things according to fixed and
determined relations of number and time, by the operation
of the sun and the movements of the stars. The process of time
is wholly determined by God’s law; but the lapse of terrestrial
time is marked by the changing states of the atmosphere, and
the variations of heat and cold; while that of celestial time

' Animalia = 7a (ory éxovta : animantia = ewpuxa : inanimantia = dpa.

* Animal vivensque semper = (Gov ai delfwor,
8 Viventis semper uniuscuiusgue partis= (@vros det éxdotov Tay pepay,
gen. abs, :
‘ [psogue mundo semper ino = nal abrod rod xbcpou évds det dvros, gen, abs.
5 Sempiternus = didios? 8 Viventium vel vitalium = (wrixay 2
7 Aeternus = alwys : dispensator = rapias. 8 Agitatur = xwetrai,
® In ipsa acternitatis vivacitate = év ati Th 10d aldvos (oH?
10 Jn ipsa vital acternitate = tv aitd 7G (wring alain?
Sempiternitas vivendi = dldos (or aidvos) Con ?
1% In se = ey abrd. 8 Commotio = xivyars,
MM Efjectus = evépyaa. 8 Ab aeternitate = bw (or dnd 2) Tod aldvos,
 55° ASCLEPIUS
vero reversionibus siderum ad eadem loca temporaria conver-

sione currentium. Et mundus est receptaculum temporis, cuius

cursu et agitatione vegetatur. Tempus autem ordinatione serva-

tur; ordo et tempus innovationem omnium rerum, quae in mundo

sunt, per alternationem faciunt. Cunctis ergo ita se habentibus, 5
nihil stabile, nihil fixum, nihil inmobile [nec] nascentium, nec
caelestium nec terrenorum. Solus deus (stabilis), et merito

‘solus] ;ipse enim in se est, et a se est, et circum se totus est,

plenus atque perfectus, isque sua firmus stabilitaze est, nec alli-
cuius inpulsu [nec] loco moveri potest, cum in eo sunt omnia et 10
in omnibus ipse est solus; nisi aliquis audeat dicere ipsius
commotionem in aeternitate esse: sed magis et ipsa inmobilis

(est) aeternitas, in quam omnium temporum agitatio remeat, et ex

3I qua omnium temporum agitatio sumit exordium. Deus ergo

stabilis fuit, semperque similiter cum eo aeternitas constitit, laluo

mundum non natum, quem recte (in)sensibilem dicimus, intra se

habens. Huius (dei] imago hic effectus est mundus, aeternitatis
imitator. Habet autem tempus, ((quamvis semper agitetur,))

stabilitatis suae vim atque naturam {[quamvis semper agiteturl|,

ea ipsa in se revertendi necessitate. Itaque quamvis sit aeternitas 20
stabilis, inmobilis, atque fixa, tamen quoniam temporis, quod mobile
est, in aeternitatem semper revocatur agitatio, {jeaque mobilitas

ratione temporis vertitur,|]efficitur ut et ipsa aeternitas, inmobilis

1-2 conversione 7: conversatione cett. 2 recurrentium / 6 nec

(post inmobile) abesse malit Kroll ® firmus stabilitate scrifs?: firma
stabilitas w 10 nec seclusit Kroll 12 commonitionem 4/7: com-
motionem ce//. 13-14 remeat ... agitatio om, BAT 15 consistit
(sed is ex corr.) B: constitit ceft. 16 insensibilem serifs?: sensibilem
22-23 eaque . . . vertitur Aine ad cap. 40b Jin. (p. 354) transposut
 ASCLEPIUS IIT 3 51
is marked by the return of the heavenly bodies to their former
positions’ as they move in their periodic revolutions. The
Kosmos is that in which time is contained ;* and it is by the
progress and movement of time that life is maintained in
the Kosmos. The process of time is regulated by a fixed order ;*
P and time in its ordered course‘ renews °all things in the Kosmos
by alternation. All things being subject to this process, there
is nothing that stands fast,’ nothing fixed, nothing free from
change,’ among the things which come into being, neither among
those in heaven nor among those on earth. God alone stands
unmoved, and with good reason ;* for he is self-contained, and
self-derived,’ and wholly self-centred," and in him is no deficiency
or imperfection.” He stands fast in virtue of his own immobility,
nor can he be moved by any force impinging on him from
without, seeing that in him are all things, and that it is he alone
that is in all things; unless indeed one should presume to say
that he moves (not in time, but) in eternity? But it should
rather be said that eternity also is motionless; into eternity all
movements of time go back," and from eternity all movements
of time take their beginning. God then stands unmoved ;' 3!
and eternity likewise is ever changeless, containing in itself
a Kosmos which is without beginning,'* even that Kosmos which
we rightly call ‘imperceptible to sense’.'" This (sensible) Kosmos
has been made in the image of that other Kosmos, and reproduces
eternity in a copy. Now time, though it is ever in movement,
possesses a faculty of stability peculiar to itself,” in that its return
into itself is determined by necessity. And accordingly, though
eternity is stable, fixed, and motionless, yet since time is mobile,
and its movement ever goes back into” eternity, it results from
this that eternity also, though motionless in itself, appears to be

! Reversiones ad eadem loca = dnoxaracrdces,

2 Recepiaculum = bnodoxh. ® Ordinatio = dudragis}
* Ordo = rafis. ° Innovatio = dvavéwois,
® Stabilis = éors, * Inmobilis = dxivyros.
8 Merito = eixdrws. ® A se ests he is abroyévvnros,
19 Circum se totus est = abrds wept abrév bdos earl,
Nt Plenus aigue perfectus = mdhpys wat rédeos dv.
12 In aeternitate = & aia. 18 Remeal = dvapépera?
4 Stabilis fuit = tornee. Constitit also presumably represents a Greek
perfect.
1 Non natum = aryévyyrov,
16 Jnsensibilem = vontdv, or dvaicbyrov in the sense of vonrdy.
7 Vim atque naturam = diva : stabilitatis = ordoews: suae == tlas,
" Revocatur in = dvapéperar els?
 352 ASCLEPIUS

quidem sola, ((videatur agitari)) per tempus, in quo ipsa est, et est
in eo omnis agitatio ([videatur agitari]]. Sic efficitur ut et aeter-
nitatis stabilitas moveatur, et temporis mobilitas stabilis fiat fixa
lege currendi. Sic et deum agitari credibile est in se ipsum
eadem inmobilitate. Stabilita{s] etenim ipsius [in] magnitudine ue

est inmobilis agitatio; ipsius enim magnitudinis inmobili(ta)s

lex est. Hoc ergo, quod est tale quod non subicitur sensibus,
((sive deus, sive aeternitas, sive uterque, sive alter in altero sive
uterque in utroque sunt)), indefinitum, inconprehensibile, inaesti-
mabile est; nec sustineri etenim nec ferri nec indagari potest. ~ Oo
Ubi enim et quo et unde, et quomodo aut quale sit, incertum
est. Fertur enim in summa stabilitate, et in ipso (fertur) stabilitas
sua |[sive deus, sive aeternitas, sive uterque, sive alter in altero
sive uterque in utroque sunt]], Propter quod aeternitas sine defini-
tione est temporis: tempus autem, quod definiri potest [vel] 15
numero, [vel] alternatione vel [alterius] per ambitionem reditus
aeternum est. Utrumque ergo infinitum, utrumque videtur
aeternum ; (aeternitatis autem) stabilitas [enim], utpote defixa,
quo sustinere quae agitabilia sunt possit ((habendo inmobilem
firmitatem)), beneficio firmitatis merito obtinet principatum., 2°
324 Omnium ergo, quae sunt, primordia deus est et aeternitas,
Mundus autem, quod sit mobilis, non habet principatum; prae-
venit enim mobilitas eius stabilitatem suam in lege agitationis
sempiternae, ((aeternitas quae secunda est)) {[habendo inmobilem
25
40b firmitatem]]. ((Haec ergo est aeternitas ((in omnibus (quibus)
mundus iste perfectus est)); [[quae nec coepit esse nec desinet]|

5 stabilita etenim scrips#: stabilitatis etenim 2: stabilis etenim 4 : stabilistas

enim G: stabilitates (az -is?) enim P: stabilitas enim Z | stabilitatisin magni-
tudine enim ipsius @ inmobilitas scrifsi: inmobilisw | 11 et quomodo
MG: aut quomodo 2 13 sive deus om. BAL 15 definiri non
potest GZ: definiri potest ceff. 16 reditu 7: reditus ceét. 19 quo F,
*fortasse recte’ Thomas: quod cett. 19-20 habendo inmobilem firmitatem
huc a cap. 32.0 transposut 28 lege Z: legem cet?. 24 aeternitas quae
secunda est hue a cap. 32 b (p. 356, v. 6) ¢ramsposuz 25-7 infra: cap 40b
(Haec ergo. .. et sequi) Arc transposwe 25-26 in omnibus. .. perfectus
est Auc a cap. 39 (p» 302, V. 21) fransposut
 ASCLEPIUS III 353

in motion, on account of its relation to time; for eternity enters

into time, and it is in time that all movement takes place.
Hence it follows that on the one hand eternity, stable though
it be, is also mobile, and on the other hand, time, mobile though
it be, is rendered stable by the immutability of the law by which
its movement is determined, And in this way it is possible ,
to hold that God also moves within himself! though God, like
eternity, is motionless ; for the movement of God, being made
stable by his greatness, is no movement, inasmuch as his greatness
is necessarily motionless.’ The being, then, of which I speak,—
whether it is to be called God, or eternity, or both, and whether
God is in eternity, or eternity in God, or each in the other,—this
being, I say, is imperceptible by sense ;* it is infinite, incom-
prehensible, immeasurable ;‘ it exceeds our powers, and is beyond
our scrutiny. The place of it, the whither and the whence,
the manner and quality of its being, are unknown to us. It
moves* in absolute stability, and its stability moves within it.
. Eternity then is not limited by the conditions of time ; and time,
which admits of numerical limitations, is eternal in virtue of its
cyclic recurrence.6 Thus time as well as eternity is infinite,
and is thought to be eternal. But eternity is rightly’ held to
rank above time, in virtue of® its fixity; for it is firmly fixed,
so as to be able, by its rigid immobility, to sustain those things
which are in motion.° God and eternity then are the first g2a
principles of all things which exist.’ The Kosmos does not
hold the first and highest place, because it is mobile; for its
mobility takes precedence of the immutability with which it obeys
the law of its everlasting movement, which is a secondary sort
of eternity. It is this sort of eternity that enters into all the gob
parts of which the Kosmos is composed."' For the Kosmos,
1 Agitari in se ipsum = abroy tv abt@ mwveioGat,
2 Stabilita .. . lex est; perhaps, év yap TP peyéOet abrod nadearGaa axlyyrds
eorw h xivnos* Tod yap peyéBous abrod vopos early % divgata, (Or, retaining
inmobilis, 6 yap Tod peyeDous abrod vopmos éorly axivnros,)
3 Quod est tale quod non subicitur senstbus = tovwdrov dv ofov ya) bmoninrew
Tais alcOncecty ?
4 Indefinitum = déporoy: incomprehensibile = duarddnnrov : inaestimabile
= dpérpnrov ? 5 Fertur = pépera.
8 Alternatione vel per ambitionem reditus = Th dvaxuxdqoe ?
' Merito = eiudtus, 8 Beneficio = xapwv.
* Quo sustinere quae agilabilia sunt possit = iva ipecravar BivqTar ois
kwnrois.
4 40 Omnium . . .aelernitas = navtov ov tev dvrew apxal eicw & Beds xal
aiwy,
MN Quzbus mundus iste perfectus est = & Gv 5 wbopos obros dmorerédecrat t
2806 Aa
 354 ASCLEPIUS

qui, fixa inmutabili{s) lege currendi, sempiterna commotione

versatur, ((quae nec coepit esse nec desinet,)) oriturque et occidit

alternis {[saepe]] per membra, ita ut variatis temporibus ((saepe))

isdem quibus occiderat membris oriatur. Sic est enim rotundi-

ta(ti)s volubilis ratio, ut ita sibi coartata sint cuncta, ut initium

quod sit volubilitatis ignores, cum omnia se semper et praecedere

videantur et sequi:)) ((eaque mobilita(tijs ratione tempus

vertitur.))

32b Omnis ergo sensus divi(nus aeter)nitatis similis. Inmobilis

ipse, in stabilitate se commovet sua: sanctus et incorruptus et 10

sempiternus est, et si quid potest melius nuncupari dei summi

in ipsa veritate consistens aeternitas, plenissimus omnium (in)sen-

sibilium et totius disciplinae, consistens, ut ita dixerim, cum deo.

Sensus vero mundanus receptaculum est sensibilium omnium

specierum et disciplinarum. Humanus vero (sensus . . -) €X 15

memoriae tenacitate, quod memor sit omnium quas gesserit

rerum, Usque ad humanum enim animal sensus divinitas

descendendo pervenit: deus enim summus divinum sensum

1 qui scripsi: quaew | inmutabilis seréps?: inmutabili » 2 occidit

GF: occidet cet, 4-5 rotunditatis scrifs7; rotunditas w 5-6 initium
sit quod sit BAZP (aliter ut quod sit inicium volubilitatis ignores superscript,
man. recent, B): initium quod sit ceff ; initium, si quod sit, 7homas
7-8 eaque... vertitur huc a cap. 31 transposui 7 mobilitatis scrifs¢: mobilitas —
w tempus serpsz : temporis w © divinus aeternitatis serifsi: divini-
tatis w: ‘fortasse (divinus) divinitatis’ Thomas ll et si om. BM
12-13 insensibilinm scrifs7: sensibilium w 15 lacunam post vero signifi-
cavit Goldbacher: pendet supplevit Brakman 17 divinitas (vel tis seeper-
seript, man, 2) B: divinitatis F 18 summus 7homas: summum w (vel
suum superscript. man. 2 B)
 ASCLEPIUS III 355
changeless in virtue of the unalterable law by which its motion t
is determined, revolves with an everlasting movement. That \
movement has had no beginning, and will have no end SRE
manifests itself and disappears by turns in the several parts of
the Kosmos, and that in such fashion that again and again
in the chequered course of time it manifests itself anew in those
same parts in which it disappeared before. Such is the nature
of circular movement; all points in the circle are so linked
together, that you can find no place at which the movement can
begin; for it is evident that all points in the line of movement
both precede and follow one another for ever. And it is in
this manner that time revolves.
The divine mind’ is wholly of like nature with eternity. It is 32b
motionless in itself, but though stable, is yet self-moving; it is
holy, and incorruptible, and everlasting,” and has all attributes
yet higher, if higher there be, that can be assigned to the eternal
life of the supreme God, that life which stands fast in absolute
reality.’ It is wholly filled with all things imperceptible to sense,‘
and with all-embracing knowledge;* it is, so to speak, con-
substantial ®with God.
The cosmic mind’ is the recipient*of all sensible forms and
of all kinds of knowledge of sensible things.
The (merely) human mind” is..., and is dependent on the
retentiveness of man’s memory, that is, on his remembrance
of all his past experiences.”
The divine mind ” descends in the scale of being as far as man,
but no farther; for the supreme God willed not that the
divine

? Or ‘intellect’, Sersus divinus = 6 Ocios vods,

® Incorruptus = dpOapros :sempiternus = dldos,
" Veritas = adjOeu.
as:Plenissimus omnim insensibilium = mAnpys (or TAApwpa)
vonray, dort ndvrow TOV
® Totius disciplinae = ddns émarhans? Or THs TOD Sdou Emariun
s?
® Consistens = owvupectdst
7 Sensus mundanus = 5 koopinds vous, or 6 Tov Kéopov vods,
® Receplaculum = imodoxh.
* Sensibiles species = 7a aiaOyra eidn, or at aicOyrat poppai,
10 Humanus sensus = 6 av pwrevos vods,
1) Omnium quas gesseril rerum = ndvtaw tav mempaypever,
12 Sensus divinitas = 6 Oetos vods, or % Tod vod Oedrys
voids. in the sense of é Oeios.
; =.-e
Aaa
S
3.56 ASCLEPIUS
confundi noluit, ne erubesceret aliorum commixtione
cunctis
animantium. Intellegentia enim sensus humani, qualis aut
eam enim
quanta sit, tota in memoria est praeteritorum: per
terrae. Intel-
memoriae tenacitatem et gubernator effectus est
s quae 5
lectus autem naturae et qualitatés sensus mundi ex omnibu
quae
in mundo sensibilia sunt poterit provideri. [[aeternitas
quali-
secunda est]| [ex sensibili mundo sensus (mundi) zatura
dei sola
tasque dinoscitur.’ At intellectus qualitatis sensus summi
a linea
veritas est, cuius veritatis in mundo nequidem extrem
umbra(ve) dinoscitur. Ubi enim quid temporum dimensione to
r.
dinoscitur, zbi sunt mendacia ; ubi geniturae, zbi errores videntu
aut
[[Vides ergo, 0 Asclepi, in quibus constituti quae tractemus,
ago,
quae audeamus adtingere. Sed tibi, deus summe, gratias
qui me videndae divinitatis luminasti lumine. Et vos, o Tat et
Asclepi et Hammon, intra secreta pectoris divina mysteria silentio 15
tegite et taciturnitate celate.|]
Hoc autem differt intellectus a sensu, quod intellectus noster ad
qualitatem sensus mundi intellegendam et dinoscendam mentis per-
a-
venit intentione, ‘intellectus autem mundi! pervenit ad aeternit
tem et deos noscendos qui supra se sunt. Et sic contingi t homini-
m
bus ut quasi per caliginem quae in caelo sunt videamus, quantu
possibile est per condicionem sensus humani. Haec autem intentio
prae videndis tantis angustissima est nobis ; latissima vero, cum
viderit, felicitas e(st) conscientiae. ((Vides ergo, 0 Asclepi, in qui-
bus constituti quae tractemus, aut quae audeamus adtingere. Sed
tibi, deus summe, gratias ago, qui me videndae divinitatis luminasti
5 enim
1 cunctis confundi BM PF: cunctis animantibus confundi ce//.
GL: autem ceé?t. | et qualitatis Zhomas: et qualitate BM: ex qualitate
GPL: qualitate et ¥ 6 provideri serifsé: pervideri w 6-7 aeternitas
quae secunda est hinc ad cap, 32 0 transposut. 7-8 ex sensibili... dinoscitur
seclusi. 7 natura seripsi: datusw 8 intellectus qualitatis sensus seripsé:
intellectus qualitatisque sensus 2/: intellectus qualitatis qualitasque sensus
cet. 10 umbra w, sed ve add. man. 2B 11 ibi sunt Goldbacher:
ubi sunt | ibi errores Goldbacher :ubi_ ertores (ergores B)@ — | videtur
28 prae videndis Kroll: pervidendis » | bonis
B&: videntur ceét. is
(nobis superscript. man, post.) B: nobis cett. (angustissima est pervidend
26 tuae
tantis bonis latissima 7) 24 felicitas est Avo/l: felicitate w
post divinitatis add. F
 ASCLEPIUS III 357
mind should be interfused with all things, lest it should be put
to shame by mingling with the lower animals.
The knowledge which corresponds to the character and extent
of the human mind? is based wholly on man’s memory of the
past; it is the retentiveness of his memory that has given him
dominion over the earth. The knowledge which corresponds
to the nature and character of the cosmic mind? is such as can
be procured® from all the sensible things in the Kosmos.‘ But
the knowledge which corresponds to the character of the supreme
God’s mind,’—this knowledge, and this alone, is truth;® and
of this truth not the faintest outline or shadow is discernible
in the Kosmos. For where things are discerned at intervals
of time, there is falsehood; and where things have an origin
in time,’ there errors arise.
Thought,* however, differs from mind* in this respect, that
our thought *attains by mental effort ™ to the kind of knowledge
which corresponds to the character of the cosmic mind ;" and
having come to know cosmic things, it furthermore attains to
a knowledge of eternity and the supracosmic * gods. And thus
it comes to pass that we men see, as through dark mist, the
things of heaven,"* so far as this is compatible with the conditions
of the human mind.* Our powers, when we aspire to the sight
of things so high, are limited by narrow bounds; but great
is man’s happiness when he has seen that vision. You see,
Asclepius, how lowly is our station, and how lofty are the things
of which we treat ; but to thee, O God supreme, I give my thanks,
that thou hast shed on me the light whereby I see that which

1 Intellegentia sensus humani, gualis aut quanta sit =% ywaas } kata 73 70d
avOpwmetou vod rowdy Kai rogdy 2
* Intellectus naturae et qualitatis sensus mundi = 4 wou } ward. 7d Toby
TOD KoguLKOD YoU?
8 Provideri = ropifeca:?
* Le. ‘can be acquired by observation or investigation of all things per-
ceptible by sense’ (?),
Intellectus qualitatis sensus summi dei = % yviots 4} xara 7d Toy Tod vod
Tod iwiorov Geot t
® Veritas = adjea. 1 Geniturae = yevéous,
8 Intellectus = didvora?
® Or ‘intellect’, Sersus = voids.
10 Mentis intentione =H tijs vonotews émrdce?
N dd qualitatem sensus mundi intellegendam et dinoscendum pervenit =
POdver mexpeTHs yumoews THs Kata 7d rowdy Tod KogpuKOD vod?
32 Deos gui supra se sunt = rovs inp abrov Oeous.
18 Quae in caelo sunt = Td énovparra?
M Luminasti = épwrisas,
 358 ASCLEPIUS
lumine. [Et vos, o Tat et Asclepi et Hammon, intra secreta
pectoris divina mysteria silentio tegite et taciturnitate celate.]))
33a-34a [[De inani vero . . . corporibus hominum signa.|| Vide post
cap. 18 a (pp. 316-320).
34b - |[His ergo sic se habentibus ... in ipso enim nihil tale5
consistit.]) Vide post cap. t9 a (p. 322).
34c_ [Hic ergo sensibilis qui dicitur mundus . . . quasi ex vesti-
mento esse contecta.|| Vide post cap. 19 c (p. 326).
35,36 ([Unumquodque enim genus animalium . . . imaginum simili-
tudines aemulo splendore reddentium.') Vide post cap. 17b 10
(pp. 328-330).
37 Sed iam de talibus sint satis dicta talia. Iterum ad hominem
rationemque redeamus, ex quo divino dono homo animal dictus
est rationale. Minus enim miranda, etsi miranda sunt, quae de
homine dicta sunt (cetera); omnium enim mirabilium vincit 15
admirationem, quod homo divinam potuit invenire naturam,
eamque efficere. Quoniam ergo proavi nostri multum errabant
circa deorum naturam, increduli et non animadvertentes ad
cultum religionemque divinam, invenerunt artem qua efficerent
deos ((de mundi natura conyeniente|m))); cui inventae adiunxe- 20
runt virtutem ([de mundi natura convenientem!|! ((per quaz idola et
bene faciendi et male vires habere potuissent)), eamque miscwerunt :
quoniam (enim) animas facere non poterant, evocantes animas
daemonum vel angelorum, eas indiderunt imaginibus sanctis
divinisque mysteriis [‘per quas idola et bene faciendi et male 2;
vires habere potuissent!|. Avus enim tuus, Asclepi, medicinae
primus inventor, cui templum consecratum est in monte Libyae
circa litus crocodillorum, in quo eius iacet mundanus homo, id
est corpus,—reliquus enim, vel potius totus, si est homo totus in
sensu vitae, [melior] remeavit in caelum,—omnia etiamnunc 30
hominibus adiumenta praesta¢ infirmis numine nunc suo, quae
ante solebat medicinae arte praebere. Hermes, cuius avitum
mihi nomen est, nonne in sibi cognomine patria consistens omnes

12-8 zufra:sediam ...nominibus nuncupentur cétat Augustinus De civ. det

8. 24 ef 26 183 dictus scrips? : dictum w Aug. 15 vicit & (san. 1)
et Aug.: vincit celt. 17 que post eam om. B (man. 1) et M
20 conveniente scrifs?: convenientem w Aug, 21 per quam serzpsé: per
quas w Aug, 22 miscuerunt scripsz: miscentes w Arg. 81 praestat
scrtpsi: praestans w Aug. | nunc om, F 32 ante om. Aug. — | solebat
GF: solet GA/PL: solent Aug. | praeberi Ang. 33 nonne Auz.:
non w (out. £') | patria Ag, : patriam w
 ASCLEPIUS III 359
is divine.’ [And you, Tat and Asclepius and Ammon, I bid
you keep these divine mysteries hidden in your hearts, and cover
them with the veil of silence.]
But as to these matters, let this suffice ; and let us now return 37
to the topic of man, and that divine gift of reason,? in virtue of
which man is called a rational animal.? Marvellous is all that
I have told you of man; but one thing there is, more marvellous
than all the rest; for all marvels are surpassed by this, that man
has been able to find out how gods can be brought into being,‘
and to make them. Our ancestors were at first far astray®from
the truth about the gods; they had no belief in them,’ and gave
no heed to worship and religion. But afterwards, they invented
the art of making gods out of some material substance’ suited
for the purpose. And to this invention they added a supernatural
force whereby the images might have power to work good or
hurt, and combined it with the material substance;* that is to
say, being unable to make souls, they invoked® the souls of
daemons,” and implanted ™ them in the statues by means of certain
holy and sacred rites. We have an instance in your grandfather,
Asclepius, who was the first inventor of the art of healing, and
to whom a temple has been dedicated in the Libyan mountain,
near the shore of crocodiles. There lies the material man,"
that is, the body; but the rest of him,—or rather, the whole
of him, if it is conscious life’ that constitutes a man’s whole
being,—has returned to heaven. And to this day he renders
to the sick by his divine power all the aid which he used to
render to them by his medicinal art. Again, there is my grand-
father Hermes, whose name I bear. Has he not taken up his
abode in his native city, which is named after him,!® and does
he not help and safeguard all mortal men who come to him

1 Videndae divinitalis = rod rd Oeiov ideiy.

2 Ratio = doywpés? 3 Animal rationale = doyucdv (Gor.
* Divinam invenire naturam = bedv yéveow ebpeiv 4
5 Quoniam errabant = émel (or éwadi) memAavnpévor Foav.
9 Increduli = dmoro évres.
1 Mundi natura = ddunh ris pois.
* Cui inventae ... . eamgue miscuerunt, Perhaps something like this:
rotry 5¢ 7& eipnuat: mpocebecay dperny (or Suvapiv) twa b’ Fs ZpedAr€ TA eldwra
ioxiv e€eww Tod eb re Kal naxds moreiv, Kal Tadryy cuverépacav* énet yap K.7.A.
® Evocantes = éxnadtoavtes ?
10 Daemonum vel angelorum = Sarpdvev ? N Tndiderunt = evédecav !
12 That is, in the Fayum.
13 Mundanus homo = 6 tdeds dvOpwmos.
Senses vitae = 9 Cory ebrPyats? 1 Viz, Hermopolis.
| 360 ASCLEPIUS
mortales undique venientes adiuvat atque conservat? Isin vero
Osiri(di)s quam multa bona praestare propitiam, quantis obesse
scimus iratam! Terrenis etenim diis atque mundanis facile est
irasci, utpote qui sint ab hominibus ex utraque natura facti atque
conpositi. Unde contigit ab Aegyptiis haec sancta animalia 5
nuncupari, colique per singulas civitates eorum animas, quorum
sunt consecrata (quasi imagines) viventes, ita ut et eorum legibus
incolantur et eorum nominibus nuncupentur. Per hanc causam,
o Asclepi, quod ((quae)) aliis [[quae!! colenda videntur atque
veneranda, apud alios dissimiliter habentur, [ac] propterea bellis 19
27d se lacessere Aegyptiorum solent civitates. ((Consecraduntur vero
qui terrae dominantur, et conlocabuntur in civitate in summo
initio Aegypti, quae a parte solis occidentis condetur, ad quam
terra marique festinabit omne mortale genus.—As¢c/. Modo tamen
hoc in tempore ubi isti sunt, o Trismegiste >—Zism. Conlocati 15
sunt in maxima civitate in monte Libyco.—))
38a Asc. Et horum, o Trismegiste, deorum, qui terreni habentur,
(evocatio) cuiusmodi est [qualitas!?—7Zrism. Constat, o Asclepi,
de herbis, de lapidibus, et de aromatibus divinitatis naturam in
se habentibus. Et propter hanc causam sacrificiis frequentibus 20
oblectantur, hymnis et laudibus et dulcissimis sonis in modum
caelestis harmoniae concinentibus, ut illud quod {caeleste]
((inlectum in idola)) est caeleste, us(u) et frequentatione (cultus)
((laetum)), [[inlectum in idola}] possit [[laetum]] humanitatis
patiens longa durare per tempora. Sic deorum fictor est homo. 23

1 Isin 5 e¢ Aug.: ipsi B: ipsa VG 2 Fortasse Osiridis (coniugem)

4 ex utraque natura GL (ex corr.) et Aug. : extraque naturam celt, 5 con-
tigit Aug.: contingit codd. Ascl. 7 consecratae (ex corr.) M et Aug.:
consecrata cef/, | et om. M et Aug. 8 incoantur 2: inchoentur 7:
incolantur ce¢t. 10 ac propterea (h anfe ac eras.; ea fost propter add,
man. post.) B: hac propterea AZ; ac propterea ceét. 11-16 Cap. 27d
Marhomtura "10 didalethsaanmam
We diveiens suunion wont
B: vim divinitatis naturalem 5 23 cacleste, usu sevifs¢:caelesti usu man. 2
B et ed. Rone, ; caelestius cett.
 ASCLEPIUS III 361
from every quarter? And Isis too, the wife of Osiris,|\—do we
not know how many boons she confers when she is gracious,
and how many* men she harms when she is angry? For
terrestrial and material* gods are easily provoked to anger,
inasmuch as they are made and put together by men out of both
kinds of substance. And hence it has come about that the sacred
animals are recognized as such‘ by the Egyptians, and that
in the several cities of Egypt people worship the souls of the
men to whom these animals have been consecrated® as living
statues;° so that the cities are governed by the laws which
those men made,’ and bear their names. Thus the same animals
which some cities think it right to worship and revere are in
other cities held in small esteem; and this, Asclepius, is the
reason why the cities of Egypt are wont to make war on one
another. Moreover, in time to come the rulers of the land will 27d
be made gods, and their worship will be established® in a city
at the very border of Egypt, a city which will be founded towards
the setting sun, and to which men of every race will speed
by land and sea.°—Ase/, But tell me, Trismegistus, where are
such deified rulers to be found in our own day ?—TZyrism, Their
worship is established in the great city in the Libyan mountain.—
Asci. And these gods who are called ‘terrestrial ’,Trismegistus, 38a
by what means are they induced to take up their abode among
us?"—TZyism. They are induced, Asclepius, by means of herbs
and stones and scents which have in them something divine."
And would you know why frequent sacrifices are offered to do
them pleasure, with hymns and praises and concord of sweet
sounds that imitate heaven’s harmony? These things are done
to the end that, gladdened by oft-repeated worship,” the heavenly
beings who have been enticed into the images may continue
through long ages to acquiesce in the companionship of men,
Thus it is that man makes gods.
} Isin Osiridis = "low iy 708 ’Ooiptdos (yuvaixa).
2 Quantis = boas. 8 Tervent = enbyen: mundani = drucol?
4 ee = évopdgea@a, which may have been wrongly substituted for
voulCea@ar.
® Consecrata = dquepwpéva. Cf. Diod. 1. 83. 1: wept ray ddrepwpéven Couv,
S Imagines viventes = cixéves Oca.
" Ita ut corum legibus incolantur = bore kara tods ixelvan vdpous
olxotyrat
ai wédes. 8 Conlocabuntur = tpvO%covrat, or Kahdpubjcovrat,
® Viz. Alexandria. 1 Evocatio = éxxdqass,
'l Divinitatis naturam = Oclay qiaw, or THs Getas Te picews,
* Usu et frequentatione cultus = ty rhs OpycKeias xphaoe kai muxvicer?
| 362 ASCLEPIUS
38b Et ne putassis fort(e) ivritos effectus esse terrenorum deorum
o Asclepi: dii caelestes inhabitant summa caelestia, unusquisque
ordinem quem accepit conplens atque custodiens ; hi nostri vero,
singillatim quaedam curantes, quaedam sortibus et divinatione
| praedicentes, quaedam providentes hisque pro modo subvenientes, 5
| humanis amica quasi cognatione auxiliantur. (Ita) ((caelestes dii
catholicorum dominantur, terreni incolunt singula.))—
39 Ascd. Quam ergo rationis partem eappévy vel fata incolunt,
o Trismegiste? [ante] {[caelestes dii catholicorum dominantur,
terreni incolunt singula.||—Z7ism. Quam cipoppévqv nuncupamus, 10
o Asclepi, ea est |[necessitas]] ((effectrix rerum)) omnium quae
geruntur semper sibi catenatis ((necessita(ti)s)) nexibus vincta(e).
Haec itaque est [aut] [[effectrix rerum]] aut deus summus, aut ab
ipso deo qui secundus effectus est [deus|, et omnium caelestium
terrenarumque rerum firmata divinis legibus disciplina. Haec 15
itaque elpappém et necessitas ambae sibi invicem individuo
conexae sunt glutino; quarum prior ¢apyévy rerum omnium
initia parit, necessitas vero cogit ad effectum quae ex illius pri-
mordiis pendent. Has ordo consequitur, id est textus et dis-
positio temporis rerum perficiendarum. Nihil est enim sine 20
ordinis conpositione ; {[in omnibus mundus iste perfectus est]|
ipse enim mundus ((vel maxime)) ordine gestatur, vel totus
1 forte irritos serzpsz : fortuitos w © ante seciusi: vel (an)ne man. 2 B:
aut Z: si /: ante cetd, 12 vinctae scripsé :,vincta w 14 et scripsi:
aut w 17 quarum GF: quorum cett. 18 cogit ad effectum man.2B
et ed. Rom. ; cogit adfectum man.1 Bet M: cogit affectum vel effectum ceft.
21 in omnibus. . . perfectus est Ainc ad cap. 40b transposut 22 vel
maxime /iuc a cap. 40 a transposui

18-21 ' Haec ilaque est . . . sine ordinis conpositione.’

Lydus De mensibus (Wuensch) 4. 7 :
4 O& eipappévn éori(v) [kal 4 eluapri] [[evépyera]] 4 adres
5 Beds, 4H) per’ exeivov® reraypéry ((évépyeta)), Kai mévrov
odpavloy re Kal émryelov pera ris avdyKns (kara Octo
vopor) régis. (. . +) Kal } pev atrds Kbeu Tas dpxds Tov
mpaypdrov, y ot Katavaykdfe Kal Ta TéAn yiver Oat.
ravras 8 dxodoube? réfis [Kal vopos] (...). Kal (yap) oddev
aTaKTov.
® exeivoy scripst: exeivny Wuensch. » wal seripsé: natd Wuensch.
 ASCLEPIUS III 363
And you must not suppose, Asclepius, that the operations ' 38 b
of the terrestrial gods are to no purpose.’ The celestial gods
dwell in the heights of heaven, and there each one of them
unswervingly accomplishes the part assigned to him® in the
ordering of the Kosmos; but these our gods on earth below
see to things* one by one, predict events by means of sacred e
e
a

lots and divination, foresee what is coming and render aid

accordingly; they assist, like loving kinsmen, in the affairs of
men. Thus the celestial gods rule over things universal; the
terrestrial gods administer® particulars.
Asi, But tell me, Trismegistus, what part of the government *g9
of the universe is administered by Destiny ?’—Z+ism. That which
we name Destiny, Asclepius, is the force by which all events
are brought to pass;* for all events are bound together in a
never-broken chain by the bonds of necessity. Destiny then
is either God himself, or else it is the force which ranks next
after God; it is the power which, in conjunction with Necessit
y,
orders all things in heaven and earth according to God’s law,
Thus Destiny and Necessity are inseparably linked together and
cemented* to each other. Destiny generates the beginnings
of things; Necessity compels the results to follow. And
in
the train of Destiny and Necessity goes Order, that
is, the
interweaving'° of events, and their arrangement” in
temporal
succession. There is nothing that is not arranged in order;
it is by order above all else that the Kosmos itself is borne
upon its course; nay, the Kosmos consists wholly of
order.

1 Effectus = wvéipyea, 2 Trritus = pdracos?

® Ordo = rafis: complens atgue custodiens = éxmAnpav kat
* Quaedam ... quaedam = 7d piv... 7a BE. puddtrav,
5 Incolunt = d:oKxodor. ® Ratio = oixovopla?
7 eluappévy vel fata = 4 efpappévn alone, or 9 elpappévn H
* Effectrix rerum omnium quae seruntur = 4 &vepyoica af Mofpar?
° Conexae sunt glutino = ouyKexdAAnvrat,
navra 7a yryvdpeval
© Textus = ovpmdoxh, or émmoxh.
Dispositio = &idBeos? Rerum berficiendarum = rév dmoredou
pévaw?
2 Gestatur = pépera?
 364 ASCLEPIUS
constat ex ordine. ((Prima ergo cipapyévy est, quae iacto
r neces-
velut semine futurorum omnium sufficit prolem: sequitu
effectu m vi cogunt ur omnia: tertius ordo, textum
sitas, qua ad t.))
servans earum rerum quas civapyé vy necessi tasque disponi
tria, <ipoppé y, necessi tas, ordo, {[vel maxime ]] dei 5
4oa Haec ergo! lege et ratione
nutu sunt effecta, qu’ mundu m gubern at sua
m est
divina. Ab his ergo omne velle aut nolle divinitus aversu
commov entur nec flectun tur gratia, sed
totum; nec ira etenim
serviunt necessitati rationis aeternae, quae [aeternitas] inaversibilis,
inmobilis, insolubilis est. [[Prima ergo cipappévy est, quae iacto
velut semine futurorum omnium sufficit prolem ;sequitur neces-
textum
sitas, qua ad effectum vi coguntur omnia: tertius ordo,
t. ]]
servans earum rerum quas cipappévy necessitasque disponi iste
40b ([Haec ergo est aeternitas (in omnibus (quibus) mundus fixa
perfectus est)): [|quae nec coepit esse nec desinet ]] qué,
inmutabili(s) lege currendi, sempiterna commotione versatur,
alternis
((quae nec coepit esse nec desinet,)) oriturque et occidit isdem
[isaepe]] per membra, ita ut variatis temporibus ((saepe))
quibus occiderat membris oriatur. Sic est enim rotundita(ti)s sit
volubilis ratio, ut ita sibi coartata sint cuncta, ut initium quod
volubilitatis ignores, cum omnia se semper et praecedere videantur
et sequi.||
4oc Eventus autem vel fors insunt omnibus permixta mun-
danis. (. . .)
* * * % *
27e ((Et haec usque eo narrata sint. De inmortali vero et de 35
mortali modo disserendum est: multos enim spes timorque
6 qui unus F et ed.
1-4 prima. ..disponit uc a cap. 40a transposti
Rom. : quae vel que cett, 14-22 Cap. 40b (hacc ergo... et sequi) Aine
transposut : vide post cap. 32 2 (Ps 352) 25 sqq.: cap. 27e-29b (et haec
...stell as inlumina t) Ase transpo se 25 sint man. fost, B: sunt cett.
|et seripsé : aut w
nn

25-6 infra ‘de inmortali ... . sensus interitus’ = Stob. 4. 52.47, Vol. V,
p. 1087 Hense:
‘Epyod x ray mpds “AgKAnmédr.
mept d& rod (OvnTod Kal Tob a)bavdrou viv Aexréov" Tods
yap Toddods 6 Odvaros poBet as Kakdv péylorov, dyvoig
rob mpéyparos. Odvaros yap ylyverat Staddoei ® KkapovTos
cdparos, Kal tod dpiOpod mAnpwdértos "cév appdv Tob
cdpatos: apOpss ydp eorw 1 appoyh Tod céparos'.»
Gmobvicce: 8 73 cpa bray pyxére SvvnTare pépew "roy
dvOperov'.4 Kal rodro ~ott Odvaros, diddvors odpartos
kai dpavtopos aicOjocws copariKns.
 ASCLEPIUS III 365
Of these three, the first is Destiny, which sows the seed, as it

were, and thereby gives rise to all that is to issue from the seed

thereafter; the second is Necessity, by which all results are

inevitably compelled to follow; and the third is Order, which

maintains the interconnexion of the events which Destiny and

Necessity determine. But Destiny, Necessity, and Order, all 4oa

three together, are wrought by the decree! of God, who governs

the Kosmos by his law and by his holy ordinance.2 Hence

all will to do or not to do is by God’s ruling wholly alien from

them. They are neither disturbed by anger nor swayed by

favour ;* they obey the compulsion of God’s eternal ordinance,

which is inflexible, immutable, indissoluble.

Yet chance or contingency‘also exists in the Kosmos, being 40c

intermingled with all material things... .

ok os * ok *

But enough of this. I must now speak of the mortal and 27e
immortal parts of man. The many are afraid of death, thinking

1 Nutus = vedya,
2 Lex = vopos: ratio = dMdbyos. 8 Gratia = xdpis.
4 Eventus vel fors = rixn? or Td cvpBeBnnds Kat 4 tdxn?
® Mundana = ira?

*® Radvoe scripsi: dutAvors codd.

» Fortasse rod apiBuod mAnpabévros rav [ ] erav ep’ & Srapéver @) 4
Gppoy? Tod cdparos.
© Sivnra Halm: divara codd,
4 Fortasse roy dvOphmvoy Biov,
 366 ASCLEPIUS
verae rationis ignaros. Mors enim efficitur
mortis excruciat,
conpleti ‘quo!
dissolutione corporis labore defessi, et numeri
aptantur;
corporis membra in unam machinam ad usus vitales
posse desti-
moritur enim corpus, quando hominis vitalia ferre
sensus ou
terit. Haec est ergo mors, corporis dissolutio et corporalis
interitus :de qua sollicitudo supervacua est. Sed est alia neces-
.—
saria, quam aut ignoratio aut incredibilitas contemnit humana
posse
Ascl. Quid est, 0 Trismegiste, quod aut ignorant aut esse
28 diffdunt?—Zrism. Audi ergo, o Asclepi. Cum fuerit animae e
corpore facta discessio, tunc (fiet) arbitrium examenque meriti
-

eius. Transiet (enim) in summi daemonis potestatem: isque

eam cum piam iustamque perviderit, in sibi conpetentibus locis
manere permittit; sin autem delictorum inlitam maculis vitiisque
oblitam viderit, desuper ad ima deturbans procellis turbinibusque
aeris igni et aquae saepe discordanti|bu's tradit, u¢ inter caelum 1
et terram mundanis fluctibus in diversa semper aeternis poenis
agitata rapiatur: ut in hoc animae obsit aeternitas, quod sit
inmortali sensz aeterno supplicio subiugata. Ergo ne his in-
e:
plicemur, verendum, timendum, cavendumque esse cognosc
sed
incredibiles enim post delicta cogentur credere, non verbis,
exemplis, nec minis, sed ipsa passione poenarum. ((Praescia

omnium rerum divinitate, pro delictorum qualitatibus,

etenim
perinde ut sunt, reddentur poenae.))—As¢/. Non ergo, Trisme-
giste, hominum delicta sola humana lege puniuntu r
?— Zrism.

Primo, Asclepi, ((sunt mortalia)) terrena quae sunt omnia |{sunt

2 desolutione (vel dis- man. 2) B: desolatione M | Fortasse numeri

ad) quo(s)
conpleti (= Tod dpi@pod mrnpwbévros, gen. abs.) (annorum 2B: sed et
3 vitalis (-es man, post.) B: vitales ceft. 6 sed est man,
cett. 15 igni BAZP: ignis GPL | discordantis scrifs?: discordantibus
o | traditut inter Velcanins :traditur inter BMLG: traditur ut inter
man, 2 B: tradit atque inter 7 17 rapiatur B: raptatur cell.
18 sensu scrips? : sententia » 21-23 praescia.. . poenae hac transposit,
mutato verborum ordine
 ASCLEPIUS III 367
it the greatest of evils, through ignorance of the truth. Death
comes to pass through the dissolution of a worn-out body, and
takes place at the completion of the number of years for which
the bodily parts are coadjusted to form a single instrument for
the discharge of the vital functions; for the body dies when
it is no longer able to sustain the stress of human life. Death
then is the dissolution of the body, and the cessation of bodily
sense ;and about this we have no cause to be troubled. But
there is something else, which demands our anxious thought,
though men in general disregard it through ignorance or un-
belief.—Asci. What is it, Trismegistus, that men do not know
of, or do not believe to be possible?—TZyism. I will tell you,
Asclepius. When the soul has quitted the body, there will be
held a trial and investigation of its deserts. The soul will come
under the power of the chief of the daemons.’ When he finds
a soul to be devout and righteous, he allows it to abide in the
region which is suited to its character; but if he sees it to be
marked with stains of sin, and defiled with (incurable) vices,
he flings it downward, and delivers it to the storms and whirlwinds
of that portion of the air which is in frequent conflict with fire
and water, that? the wicked soul may pay everlasting *penalty,
being ever swept and tossed hither and thither between sky and
earth by the billows of cosmic matter.‘ And so° the everlasting*
existence of the soul is to its detriment in this respect, that its
imperishable faculty of feeling® makes it subject to everlasting °
punishment. Know then that we have good cause for fear and
dread, and need to be on our guard, lest we should be involved
in such a doom as this. Those.who disbelieve’ will, after they
have sinned, be forced to believe; they will be convinced, not
by words, but by hard facts, not by mere threats, but by suffering
the punishment in very deed. All things are known to God,®
and the punishments inflicted will vary in accordance with the
character of men’s offences.—Asc/, It is not true then, Trisme-
gistus, that men’s offences are punished only by human law?—
Trism. Some parts of man, Asclepius, are mortal ; that is to say,
} Summus daemon = Saponcpyns. 2 Ut = wa.
§ Aeternus = didsos, * Mundanus = tdxébs,
5 Ut = ware, ® Sensus = aicOnors,
1 [ncredibiles = oi dmorodvres.
* Praescia. ..divinitate = révrow yap 7S 0B yvupi pov évrwv, or something
of thebei ‘All things’ must here mean all men’s deeds, and especially their
evil deeds,
 368 ASCLFPIUS
a et
mortalia]|; tunc ea etiam, quae sunt corporali ratione viventi
a vivendo eadem corporum ratione deficien tia, Ea omnia ((in
poenis obnoxi a (. . .) tanto
vita)) pro vitae meritis aut delictis
post mortem severioribus subiciuntur, quanto [[in vita]] forsitan
m 5
fuerint celata, dum viverent, (delicta). [[Praescia etenim omniu
rerum divinitate reddent ur perinde ut sunt pro delicto rum quali-
0
2ga tatibus poenae.]|—Asc/. Qua(re) sunt digni maioribus poenis,
Trismegiste?—Zvism . Qui(a) damnat i humani s legibus vitam
violenter amittunt, ut non naturae animam debitam, sed poenam
) 10
pro meritis reddidisse videantur. Contra iusto homini(...))
* * * of *
33b ((Dico nunc daemonas quos credo ((in terra{m])) commorari
quos in{ter]
nobiscum, (et quos...) ((supra nos)), et [heroas]

3 vitae sec/udendum ? 3-4 Fortasse poenis obnoxia (sunt. Inmortalia

tur 7 qnare
vero quae sunt, poenis) tanto post mortem severioribus subiciun cap. 33 (dico
scvripsi: qui o 8 quia seripsi: qui 11-3 infra:
nunc... commotio) uc transposut 12-1 znfra: in aeris purissima parte
scripsi :inter aeris purissimam partem »

Lydus De mens. 4. 32 (Wuensch): dre 6 Aiyiarios

11 sgg. (cap. 33d).
‘Epyiis tv 7G Ab-yw abrod 7G nadoupévy Teel pygt
rods pev Tip@pods Trav Satpdver, év abtf th bAn mapdv-
ras, TinwpetoOar 7d avOparesov kar’ dglav" rods 8% Kabap-
y
mixots, &v TO dépi memnyéras, Tas apuxas peta Odvaro
dvarpéxew metpopévas drroxabalpew mepl tas xadaf ddes
kal mupdders Tod dépos (avas,
as of momrat wat abrds & WAdrow ty Baidu Téprapoy Kai TMupupdeyéOovra
évopaCovar*
rods St owrnpikods, mpds TH TEANVIAKG XGpp TeTaY-
pévous, drocd(eav Tas wpuxds.
Aeyouévy Tehel
Lydus De mens. 4.148: ard roy Alytariov ‘Eppiy, bs év 7
Abyw yaty obrws"
ai 8& mapaBdoa wexal tiv THs evocBeias Kavova,
may dradday&ot Tod cdpatos, mapadidovrat (rovrots) Tots
Satpoot, Kal épovrat [kara] [[rod aépos]} opevdovotpevat
xaha- —
(legendum -vépevat ?) [kal] kara ras mupades Kal
(adders (rod dépos)) (dvas,
ds of moinrat TupupheyéOovra wai Téptapoy Kahovaww,
 ASCLEPIUS III 369

firstly, all those parts of him which are of earthy substance, and
secondly, those parts of him also which live their life after the
manner of the body,‘ and likewise cease from life after the manner
of the body. All these parts are liable to punishment in this life,
so far as the man has deserved punishment by his offences.
But man’s immortal part is subject to punishment after death;
and that punishment is all the more severe, if his offences chance
to have escaped detection ®during his life on earth.—Asc/, But 29a
why, Trismegistus, do such men deserve severer punishment ?—
Trism. Because those who are condemned by human laws are
forcibly* deprived of life, and so it is held that they have not
yielded up their life* as a debt due to nature, but have paid
by its loss the penalty which they deserved. But to the righteous
man, on the other hand,.. .
* * * * *
I say that there are daemons who dwell with us here on earth, 33b
and others who dwell above us in the lower air, and others

1 Perhaps, @vnra éoriv, & ‘Ackhymé, mpOrov piv boa yhwa, efra 52 Kai ra
KaTa Tov Tod gwparos Adyov (or Tpérov) Cavra,
2 Quanto forsitan ne celata = tay tbyxn Keppra.
8 Violenter = Braiws. * Animam = Conv, or mebya?

Lydus De mens. 4. 32: ‘ Hermes of Egypt, in his Crowning Discourse, as it

is called, says
that the daemons of punishment are present in the very matter
(of the human body ?), and punish men’s sins according to their
deserts;
that the daemons of purgation are in the air and consist of
coagulated air, and that when the souls after death are striving
to ascend, these daemons purge them in those strata of the air
which teem with hail and fire ;
and that the daemons of salvation are stationed near the lunar
sphere, and bring the souls off in safety (to the place where they
would be).’
2206 Bb
 370 Acc uPIUS
aeris purissima{m] parte{m] [[supra nos]] [et] [[in terram]], ubi nec
nubilis locus est nec nubibus, nec ex signorum aliquorum agita-
tione commotio.))
* * * * *
29b (In dei religione et in [summa] pietate praesidium est (unum) :
deus enim tales ab omnibus tutatur malis. Pater enim omnium 5
vel dominus, et is qui solus est omnia, omnibus se libenter
ostendit, non ubi sit loco, nec qualis sit qualitate, nec quantus sit
quantitate, sed hominem sola intellegentia mentis inluminans ;
qui, discussis ab animo errorum tenebris, et veritatis claritate
percepta, toto se sensu intellegentiae divinae commiscet, cuius to
amore a parte naturae quae mortalis est liberatus, inmortalitatis
futurae concipit fiduciam. Hoc ergo inter bonos malosque dis-
ta{biJt. (Ut) [unus] enim quisque pietate, religione, prudentia,
cultu, et veneratione dei clarescit, ‘quasi oculi vera ratione per-
specta et fiducia credulitatis suae’ tantum inter homines quantum 15
| sol lumine ceteris astris antistat. [Ipse enim sol non tam
magnitudine luminis quam divinitate et sanctitate ceteras stellas
inluminat}.))
* * * * *
1 et interram BA: et in terram PL: et terram G/: et aethera Kozo.
2 nec nubibus B : om. cett. 12-18 distat scripsi : distabit » 14-15 For-
tasse clarescit, ((fiducia credulitatis suae)) quasi oculis vera ratione perspecta
fet] [[ }] tantum 14 ocnlis ed, Rom.: oculia 16 inluminat w : fortasse
exsuperat

4-5 ‘in dei religione . . . tutatur malis.’ Lactantius Div. inst. 2. 15. 6:
‘ adfirmat Hermes eos qui cognoverint deum non tantum ab incursibus daemo-
num tutos esse, yerum etiam ne fato quidem teneri.
pla inquit dvdaki) eioéBea. evocBods yap advOpmmov
otre daluwv Kaxds ore efuappévn xparel Oeds yap pierax
rov eboeBR ex mavtds Kaxod, Td yap ev Kal pévoy év
avOparois éoriv dyabdv
> 4 > s >
eboéBeca.
3 4 ’

Cyrillus ¢. Zzdian. iv. 130 E, Migne vol. 76, col. 7orA: ‘ypde Se dd Kal
abrds (sc. 6 tpopéyoros “Epyijs) év 7" mpds *"AckAnmdy, wept Tav dvociay
Sarpdvar, ods Sef puddrreabai re Kal pev-yerv mporpowddyy”
pla d& gvdraxh éort, kat abrn dvayKala, 4 evoéBeca*
evocBods yap dvOpdmov kal dyvod kal cepvod ob'r' dv daipwr
ris kaxds ore eluappevn Kpatioat wore 7 apgeev. 6 Oeds
yap pterat tov Todrov, dvTa dvTws eboeBi, eK mavros
KaKod.
 ASCLEPIUS III 371
again,' whose abode is in the purest part of the air, where no
mist or cloud can be, and where no disturbance is caused by the
motion of any of the heavenly bodies.
* * * * *
(Lydus De mens. 4. 148:)* And the souls which have trans-
gressed the rule of piety, when they depart from the body, are
handed over to these daemons,’ and are swept and hurled to and
fro in those strata of the air which teem with fire and hail.
* * * * *
The one safeguard is piety.’ Over the pious man neither evil 29 b
daemon nor destiny has dominion ; for God saves the pious from
every ill. Piety is the one and only good among men. The
Father and Master of all, he who alone is all things, willingly
reveals himself to all men. He does not indeed enable them
to perceive him as situated in a certain place, or as having certain
(sensible) qualities,’ or a certain magnitude; but he illuminates*®
man with that knowledge alone which is the property of mind i
whereby the darkness of error is dispelled from the soul,* and
truth* is seen in all its brightness, and so man’s consciousness ”
is wholly absorbed in the knowledge of God ;" and being freed,
by his ardent love of God," from that part of his being which
makes him mortal,’* he is assured of his immortality in time
to come. In this consists the difference between the good man
and the bad. For in so far as a man is illumined™ by piety
and devotion, by knowledge ™ of God, and worship and adoration
of him, . . ."° he surpasses other men as much as the sun
outshines the other lights of heaven,
* * * * *

} Dico nunc daemouas &e.: perhaps, A<yw 8% dalpovas ods piv ped Hydyv
olnety Ent yijs, (ods be) imep hui (ev TO mepvycig dépr), ods BE «7A,
? Absent in the Latin text of the Asc/epins, but quoted from the Greek
cnigion! by Lydus,
Viz. the daemons who dwell in the lower air.
* Det religio et pietas = eboéBera. 5 Qualitas = motdy.
® Inluminans = pwrifav. 1 Intellegentia = yaois: mens = voos?
8 Animus = ~uoxn? ® Veritas = adjOea.
10 Or, ‘man’s thought’. Sensus = aia@nois? or vods?
MN [ntellegentia divina = Oela yvaors, or } Tod Geo wars.
* Or, ‘by his ardent desire for that knowledge (gnos7s)’. Amor = épws.
*® Or, ‘from the mortal part of the universe’.
M4 Clarescit = pwrifera? Prudentia = ywaas?
‘6 Perhaps, ‘and, in the assurance of his faith, beholds reality as though
with bodily eyes’.
Bba
 372 ASCLEPIUS

(Epilogus-)
40d rism. ‘Dictum est vobis de singulis, ut humanitas potuit, ut
voluit permisitque divinitas. Restat hoc solum nobis, ut bene-
dicentes deum orantesque ad curam corporis redeamus: satis
enim nos de divinis rebus tractantes velut animi pabulis satura-
vimus.’
41a De adyto vero egressi cum deum orare coepissent, in austrum
respicientes,—sole etenim occidente cum quis deum rogare
voluerit, illuc debet intendere, sicuti et sole oriente in eum qui
subsolanus dicitur,—iam ergo dicentibus precationem Asclepius
ait voce submissa: ‘O Tat, vis suggeramus patri /ua, e rit) ut
ture addito et pigmentis precem dicamus deo?’ Quem Trisme-
gistus audiens atque commotus ait: ‘Melius, melius ominare,
Asclepi: hoc enim sacrilegiz simile est, cum deum roges, tus
ceteraque incendere, Nihil enim deest ei, qui ipse est omnia, aut
in eo sunt omnia. Sed nos agentes gratias adoremus; hae{c]
sunt enim summié incensiones dei, gratiae cum aguntur a mor-
talibus.

10 o Tat, vis Zhomas: o tatuis man. pr. Bs o tati man. post. B et cett,
| patri tuo, e ritu ut scréfs¢: patri iusserit ut»: patri tus e ritn, ut Reitsenstein
13 sacrilegii wus 7, Kroll: sacrilegis cod, cett. 15 hae e/. Rom. : haec w
16 summi scvifs7 : summae w

12-17 ‘melius, melius . .. a mortalibus. Lactantius Div, ist, 6, 25.

11: *Trismegistus Hermes . . . in illo sermone perfecto, cum exandisset
Asclepium quaerentem a filio suo utrum placeret patri eins proferri tus et alios
odores ad sacrificium dei, exclamavit :
“Bene, bene ominare, o Asclepi: est enim maxima inpietas
tale quid de uno illo ac singulari bono in animum inducere.
Haec et his similia huic non conveniunt: omnium enim quae-
cunque sunt plenus est, et omnium minime indigens. Nos vero
agentes gratias adoremus; huius enim sacrificium sola bene-
dictio est.”’
 EPILOGUE 373

L pitogue.
Yrism. ‘T have explained each of these matters to you,' as far god
as my human powers availed, and as far as God willed and
allowed. This only remains for us to do, that we should praise
God and pray to him, and then turn our attention to the needs

of the body; for our minds have been fed full with discourse 4la

concerning things divine.’

Having come forth from the sanctuary, they began their prayers
to God, looking towards the South; for when a man wishes to
° pray to God at sunset, he ought to face southward, as at sunrise -

he ought to face eastward.? But when they had begun to pray,

Asclepius whispered, ‘Tell me, Tat, shall we propose to your

father that we should add to our prayer, as men are wont to do,
an offering of incense and perfumes??? Trismegistus heard ;
and much disturbed, he said, ‘Hush, hush,‘ Asclepius ; it is the

height of impiety to think of such a thing with regard to Him

who alone is good.’ Such gifts as these are unfit for him;
for he is filled with all things that exist, and lacks nothing.

Let us adore him rather with thanksgiving ; for words of praise?

are the only offering that he accepts.

1 Vobis, plural. * Subsolanus = dmydusrys.

8 Pigmenta (alios odores Lactant.) = dpépara,
4 Melius ominare = cipher or ebpypnoor.
5 _ uno illo ac singulard bono (Lactant,) = wept éxeivoy rdv tva nad povov
G-yabdy ovra,
8 Omnium minime indigens (Lactant.) = mavrav dnpoadens (or dveviens).
” Benedictio (Lactant.) = eddoyia,
 374 ASCLEPIUS
41b ‘Gratias tibi (agimus), summe, exsuperantissime ; tua enim
gratia tantum sumus cognitionis tuae lumen consecuti.
Nomen sanctum,
et honorandum nomin(e di)v(i)na, quod solus do{min)us es,
(e)t benedicendum religione paterna, quoniam omnibus pater- 5
nam pietatem et délectionem et amorem, et quaecumque est
dulcior efficacia, praebere dignaris,
condonans nos sensu, ratione, intellegentia :
sensu, ut te cognoverimus;
ratione, ut te suspicionibus indagemus ; 10
cognitione, ut te cognoscentes | ac /umine sal-
vati tuo ((gaudeamus)).
Gaudemus quod te nobis ostenderis totum ;
1 agimus addidit Reitzenstein 4 nomine diyino scrifsi: nomen unum w:
nomine Reits. 4-5 quod solus dominus es, et benedicendum Ssevipst : quo
solus deus est benedicendus w 6 dilectionem itrem: religionem
8 condonans GZ“: condonas BMP 11 lumine sevfsé: numine w

Cap. 41b (‘Gratias tibi' etc.) :—Papyrus magicus Mimaut (Louvre 2391)
vv, 284-302; transcripsit Reitzenstein, Archiv f. Religionswissenschaft vii
(7904s . 3938q- Prius ediderant Wessely, Denhschr. der k, Akad. der
tssensch., Philol.-hist. Classe xxxyi, Wien, 1888, Abt. 2, p. 145 5q.:
Reitzenstein, oimandres, 1904, pp. 151-157. Denuo edidit Reitzenstein, Die
hellenist. Mysterienrel., 1910, p. 113 sq. Nuper recognovit S, Eitrem, Les
Papyrus magiques grecs de Paris (Videnshapsselshapets Skrifter Il. Hist.-filos.
Klasse, 1923, No. 1), Kristiania, p. 34 sq-

(x)dpww? coi ofdaper, (SYyuore,)? Yuxs méon Kal kapoialv]

mpos (ce) dvarerapéevyiy)"*
(ri yap off povov xdpite 7d pas THS yraoeds wou
eiAnyapev.) *
(- - -) dppacrov dvopa (- - -);
reripnpévov (St) (rH) Tod Oeod mpoonyopia, (ort od povos
el kdptos,)
kai evAroyotpevoy Th Tod (marp)éc, Sr(t)® m(po)s mavras
kal mepi wévrals|’ marpixiy (ed)vorav® Kal oropyhy
kal giriav, Kal ef ts) ydukvré(paly], evepy(ele)
ér(e)d(€)igw,°
xapiodpevos ripiv’? vodv, (Ady)ov,!! yraou"
vooy pév))2 iva oé vorowper,
Nbyor (dé), (als ot emikadréowper,
yoow (86)! wa ot emyvd(vtes Kai 7G part cov
owbévres xal\poper.
xa(lpouey bri! ceavrov jpiv eeigas (ddov)1®
 EPILOGUE 375
‘We thank thee, O thou Most High’, with heart and soul wholly 41 b
uplifted to thee;
for it is by thy grace alone that we have attained to the light,’
and come to know thee.’
We thank thee, O thou whose name no man can tell,
but whom men honour by the appellation ‘God’, because
thou alone art Master,
and bless by the appellation ‘Father’, because thou hast
shown in act* toward all men and in all things loving-kind-
ness and affection such as a father feels, nay, yet sweeter
than a father’s ;
for thou hast bestowed on us mind, and speech, and know-
ledge:
mind, that we may apprehend thee;
speech, that we may call upon thee;
and knowledge, that having come to know thee, and found
salvation in the light thou givest, we may be filled with
gladness.
We are glad because thou hast revealed thyself to us in all
thy being ;
' Exsuperantissine might stand for brepoxwrare; but perhaps it is an
alternative translation of tore,
2 Tantum=povov? Or tantunt lumen=rtocodrov pas, ‘ this great light’ ?
* The translator must have read evepyeia (efficacia) as a nominative,

1 ydpw Wessely |? tore add. Retts. [> puxg macy Kai Kapdia
mpds oe avarerapévy Sceipst : Yuxy wage Kat Kapdiav mpos . . avarerapevny Pap. :
on, Reitz. 1910 fi(75 vee of pdvov - - - cinyaper.) addidi: (of yap
x4pirt robro Td pis THs ywuwoews EAaBopev) add. Reits, [5 +9 Retz.
| © rH 70d marpds, Bre mpds scripsi: TH ToD warpds (npookAhcet), bre pds
Reits.: tm To ..ovog.w..s Pap, teste Reitz. tn tov... ov og. mp.
Pap., teste Hitrem. (Nescio an magus perperam scripserit Oeod pro marpés, et
bow (?) pro bri) 7 wat mept wavra scripst: kat mpos wavras Pap.: nat pds
adaas Reitz. |8 ebvorav Wessely | * wad ef tis -yAuxvrépa, evepyeia evedelgw
scripst: Kas emvyAuwuTa,.y evepy ... evditw Pap, teste Kitrem : wat énvyrunv-
Tarny evepyeay evedei~w Keits. | 2° jpiv Retts.: iptv Pap. | # Aé-yor
Reitz. | 2 per Rests. |18 §€, iva Reits. | 14 8é add. Retts.
| 18 émeyvdvres Kal TH pori cov cwevres xalpmper. yalpouey bru scripsi: éme
WOTWPEV XA... 4. v ort Pap., tesle Kitrem: émyvivres xaipwpev, (cwbévres ind
god) xaipopev rt Reitz. | 18 eSegas (GAov) Reits,
376 ASCLEPIUS
gaudemus quod nos in corporibus sitos aeternitate (tua)
fueris consecrare dignatus. ; + : ;
Haec est enim humana sola gratulatio, cognitio maiestatis
€.
Cognovimus te, [et] (o) lumen maximum solo intellectu sensi- ou

ili(um) ;
cognovimus te, o vitae (humanae) vera vita.
((Cognovimus te)), o (matrix) [naturarum] (rerum) omnium
fecunda, (. . .) praegnatio;
cognovimus te, (0) totius naturae |tuo] conceptu plenissim(a)e -°

{[cognovimus te]] aeterna perseveratio.

In omni enim ista oratione adorantes (te solum) bonum,
bonitatis tuae hoc tantum deprecamur, ut nos velis servarZ
perseverantes in amore cognitionis tuae, et numquam ab
hoc vitae genere separari. 1§
‘Haec optantes convertamus nos ad puram et sine animalibus
cenam.’
1 aeternitate tua scrips?: aeternitati w; fortesse aeterna vita tua 5 et
om. F:; seclusit Thomas | sensibilium serépst: sensibiliw 7 cogno-
vimus scrépsz: intellegimusw | Fortasse o vita vera Chumanae) vitae
8 cognovimus te Avec transposuit Reits. 9 Fortasse (per patris im)prae-
gnatio(nem gravida) 10 plenissimae Ne7tz.: plenissimti (u zw vasura
man. post.) B: plenissime cett. 13 Fortasse te precamur | servari
scripsi: servare w 16 convertamus seréfsé: convertimus w

xaipopev Ore ev mAdopacw" Huds dvras drobedoat

néloa)as'® rH ceavrolO.... i.
xdpis advOpdmov mpds ot plia) Td (cdv péyebos)
yvepicas.?
éyr(wpioap)ev (ce), & (fat) addAnbes) tis avOpo-
mivns (wns
(e)yvwpicapudy, @ pas) (peylcrov) ‘dmdons yva-
cews|,21
éyvepio(a)pev (ce), Ov]? pyrpa (mavrod)ipe?*, én
m(a)rpos pur(eyia™* (kvoica):
eyva(pl\oapev, @ (rob To may ev) ord(oet Kv(KA)o)-
gopodvros*™ aidvios dtapov7.
(ryodrw oé 1(G Aby~@)*® mpockuvicavtes (rdv pévov
ayaboy dvra, map& ths ons ayabérnros) p(n)de-
peiay airhowper (xdépw mdrrv) (r6d€ pévor) (O)EAn-
cov 27 Huds dialt)npnOqvat év TH of yr(o)o(er Kai
Ptrs)rnr(t, Kai) [7d] pH(more) opadrjvar®® rob
Totovrou (Biov).°
 a

EPILOGUE 377
we are glad because, while we are yet in the body, thou
hast deigned to make us gods by the gift of thine own
eternal life.
Man can thank thee only by learning to know thy greatne
ss.
We have learnt to know thee, O thou most brightly shining
light of the world of mind ;1
we have learnt to know thee, O thou true life of the life
of man.?
We have learnt to know thee, O thou all-prolific Womb,
made pregnant by the Father’s begetting *;
we have learnt to know thee, O thou eternal constancy of
that
which stands unmoved, yet makes the universe‘ revolve.
With such words of praise do we adore thee, who alone
art
good ; and let us crave from thy goodness no boon save
this: be it thy will that we be kept still knowing and
loving thee, and that we may never fall away from this
blest way of life.
‘Having prayed thus,® let us betake ourselves to a
meal un-
polluted by flesh of living things,’
1 Solo intellectu sensibilium = rav vonTayv,
® ‘This and the preceding clause are interchanged in the
Greek as given in the
Papyrus.
8 Praeguatio (or imipraegnatio) = pureia, 4 Totins naturae = rob wavs ?
5 Le. the bliss which is enjoyed by those who know and
love God, and which ae
E
Hermes and his pupils are now enjoying,
~§ Probably an aorist participle in the Greek, ” Aninalia = éupuya,
a ee

| 1" bre & wAdopaow Litrem (0..... Aaopoow Pap., teste Hilrem): or
év odpaow Neitz, | 8 dwodedoa Hglwoas scripsé: dreOéwoas Retts, :
an .Gew.as Pap., teste Reits.: awobew . as Lap., teste Eitrem
G€q Reitz: ceavtod duvdplee vel Gedjote) Eitrem. An ceavrod |! ceavrou
vel alawi(y (wp? aim dryre)
| %° mpds é, cod 7d pé-yeBos yopioa Reits.: mpos ce
Herd ywopoa Pap., teste Reits.: mpos ce H.-7T9.vepom
|4 eyvapioapéy ce, & pas pdvy rh vohae aig@nrév (= Pap., teste Eitrem
solo intellectu sensibile)
Reits,: . yopiape’.....anaans ywoocws Pap., teste Eitren,
Num scribendum
éyopioapée(y ae, & NaC wads (Héylorn r)hs ywhoews
(wel tov vonTayv) ?
eyropioapev oe, & Reits.: eyvapiopevov Lap. |*
Scripst : pitpa kvopépe (ndvrav) Reits.. : HyTpa....., ope phrpa mavropdpe
|** éy marpos gurela scripsit Reits., sed ad sequentia Pap., teste Eitrem
transposuit: ep 1. Tpus
pura Pap,, teste Reitz. : € pntpos puria Pap., teste Ettrem
a | ° & rod 7d

scripst: ovros ov... .. Pap., teste Eitrem : obras ofv ae Reitz.

wlav airnawper xdpi mdi (vel et pt}) réde pdvov: 6édnoov | 27 pnde-
NINTAMEV 00. scripsd: je, Bepuav
eae cAnoov Pap., teste Litrem :oddeplay yrhoapev dénow
(napa
perdrnrt, kal pymore opadjva. SCrEPSE? VTN OVW. 3 & rh of yhou rat
Teressvcces TH» 2.2 TO
bn aparnva Pap., teste Eitrem: ev tH of yeoe, Tapurndels
Reits.: ev rh on whoa TH dywrary (?) mpos (?) 7d 7d ju) opadjva
ph opornva Litren
|© rovodrou Biou scripsd: towodrov yévous rod Blov Reits,
 378

LIST OF THE HERMETIC EXCERPTS IN

Stobaeus (Wachsmuth Present edition.
and Hense).
1.29%. . . . + » « Exe. [XXVIII]
EGO 6 ee ee 6 Comp IVb
S520 4 i we » « « Exe. VIL
BRE. as we se yl hw ERG RE
“a8 ia «eo » © » Exo, Vil
BIhs x ow « > so Se]
g36. 5 « § « » @ Exo XIV
fa & os i o 9 a SURO OElE
SA ss, « eh ke Ree
Toth a ce se os « Kop TV re-arb
Tas wo us @ &, eee
1Gis2: Corp. II. 1-4
18.3 » Corp. II. 10-13
THe a Corp. II. 6 b-9
a: ea Exc. VI
4t. 1(a) . Exc. II B
4: t (b).. Exc, XI
ae. e Exc. XVI
41. 6 (a). Exc, IV B
4E61D)« » ac ak EE
Ate F ea om ont AOR, Oe
> .8i) e = s a BRGY,
41.31 $3 4 @ xe,cRoR
42.7% . Exc. XXII
us 3 . i « «» Corp. X, aab-25
9°. s a « » COM, re; 13
ee . 4 = w Corp. X. 16-18
49.3 - Exe. XX
49-4 - Exc. XVII
49. 5 Exc. IV A
49.6 (and 1%). . . « Exc. XIX
¢ & « » « Exeocxil
ADs48 2 a we » » » dee TV
40.485 & a wm a v3 3 Corps Ki7-3b
64 » « w 2 s + COrp Brad
A008 « » @ i 6 = Eo ey
«49.69 «© . » » « « Exe, XXVI
Th AO eG es > cme a Mea
Bisgt>s « oo « « « JEke BVI
13E «we 2 « § « Beets
eea 065
eae
iis
we
eh
OS
ee,
es
She
ee)
Roe
et
eS
Le
ee
ee
ea
ue
WWNNRD
RRR
RR
HHS
RH
HH
HHH
« « + « » « Hert DEVE
452-47.» . . + + « Ascel. Lat. IIL. 27¢
 379

THE ANTHOLOGIUM OF STOBAEUS

Present edition. Stobaeus.
Corp. II. 1-4 . I.
I.
18, 2 Hermes to
999 6 b-9 i: Asclepius
9» 9 IO-13 I.
— IV.rb . . T
" To-1rb. I
X. 7-8b i
12,13 . I. 47.9 }Hermes to Tat
16-18 I . 48. 3
1gab I - 49. 49
22b-25 . I ie’ S
Ascl. Lat. III. vice
e 4 + $2. 47 Hermes to Ascl.
Exc. I ‘ 2 . I. 26
9 LEA. 3
go 1 B: I
a we I
» IVA I
i LEB I
” Vv I Hermes to Tat
3 WE. I
= Wak. I
» VIII I
» IX I
» & I.
” XI Ke
« eli I
3 SLI I
5) SN 1 Hermes to
ee; I Ammon
3 ea I
I
2
I
r 49. 3 Hermes (no pupil
I SATE named
1. 42.7
I » 44
I mS |
I . 68 }Isis to Horus
I - 69
3 13. 65
1 - I. 29% Apophthegm
I » 5. 14 Verses
 STOBAEI HERMETICA
EXCERPTUM I
Stobaeus 2. 1, 26, vol. ii, p. 9 Wachsmuth (Floril. 80. 9
Meineke).
‘Eppod €x TON mpos Tar.
1 @cdv vofjoa piv xarerdv, ppdou d& ddivarov B kal
vonoa duvaréy. 1d yap [dodparov cdpart onpfvar adv-
varov, kal Td] TéAetov TO aredret xaradaBécba ‘od duvarév',
kal 7d didtov TB ddvyoxpoviy cvyyevécOar SboKodov. Td wey §
yap del ort, rd d& mapépxerau Kai rd py ddyOés eort,
7d & id gavracias “oxidfera’. [dcov odv Td dobevé-
arepov Tod iayvporépov Kal rd edartov Tod Kpeirrovos
2 diéornxe,| Tooodrov (diéornke) Td Ovytov rob Oeiov. 4 88
péon Ttovroy didotacts dyavpol tiv Tob Kado} Oéav. 10
6pOadrpois piv yap Ta cdpara Oeard [yharry de Ta dpard
Aexrd} 7d 88 dodparov kal dpaves kai doxnpudrictoy Kal
py & Orns “Sroxelpevoy' bmd rdv perépov aicOjocov
karadnpojvar od divara. ‘évvoobipat, @ Tér, évvoodpar 3
égerreiv adddvarov: TodTo Eoriv 6 Oeés.' 15,
Codices Stob.; S (saeculi xi ineuntis), M (saec. xii ineuntis vel xi
extremi), A (saec. xiv), B (saec. xvi).
Pseudo-Justinus Cohortatio ad gentiles 38 (Otto, Tom. Il, Opera Justine
addubitata, 1879): 'Eppod . . .A€yov7os' ‘* Oedy vonaar pév o7t XaAendv, ppdoat
Be abbvarov @ Kat vojoa duvardv.”
Lactantius Zpétome 4. 5 (Brandt): ‘Huius (sc. Hermae Trismegisti) ad
filium scribentis exordium tale est: “Deum quidem intellegere difficile est,
eloqui vero inpossibile, etiam cui intellegere possibile est: perfectum enim ab
inperfecto, invisibile a visibili non potest conprehendi.”?’
Cyrillus contra Julianum 1. 31 (Migne Patr. Gr. 76. 549): 6 5€ Yy¢
popeyotos ‘Eppis ottw mas gnoit “Gedy vopom pev xaheriv . . . ind
pavracias omdcera, baw odv 7d dabevéorepov Tov icxuporépou Kal TO EAarrov
00 xpelrrovos diéatHKE, TocodTov 7d vyTov Tod Oelov Kal dBavdrov.”
1 é« ray scripsi: om. S: é« rot codd. cett. 2 vonoa perv Cyril.,
Stob. A: vofica péy tort Ps,-Just.: pev vojoa Stob, SM: guidem intellegere
(i.e. pév vonoar) Lact. 2-3 & wai vopoa dwardy Ps.-Just.: edfame cut
intellegere Fp est (i.e. wat B v. 8.) Lact.: ef ai v. 3, Cyril.(Aubert) : sé cud
etiam intelligere possibile (i.e. ef ry kal v. 8.) Cyril. (Qecolampadius) : om, codd.
Stob. 3 nat 7d Stob, A: 7d yap cett. | cupBAva Stob. A: onpijva Stob.
codd. cett, et Cyril. 3-4 dowparov... «at 7d codd, Stob. et Cyril.; om. Lact.
 STOBAEUS
EXCERPT I
An extract from the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.

To conceive God is difficult ; and to describe Him is impossible, y

even if one is able to conceive Him. For it is not easy for that
which is imperfect to apprehend that which is perfect, and it is
hard for that which is of short duration to have dealings with
that which is everlasting. The one ever is, the other passes ;
the one is real, the other is but shadowed forth by sense-picturing.
So widely is that which is mortal separated from that which is
divine. And the wide interval between them dims men’s vision 2
of the Beautiful. With our eyes we can see bodies ; but that
which is incorporeal and invisible and without shape, and is not
composed of matter, cannot be apprehended by senses such
AS Ours). « 5%

2 Perhaps, ‘ When I have in my mind a conception of this, my son’, (viz. of

‘that which is ineorporeal ’, &c,,) ‘I have a conception which it is impossible
to express in words; and snch is God’ (i.e. God is incorporeal, &c., and
therefore, is something that cannot be told in words).

4 Post dredet add. cnvisibile a visibilié (i.e. nal 1d déparov ro éparé) Lact.
| karadaBéoGa codd, Stob.: «aradrapBdvecda Cyril.: conprehendi (ie. wara-
AapBavecGat?) Lact. : fortasse naradaBeiv | ob duvardv codd. Stob. et Cyril.:
non potest (i.e. ov Sivarat) Lact.: fortasse obi edyepés 5 ovyyevéotar codd
Stob., Cyr (Aub.): sempiternum conferre (i,e. cwvevéynacOat %) creme momen-
taneo Cyril. (Oeccol.) 70 pév Stob, B, Cyril.: 6 piv Stob, SMA
6 ddnbés Cyril. : dAndera Stob. A: dAnGela Stob. codd, cett. 7 oxdlera
codd. Stob., Cyril. (Aub.): adumbratur Cyril. (Oecol.): fortasse oK.aypapetrat
| bow obv 7d Cyril. (Aub.): quantum igitur (i.e. bcov oby 70) Cyril. (Oecol.) :
70 8 codd. Stob. 9 rogotrov Cyril. (Aub.): ¢asdtum etiam (i.e. rooodrov
xat) Cyril. (Oecol.): rogotrov Saev codd. Stob. | 70 @vnrév rod Gelov codd.
Stob.: 7d @vyyrdv rob Pelov wat ddavdrou Cyril, (Aub.): @ adivino et immortali
moriale (i.e, ToU Geiou nat dBavdrou 7d bynrdv) Cyril. (Oecol.) | Post Gelov xat
a@avarov addit Cyrillus «i ris ody dodparos bpOaduds. . . pajre €avTd dydporoy
(vide Zestim.); quod videtur aliunde sumptum esse 10 péon codd.:
peony) Usener: fortasse dd pécou 13 p7) B: phre SA: pnd? Meineke,
Wachsm. |ovyweipevov Meineke, Fortasse pi) é¢ Gdns bo eards wnde ex
atotxeiwy ouryKelpevov |Ante éwd add. wat A 14-15 &vootpa. ..
6 Oeds om. B. Fortasse (rod70) évvootipe(vos), @ Tar, evvoodua d egerneiv
adivarov' r(o1)odro(s 5é) ory 6 Beds 15 ddvvaroy A: ob dwvardy S
 382 STOBAFI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM IIA

Stobaeus 3. 11. 31, vol. iii, p. 436 Hense (Floril. 11. 23

Meineke).
‘Epuod €x rav mpos Tar.
1 [lept ddnOelas, & Tér, obk ort Svvardy (Kar’ dgiav
clreiv) dvOpamov dvra, (Gov aredés, && dredav ovyKelpevov
pepav, kal e€ dddorplav copdrov Kal mo\AG@v TO oKHvos
(éxovra) ouveorés [roApioavra eimeiv} 8 6é éort Suvarév ee

[} Sixacov], Toro dyul, ddpOerav elvar ev pévors Tots audios

2(cdpuacw] (...) ‘ov. Kal r& (didia) cdpara atta (wey
kab’ abra) ddnOA éort, wip abrémup [pdvor Kal obdev E20},
yi abréyn [kal obdéy GAdo], ahp abrodynp, Udwp abrovdwp
[kal ovdév dAdo}. 7a OF Hpérepa odpara éx mévTwv ToUT@Y
ouvéornker” &xer piv ydp (rt) mupés, exer 5 Kal yijs [Exe]
kal tdaros Kal dépos Kal obte mop éorww (ev adrois adnbés)
obre yh obre Bdwp ore drip, ore obdety adnbés. ef dE mi}
Thy apxiv 4 ovotacis Huav Eoxe Ti adnbeav, mas av
Sivaro adpOeav 7 ideiv 4} etreiv; [vojoa de (dvvaror) Cal5
pévov éav 6 Beds Gédp.]
3 mdvra obv, & Tédr, Ta éml yas adnOi pev ovk Eore ris de
adnbelas piptpara [kal] od mdévra, ddéiya dé. [radra] (ra
88) dra webdos kal mrdvos, & Tér, [kai ddgat,] (ex) pavra-
4 ctas [xabdmep ecixdves] cvveotdra. Srav 3 dvwbev thy °
4

érippoay exn ) pavtacia, tis ddnbelas ylyverat plunots.

xopis 8 THs dvabev évepyctas, Webdos Karadelrerat’
kabdmrep kal eixdy [[rd [[uev]] cSpal] () ev) TH ypagt
defxvuor ((pev)) [ladriy d& od« ore cGpal] Kara [riv]
gavraciay ((r5 c&pua)) Tod dpwpévov, (adr) Se ovK éoTt
capa.) Kal dpbadrpodr s piv ép@rar txovoa, Brera de
obdév: (kal dra,) dxover St oddév Sas: Kal ra ddda mdvTa
éxer wav } ypadi, yevdh dé [éo71], Tas TOY épdvTov dyes
Exe. II A: codices S, M, A, L, Br.
1 ‘Eppod om. Br |zoo pro ray LBr | & r&v mpos Tar om. A
2-20 mepl ddnoeias , . . cixdves cuveorara (§§ 1-3) infra leguntur post tov det
ra (§ 15 fin.) M — 2 wept ddndcias om. LBr _ |tarov pro 3 tar L 4 pepav
scripsi: “eA@y codd, 6 dixaov S: Bixadv éorr(y) cett, Fortasse Sieasov
(yap) cceahennnns civeiv)) post TovTo pypt 7 chpacw, dy wat 7a owpara
codd,. abrds dijp SA? 9-10 tSwp...dddAo Br: om. LSMA
— 10-13 7a 8% jpérepa...ovre dip: Lactant, Div. rst. 2. 12. 4,‘ (Trismegistus)
 EXCERPT IIA. HERMFS TO TAT 383

EXCERPT JIA

From the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.

Hlermes. Concerning reality, my son Tat, it is not possible for 1
one who is but a man to speak adequately; for man is an
imperfect creature, composed of parts! which are imperfect, and
his mortal frame is made up of many alien bodies. But what
it is within my power to say, that I do say, namely, that? reality
exists only in things everlasting . . . . The everlasting bodies, 2
as they are in themselves,—fire that is very fire, earth that is very
earth, air that is very air, and water that is very water,—these
indeed are real. But our bodies are made up of all these elements
together ;they have in them something of fire, but also some-
thing of earth and water and air; and there is in them neither
real fire nor real earth nor real water nor real air, nor anything
that is real. And if our composite fabric has not got reality
in it to begin with, how can it* see reality, or tell of reality ?
All things on earth then, my son, are unreal; but some of 3
them,—not all, but some few only,—are copies of reality. The
rest are illusion and deceit, my son; for they consist of mere
appearance. When the appearance flows in from above,‘ it 4
becomes an imitation of reality. But apart from the working
of power from above, it remains an illusion; just as a painted
portrait presents to us in appearance the body of the man we see
in it, but is not itself a human body. It is seen to have eyes,
and yet it sees nothing ; it is seen to have ears, and yet it hears
nothing at all. The picture has all else too that a living man
has, but all this is false, and deceives the eyes of those who look
1 Viz. portions of the four cosmic elements.
® Perhaps, ‘that I do say (for it is right to speak boldly), namely, that’, &c.
5 Perhaps, ‘how can we’.
* Or ‘receives the influx (of. . . 1) from above’.

nostra corpora ex his quattuor elementis constituta esse dixit a deo: habere
namque in se aliquid ignis, aliquid aeris, aliquid aquae, aliquid terrae, et neque
ignem esse neque aerem neque aquam neque terram.' 12 «al dépos S: xe
wat dépos LABr 15 dvvawro SA. Fortasse duvatueba 17 & Tar om,
LABr | GAn0@ scripsi: dn8ea codd, 17-18 rd 5% dAnOR A: ris 8
GAnOelas cett. 19 kai éfu codd. : fortasse xard Sdgay 20 Fortasse
brav pev yap 23 4 év 7H ypapj scripsi : rhs ypagphscodd. 26-6 infra:
kat dpOadrpors , .. ore vongoper or’ cigdpeba (§ 5 fiz.) om. Br 27 Kal dra
add. Flussas
 384 STOBAEI HERMETICA

é£amatavra, Tov pty SoKxovvTwv ddnOi épav, trav & as

aAnbas dvtwy wevdav.
5 Boor piv obv od’ (...), eddos dpdow (oor OE aie ae
adjOeav dpdcw. ev odv Exactoy TovTwy odTm vodpev 1)
dpapev ds Ect, adyOH Kal voodpey Kat dp@pev: edy O85
mapa rd dv, obdty adnbes offre vorjoouey ovr’ oydueba,
7(("obras' ddnbes oddev cinar ev 7H yf voy) Kai éyo(v)
[pavractar cial Kal Sdgou mévra] ddynOR vod Kal €éyo.—
Ovx ody 7d [re] GANA voeiv Kal Aéyetw, Toro adjbeaav det
6 xadeiv ;—Ti dal;)\—"Eorw obv, (&) mérep, adjOera Kal év 10
TH yi. [[Kat od« doxdras||—3pdrAn, @ Téxvov. adAnbea
piv oddapads éorw ev Th yf, & Tar, ovre yeveoOar Sivarat
mept 8& adnbeias (ddnOh) vofoa evious rav avOpdreyv, [ols
tav 6 beds tiv Ocomrixiy Swphonra Sbvapty,| [yevérOar]
7 (obdty Kodvet) [[otrws dry bes oddev Zor ev TH yj. vo0® Kal ts
héyo. Gavractat iol kal défa mdvra, adAnOA vow kai Aéyo.
—Odx obv 76 re dAnOq voeiv Kai Aéyew, TOTO dhjOeav bef
8 xareiv ;—Th Sat ;]] [rd dvra [Sei] voeiv kal éyewv] [€ore de
ovdty ddnOis éml ris yas] (Kal odK doxdres)) (elroy drt)
rodro ddnbés éort, Td ph el[Selvar pndey adrnbes evOdde. 20
9 as dv kal Sbvarro (ddnbés Tt evOd8e) yevér Oar, @ Tékvov;
4 yap adibed [redcwrdrn aperi] éorw avtd Td &kparov
dyaboy, Td ph vd Ans Oodrovpevov prjre bd omparos
meptBadddpevov, yunviv gpavév, drpemrov [wepvdv] dvad-
Aofwrov [dyabdr], Ta dt evOdde, & réxvov, od eoriv pas, 25
ddexra [robrov] rod dyabod, Plapra mabnra SiaduTa Tperrd,
10 del évadAowodpeva, dda e€ Grdov ywopeva, & ody pmre
| mpos éavt& ddnOf éatt, mds SbvatTo adnoq civat; wav yap
7d dAdotobpevoy WebSds eort, pi) wevov ev @ éort, pavtactas
8 (erarperdopevor] dAdas kal dddras émrtOeLtKVOMENON [7)pi], 3°
| 1 dAn6¥ scripsi: dAnGeay codd. 3-4 Fortasse boo piv obv pavracias
(vel pavrdcpara) spiat, pevdos dphows boo S& Ta dvTa dpHorv, ddnGeav
opaow 5 dAn07 LSM: dAndas A 6 dydueba scripsi: eiodpueba codd.
7-10 § 7 (o¥ras...Té Sat) huc transposui ty
7 Pro obras fortasse (rovTav
| obras (éxdvra) | dAnees ob5¢ LSMA | elvar scripsi : €o7w codd,
:
|vody kal A€ywr scripsi: vod al Aéyw LSMABr: vod wal Ady Trincavelli
,

vow xai Adyw Turnebus 8 clot LSMA: 8 clot Br | Gan6% vo wal Aéyw
|
om. LBr | vd xal Ady@ Turn. 10 rida SM: 76 5éLABr = | éorw
; 11 «at ovx doxdnas hinc ad § 8
ovy om, Br | & addidit Wachsm.
transposui 14 rhv Bconruciy Swphocrar L: Bophonta Ti Beommiyy A
15-18'§ 7 (otrws ... Ti 5a’) {hinc transposui: vide post § § 19 xat ob
doxénas hucia § 6, transposui 20 7d pev L: 70 pr cett. |elvan
Buecheler: efSévar codd. 22 Fortasse } ydp GAqGeia TeAcwrary aperi’
 EXCERPT IIA. HERMES TO TAT 385

at it; they think that what they see is real, but it is really an
illusion.
Those then who. . .see illusion ; but those who. . . see reality.’ 5
If then we think or see each of these things as it is, we think
and see truly ;? if we think and see them otherwise than they are,
we shall neither think nor see truly. And so, when I think and 7
say that nothing on earth is real, I am thinking and speaking
truly.— Zaz. Well then, when a man thinks and speaks truly,
is it not right to call that ‘truth’ (or ‘reality’)?—Hermes. What 6
do you infer from that ?— Zaz. If that is so, father, it follows that
there is some reality even on earth.— Hermes. You are mistaken,
my son. There is no reality on earth ; it cannot come into being
here below; but none the less it is possible for some men
to think truly about reality ; and I was not speaking unadvisedly, 8
when I said that it is true that there is nothing real here below.
How is it possible, my son, that anything real should come 9
into being on earth? For reality is the absolute and unmixed
Good ;° it is that which is not fouled by matter, nor muffled
in body ; it is bare of coverings, and shines with light undimmed ;
it is immutable and unalterable. But the things on earth, my
son,—what ‘hey are, you can see. They are not capable of
receiving the Good; they are subject to destruction and to per-
turbation ; they are dissoluble and mutable, ever altering, and
changing from one thing into another, And seeing that they 10
are not even true to themselves,‘ how could they possibly be
real? Everything that changes is illusory, because it does not }
stay in the state in which it is, but presents appearances that vary. |

1 Perhaps, ‘ Those then who see mere appearances see an illusion; but those
who see things as they are see reality’.
2 The word dA764s may mean either ‘real’ or ‘true’. I translate this word I
and its derivatives ‘ true’, ‘truly’, ‘truth’ in some phrases of this paragraph,
but ‘real’, ‘really’, ‘reality’ in the rest of the document. It is the double
meaning of the word that gives occasion for Tat’s argument.
3 Perhaps, ‘reality is the most perfect excellence; and the real is the
absolute and unmixed Good’.
4 Or ‘not real even in relation to themselves’, A thing is ‘ untrue to itself’,
or ‘unreal in relation to itself’, when it does not continue to be what it is at a
given moment.
(wat 7d dAndés) eorw x.7.A. | dxparov codd.: dxpérarov Turnebus
23-24 ind cwparos wepraryadAdperov L 25 dyadv secludi vult Meineke
25-26 épas ddexra LMBr : épacda Sexra SA Turnebus 26 rodde S: rodrov
cett. 27 pdt Meineke: pre codd. 28 was dy buvarro Meineke
29 pérov Turnebus: pévoy codd. 30 éméeevdpevov scripsi: émdetervrar
ji codd,
2806 Cc
 386 STOBAEI HERMETICA

16 (([rd d& eddos, & réxvov, pOetperat.] mavTa dé r& én

yiis pOop& karédaBe [Kal eprmepiéxer kal epumepiéger 1) Tod
GAnbods mpovoral: xwpis yap pOopas ovde yéveris Sbvarat
"ovorivat'. [mdopn d& yevéoer pOopd emerat, iva wad
yévnra (rdvra).| Te yap yeyvopeva ex TOV POetpopévew 5
avdykn yiyvecOarr pOelperOar 8% Ta yryvopeva avdykn, va
py orf 4 yéveots [tev dvtwv). [mp@rov TodToOv Snptoupyov
yrdpige] [els thy yéveow tev dvrov.| Ta odv éx pOopas
ywopeva Weds dv etn, ds more pev adda more dé dhAa
ywopeva, Ta yap adrd (wdduw) yiverOat (a)dévarov: 7d de al°
18 ph (r)adrd (dv) mas dv adn bes ein ;)) ((ucraBadrrASpeva de
edderat (kal Ta mpodvra kai] Ta dvTa. Taira pévrot obT@
vbet, & Téxvor, ds Kal Tav evdar TobTwv [évepyetdr] dvobev
jprnuévov am’ abrijs THs adnOcias: Tobrou dt obrws ExovTos,
7d Webdds pnt Tis ddyOelas evépynua elvat.))— 1
11 Oddi dvOpwros ddnOis eon, & mdrep; —Kabor e dv-
Opwros, obk éorw aAnbijs, & Téxvov. Td yap adnbés éore
(rd) [kai] ¢€ adrod povou thy oboracww Exov, kai pévov Kal?
adrd olov éoriv: 6 d& dvOpwmos éx moddGv ovvéoTyKE, Kal
od péver Kab abrév, tpémerar St kal peraBdddrcrat (els) °o
frclay & Hrrxias kal Béay ef idéas [kal tadra ere av ev
TQ over}. Kal moddol Téxva ovK eyvdproav xpovou ddfyou
12 peragd yevopévov, Kal médkw Téxva yovels dpolws. 1d ov
obras peraBardSpevov dare dyvoeiabat, (was) Sivarat adnoes
dvat, & Tér; ob todvavriov webdbs eort, év qoikidats2
ywopkvwv gdavtactas tay peraBodar; ad oh vée adnbes
[re] evar [[7d]] pdvov ((70)) [dlSiov] (det dv). 6 d¢ dvOpwros
odx torw del dpa obdt ddnbés éort, pavracia dé [eore] Tus
17 [dvOpwros]. ((pavractas obv kadeiv det [radra] ((royc
dvOpdémoyc)), & Téxvov, ef ye dpOds mporayopevoper [[rTav 30
dvOparov)| (dvOpwmbrntos pavtaciav], To [de] (nev) mrasdiov
madiov pavtaciay, Tov dt veavicxov veavicKxou gavraciav,

1-11 § 16 (7d 58 Wevdos ... GAnOés ei ;) huc transposui = 1 Fortasse 70 5é

(p0erpdpevov wav) Yebbos, b téxvov [pOelperac] |8% (ante Peb5os) om.
MA | radra (pro mavra) Turnebus 2 wepéxer A: éumepiéyer cett.
3 ddAndods om. L | xapls 8 A: xopls yap cett. 3-4 Fortasse ovd? (eis)
yea Bivara avoriva (71) 4-5 nddcyévnta S 5 ywipeva SM:
syryvopeva cett. 7 rovroy LMA: todto Br: ovv (2) roy S: odv Tov
Turnebus 8 yrepite S: ywahpife ex ywoplfas corr. A: vouece LMBr
| 7a yoo é« A 9-10 GAda yevopeva A 10 ddvvarov Turnebus : duvardv
LSMA: od divarov Br ex emend. 11 rairé dv scripsi: avrd codd.
11-15 § 18 (ueraBaddopeva . . « evepynpa elvas) huc transposui ll &
 EXCERPT IIA. HERMES TO TAT 387
And all things on earth are overtaken by destruction; for 16
without destruction things cannot come into being. The things
which come into being must needs arise out of those which are
destroyed; and the things which come into being must needs
be destroyed, in order that coming-into-being may not stop.
The things which come into being out of destruction must
therefore be illusory, because they come to be different things
at different times. For it is not possible that the same things
should come into being again; and how can that be real, which
is not the same that it was before? Inasmuch as things change,
they are illusory. But at the same time you must understand,
my son, that these illusory things are dependent on Reality itself,
which is above; and that being so, I say that the illusion is
a thing wrought by the working of Reality."—
Tat. But what of man, father? Is not man real >—Hermes. In
so far as he is man, my son, he is not real. For the real is that
which consists of itself alone, and continues to be such as it is in
itself; but man is composed of many different things, and does
not continue to be such as he is in himself, but shifts and changes
from one time of life to another, and from one form to another.
Oftentimes men fail to recognize their own children after a short
interval, and children likewise fail to recognize their parents.
And when a thing so changes that it is not known, how can that 12
thing be real, my son? Is it not an illusion, inasmuch as its
changes manifest themselves in varying appearances? You must
understand that that which ever is, and that alone, is real. But
man is not a thing that ever is; and therefore man is not
real, but is only an appearance. We ought then to call men 17
‘appearances’, my son, if we name them rightly. We ought
to call a child ‘the appearance of a child’, and a youth ‘the
1 J.e, the material world is an unreal appearance, but this unreal appearance
is produced by God’s working. :

(ante Wevderar) codd, : fortasse 5) 14-15 rovrov 52... rijs dAnOelas om.
M 16 582 A: ov8e cett. 16-17 dAnéys (bis) codd.: dAnOés (bis) Hense
18 76 é Turnebus : wal éé LSMABr | pévov LBr: pévov SMA 18-19 For-
tasse pevov olév éote «ad? aird 19 6d¢ 6 dvpwnos S 20 Fortasse of
péver Colds éart) Kab’ abtdy | wad EnBarrAcTa L 23 yeyernuévov L
26 ywopévey scripsi: -ywdpevoy codd. | ob 4) scripsi: ob 5& codd,
27 elvar pivor 76 dei dv scripsi: efvar Td povoy didiov LMBr: efvat 70 pévov xat
Sixaov SA: civar, 7d pévov nai Sicacoy Turnebus 29-4 infra: § 17 (pay-
Tagias otv .. . yépov “yépwv) huc transposui 29 Kadeiy de LSM: Sei wadciv
ABr | rajra LSMBr: ra roatra A 32-1 infra; pavraciav (post
veavicxou et post dvdpds) om LBr
Cc2
 388 STOBAEI HERMETICA

tov d& dvdpa dvdpds pavraciay, tov d& yépovTa yépovros

gavractay: obre yap [4 dvOpwros dvOpwmos ovre] 7d mra.diov
madtov (péve), obre 6 veavioxos veavioxos, ore 6 avijp
avip, obre 6 yépav yépwr.)) 4 8 gavracia webdos dv ely
[ax pérarov}.— 5
13. Ovdt ratra ody, & mdrep, Ta aldia odpara [[érel pera-
Bddrerat]] ddnOF eoriv) ;(eet peraBadrAcrat)) (kal tabra.)
—Ilav pev obv rd [yevvntov Kal] peraBdnrov ovK adnbés:
[[oxd d& rod mpomdropos yevopeva Tiv drAnv Sbvarar ddyOF
éoxnxévar']] exer d€ 71 Kal rabra webdos ev TH peraBodj °
obdey ydp, wh pévov ep’ adtd, ddrnBés eorw. ((bwd SE Tod
mpomdropos (dp0apra) yevopeva, Thy 'bAnv’ dbvarat a&dnOq
éoxnkévat.))—
14 ((Té obv dy eimot tts)) adnbés, & matep {[ré oy dy etrot res] —
Mévov rov #Atov, mapa Ta Adda wdvra pi) peraBadAdpevoy, pévovra de es’ 15
avrg [ddnOeav]. 81d kal thy (rév) ev r@ Kdopm mdvrov dnptovpyiay
airés povos memlatevtat, apyov mdvray kat moldy mavra. dv Kal
céBopat, kal mpoockyvd adrot Thy GdjOeav, pera tov eva kat mporov
(dedv) rodrov Snprovpyoy yropito(y).—
15 Ti obv dy etmoe (ris adn Bes) Thy mpdrny adjOeav, & 20
mérep;—" Eva kai povov, & Tdr, tiv phy e€ dds, Tov phy ev
cdépar tov axpdpator, Tov aoxnudtioroy: Tov drpenrov,
LIS
LOLI
LL.
AD
lt
i
rov pi) Gddotobpevor: Tov dei dvTa.—
16 [[rd d& Webdos . . . ddnbes etn ;]] Vide post § 10.
17 ||gavracias ody... yépwr yépwv.|} Vide post Q 12. 35
18 [[weraBadddpeva de... évépynpa eivat.]) Vide ante
rr. :

1 88 (ante yépovra) om. SMA —_3-4 _veaviaxos, obre 5 yépwy “yépar, oiite 6
dvip dvnp S Turnebus 6-26 obd? radra... det dvra (§§ 13-15) et 70 Be
peddos . .. evépynua eivat (§§ 16-18) inverso ordine habent LBr 8 yerrvn-
tov wat LSM: yevnrdv eat ABr | Fortasse Mav pev oby 70 yeryyrov Kai
(peraBryrtdy, wav 38 70) peraBAntov ob« dAndés ll ég' aire L: eg’ abrd
MABr: 颒 airé corr. ex 颒 abra S 12 HAnv codd,: fortasse obaiav vel
Swap GAnOas L: dAn6A cett, 16 dAndeay ciecit Buecheler
17-19 dv wat. . . Snmovpydy yrapito om. LMABr 18 ddjOear, Kat
pera Turnebus 19 yropifw scripsi : yvwpi{w S Turnebus 20 etror
mis dAnOes thy scripsi: lwo tis Thy vult Hense: elvac rv LSMABr Turn.:
elveu A€yets THY Flussas

ein
 EXCERPT IIA. HERMES TO TAT 389
appearance of a youth’, and an adult man ‘the appearance of an
adult man’, and an old man ‘the appearance of an old man’;
for the child does not remain a child, nor the youth a youth,
nor the adult man an adult man, nor the old man an old man.
And appearance must be illusion.—
Yat. And what of these everlasting bodies;' father? Are they 13
too unreal? For they too suffer change.—Hermes. Everything
that is subject to change is unreal ; and the everlasting bodies also
have in them something that is illusory, inasmuch as they suffer
change; for nothing is real, which does not continue to be as
it is. But seeing that they have been made indestructible by the
Forefather, it may well be that the existence which they have
received from him is real._—
Tat? What then can we call real, father!—Hermes. The Sun alone; 14
because the Sun, unlike all other things, does not suffer change, but continues
to be as he is, Wherefore the Sun alone has been entrusted with the task of
making all things in the universe ; he rules over all things, and makes all things.
Him do I worship, and I adore his reality, acknowledging him, next after the
one supreme God, as the Maker.—
Tat, What then, father, can be called real in the supreme 15
degree ?>—Hermes. He alone, my son, and none but He, who
is not made of matter, nor embodied; who is colourless and
formless ; who is changeless and unalterable; who ever is.—

1 The ‘everlasting bodies’ are the heavenly bodies and the cosmic elements.
In § 2, the term is used to denote the elements.
? § 14 is inconsistent with the context; it must have been inserted by a sun-
worshipper.
 390° STOBAEI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM ITB

{ Stobaeus 1. 41. 1a, vol. i, p. 273 Wachsmuth (Z/. I. 698

; Heeren).
‘Eppod éx trax mpos Tar.
1 ey [& réxvov] kai ris prdavOperias &vexa ai ris mpos tov Oedy
ciceBelas “mparov réd_ ovyypae'. obdepia yap av Tyévorro Sixato-
rar! eboéBeca {] rod vopoa ra dvra Kat xdpw TO momoavre tnmép
rovrav dpodoyjoat’ dep Siaredav od rravcopat. 5
2 Ti obv dv ris mpdtrov, & warep, ef pndév éoriv ddybes
é&vOdde, cards Saydyo tov Biov;—EvoeBdn, & réxvor.
6 8& edbacBleiv Cnr)dv [dxpws] gidocogijce. xepis yap
pirocogias [[axpas]] edoeBijoat ddvvatov: 6 dé pabory old
éort (rd dvra), Kal mds dvaréraxrat, Kai bd Tivos, Kal 10
evexev tivos, xdpw cicerat dtp mdévrov TO SnpiovpyS os
marpt dya0@ Kal tpopel xpnoTS Kai émitpim@ mo7@: 6 6é
xdpi dporoyay edoeBice,
3 6 8 ((dkpws)) dirocoday (uab)Hcerat Kal mod éorw i}
adjbeaa kal tis éorw éxelvn Kal pabdy, rt paddov evoe- 15
Béorepos tora, ((kai ovKért dmoorivat Sur(jojerat Tob
dyabod.)) ovdémote ydp, @ Téxvov, ux?) [év gdpate oon
kal] kougicaca éavriy emi thy karddn yw Tod dvTws ayabod
kat ddnbots ddicOfoat Sévara emt 7d evavtiov Sevdy yap
épara toyer Kal AfOnv mdvt@v Tov Kak@v Wuxi) paboica, 20
éaurijs tov mpomdropa. [Kal ovxért aroorivat divata Tob
4 dyabod.J] ro(d)ro, (&) réxvov, Tobro evoeBelas éot\ Tédos
ép 8 ddexy\[vjuevos Kal Kadds Bidoy, Kai eddarpdves
reOvitn, Tis wWuyis cov pi) ayvootons mod adriy det
dvanrivat 25
5 (..) abrn yap pbvn éoriv, & réxvov, [4] mpds ddjdear
686s" Av Kal of fpérepor mpdyova: wdevoay, Kai ddedoavtes
Exc. IL B: codices F (saec. xiv), P (saec. xv).
1 ray scripsi: tod codd. 8 Fortasse mpd (wdv)rwv trinde (72)v) ovy-
ypapiy mporip)d 3-4 dy déyouro Sieadrepoy Usener 4 7 eiecit
Meineke 6 el py BP 7 evoeBv Usener: evoéfe codd. 8 eice-
Beiv (yrav scripsi : eboeBov codd, | procopet P 9 dxpws hine ad
§ 3 init, transposui ll cera imtp navrav Gaisford: érerat iwép
névrev F: om. P 18 edoeByoes P 14 6 Be depws pirocopay pwaby-
cera scripsi: 6 d¢ edoeBav eicerar codd. 15 Fortasse xai (radra)
16 duvjcera: scripsi: dvvarae codd. 18 évrws Usener: dvros FP
20 tcxn P| Fortasse €pwra ioxet (rod ayabov) 21-22 dwoarjvat Tod
dyabod Bivara P 22 rotr’ ® rénvov Meineke: rére réxvov FP | éort
scripsi: éorw codd. 23 dwixdpevos Meineke: dquxvodpevos codd.
 EXCERPT IIB. HERMES TO TAT 391

EXCERPT IIB

An extract from the Discourses of Hermes

to Tato
I esteem? this treatise more highly than any other, on account of the benevo- 7
lence towards men and piety towards God that is expressed in it; for there is
nothing that could more rightly be called piety than to apprehend in thought
the things that are, and to give thanks for them to Him who made them, And
this I will continue to do without ceasing.
Tat. If then there is nothing real here below, what must a man g
do, father, to live his life aright ?>—Hermes. He must be pious,
my son, And he who seeks to be pious will pursue philosophy.
Without philosophy, it is impossible to be pious; but he who
has learnt what things are, and how they are ordered, and by
whom, and to what end, will give thanks for all things to the
Maker, deeming him a good father and kind fosterer and faithful
guardian ; and thus rendering thanks, he will be pious.
And he who pursues philosophy to its highest reach will learn g
where Reality is, and what it is; and having learnt this, he will
be yet more pious. And thenceforward it will be impossible
for him to fall away from the Good. For never, my son, can
a soul that has so far uplifted itself as to grasp the truly good
and real slip back to the evil and unreal; for the soul acquires
a wondrous yearning for the Good, and oblivion of all evils,
when it has learnt to know its own Forefather. This, my son, 4
this* is the consummation of piety ; and when you have attained
to it, you will live your life aright, and be blest in your death ;
for your soul will not fail to know whither it must wing its upward
flight.
. . . For this,‘ my son, is the only road that leads to Reality, 5
It is the road our ancestors* trod; and thereby they attained
1 Exc. ITB is evidently a continuation of Exc, I] A. The two excerpts
together make up a complete /#del/us, Stobaeus cut the dibelius in two, and
placed the two pieces in different parts of his Anthologium.
2 This section appears to be a note on Exc. II B, written by an admiring

vie knowledge of God, the Forefather of the human soul.

‘ Perhaps, ‘(But you must begin by abandoning the body (i.e. ridding your-
self of its debasing influence) ;) for this’, &c.
5 «Our ancestors’, who once were men like you and me, but now are gods,
See Corp. X. 5.
26 Fortasse (mAiy bef oe mp@rov 7d cBpa eywaradeipar) airy ydp «.7.A.
(vide § 8) — | mpos 7Hv GAHBeray P 27 «at (post jv) om. F
 392 STOBAEI HERMETICA

eruxov Tod dyabod. cepvi airy ddds Kal "refa', xademt, SE

Woy deioa ey cdpatt oven. mporov [wey] yap adriy
éavrij mokephoat Sei, kat (dalordow peyddrny toijoat, Kal
bd rod évds pépous (7a) TAEW viknOfvat. évds yap yiyverat
mpds S00 % [ovlordois, Tod wey (dvw) cnevadovros, tay de 5
kabedKbvrwy Kdétw Kal Epis Kal padyn Todd} mpds GAANra
rovrav ylyverat [rod piv guyeiv Bovdopévov, trav dé Kara-
7 oxelv omevdévtav), 4 88 vikn duporépwr odx dpoia* 7d pev
yap mpos Td dyabdy omevder, Ta St mpds TA Kaka KaToLKEl:
kal Td pev ehevOepwOfvat mobi, Ta d& Thy SovAclay ayamg. 10
kdv pev vxnOf 7% dvo pépn, pepévnkey (Ep’) eavTay)
Hipepalia) Kal rod dpxovtos (umjKxoa) édv dé 7d ev ArT OF,
tnd trav S00 dyerat Kal péperat, Tipwpovpevon TH evOdde
8 diairn. obrds éorw [& réxvoy] 6 (mepl) ris exeioe ddod
dydén{os]: det ydp ce, @ Téxvov, mpOrov [rd cdma [mpd Tod 15
rédous] éykaradenpat, kai] wxqoas “roy évaydviov Biov', Kat
viknoavTa, ovrws avedOeiv.

EXCERPTUM fil
Stobaeus 1. 41. 6b, vol. i, pp. 285-289 Wachsmuth (Z¢/. I.
728-740 Heeren).
‘Eppod éx trav mpos Tar.)
1 [[évépyerae ydp, & Tér, dodpator aitai boa, ev od-
paoty clot, kal did Tov copdrov évepyobot. Sdidrep, & Tar, 20
xabbrt dodparol «ict, Kal dbavdrovs avras gis elvac
kadéri dt xepls copdrorv évepyeiv od dtvavrat, nui airas
4 4 2 _ > cA 4 3

elvat dei ev odpart.|]

2 [ra yap mpés re] Evexd rivos yevoueva mpovoia Kal
x ta a oF Z 4 ‘

dvéyxn brorentaxéra.| 25
1 Acia codd.: fortasse Ocia 3 éaurijs P! | ordow scripsi: &doracw
codd, 4 7d wide vixnOfva scripsi: mAcovexrnO7jvar codd. 5 ordos
Heeren ex cod. Vat.: ovaracis FP tivw onevdorros scripsi: puydvros FP
5-7 trav dt. . . puvyciv BovAopévov om, 10 70 8 ri P 11-12 颒
éavrav jpenaia scripsi (év rabrG jpeua Usener): éavrdy épyya P?: éaur& Eppa
FP! 13 ripmpovpevoy P* ;tipwpoupévn FP? 15 dydv Usener ; d-yaryés
FP 16 dv évaydémov Biov codd.: fortasse Tov dyGva rovroy 17 Post
otros dvedOeiv addunt codd. viv 5é, & réxvov, eepadalos Ta dvra ireferetoopat
«7.2, (vide Zxc. XT)
19-23 § 1 (évépyea ... &v owparr) hine transposui: vide post § 11
24-25 Fortasse ta yap [ ] yivdpeva mpovolg Kal dvayen iwonénrxen’ Cabra 62
bd ray Ociwy cwpdtav évepyoiat.) 24 yvdueva Usener
 EXCERPT IIB. HERMES TO TAT — 393
to the Good. It is a holy and divine road; but it is hard for
the soul to travel on that road while it is in the body. For the 6
soul must begin by warring against itself, and stirring up within
itself a mighty feud; and the one part of the soul must win
victory over the others, which are more in number. It is a feud
of one against two,' the one part struggling to mount upward,
and the two dragging it down; and there is much strife and
fighting between them. And it makes no small difference 7
whether the one side or the other wins; for the one part strives
towards the Good, the others make their home among evils;
the one yearns for freedom, the others are content with slavery.
And if the two parts are vanquished, they stay quiet in them-
selves, and submissive to the ruling part; but if the one part
is defeated, it is carried off as a captive by the two, and the life
it lives on earth is a life of penal torment. Such is the contest g
about the journey to the world above. You must begin, my son,
by winning victory in this contest, and then, having won, mount
upward. Y

. The ‘one’is mind or reason; the ‘two’ are Ouyds and émOuyia,
i.e. ‘repugnance’ (or self-assertion against opponents) and ‘desire’, which
are the two forms of passion.

e
ee
ee
ae
Se
Le
B
i
 394 STOBAEI HERMETICA
1d yap
3 [dddvarov dpyd more peivar Tijs iStas évepyelas.
éoTt.|
dy del fora: Todro yap abrod Kal capa Kal (or
civat. 1d
4 [[rodr@ 7G Aby@ Emerat 7d kal del Ta odpara
eay elvat.
kal avthy thy copdrociy pnt didtay évépy
rérrous 5
cls yap cdpara éniyea Siadutd, cdpara. 8t def elvai,
dOdvaror,
kal dpyava trav évepyeav Taira, al 8 évépyerat
s,
| 7d 8& abdvarov del kori, evépyeia Kal f c@paroroinot
ef ye del Eort.]]
ryvopevat
5 [[wapérovrae 5& 7H Wuxsi ovk abpws mapay
adda Tors pv atrav dpa 7o yevéo bat tov dvOparov 10
, ai d
évepyodow, suod th Wuxi mepl ra Gdoya ovoat
peraB orry Tis jovxl as TO
kabapérepar evépyeat Kara
Aoyik@ péper THs puxis ouvepyovcat. ||
6 [[adra d& af evépyera Trav copdrov eoly hprnpévat.
kal dwd piv tov Oclov cwpdr ov Epxov Tat eis Ta OvnTa 15
abrat ai cwparoroodcat, éxdor n d€ avray évepye t i) mepi
Td cGpa 4 Thy Wuyi. kal abr pévtot TH Wuxi Tvy-
ov« del
ylyvovrat xwpis cdparas: del 8& evépyeal iow,
Stvar ar yap xwpis Tob
& h Wy) & cdpare Ov tore
xopls Tév copdr av ov 20
cdparos clvar ai dt evépyeat
Sivavrat €ivat.)]

7 iepds Adbyos [eoriy [[@ réxvor]} ouros|.

ov
Suvecrdvar pév, ((& réxvoy,)y oSpa xwpls puxiis
Sivarat, Td dé (évepy)eicoat Svvatén.—Ilas Tobro déyets ,
xopto beion s a5
& mdrep;—Otrw vénoov, & Tér. rijs uxiis
To} cdparos, émipéver atts Td copa. TobTo de 7d oGpa
v Kal
mapa Tov Tis émpovis xpovov évepyeirat, Siadvopevo
dedts yryvopevov. tadra dé ob dévarat méoxew TO cOpa
xwpis evepyeias. emipéver ody (ér) TO cdpare evépye ra,
[av]ri(s) Wuxas xopiabeions.
Bre Td pev
8 airy ofv 4 Stapopa aOavdrov caparos kai Qynrod,
prev motel, To Se
GOdvarov ex pias BAns cuvérnxe, Td dé ov" xa ro
evepyouv
mdcxet. (kat rd pev xparel, rd 8€ kpareira’) may yap To
peivas ris idias evep-
1-2 Fortasse (74 yap Oeta chpara) dddvaror dpy4 wore
elas, ro{t)yap o(i)yy det ora: CH évépyea? ). Haec post § to subsequi possent
| 73 yap éov F 3-8 § 4 (roUTp .. . det Zo7t) hinc transposui : vide post
vide
§ 11 9-13 § 5 (wapémovra . . . guvepyovoa) hinc transposui: sui :
14-21 §6 (air . . . dévavra elvar) hine transpo
post § 11 Sivarat
vide post § 11 24 7d Bt evepyeioGar Svvardv scripsi: 7d 5e elvar
F: om, P 80 rijs scripsi: atirn codd.
 EXCERPT II]. HERMES TO TAT 395

EXCERPT Ill —

(From the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.)

A holy discourse. 7

Hermes. A body, my son, cannot hold together’ without soul ;

but it is possible for it to have forces working in it, though it be
without soul.—7Za#, What do you mean by that, father ?>—Hermes.
You must understand the matter thus, my son Tat. When the
soul has been separated from the body, the body itself lasts on;
and as long as the body lasts on, it is being acted on by forces,
It is being broken up, and gradually disappearing ; and the body
could not undergo these processes if there were not a force
at work in it. This force then stays on in the body after the
soul has been parted from it.
This® then is the difference between an immortal body and a mortal body. 8
The immortal body consists of a single kind of matter; the mortal body does
not. The immortal body acts on other things ; the mortal body is acted on.
<The immortal body has the mastery, and the mortal body is mastered;) for
everything which puts forces in action has the mastery, and that which is

) T.e. cannot exist as an organized whole.

2 § 8 breaks the connexion between § 7 and § 9, and mnst have been inserted
here by error.
 396 STOBAEI HERMETICA

kparel, td S€ evepyoupevoy Kpareirat. kai TO pev Kpatody, [émrruxriKdy

kat] edevOepov (av), dyes, 7d de (xparotpevov), Soddov (By), péperar.
9 (K)ai priv (ad) evépyeran od pédvov Ta Euwuya évepyovor
cdpara, ((dANG))) Kal ra dpuxa, (ra) ~¥da Kal Tods
Albous Kad Ta [[AAN’]] Spore, adfoveal re [kai kapropopodaat) 5
kal meratvovoa, kal pbefpovoat Kal riKkovoat Kal ofmoveat
kal Optrrovoat, kal Ta Spo. evepyoicat, doa Sbvarat
copara dyuxa méoxew. evépyera yap KeKAnTat, ® Téxvov,
abrd roiro, (rd 8¢ ob ylyverat) 6 ri woré eort 76 yeyvopevor.
10 del 8& yiyverOar Set [Kai] mohAd, padAov d& mdvTa. to
obdérore yap xnpever Tay dvTwy Tivds 6 kéopos, det dé
pepopevos, (del) ev éavT@ KvioKe Ta dvra [ovdémrore darodet-
POncbpeva adrod ris g[Olopas}.
* * * * *

1m waoa obv évépyeta voeicbw ds [del] dcoimaros ovoa, Hris

15
dv 7 év ol@dijmore cmpart.
1 (évépyera yap, & Tér, dodparot abrat doar, ev odpaciv
clot, kai did tav copdrav evepyodot. didmep, ® Tar,
kabért (per) dodparol eiot, kal ddavdrous abrds gym vat,
cabért 8 xwpis cwpdrav évepyciv ob Sévavrat, gnpt abras
elvat del év odpart.)) 20
4 ((robrm 7G Aby@ Ewerat [rd] Kai (rd) det [ra] odépara elvat.
&d kal [adriy] thy coparo(roinoly pnpe adiay [évépyear]
vat. ells] yap cépara émiyea dtadurd, c@para 8: Set elvat,
rémous kal dpyava tav évepyady [radra] (ordp£ovra), al dé
evépyear dOdvarot, Td dt dBdvaroy del Eori[y évépyeial, Kal 25
} cwparorotnats [et ye] dei Eo71.))
6 ((adral di (d{ijodpar[orjo obcat)) al évépyetar TeV
copdrov eiciv hptnpévarr Kal (yap) amd [nev] tOv Oeiwv
copdrav Epxovrat eis Ta Ovnrd [abrat| [lal gapatorotoicat)|
éxdarn St abradv évepyet7}Tepl 76 cGpa H Thy Wuxiv. Kal 30
1 70 pév xparovpevoy F 2 éy (ante dye) add, Heeren —|péperar FP:
dyera: Meineke 3 «at py al scripsi: af piv codd, 4 dAad cod,
Vatic. :om. FP 6 wanraivovca Pt 9 yevdpevoy F 10 de? om. P
|«atom. Heeren 12-13 Fortasse ovdénore drodepOnadperoc [ ] 7s p[Blopas
18 opis Canter : pOopascodd. 14 dawparos scripsi : dddvaros codd, 159
om. P 16-20 § 1 (évépyea. . .év owpari) huc transposui 16 évépyea
F | dodparov F | abrat Meineke: abra: F': ravraaP =—-17_ évepyotor F:
évepyovoa P 18 avrovs F =| pny Wachsmuth: ¢ijs FP 19 airods
F 21-26 § 4(rovrw. .. del éo71) huc transposui 22 cwparonoinaiv
scripsi :owpdrwoty codd. | dudiay évépyeay F: deidievépyeray P 23
ei Canter: eis FP | éwiyera P2: éniyepa FP!
 EXCERPT III. HERMES TO TAT 397
acted on by forces is mastered. And that which has the mastery is free, and
takes the lead; but that which is mastered is in servitude, and is passively borne
along.
Moreover, the forces work not only in bodies that have souls 9
in them,’ but also in soulless bodies, such as logs and stones
and the like, increasing their bulk and bringing them to maturity,
corrupting, dissolving, rotting and crumbling them, and carrying
on in them all processes of that sort that it is possible for soulless
bodies to undergo. For this, my son, is the very meaning of the
term ‘a force-at-work’; it signifies (that by which is worked)
every sort of process that goes on.
And there must be going on at all times many processes, or 10
rather, every kind of process. For the Kosmos is never bereft
of any of the things that are; ever in movement, it is ever
breeding within itself the things that are.
* * * * *
You must understand then that every force is incorporeal, 14
whatever force may be at work in any kind of body.
For forces, my son, though they are themselves incorporeal, 1
are in bodies, and work by means of these bodies. And so,
my son, inasmuch as they are incorporeal, I say that they are
immortal ; but inasmuch as they cannot work apart from bodies,
I say that they are always in a body.
Hence it follows that there are always bodies in existence. And 4
for this reason I say that the production of bodies must be ever-
lasting. For if earthly bodies are dissoluble, and there must
be bodies to serve as places and instruments for the working
of the forces, and the forces are immortal, and that which is
immortal exists for ever, then it follows that the production of
bodies must go on for ever.
The forces, though they are themselves incorporeal, are de-6
pendent on the bodies; for they come from the divine bodies,”
and enter into mortal bodies. But each of them acts either on

a The writer ought rather to have said ‘in bodies that have had souls in
them’.
2 Te. the heavenly bodies.

25 gor scripsi: éorw, evépyea codd. 27-5 infra : § 6 (avrai. .. divayra

elvat) huc transposui 27 avrat scripsi: abrat codd. | 8% scripsi : 3&
odd, | do@parot oboa scripsi: al cwparomooica codd.
 398 STOBAEI HERMETICA
abrh (yap) [[mévrou]] TH Wuxh ovyytyvovrat, (ov) ((mévTot))
xopis odparos. [del b& évépyeral elow.] ovk de St H
Wuxi év cdpart (Ovn7G] éore, Sbvarar yap xwpls rod oopa-
ros eva ai 8t évépyerat xopls Tv copdrov ob Sivavrat
elvat.)) 5
5 ((mapémovra dt rh Wuxf ovK dOpbws Tapayryvépevar
adAa Ties piv atrav dua TO yevérOar tov dvOpwrov
[évepyodor] (rapaytyvorrat), pod TH ux7 (eioeADodea, kai)
mept ta droya (uépn evepy)oboat, ai dé xabapdrepat évép-
yetar Kara peraBoryy rhs Halas, TO oyiK@ péper THs -°

Wuxijs suvepyoicat.))
12 av d€ evepyedv ai pév lor rdv Delo copdror (évepynrexat),
al 8 rav pOaprav’ xa (rav eis ra POapra evepyourav) ai pev
xaOoXxal, (ai be yevixal,) ai d¢€ (c)idcxai. [rat ai ev rev yevor, ai de
[rév pepdr] évds éxdorov.| cia pév odv clow ai cis ra (aida 15
copara evepyovoat’ abrar dé Kai réAetai elow, as cis TeAcLa oodpara.
(kadodtxat b€ ai eis ra POapra cipmavra’) rental dé ai 3’ évds éxdorov
yévous tov Cov" (e)iStxal bé ai eis Exaordy ((rt)) rév dvrev {[r4]].
13 obros 6 Nbyos, & Téxvov, cuvdye mdvTa peoTa elvat
évepyeav. «i yap [dvdyxn Tas évepyelas ev odpacww elvat] 20
Torre [dt] odpara ev Kbopw, wrelous pnpi dvar ras
évepyelas tov copdrav. ev évl yap moddAdkis odpari éore
pla kat Sevrépa xal rpirn ( . .), Xxepis Tay (TH yevéoet)
éropévev Kaboduxav: Kabodixas yap évepyeias pnp ras
(rav) bvToN copar(ar\iKd s [[did 8 tov alcOjoewr Kal ray 35
kwihoewv ytvouévas]|' xwpis yap tobrav tay évepyeav TO
capa ovorivat ob dvvarév. erepar S€ ciow (€)idtkal
évépyera ‘rais wuyais trav dvOpdmav Sa texvav Kal
emiotnpav Kal émirndevpdror Kal evepynpdrov" (. ..
14...) (did 88 rv aicbjcewr [kal rdv Kivijoewr] (Pavepas) 30
ywopévas’)) mapérovra yap tais évepyelais [k]ai aicbjoes,
padrov 8 droredopata rev évepyedy (al) aicOjoes eiot.
15 vénoor odv, & Tékvov, Stahopay evepyetas (kai aicdjoews.
) pdv yap évépyea) dvabev méumerarr 4 d& aicOnors, ev TO
cépart otoa, kal amd tovrov Thy ovoiay Exovoa, deEapevn 35

6-11 § 5 (wapérovra . . . auvepyoicat) huc transposui @ pepyn evep-

yotom scripsi: ofca codd. 10 wAucias corr. cod. Vat.: #avxias FP
| Aog@ P!: Aoyurd cett. 14 el5imai Meineke: iduat FP 15 Oeia Pt
jat FP?; xat P} | dia Canter (an Ocfa?): ida FP 17 yerixal
 EXCERPT III. HERMES TO TAT 399
the body or on the soul; for they enter into connexion with the
soul also, but not apart from the body. The soul is not always
in a body; it can exist apart from the body; but the forces
cannot exist apart from the bodies,
The forces which accompany the soul do not all arrive at the 5
same time. Some of them arrive at the moment of the man’s
birth, entering into his body together with the soul, and acting
on the irrational parts of the soul; but the purer forces arrive
when he reaches the age of adolescence, and co-operate with the
rational part of the soul.
Of the forces at work,! some act on the divine bodies, and others act on 12
perishable bodies. (Of those which act on perishable bodies,) some are
universal, (some are general,) and some are special. Those forces which act
on the everlasting bodies are divine; and these are also perfect; for the bodies
on which they act are perfect. {Those forces are universal, which act on all
perishable bodies together ;) those forces are general, the action of which
extends throughout any one kind of living beings ;and those forces are special,
which act on an individual.
Hence it is to be inferred, my son, that all things are full 1g
of forces at work. If there are many bodies in the Kosmos,
I say that the forces at work are more in number than the bodies.
For in a single body there are often a first and a second and
a third. .., besides the universal forces which accompany the
birth of bodies. I call those forces ‘universal’, which bring
the bodies of things into being; without them the body cannot
be built up. And besides these there are special forces. . . .
. . and made manifest by means of the sensations ; for the 14
sensations accompany the forces, or rather, the sensations are
effects produced by the forces.
You must understand, my son, the difference between a force 15
at work and a sensation. The force is sent down from above;
but sense, which is in the body, and gets its being from the body,

' § 12 seems inconsistent with the context, and was probably written by
another person.

scripsi: pepueal codd. 18 yévous om, P | eldixat Meineke: i&ixai FP

20 owpar: P 25 ray oytow scripsi: éyvTws codd. | cwparwrids
Usener: cwparinds codd, 25-26 did . . . ywopuévas hinc ad § 14 init.
transposui 27 ob duvardvy F: ddivarov P | elduait Meineke: ideal FP
81 ai Heeren: xat FP 832 dwore\éopara F2P?; dworéAecpa F1: dworé-
Aetpa Pt | af add, F? 33 otv om. F 33-34 xal alaOqocws' #
Hey évépyea addidit Wachsmuth (yap addidi); «at alo@jcews piv add, P?
marg.
 400 STOBAEI HERMETICA
coparoroiy-
riv evépyerav pavepay mori, kabdmep avtiy
a0avdrous,)
caca, dibrep (ras piv evepyelas do@pdrous kai
evar,
ras (8%) alcOfces Kal copariKas kal Ovnrds pnp
Kal yap
(énl) rocobrovy ovvectéoas doov kal To oGpa
obvi- 5
ovyyervavrar TO oopare ai aicOjoas Kal cvvar
exer) Ta
16 gxovot. ((Kai Ta pev)) (OvnTa cadpara aicOnow
os eg
& dOdvara cépara [ladr& pev]] aicOnow ovk exer,
ovatas (ov) Toatrns ovverTara. yap atcOnors odd bras
Gddou éotl [owparixy] (karadnntikh) i Tod mpooyivopevou
to
7@ odpart [Kakod 7 Tod dyabod), } Tod méduy avd amroyivo-
pévov: ois 8& didios cdpacw ovre mpooyiverat (ri) obre
(((aé yap)
18 droyiverair 51d aicOnors ev éxeivos ob yiverat.
alcbices (pév] clot mabyr ixal [dé], kara abgno w povoy Kal
kara peloow yryvopevat. Td 8 méOos Kat (j) alcOnors
bd 15
dd puds Kopupis HprnvTat, els 88 7d adTd ouvdyovrat
8 rav evepyeev (dmoredcirat cvvappérepa)-))—
verat]
17 ‘Ev mavzi obv (wabnre) cdpatt aicOnors [aicbd
réxvov " kai (yap) évépye rar (er)
(yiverat) ;—'Ev mavti, &
maoww évepyoct.—Kan trois axpvxo rs, ® warep ;—Ka n (rois)
aypdyois, @ TéKVoY. Stagopat dé efor TOY aicOjcewr: ai 20
ai d& tav
piv (yap) Tav doytKev pera déyou ylyvovTat,
dddyav “coparikat! eior povov, al d¢ Trav ayptxov (.« )s
w povov
18 [lalcOjoes pév else, mabntixal dé, cata abfno
8& Kata peloow yeyvopevat, Td 8 mdbos Kai alcOn ots
, b1d 25
dd pds Kopupas hpTnvrat, els 8& 7d adrd cuvdyovtat
8& ray évepyeav.|]
at
19 Tov d& épptxar [fdwv] ciot dvo drrat “évépyerat',
mdbeot , Adwn Kal xapa.
mapérovrat Tais aicOjoeot Kal Tots
xwpis robray (Gov [Eupvxor] [kal pddora] (d)doy|ex]ov
30
nicbécbar ddivarorv’ id Kal idjas rabras elval pnpt [rev
(gov, (as TobTe@ r
nabav idéas| Tv (a)Ady[iK]ov paddov
évep-
paddov) énixparotoas. [al piv évépyear (apavas)
.] avrat
20 yodow, ai dé aicOjoes Tas évepyelas dvagalvovoty
(rév alcOjc ewr,
8é, odoat coparixal, dvaxwodvTat bd
pepo 51d Kal 35
dvréxovrat St) Tay THs wuxiis adéyov
4 rocotrov Pt | wat (post Scov) om. P 7 Post abra piv add. d0évarov
| coparcei seclusit Heeren | karaAn-
BP @ Gddov P!: dAdov P?
ruc) addidi: fortasse onpavrix? | mpooryvopévou coo mpooryevopévov
11 7 add.
codd, 10-11 dwoywopévou scripsi: dmoyevopevou codd.
uth 13-16 § 18 (aiodqo as . . . evepyem y) huc transposui
Wachsm
 EXCERPT III. HERMES TO TAT 4ol
receives the force and makes it manifest, giving it a bodily
existence, so to speak. I say then that the forces are incorporeal
and immortal, but the senses are corporeal and mortal, continuing
in existence only so long as the body does; for the senses are
generated together with the body, and perish with it. And mortal 16
bodies have sense; but the immortal bodies! have not sense,
because they do not consist of that sort of substance.? For sense
cannot apprehend anything whatever except that which is added
to the body, or that which on the other hand is taken from the
body; but nothing is added to or taken from the everlasting
bodies, and therefore sensation does not take place in them.
For sensations have to do with changes that befall the body, 18
and take place only in connexion with increase and decrease
of the body. The bodily change and the sensation are attached
to a single head, and joined in one; and both together are
effected by the forces at work.—
Tat. Does sensation take place then in every body that is 17
subject to change ?—Hermes. Yes, my son ; for there are forces at
work in all such bodies.— Zaz. Even in soulless bodies, father >—
Hermes. Yes, my son, even in soulless bodies. But there are
different kinds of sense. The sensations of rational beings
are accompanied by reason; those of irrational animals are
merely . . .; and those of soulless things...
But beings that have souls in them have two other things, 19
which accompany the sensations and the bodily changes, namely,
pain and enjoyment, It is impossible for an irrational animal
to have a sensation without feeling pain or enjoyment; and so
I say that pain and enjoyment are proper to the irrational animals
rather than to men; for the irrational animals are more com-
pletely mastered by them. Pain and enjoyment, being corporeal, a0
are stirred up by the sensations, and take hold of the irrational
parts of the soul; and therefore I say that both of them work
1 T.e. the heavenly bodies. :
2 T.e. of such substance as admits of sense. The substance of which the
writer holds them to consist is probably the Aristotelian ‘ fifth substance’.
13 «at (post pévov) P?: 5& FP! 14 qaddidit Wachsmuth 17 ato@nas
F?P?: atc@now FP! 18 évepyeia P év add. Heeren 19 «dv (bis)
Usener: «at (bis) codd. |rots add. Meineke 29 dadoyov scripsi: Aoyeucdv
codd. 30 idias scripsi: idéas codd, 30-31 rev waddy idéas seclusit
Wachsmuth 81 dAdyor scripsi: Aogav F}: Aoyuedy cett. 32 émxpa-
tovoas P? ; ér xparovcas FP! 32-33 af pty. . . dvapaivovow seclusit
Wachsmuth
2806 Dd
 402 STOBAEI HERMETICA

dpdorépas pnui KakwriKds dvat. 16 Te yap xalpev, pel?

jSovas Thy atcOnow mapéxov, TOAA@Y Kaxav ev0éws aittov
cvpBatvely] 76 wabdvte Hf re Un, ddyndbvas Kal dddvas
ioxuporépas mapéx(ovea, tov Biov Aupaivyerat. Stdmep
cixéros apporepar kakwrixal dv einoav.—
at “HA ari dv ein aicOnows uxiis Kai odparos', & mdrep;
—Ilas voeis, & wat, wuyis aicOnow; odx 4 pey uxt
dodparos, } 8& alobnos cpa; . .) “dv cin, & warep,
— dodparon
4 alcbnots 4 ey odpatt oboa Tuyydvet.'Eady
atriv Odpev, @ Téxvov, duolay Ti Wuyxt auth dmopavotpev
} rais évepyeas: tadra yap aodpara dvra papev ev
;

} cépacw (eva). % St aicOnors obte evépyed éoTw ovTE

oxy, ‘obre dodparéy rt dAdo wap Te mpoetpnpéva ovdK
:

dv ob etn dodparov. ef 8 odk fotw dodparov, dpa dv

ein. [rev yap dvrov dct Ta pey cdpara elvat, Ta 88
do@para. |

EXCERPTUM IVA

Stobaeus 1. 49. 5, vol. i, p. 322 Wachsmuth (Z¢/. I. 806

Heeren).
Tod avrov (sc. “Eppod).
[(are) ux} maca dOdvaros Kai dexivyros.|
1 “Edapev yap & ois yertkois (ras Ta) ((ow@pdror))
Kwhoes Tas pev ord Tov (dvotkGr) évepyeav, Tas dE bd
rév [[owpdrov)) (yuxav yiveoOar).
2 [papty S& rhv puxiv, ((dodpatov odcar,)) & ovolas
rus [ody HAs] yeyevqadae [[dodparoy odcay)| Kai avrijs
dcwpdrov otens, mav yap Td yevdpevoy avdyxn Ek TLvos
yeyerncbat.]
3 dcwv piv odv (cwpdrov) Th yevéce POopd emaxodovdei,
rovros ovo. Kivioes mapakodovbeiy avdyKn, Thy TE (ytvo-
pévny bd ris) Wuyxiis, op’ hs Kwetrat (7d cpa Kara rérov),
kal riv [rod cdparos] (ord ris pioews), dp Fs abgerar Kal
1 Fortasse waxarinds evar (rod dvOp&mov) 3 cupBaive: Heeren: cup-
Baivey FP 4 napéxovaa, Tov Biov Avpatverac scripsi: mapéxer codd.
 EXCERPT III. HERMES TO TAT 403
mischief. Enjoyment causes sensation to be accompanied by
pleasure, and so forthwith becomes the cause of many evils
to the man who feels it; and pain, producing intense distress }
and anguish, (spoils a man’s life). It may therefore be said with }
good reason that both of them work mischief. .
Tat. . . ., father?'—Hermes. What do you mean, my son, by 21
‘sense belonging to the soul’? Is not the soul incorporeal, and
is not sense a body?—TZaz. . . ..2—Hermes. If we say that sense
is incorporeal, my son, we shall be making it a thing like the '
soul, or the forces at work; for these, we say, are incorporeal, ;
and are in bodies. But sense is neither force at work nor soul,
. ..3 it cannot therefore be incorporeal. And if it is not
incorporeal, it must be a body.

EXCERPT IVA

From a Discourse of Hermes.

I said in my General Discourses, that of the movements of 1
bodies some are worked by the forces of nature, and others by
souls. [§ 2]*
All bodies then of which the coming-into-being is followed by 3
destruction must necessarily be accompanied by two movements,
namely, the movement worked by the soul, by which bodies are
moved in space, and the movement worked by nature, by which
bodies are made to grow and to waste away, and are resolved

1 Perhaps, ‘ Does sense belong both to the body and to the soul, father?’
? Perhaps, ‘ Why should not sense itself be incorporeal, father, though it is
in a body?’
3 (§ 2. ‘But I say that the soul, being incorporeal, has been made of some
substance which is itself incorporeal, For everything that has been made must
necessarily have been made of something.’ ]

8-9 Fortasse (Ti ydp ob« dodparos abi) av cin, & marep, H aicOyars, €i (ual) ev
cwpart ovaa TUyXavE ; 8 % (ante ev) del, P? | dow@paroy scripsi: év
owpart codd, 10 dropawotpev F 12 otre Wachsmuth: od? FP
15 def Canter: det FP
19 épaper scripsi: &yyev Wachsmuth (codd, ?) 21 Wuxav yiverba
addidi; vide § 3 23 dodwparov ovea «ai P? 26 dco P*: bcov FP
|otv F: civ P = 27 wapaxodovbeiv FP: fortasse wapérecdar 27-28 -ywo-
pévnv ind ris addidi (rfjs add. P? marg.) 28 wWuyijs P?: puxny FPI
Dd2
 404 STOBAEI HERMETICA

pbiver, eri d& Kat (pOapér) [dvadrvbevra] dvadverat. Tavrnv

dpifopar thy Kivnoww tev pbaprev copdrov.
4 (...) 9 8 Wuxi detivyros, bru del (& Te) EauTh kivetrat
cal dddrgos Kivnow évepyei. Kata Toirov ody Tov Abyor
| éorl uxt) aoa dOdvaros, KaH(Srt) detxivytos, (ev éavrTh) 5
exouea [kivnow] Thy abris évépyetav.
5 ida d& uydv, bela, dvOpwrivn, ddroyos.
fh pev ody Oeia rod Belov odparos (KivyTtKy, . . «) avTis
evépyerar ev pay yap adr@ Kiveirat, Kai [elavrd (de) Kuvel,
6 [[éray yap Ovnrav (ewr amaddayf, xopicbeion TOY 10
adbyov éavris pepav, éfedOoica cis 7d Oeiov capa, as
dexlynros év adt® kivetrat, ovpmepipepopevn TO mavTi.)|
7 4 88 dvOpwmivy Zxer pév (ri) Kal [7d] 70H Belov, cvviwrat
8 adr Kal r& ddoya (pep), } Te emtOvpta Kal 6 Oupos:
kal (yap) abrat [piv dOdvaror Kabéri kal abra al) evépyetat t5
rvyxdvouaw (oda)at, evépyeiat St Ovntav copdrov. 6d Tod
([uev}] Oefov pépous ris Wuxiis, obons ((uer)) ev TO eto
cdpatt, méppw tvyxdvov aw odcat éerday Se eiaéXOn ToiTo
els Ovnrov copa, Kaxeiva emipyerat, kal TH mapovolg avTaev
6 yiverar [dei] (kaxh 4) ux [dvOpwmivn). ((ewdy yap (rod) 20
Ovnroy c&matoc amaddayh, xwplzeta tev ddAdyov éauTis
pepav, eiceAOodoa (8%) eis Td Oeiov capa, os detkivntos
(boa) év abt xwveirat, ovpmepipepopevy TO mavrt.))
8 dt Tar Adbyov avvéctyker éx Obupob re Kai ércOupias.
didmep Kat ddoya exdrjbn Ta (Ga Taira, orepyoe Tob %
[alAoy(ix)ob THs Wuyijs.
g Terdprnv St vba Thy Tov dxpixor (evépyerar, Ares é£wbev
odoa tov copdrov evepye Kwodca. atrn & adv ein } év TO
beim odpart Kwvoupévn (rux7), Kal domep Kata mé&podov
Taira Kiwotca.— 30

3 Fortasse (ray 82 didiow cwpirwy xivnars pla, 4 wd ris puxts yvopevy. « « o

ty re tavrq scripsi: év abrj Wachsmuth : éav7? F (in ras.), P!: Kal adr?
5 «adr scripsi: at codd 9 pv yap abe FP: pev yap abrh
Wachsmuth | «at ad7d Patritins: «al éavrd FP!: wat éavrdv P?
10-12 § 6 (énav .. . mav7i) hinc transposui : vide post § 7 13 pév m1 Kab
rod scripsi (yey xai 7: rod Heeren): wiv nai 7d Tou FP 15 avra al F:
abra af P!: adrat (om, ai) P? marg. 16 ovca scripsi: af F: om. P
18 rvyxdvouny obca F: tvyxdvovoa P!: rvyxavovaw P? 19 émepvera
scripsi: émporg codd. 20 ylverar Kaxh 4 yuxh scripsi: -ylverat
det yoy (y. det } Yuxt P?) dvOpwmivn codd. 20-21 rod Ovnrotd owparos
scripsi: Ovyrav (gow codd, 21 xupitera: scripsi: xwpoGeioa codd.
 EXCERPT IV A. HERMES TO TAT 405
into their elements when they have been destroyed. Thus
I define the movement of perishable bodies.
. ..? Soul is ever in motion; for it is ever moving within 4
itself, and works movement for other things. And for this reason
all soul is immortal, inasmuch as it is ever in motion, having its
motive force within itself.
There are three different kinds of souls,—divine soul, human 5
soul, and irrational soul.
The divine soul is that which moves the divine body.
. . . its motive force;* it moves itself in the divine body, and
it moves that body.
The human soul has in it something that is divine; but there 7
are joined to it also the irrational parts, namely, desire and
repugnance, These also are motive forces, but motive forces
that have to do with mortal bodies. And so, as long as the
divine part of the soul is in the divine body, desire and re-
pugnance are far away from it; but when the divine part has
entered into a mortal body, they come into being as accretions
on it, and it is through their presence that the soul becomes bad.
For when the soul has been released from the mortal body, 6
it is separated from its irrational parts; and it enters into the
divine body, and, as it is ever in motion, it is moved in that
body, being borne along in the circling movement of the
universe.
But the soul of irrational animals consists of repugnance and 8
desire; and that is why these animals are called ‘irrational’,
because they are deprived of the rational part of the soul.
And you must understand that there is a fourth kind of motive g
force, which acts on soulless bodies. It is outside the bodies,
and is operative in moving them. This must be the soul that
is in motion in the divine body, and moves soulless bodies
incidentally, so to speak.—

1 Perhaps, ‘(But the everlasting bodies (i.e. the heavenly bodies) have one
movement only, namely, that which is worked by soul... .)’.
2 © The divine body” probably means the sphere of heaven.
3 Perhaps, ‘ Its motive force acts in two ways’.

22 cicedOovca 82 scripsi: éfeA@odca codd. 23 ait@F: éaurg P :éaurf

Patr., Wachsmuth 26 AcywKod scripsi: Ad-you P?: dAéyou FP
 406 STOBAEI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM IVB

Stobaeus 1. 41. 6a, vol. i, p. 284 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 726

; Heeren).
‘Eppod éx tav mpos Tar.
a fol \ ‘J

|
1 "Opa; ratra dnéSagas, & mdrep éxcivo dé Ere pe
Sidagov. epns ydép mou Thy emoripnv kal thy réxvnv
évepyetac evar rod doyikod. viv St gis Ta droya (Oa
orephoe TOD NoytKod ddoya elvar Kal KexAjjobar didov (8) 5
bri dvdykn Kata TobTov Tov Abyov Ta Goya (Ga pi) peréxewv
émorihuns pnd? réxvns, da 7d eorepjoba ToD AoyiKod.—
2 'Avéykn yap, & réxvov.—lds oby épipev, & marep, Twa TOV
adéyov émioripn Kal Téxvp xpopeva, olov Tovs pUpynKkas
ras tpopas droOncavpi{opévous [rod xetpavos], kal Te dépia - °
(Ga spolws Kadids éavrois ovyTiBevra, Ta && retpdéroda
3 yraplfovra tos padeods rods idiovs ;—Tabra, @ Tékvor,
obk emorhun od(dt) réxvn motel, GAG Gioe. yap
émorhpn Kal 4 Téxvn Sidaxr[ix]d clot radra d& rév adoyov
[oddels] obdty Suddoxerat. (Kal) r& ((uer)) [88] poorer ytyve- ~ uo

peva. evepyeta [[uer]] ylyverar kabodux: TA de émiothun Kat

réxvyn ((yryvopevay) [€ldéat] (riot) mapaytyverat, ov Waal.
4 llyeyvépeval] [[drd pdoews evepyeirac)}, oloy of dvOpwrrot
(mdvres) dvw Bdérovow: (roiro pev yap) ((ird gioews
évepyeiras)) ob mdvres d& dvOpwmo povoikol, ovdt mdvres ie) »

rogérat } xvvnyol, obdt ra dAda mdvra (mpdrrover wdvTes),

GdAX tives adrav, (cor) Te epabor, émorhpns Kal Téxvns
5 évepyotons. tov abrov tpémor, (el) of pév tives TOY pup KoY
robro émpartov, of & ot, kadas dv eyes emioripy avrolvs)
[rodro mpdrrew] Kal réxvy ovvdyew tas tpopds: ei Oe 25
mévres dpotws dyovra [liad rHs picews]] él tobro Kal
dkovtes, SHAov Ste odK emiothun ovde Téxvp Toto mpdr-
rovaw, ((d7d (8%) tis pioews)) (ayopevor).

2 ixeivo scripsi: éxeiva codd. 4 wepyeias scripsi: évépyeuv codd.

5 8 addidit Wachsmuth 9 xpwpevos P 13 ov8 Meineke: od FP
14 Sdae7d Patritius: SdanriKcd FP | radra scripsi: tovraw codd,
15 ovdels ‘fortasse secludendum’ Wachsmuth 16 Kado) F: Kadexring
P | 7a 62 Heeren: 7H 8¢ FP 17 «iddcc FP: eldiea@s Wachsmuth
19 wdéyres addidit Wachsmuth 23 ei of scripsi: ex of corr. ef F: of P
24 avrovs scripsi: aid codd, 26 tovrw P 27-28 Post roiro mpar-
 EXCERPT IV B. HERMES TO TAT 407

EXCERPT IVB

From the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.'

Tat, You have explained these things rightly, father ; but there I
is another thing about which I ask you to give me further
instruction. You said before that knowledge and skill are forces
put in action by the rational part of the soul. But now you tell
me that it is because the irrational animals are deprived of the
’ rational part of the soul, that they are irrational and are so called;
and it is clear that it follows of necessity from this that the
irrational animals have no portion of knowledge or skill, since
they are deprived of the rational part—/Hermes. Yes, my son,
it necessarily follows.—Za¢. How is it then, father, that we see 2
some of the irrational animals using knowledge and skill,—the
ants, for instance, storing up their food, and the birds of the air
building nests for themselves, and the four-footed beasts knowing
their own lairs ?>—ermes. It is not by knowledge or skill, my son, 3
that they do these things, but by natural instinct. Knowledge
and skill are things that are taught; but none of the irrational
animals are taught to do the things you speak of. And the
things that are done by instinct are done by a force that is
universal in its working; but the things that are done by know-
ledge and skill are acquired by some, and not by all. For4
instance, all men look upward;? for this is done by nature’s
working ;but not all men are musicians, nor are all men archers
or hunters; and all other such things also are done, not by all
men, but by some of them, that is, by those who have learnt
to do this or that ; for it is knowledge and skill that are at work.
In the same way, if some ants only did this, and others did not, 5
you would have been right in saying that it is by knowledge and
skill that they collect their food ; but if all of them alike are led
to do this, and do it involuntarily, it is clear that it is not by
knowledge or skill that they do it, but by nature’s leading.

1 Exc, IV B appears to be a continuation of Exc, IV A.

3 That is, men stand erect with upturned face, in contrast to the beasts, which
‘look downward’.

rovow add. codd. évépyer yap, & Tat, dotpara adirat odsat, x.7.d.: vide
Exe, IIT
 408 STOBAEI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM V

Stobaeus 1. 41. 8, vol. i, p. 290 Wachsmuth (Ze/. I. 744

Heeren).
‘Epuod é« rav [mpos “Appova] mpos Tar.
1 kal 6 piv [xdpios Kal mévrov] Snpioupyds tov didiov
copdtov, & Tér, dna moujoas odére émoincey obdé trove’: A > £4 3 - 2 lal
4 in 4 Lig

! taira yap éavrois mapadods kai évdcas addAjAois apijKe

pépecbat, wnder(ds) évd€ovra [as aidia}. ef de déovrat Tivdy, 5
adApjrov dénolovrat, oddenids St ris ELwbev emipopas, |. . «)
és! dOdvara: te yap ta bm’ exelvov cdpata yevdpeva
Toavrny éxetv [Kai] tiv pvow.
2 6 && Hpérepos Snpoupyéds, ev odpart dy, émoinoe ipas,
kal mot dei kal mojoe, odpata (éxovras) dtadvTa kai to
Ovnrd. ov yap Bemus Ww atte pipeto bar Tov éavrod 8y-
2 > Z > 1 a - ‘ ~

puovpyov, dAAws Te Kal (...) ddvvarovs 6 per yap EK Tis

mporns obotas émoincev, ovens dowpdrov, 6 dé ex Tis
yeivopévns cwpatdoews éroincey hpas.
3 elxéras ody [kara Tov dpbdv Abyor] éxeiva wey TA OSpara, 15
és €£ dowpdrov odcias yeyernuéva, dOdvard éort Ta de
huérepa StadvT& kal Ovnrd, os ris "OAns' hay é« copdroy
4 ovveatéons. 86 (Kai) [rd] doOerf ect, Kai moAANS émt-
4 ‘ v 5 ~ > s ~ >

kouplas Sebpeva. mas yap dv cal rd Tuxdv avrécyey 6

cbvdeopos jpav tov copdrov, ef ph twa eyxev émetoepxo- 20
pévny tpopiy ex tay [dpolwr] ororxelov, Kal drerwpdrov
hpas (abrn) cad’ éxdorny [tiv] hpépav; Kal yap yijs Te Kal
ul cA - s ~
~ LA

bdaros Kai mupds Kat depos emtppor Hiv ylyverat, fris Ta

odpara hua veorooica ouvéxet TO OKAVOS.
5 (..) dote kal mpds Tas Kwioes éopiv dobereorepot, 25
La ‘ s 2 4 , P

péporres (adds) [xuvijoes] pydt hpépas pias. eb yap iobt,

@ réxvoy, Sri ei ph év Tals vugly yar dveravero Ta cdpata,
otk dv mpds play hpépay dvrécyoper. S0ev dyabds dv
6 Snpuovpyés, (kai) mévra mpoemordpevos, eis diapoviy Tod
(gov eroince Tov tmvov, (Pdppax)ov péyloTov Tob Kapdrou 30
1 mpds “Appova verba ‘ ex titulo eclogae antecedentis (‘Epyod ix r&v mpds
“Appova, Exc. XV) male iterata’ Wachsmuth 5 pndevos scripsi: pdtv
codd. | ds dl&a F: wat didia P 6 Séov7a: scripsi; denaovrat codd.
7 Fortasse @o{re tadra piv) d0dvara 14 yevopérns scripsi: -yewapevns
codd. 16 yeyervnpéva F 18 &0 Kat doGevq tore scripsi: a 7d
daGer7} elvat codd. 22 7} del, P? 26 wF: dP 28 dvré-
 EXCERPT V. HERMES TO TAT 409

EXCERPT V
From the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.
And the Maker of the everlasting bodies, my son, having once r
made them, did not thereafter make them, nor does he make
them now ; he gave them over into their own keeping, and having
united them to one another, left them to go their way, as things
that are in need of nothing. If they need anything, they need
one another ; but they have no need of the addition of anything
from without. .. . immortal ;! for the bodies which were made
by Him could not but be of such nature.
But the Maker by whom we men were made,* being himself 2
embodied, made us, and ever is and will be making us, as beings
whose bodies are dissoluble and mortal. For it was not per-
mitted to him to imitate his own Maker, especially as (... .
Moreover, . . . was) impossible ; for the Maker of the everlasting
bodies made them of the first substance, which is incorporeal,
but our Maker made us of the corporeal things that had been
made.
It is with good reason then that the everlasting bodies are3
immortal, inasmuch as they have been made of incorporeal
substance ; but our bodies are dissoluble and mortal, inasmuch
as our fabric is composed of bodies. And for this reason our4
bodies are weak, and need much help. How could the bond
that holds our bodies together have endured even for a little
time, were it not that they receive into them nutriment which
comes from the elements, and that this nutriment renews our
bodies day by day? For we receive an influx of earth and water,
fire and air, which renovates our bodies, and holds our mortal
frame together. :
- so that we are too weak to endure the strain of our5
movements, and cannot bear them for one day. Be assured,
my son, that, were it not that our bodies rest at night, we could
not hold out for a single day. And so the Maker,—being good,
and foreknowing all things,—to the end that the living being
might last on, made sleep, a potent remedy for the weariness
1 Perhaps, ‘ A hoe bodies then are) immortal’.
? This second ‘ Maker’ must be either the Kosmos or the Sun.

oxopev Canter: dvrécywper FP 30 Pdppaxoy scripsi: dv codd. (dv del.

Heeren : post mvjoews add. GeAxrhpov Heeren, pappaxov Meineke)

OL
IO
ELE
OO
EIA
IO
LO
a
a
On
a
i
ee
 410 STOBAEI HERMETICA

Tis kwhoews, Kal én iadrntos eragev éxatép~ ypdvon

6 [waddov St rH dvamwavry mAcioval. peylorny dH vdet, (@)
réxvov, Tod Umvov tiv évépyetav, évavtiay TH THs Wuxijs,
obk éddrrov(a 8) éxeivns. Kxabdmep yap ) Wuxi) Kijoeds
éorwy évepyutikti, Tov adrov Tpérov (6 Umvos...). (610) kal ra 5
cépata Civ ov Stvatat xwpis dmvovr dvecis ydp [Kai
7 ddecis] core “rev ovvdérwr Tov peddv". Kal towbev evepyei,
coparoroay tiv émrecedodcav UAnv, éxdot@ Td oiketov
dtacrérhov, 75 pev Wop TO aipart, rhy 8 yhv (rois) doréos
kai puedois, Tov d& dépa ois vedpots [kai Prewi], Td dé wip to
Th dpdoe. Sidmep Kal fderar dxpws 7d cdpa 76 trvy
rabrny évepyoort tiv 'idovyv'.

EXCERPTUM V1

Stobaeus 1. 21. 9, vol. i, p. 189 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 468

Heeren).
‘Eppyod éx tan mpos Tar.
1 ’Emef pou éy rots eumpoobey yertxois Nyors bréoxXov
dnracat mepi tdv tpidkovta && Sexavav, viv por diAwoor 15
wept aitav Kai Tis Tovrwy évepyelas.—Ovdleleis pOdvos,
& Tér Kai 6 Kupidratos mdévrov dé6yos Kal Kopupatéraros
ovros dy ein. cd dé vide [obras].
2 epapév cot wepl tod Kwdiaxod KiKdov, [[Kal]] rod ((xal))
(wopbpov, kal trav mévre whavyntav Kai jdlov Kai vEedrjvns 20
kat Tod éxdorov rovrwy Kikhov.— Egns yép, ® Tpicpéyiore.
—Obrws Bovdropal ce voeiv Kal wepl trav tpidxovta ef
Sexavdv, peuynpévon éxeivay, iv’ eyvwotds cor Kal 6 mepi
rovTwy déyos yévorro.— Mépynpat, & warep.—
3 (“E)¢apév mov, & téxvov, meprextixdy Tay amdvTwv elvat 25
1 éxarépy Meineke: éxdotw FP | xpdvov Gaisford: xpévw FP 2
scripsi: 5€ codd. 3 évavtia P 4 éddrrova 8 Heeren: édarrov FP
5 évepynrixn scripsi :évépyera codd. 6 divara P: dvvavra F 7 tov
(ante ped@v) F; om. P 8 éwedPodcav P 9 rois add, Meineke
10 pvedois codd, : fortasse pior 12 évepyodvm Meineke: évepyoivros codd,
| j30vqy codd. : fortasse évépyeav
18 sqq. Lemma et §§ I-7 (‘Ewef pot. . « wal mow) desunt in cod. P
18 ry scripsi: 70d cod. 16 ovdels Meineke: ob8é eis F 18 otros
 EXCERPT V. HERMES TO TAT 411
produced by movement ; and he assigned time in equal portions
to movement and to sleep. Know then, my son, that the work 6
wrought by sleep is a great work, It is contrary to that wrought
by the soul, but of no less import; for as the soul works
movement, even so (sleep works repose. And for this reason)
our bodies cannot live without sleep; for sleep is a relaxing
of .... Moreover, sleep works within us, building into the7
body the matter that has entered in, and distributing to each
part of the body that kind of matter which is appropriate to it,
water to the blood, earth to the bones and marrow,! air to the
nerves, and fire to the organs of sight. And so the body feels
intense pleasure when sleep is doing this work.

EXCERPT VI

From the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.

Taz. In your former General Discourses you promised tor
explain about the thirty-six Decans; I therefore ask you to
tell me about them now, and to explain their working.— Hermes.
I am quite willing, Tat ; and of all my teachings, this will be of
supreme importance, and will stand highest among them. I bid
you mark it well.?
I have told you before about the zodiacal circle, which is also 2
called the animal-bearing circle, and about the five planet-stars
and the sun and the moon, and the several circles of these seven
bodies.— Zaz. You have, thrice-greatest one.—Hermes. I desire
you then, in your thoughts about the thirty-six Decans also,
to bear in mind what I have told you, that so my teaching about
the Decans also may be intelligible to you.—Zaz. I bear in mind
what you have told me, father.—
LTermes. I told you, my son, that there is a body which encloses 3

1 Perhaps, ‘ bones and muscles’,

? Or, ‘ You must understand the matter thus’,

Heeren : aids F | ob Meineke: 3 F 19 xai transposuit Meineke

22 ce Heeren: co F 23 peuynpévoy Meineke : pepvnpévos F
24 yévorro F : -yévntat Meineke 25 papév Meineke: papév F

S
 412 STOBAEI HERMETICA
capa. évvdncov odv [kal] adtd daomwep xKukdoedés (7d)
oxhpa: Kal yap otras éxet Td mév.—Touodrov (7d) oxnpa
vod obras as déyels, & maérep.— Td St tov KiKdov Tob
céparos rovrou[s] Terdx Oar rods tpidkovra e~ dexavods,
pécovs Tod (rot) mavrés KiKdou (Kal) Tod (@diaxod, diopi- 5
| (ovras dporépous rods KvKAous, Kai domep éxeivoy piv
kougifovras, tov (dt) (odiaxdy Kabop[if{jdvras.
4 (...) “oupdhepopévovs trois mAdvnot Kai ioodvvapeiy tH
Tod mavrds popd Kara Td évahdrdg trois émrd’ Kal 7d pev
meptextixoy éréyew oGpa,—eoxarov yap dv jv [ér] (7B 10
rdxet) Thc popac avrd Kab’ abrd dv [7O méoxev),—em-
omevdew dé Tods etd GAdovs KvKAous, id 7d Bpaddrepay
kivynow (abrods) xweicOat rod (rod) mavrés KiKdou [domep
ovv avdyxn] [avrods kwveicbat kai Tod mavrés|.
13 ((umd dé rodbrovs éoriv 1) Kadoupévn apxtos, kaTa& pécov 15
Tod (diaxod, é& dorépwr ovyKeipévn éemrd, Exovea dvti~vyov
érépav trip kepadis. tadrns [uty] } évépyerd éort Kabdrep
d£ovos, pndapod piv dvvovons pndt avareddrAgovons, pevovons
dt ev 7G a’t@ rome, [ris] mwepi (7d) adrd orpedopévns,
évepyovons d& tiv (rod) (w(0)pépou Kukdov (mepipopar. . . .) 20
mapadiWodca 7d wav TobTo dd perv [THs] vuKTos Hpépg, aad
(8) hpépas vuxri.))
5 vonowper ovv Kal tas tav érrad (...) kal ‘mdvra tov
ktxdov' (...), p@dAdov bt trav ey Kbopwo amdvrav dorepel
pddrakas aitods wepiictacba, [wdvta] cvvéxovras [kai] Ta 25
mdvrTa, kal Tnpodvras Thy Tav TévTov ciTagiav.—Obros yap
vod, warep, €& dv éyers.—
6 “En 8 vénoov, (®) Tér, drt Kal dmabeis clow dv of
&ddot dorépes mdaxovow. ove yap émexduevor tov Spépov
ornpifovow obre kwAvépevor dvarrodifovaty, (. . .") AN ovdE 30
piv "bd tod pwrds Tod jAlov oxérovrat', drep méayXovow
of ddAXa dorépes: EdevOepor Se dvres, bmEepdva TdvT@Y dowep

1 atréd F: avrod Meineke 3 vo® Heeren: viv F 4 rovrov Heeren:

Tourous F 5 «at add, Heeren 7 naSopavras scripsi : «abopifovras F
8 Fortasse cvpdepopévovs[ ] [[ J] rH 10d mavrds pop [((xai isoduvapeiv))
ward 70 évadAdg Tots érra) 10-11 7G raxet Tis popas scripsi : év TH pope
cod, 1l & scripsi (dv, 7G rdxe Usener): év 7G waoxew F 12 &a 7
Heeren: did re F 15-22 § 13 (ind 5é . . . vueri) hue transposui
16 énd P 17 4 om, P 19 Hs seclusit Wachsmuth | 7d add,
Wachsm. 20 rot add. Heeren | <gopépov Wachsm.: (wpépov FP
| wepipopdy add, Heeren 22 8’ add. Heeren 23-24 Fortasse «al ras
 EXCERPT VI. HERMES TO TAT 413
all things. You must conceive the shape of that body as circular
;
for such is the shape of the universe.—Zaz. I conceive its shape
as circular, even as you bid me, father.— Hermes. And you must
understand that below the circle of this body are placed the
thirty-six Decans, between the circle of the universe! and that
of the zodiac, separating the one circle from the other; they
bear
up, as it were, the circle of the universe, and look down
on the
circle of the zodiac.
. + . They retard the all-enclosing body,—for that body would
4
move with extreme velocity if it were left to itself, —but they urge
on the seven other circles, because these circles move with
a slower movement than the circle of the universe.
And subject to the Decans is the constellation called the Bear, 13
which is centrally situated with regard to the zodiac. The Bear
is composed of seven stars, and has overhead another Bear
to
match it. The function of the Bear resembles that of the axle
of a wheel; it never sets nor rises, but abides in one place,
revolving about a fixed point, and making the zodiacal circle
revolve, ... transmitting the world from night to day, and
from day to night.
Let us understand then that both the . . . of the seven planets
5
and all... .;* or rather, that the Decans stand round about
all things in the Kosmos as guardians, holding all things together,
and watching over the good order of all things.— Zaz—Even so
I conceive them, father, according to your words.—
And further, my son, you must understand that the Decans 6
are exempt from the things that befall the other stars. They
are not checked in their course and brought to a standstill,
nor hindered and made to move backwards, (as the planets are o
nor yet are they . . .,* as are the other stars. They are free,
and exalted above all things ; and as careful guardians and over-

' I.e. the outermost sphere, which is ‘ the all-enclosing body’.

® Perhaps, ‘that the movements (or the circles) of the seven planets,
other things also, are governed by the Decans’. and all
® Perhaps, ‘nor yet are they (deprived of their power when) hidden
from
sight by the light of the sun’.

Tav énrad Cevgnoes) (vel rods ray Enrd xbicAovs) kat (7d) mavra (rois Sexavois
inoreTaxOat) 25-26 avvéxovras rd wévra scripsi (wal cuvéxovras 7a ndvra
Wachsm.): mavra ovvéyovras cal 7a mavra F 30 Fortasse dvarodifovaw,
(amep nacxovow of mAdvnres)
 414 STOBAEI HERMETICA

pvraxes axpiBeis kai emicKorot Tod mavTos mepte(p)xovTat

T® vvxOnpépo 7d wav.—
7 Ap obv ([Kall] oBror, & mdrep, Exover ((xal)) mpos Hmas
évépyeav ;—Thy peytorny, & réxvov. el yap éxelvors évep-
;
yoior, mas ov Kal tpiv, Kal Kal &va Exacrov Kal Kowy 5
8[obras, @ Téxvor] Trav (mev yap) Kabodtkas mévTevy oUp-
Bawovrov [r}h évépyea awd rovray éoriv olov [d Aéy@
vénoov| Baotre(t\ov perarporal[or), mohewv eravacTacels,
Arpol, Aowuol, "&proris' Oardoons, y7s ceipol, ovdev ToT,
9 & réxvor, xapis THs TovTwy évepyelas yiverat. [ere re mpos
rovros vénaor] (...) ef yap obro pev emoraroboww éxeiveor,
hpets 8& [kal] dd Tods éwrd oper, ov voeis Kal els Huds
rHr[a] éxetvar POdvew evépyerav, fro int [ets] adray H dv
éxeivow (évepyoupérny) ;
1 ((ért 8& mpds rovrols (dAdo) véncov, & Tar, évépynpa
rotrov, Sri Kal eis Thy yay omeppatif{ovaw [as Kadodow]
(évepyelas) tds, Tas piv cwrnpious, ras de dAcOpiwrdras,))
10 (as) ((kaAotow of moddol dalpovas.))—Tis (8 av) adrois
eln, & mérep, 6 Too cdpatos Tumos ;[ToUToUs ovr] [[kadofiow
of oddol datpovas.||—[[Ovde yap iidv ri éore yévos 70 TOV
datpévev.]] Ovre [ddda] odpara Exoycin eg idias Tivos
DAns, obre ux Kevodntar domep 7peis ((obd? yap tidy ri
éort yévos Td Tov Saipdver,)) GAa evépyerat elo. TOY Tpid-
kovra &€ rovrav car.
11 [[ére 88 pds rodras vénaov, & Tar, évépynpa tovrey, drt
kai eis THY yi omepparifovew as Kadodor tdvas, Tas pev
cornpious, Tas bt dAcOpiwrdras.]] 1
12 ert Kal (dddor) év odpavG Gepspevor dorépes 'yevvaow
abrois, (of Kadovpevot) [dmolActroupy(ol), ods kal omnpéras
kal otparidras éxovow. obror St im éxelvov T weyvipevor'
pépovrar év TO aidépe alcopotpevor, tov Tovrou Témov dva-

1 wepépxovrar scripsi :mepréxovrar Wachsm. (cod. ?) 6 A verbis oftws

ou
& réxvov rursus incipit P; cuius in margine add. man. post. be Trav TpapeyioT
7 % évépyea awd dubitanter Wachsmuth : 7H evepyela md codd.: 74 evepyy-
para Usener 8 Bacihedv Heeren: Bacidéov FP | perarpowat Canter:
pera tpowaiwy F: peratponalov P: fortasse xaraor opai énavacraces
codd, : fortasse dvacrace:s 9 Arpot Atpot P — codd.: fortasse
wAnpuupioes 10-11 gn... vdnoov seclusi (vide §.11 zméz.) :Ylacunam
Thavfrov
significavi. Fortasse (ra 5% «a6" Exacrov oupBalvoyta dd pev TOY
drorederrat, O10 82 ray dexavav kat tabra ylyverat’) el yap lie F: ob P
13 rh scripsi: twa codd. | én’ Usener: vieis F: jets P 15-17 § 11 (é7
«. . dAeOpimraras) huc transposui 17 wepyelas rds scripsi: tavas codd.
 EXCERPT VI. HERMES TO TAT 415
seers of the universe, they go round it in the space of a night
and a day.—
Yat. Tell me then, father, do the Decans act on us men 7
also ?'—Hermes. Yes, my son, they act on us most potently.
If they act on the heavenly bodies, how could it be that they
should not act on us also, both on individual men and on com-
munities? The force which works in all events that befall men 8
collectively comes from the Decans; for instance, overthrows
of kingdoms, revolts? of cities, famines, pestilences, overflowings
of the sea, earthquakes,—none of these things, my son, take
place without the working of the Decans.... For if® the 9
Decans rule over the seven planets, and we are subject to
the planets, do you not see that the force set in action by the
Decans reaches us also, whether it is worked by the Decans
themselves or by means of the planets?
And besides this, my son, you must know that there is yet 11
another sort of work which the Decans do ; they sow upon the
earth the seed of certain forces, some salutary and others most
pernicious, which the many call daemons.—Za¢, And what is 10
the bodily form of these beings,‘ father ?— Hermes. They do not
possess bodies made of some special kind of matter, nor are. they
moved by soul, as we are; for there is no such thing as a race
of daemons distinct from other beings ; but they are forces put
in action by these six and thirty gods.°
Moreover, there are other stars also which travel in heavent
and obey the Decans, namely, the so-called Liturgi,° whom the
Decans have under their command as servants and private
soldiers. The Liturgi, commanded by the Decans, are borne
along floating in the aether, filling all the region of that element,

1 Ie. Do the Decans act on men as well as on the planets and

the other
heavenly bodies ??
? Perhaps, ‘ destructions’.
* Perhaps, ‘{And those things also which befall men individually result
from the working of the Decans;) |
for if *, &c,
4 Le. of the so-called daemons. ||
5 T.e. by the Decans.
8 I.e. Attendants or Ministers,

18 3° dy add. Usener 19 oiy F: oisP 21 €xovow scripsi :éxovres

codd. 22 otre Meineke: ov6t FP | Yex@ Heeren: yuxqs FP
| kevotvra scripsi: mvodpevor codd. 28 yevvaow codd.: aptius esset
dodovbovew 29 Acroupyol, ods scripsi (bmoAcToupyous, ois Usener) :
imoAerroupyous codd, 30 puyripevor codd. : fortasse dydpevor
 416 STOBAEI HERMETICA

mAnpodvres, bras pndeic Toros dvw Kevds dorépwv,

ovykospobvres Td av, évépyeray idiav exovres, UroreTay-
pévnv 8& (rf) tev tpidkovra e évepyela: €€ dy [kal kara
ras xdépas pOopal yivovra av dddov eurptxor [{eor], Kal
4h mAndds TAY Avpatvopéveov Kdwv Tods KapTods. 5
13 [lod 8& rodrous éorw 4 Kadovpév n apxros, KaTa& pécov
rob (wdiaxod, eg dorépwy ovykeipévn enrd, éxovoa avrifvyov
érépav bmtp kepadis. Tavrns pev i evépyed éort Kabdrep
doves, pndapod pev dvvotens pnd? dvatedrotons, pevodans
8 év 7G adtG tém@, Tis epi avTo orpepopérns, Evepyovons ro
88 thy Lapdpov KuKdod, mapadidoica 74 wav robTo ard pev
Tis vuxrds uepa, dd hpépas vucri.]]
14 pera S& robroyc éatlvy Gdos yxopos dorépwv, ods iets
((uev)) mpoonyopiav ob Karngoaper: of d& pel? Hyas
[peunodpevot] (€odpevor) [[per]] Kal (r)odror(s) mpoon yopias - 5
[rovrots] Ojoovrat.
15 xérobev 8 Tis cedqvns cloly Erepa aorépes POaproi,
dpyol, mpds ddtyov xpbvov cuvtoTduevor, eis Tov irtp yas
dépa eé abris ris yijs dvabupidpevor, ods Kal jpets opdpev
diadrvopévous, (obra) thy giow spolay Exoyci Tols axpy-
| orols Tav emt yas Kowv, (boa) émi Erepor [de] ovdév yiverat 7}
| tva pévov dbapf, olov 7d Tay puidy yévos kal rv yudAdav
kal Tov oKoAtKov Kal Tov dAdov Tov dpolwy, Kae(dmep)
yap éxeiva, & Tér, ore jpiv otre 7G xdopp Xpioud eort,
robvavriov 8 Aumei Evoydodvra, TapakodovOypara dvTa Tis a5
giiceas, Kal Kata Td mepioody Thy yéveow ExovTa, Tov avrov
rpomov Kal of amd Tas yijs dvabupidpevor dorépes Tov pev
dva romov ob KaradapBdvovew,—ddvvaroic: ydp, os
kdrober dvidvres,—mord dé (7d) éuBpibes Exovres, EAxdpevor
kdrw td ris ldtas tAns Siaxéovrat Taxéws, Kal Stadvévtes 30
ninrovot méduv els yay, pndev evepyjoavres 7) pdvov dxA7-
cartes TH Orrép yi dépu.
16 érepév éort yévos, @ Tér, 7d T&v Kadovpévov KopnTav,
kar& Katpdy emipavopévor, kal médwv pete xpévov ddlyov
adpavav yiwopéver, pire dvareddbvrov pire Suvdvtmv pyre 35—
dtadvopévov: olrwes pavepol dyyedot Kal KijpuKes KaboNKaGv
dmoredcoudroy ylvovrat peddovrav éverOat. bro dé Tov

1 pydeis Heeren : pndey FP 3 rjadd. Wachsm. — | évepryeig Wachsm.:

évépyeav FP | aé scripsi : «at codd. 6-12 § 13 (id... vueré) hinc
 EXCERPT VI. HERMES TO TAT 417
that there may be no place in heaven that is empty of stars;
and they help to maintain the order of the universe, putting
forth a force that is their own, but is subject to the force put
forth by the six and thirty Decans. From the Liturgi come the
destructions of other living beings’ that take place in this or that
region, and the swarming of creatures that spoil the crops.
And after the Liturgi comes another company of stars,’ to 14
which we have not cared to give names; but the men that shall
live after us will assign names to these also.
And below the moon are stars of another sort, perishable and 15
inert, which are so composed as to last but for a little time, rising
as exhalations from the earth itself into the air above the earth;
and we can see their dissolution with our own eyes. These are
of like nature to the animals on earth that are good for nothing
and are produced only to be destroyed, as for instance the races
of flies and fleas and worms and the like. For as those creatures,
my son, are in no way serviceable either to us or to the Kosmos,
but on the contrary, vex and annoy us, being by-products of
nature, and things the production of which is superfluous, even
so the stars which rise as exhalations from the earth do not
attain to the region of heaven, —for they are not able to do that,
because they rise from below,—and, as they have in them much
heavy stuff, they are dragged down by their own matter, and are
quickly dissipated, and being broken up, they fall down again
to earth, having effected nothing except a troubling of the air
above the earth.
And there are stars of another kind, my son, which are called 16
comets. They appear at their appointed times, and disappear
again after a little while. They neither rise nor set, nor do they
suffer dissolution. They come as visible messengers and heralds
to announce destined events that are about to befall mankind

! ‘Living beings other (than men)’; i.e, beasts.

2 Perhaps, ‘ comes a crowd of other stars’.
* Viz. shooting stars or meteors,

transposui: vide post § 4 18 rodrous scripsi: ravrny codd, | GAAos

xopds codd, : fortasse dAAwy byAos 15 égdpevoi scripsi: pupnoduevor codd. :
| ro¥ras (post xal) scripsi (advois Meineke): abrot codd. 16 rovrois (ante
Ojoovra) del. Meineke 20 gxova scripsi: @xorras codd. 23 xabdmep
scripsi: wal codd. 24 éweiva F 26 7d (post xara) om, P 28-29 dis
xarober dvidvres secludendum ? 29 ro add. Usener 31-32 Fortasse
(ev oxAjoarres 82 dép F: dvipi P
2806 35°C
 418 STOBAEI HERMETICA

rorov éxovow bd rov KUKAov rov Tod HAlov. émav odv

BAAN Te Te Koopo cvpBaivelv, obror gaivovrat, (Kai)
TOS
gavévres ddLyas jpepas, mad bd Tov KbKdov edAOdbvTEs
tn pavévr es (dAXoL) ,
jrtov dgaveis pévovow, ev TO drndd
ddroi 58 ev 7G Bopp&, dAdoi de év 7G AB, Grdor SE Ev TO 5
vor. pdvres d& Tovrovs mpoonyopeboa per. [kal dorépo v
de! pbors.]
17 [dorépes d& dorpav Stapopay Exovow dorépes piv ydp
ciow of év 1@ otpavO alwpobdperor, dorpa Se ra éyKelmeva. €v
7G cdpatt Tod odpavod, cvppepspeva dt [ev] 7B odpava: ef _°
dv dddexa Kodia mpoonyopeboaper. |
* * * * *
18 § radra ph dyvofoas axpiBas Sévarar vojoa Tov Oeév, ef
8 Kal torujoavra det elmeiv, kal avrémryc yevbpevoc
bedoarba, kai Ocacdpevoc paxdptoc yevérbat.—Maxdproc
és ddnbds, & mdrep, 6 rodroy Oeardpevos.—ANN’ advvarov, Leal

3 réxvov, tov év cdpari rovrov edruxfoa det St mpoyvprd-

(ew abdrod twa thy puxiy evOdde, iva éxel yevopévn, Gov
19 abrdv terre Ocdoacba, 6805 ph opadrf. doo dvOpwrot
gurocdparot eicw, obror odK dy more Bedoawto Ti Tob
Kadod Kal dyabod dy. olov ydp ors KaAAOS, & TékvOY, 7d 20
(rod) pire oxHpa pire xpOpa [mire cpa éxov(ros).—Ein
& dv 11, & mdrep, xwpls tobrav Kadov ;—Miévos 6 beés, @
réxvov, paddov St 7d peifby re dv ‘Tob Oeod 7d dvopa'.

EXCERPTUM VII

Stobaeus x. 3. 52, vol. i, p. 62 Wachsmuth (Ze/. I. 134

Heeren).
‘ “
Epps.
1 datuwrv ydp tis peylotn Téraxral, @ Tékvoy, ev péow TOD 25
mavrés [eiAovpévy], mdvra mep(ijopdca Ta emi yijs yuvdpeva
id rev dvOpdrav. Kabdrep (yap) emi rijs Octas rdfews (7)
[mpdvoa Kal] dvdyKn réraxras, Tov abtov Tpdmov kal émi TOV
2 pérddrAa F | wat add. Usener 3 pavévras P 4 ddAor (post
gavévres) add. Usener 5 dAdo ter Heeren: dAdAa ter codd.
8-11 dorépes Bt . . . mpooryopedcapey seclusit Wachsmuth : *antiquum
glossema ’ Usener 10 é& del. Meineke 13-14 avrémrys yevdpevos
 EXCERPT VI. HERMES TO TAT 419
in general. The comets have their abode below the circle of
the sun.’ When something is about to befall the world, they
appear; and having appeared for a few days, they go back to
their place below the circle of the sun, and abide invisible.
Some of them appear in the East, some in the North, some in
the West, and some in the South, We have named them
‘prophet-stars’.[ ]?
* * * * *
He who has not failed to get knowledge of these things is able 18
to form an exact conception of God; nay, if I am to speak
boldly, he is able to see God with his own eyes, and having seen
God, to be blest.—7Zaz. Blest indeed, father, is he who has
seen God.—Hermes. But it is impossible, my son, for one who
is yet in the body to attain to this happiness. A man must train
his soul in this life, in order that, when it has entered the other
world, where it is permitted to see God, it may not miss the way
(which leads to Him). But men who love the body will never 19
see the vision of the Beautiful and Good. How glorious, my
son, is the beauty of that which has neither shape nor colour !*
— Tat. But can there be anything, father, that is beautiful apart
from shape and colour ?—Hermes. God alone, my son, or rather,
that which is too great to be called God.

EXCERPT VII

Hermes.
Hermes. For there is a mighty deity, my son, who is posted 1
in the midst of the universe, and watches over all things done
on earth by men. For as Necessity has been set over the divine
1 «The circle of the sun ’ seems here to mean the sun-disk, i. e, the sun itself,
and not the orbit or sphere of the sun.
* [§ 17. ‘ But asteres (stars) differ from astra (constellations). Asteres are
those which float in heaven; but astra are those which are fixed in the body
of heaven, and are borne along together with heaven ; and twelve of the astra
we have named Signs of the Zodiac ’.]
3 Te. of the incorporeal.

et Peacdpevos paxépios Wachsmuth : abrénryy -yevdpevoy et Peacdpevov paaprov

FP 14 pandpios (ante ds) Gaisford : paxdpiov FP 18 abrdy scripsi:
abriy codd,
24 Lemma épyijs hic habet P?; ad ultima verba antecedentis ex Herodoto
eclogae adscriptum habent FP! 26 mepiopica Meineke: wep dpoa codd.
27 ydp add. Meineke | @ add, Heeren
Eea2
 420 STOBAEI HERMETICA

avOpdérav réraxrar % dixn [rabra exelvos évepyodeal.A

2 éxeivn pe yap Kparel thy Tagw Tay [[dvT@r]| (avo),ds Octay
((evrwv)), Kal dpapreiv pr) OedbvTwv pnd duvapéveoys
adtvaroy yap Td Ociov may Oiiva [e ob Kai 7d dvapdp-
rH(ro\v cupBatver] % de Sikn téraxrae tipwpds Tov emt
3dpapravortav. avOpérov yap yévos (dpuaptntixév),
bvnrov dv Kal éx Kakhs UAns cuverrés: [kal pdédora exe
oupBaiver 7d ddtcbaivey, ols Oeomrixh Sivapis ob mpbce
rovreov d& kai padvota éemixparel dixn'] Kal rh (uev) eip
pérn brbxerrar did Tas THs yevéoews evepyelas, TH de
Od ras év TO Bio dpaprias.

EXCERPTUM VIIT

Stobaeus r. 4. 8, vol. i, p. 73 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 160 Heeren)

‘Eppod mpos rov vidr.

1 "OpOds pot mévra elras,@ mdérep. GAN’ Ext pe dvduvn
tiva éorl (Trav ev hiv dowpdror) Te Kata mpbvoiay, Kal 7
(rd) kar’ dvdyKny dpolws, Kai (ra) Kad’ efpappévny.—
2 “Edny dva ev jpiv, & Tér, tpla «idn dowpdrov.
7d pév Te earl vontov(...). ToiTo pev ody ape
doxnpdriarov, [dodparov,) e€ adtis ris mpdrns [xa
vontns ovcias (.. .).
3 écte de [[xat]] ev tyiv ((Kal)) ((€repov eidos)) (dowpd
. ++) [rodr@ évavrlat oxnparérnres| [robro bmodéy:
Td yodv (ddoyov), Kiwotuevoy brd THs vontis ovoias,
twa ébyov (Kiwetrat), Kal [dmodex Bev] (obr@ KivyOev) «
peraBddrerat els [[Erepov eldos]] [Kuvpoews] [rodiro de] id
[€ojre Tod vorjparos tod Snpuoupyod.
1 radra P 2 Sry Heeren: éxeiva FP 5 a ‘ov
dvapapreiy codd. 6 dyaprytixdy addidi aunane add, Wac
7 OvnravP| auveords F: auvearas P = emuparp P 10 nd,
trécevra F 15 7a (ante xar’ dvayenv) add. Wachsmuth
Ps 7a KP 17 Fortasse vonrdv (dmdds Bar,Cicvplas) 19 Forts
obotas (rpoBeBAnpévoy) 20 éor scripsi: eat codd. 20-21 Fo
(dowparay, dAoyov Be, Kjoews BF AoyKAS er, 22
twa Adyov F ; ciot 5& wat ev piv P 25 7 soripsi: éo7 codd.
 EXCERPT VII. HERMES TO TAT 421

order,’ even so has Penal Justice been set over men. For 2
Necessity holds in her grasp the order of those above,’ inasmuch
as they are divine, and do not wish to err, and cannot err ;—for
it is impossible that that which is divine should go astray ;—but
Penal Justice has been appointed to punish those who err on earth. 8
For the human race is apt to err, because it is mortal, and is com-
posed of evil matter; [ |* and men are subject to Destiny by
reason of the forces at work in their birth, but are subject to
Penal Justice by reason of their errors in the conduct of life.

EXCERPT Vill

A discourse of Hermes to his son.

Tat.’ In all this, father, you have spoken rightly. But go on, 1
and tell me again what are the incorporeal things in us that are
according to Providence, and likewise what are those that
are according to Necessity, and those that are according to
Destiny.—
Hermes. 1 told you, my son Tat, that there are in us three2
kinds of incorporeals. The first ot these is apprehensible by
thought alone... This is a thing without colour and without
shape; it issues from nothing else than the primary intelligible
substance,°
But there is also in us a second kind of incorporeal thing,’...° 3
For when the irrational part is moved by the intelligible substance,"
it is moved rationally in some degree,” and being so moved, is at
once transformed into an image of the Maker’s thought.

1 J.e, has been appointed to rule over the ordered system of the heavenly
bodies. The stars must move as they do; they ‘cannot err’.
2 T.e. the heavenly bodies.
* [and the men most liable to slip are those who do not possess the power
cf seeing God; and on those men above all does Penal Justice lay her hold’).
4 Excerpt VIII, as given in the manuscripts, is entirely meaningless. I have
tried to make sense of it by freely altering the text. BaP
A
ne
=
S
e
M
a
Se
E
e
2 g
5 Viz, the mind,—that part of the soul in which reason resides.
© T.e, from God, or the divine Mind.
7 Viz. that part of the soul in which the passions reside.
® Perhaps, ‘which is in itself irrational, but is capable of being moved
rationally ’. ® Le. by the mind.
10 Literally, ‘(it is moved) according to some reason’. nd so again in § 6.

So
 422 STOBAEI HERMETICA
4 tpitov dé éorw (ev tpiv) cddos dowpdrov, 6 Tepl re
cdpard éort ovpBeBnxds. [réros, xpovos, kivnots, oxApa,
éemipdveia, péyebos, «dos.] Kal rotrwr eioi Stapopa(?) dior
& pev ydp éorw abraov iSios roid, & bt ToD cépatos (. . A
7a pev Dios mod ‘td oxApa, ) Xpba, Td Eidos, 6 Tém0s, -
6 xpovos, ) Kivnos': r& 8 Tod odparos ‘idid eor 7d
eoxXnpariopévoy oxfpa kal Td Kexpwopevoy xpGpa, tore d&
kal 4 pepoppopévn popgi kal 1 emipdvera Kal 7d péyebos,
taird €or TovT@y dpéroya.|
5 1) Bev oby vont ovoia, mpds (ev) TH OB yevouéevn,
caurns e€ovalav éxet, Kal [rod] odgev] (rd) Erepov adr
cdgovea: ‘éreO adri) [4] (kad? abtiv) oboa dd dvdy,
ovk Eori{y], (Kal 4) aipeois adris Kara mpédvoavy) ((ytverat
brohepOcioa dé [dd] Tod Oeod, alpe(i)rat rv copar
pow, |[kal } aipeots adrijs kara mpévo.av)] [rote de (
Tob Kéopou (avdyKn bronimret) ([yiverai]]. ;
6 7d 8 ddoyor "wav" (. . .) Kivetrar mpés tive Nbyor ae
7 (++) Kal 6 pév Adbyos Kkar& mpdvoray, 7d dt ddroyor K
dvdykny, Ta St mepl 7d cGpa cvpBeBnkbra Kal’ eipappévn,
[kai] odrés éorw 5 Adbyos Tv KaT& mpbvotay Kal (kar’)
avdyknv Kal Kad’ elnappévnv.

EXCERPTUM 1X

Stobaeus 1. 11, 2, vol. i, p. 131 Wachsmuth (Zcé, I. 316

Heeren).
‘Eppod €x trav mpos Tar.
I Kai yéyoverv, & réxvov, 4 Orn Kal (del) fv. BAH
dyyeiov yevéreds éott yéveois d& evepyetas 7(p)émos
ayev[v|jtov Kat mpodvros [rot] Oeod. 7d onépua ody 2
1 dowparov P 1-2 Fortasse @ wept 7d cipd tore coupBeBni
3 Giapopal Patr.: didpopa FP 7 €or 58 codd.: én 8
9 rovray P: rolrw F 11 ow fe scripsi: rod od ew codd. 11-12
ow Covoay Pl 12 évaé’ FP: énei y’ Meineke 14 in p
| ulpetrat Meineke: aiperae P: aiperar F 15 ofrw scripsi: totro
17 Fortasse 1d 88 dAoyou (rH yey vonri otcig meOdpevov) mverrar mpds 2
Ad you: Cp) meBdpevoy Be...) 20 «ar’ add, Wachsmuth,
23 # An (ante yap) P 24 ayyetov codd, : fortasse éxparyetov
Tim. 50C) | tpéwos Heeren: rémos FP 25 dyevnrov Wace!
dyevynruv FP |rod FP: del. P?
 /

EXCERPT VIII. HERMES TO TAT 423

And there is in us a third kind of incorporeals also, namely, 4

the attributes of our bodies. Of these there are two different
classes. Those of the one class are qualities characteristic of the
individual ; those of the other class are . . . of the body.t The
qualities characteristic of the individual are... ; the ... of
the body are...
Now the intelligible substance,” if it has drawn near to God, 5
has power over itself,’ and in saving itself, it also saves the other
part.!. As long as it is by itself,” it is not subject to Necessity,
and its choice is in accordance with Providence.’ But if it falls
away from God, it chooses the corporeal world, and in that way
it becomes subject to Necessity, which rules over the Kosmos.
The irrational part of the soul‘... is moved rationally in 6
some degree, . . .”
_. .8 And reason is according to Providence ; that which is 7
irrational is according to Necessity; and the attributes of the
body are according to’Destiny. This is my teaching concerning
the things that are according to Providence, Necessity, and
Destiny.

EXCERPT 1X

An extract from the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.

Matter, my son, has come into being; but it also was always 1
in being. For matter is a receptacle® in which the process of
coming into being takes place; and that process is a mode
of the working of God, who is without beginning, and was in
being before the world began. Matter then has received from

1 Perhaps, ‘ are (separable accidents) of the body Fe

2 T.e, the mind. 8 T.e. possesses free will.
4 I.e. that part of the soul in which the passions reside. and
5 T.e. as long as it is not influenced or interfered with by the body
bodily things.
6 That is to say, the man’s will is in harmony with God's will. intelli-
7 Perhaps, ‘ The irrational part of the soul, Cif it is obedient to the in
gible substance (i, e. to the rational part of the soul),) is moved rationally
; but if it is
some degree, (and is thereby brought into accord with Providence
not obedient to the intelligible substance, it is subject to Necessity. )’
® Between § 6 and § 7 there must have been a passage, now lost, in which
‘the attributes of the body’ were spoken of.
® Perhaps, ‘a plastic mass’.
 424 STOBAEI HERMETICA
2 yevérews (dd Tod Oeod) Aalu]Plav]oiea yéyove. Kal Tperriy
eyévero, Kal idéas &t}xe(e woddds, mrotkéAws) pophorovovpévn:
epéornke yap abr tperopévn 4 (rod beod evépyeia), TeXVt-
Tevovoa Tas Ths TpomAs idéas. ayer[y|nola ody ((4)) ras
dns apopghia Hv, ([4]] [[Se]] yéveos ((8%)) 7d evepyeiobas. 5)

EXCERPTUM X

Stobaeus 1. 8. 41, vol. i, p. 104 Wachsmuth (Zcl. I, 254

Heeren), 7
“Eppod ex rev mpos Tar.
1... ‘ds Kal’ wep) rev zpidv xpover ‘edpetr. ob're yap
kad’ éavrods elow obre cuvivevta Kal mdr, (kal) ouv-
jveovrat kal kad’ éavrovs elow.
2 éay (ney yap) xwpls dvat rod mapedndvObros bToddBys 10
Tov eveota@ra (kal rod eveoraros roy péddovTa, . . de
adivarov (ydp) errs (rdv) [olveot&ra (yevéoOat) ef ph Kad
(6) mapednruOas yévnrat, (kal rov péddovra, ef pi Kal é
éveaTas") éx yap Tod dmotyopévoy 7d [aleveords yiverat, kat
3 ex Toi everraros rd péAdov [Epxerat]. [fed 52 Set. . G5
4 €ordvat Suvdpevos;]| al [wdédw] 6 mapedndvbas ouvdrrov
T@ éveorGrt, xai 6 eveards 7H péddovti, ls ylverat [lov yap
xepis abrady eiot)| [rf ravréryte Kai rh évdrnre kal]
ouvexeia. ((odK &p(a) xwpls (é\avraev eiat(v).))
5 (edv 8 cwvgvdcbar broddBys,....) obra [kal ovve
kal] dteords yiverat, els dv kal 6 abrés, (8) xpovos. q
3 (el d& Se? Kal emt mrEov Bacaviom, ofr Aoyicdpueba-
1 AaBotca scripsi: AapBévovea codd. 2 éxe scripsi: efye
3 rod Geod évépyea addidi (‘fortasse addendum eluappévn’ Wack
4 ae Wachsm. ; dyevynaia FP 4-5 Fortasie dyevnola obvrH UAp
dyoppia jv 4
P
6 ‘Haec tam distant ab Hermeticis scriptis, ut nullus dubitem
cidisse Hermetis locum et lemma (fort. etiam initium) huius in
Wachsmuth eclog
7 os P: ‘set antea spat. 5 litt. F mapa F
wav... epos Usener 7-9 Fortasse otre yap Kad’ éavrovs yee
[otre] ouvyvewra, nat madw, (ov) ourqvevra, (adda) [Kal] Kad’
elow 10 yey yap addidi (yap add. Heeren) 12 roy
yevéoba scripsi :cvverrdvar FP?: oumordvar Pt 12-13 el uh...
Wachsm. : fortasse dy yi)... yévnra 13 napednavOds F 14
scripsi (éveoras Heeren) :ovvesrds F : owveoras P 15 épyera c
éxerat Usener 15-16 § 3 (el... duvdpevos) hine transposui; vide p
 EXCERPT IX. HERMES TO TAT 425
God the germ from which has sprung its coming-into-being,‘
and has thereby come into being. And it came into being as 2
a thing that is mutable ;and it takes many forms, being fashioned
into various shapes; for in passing through its changes it is
governed by God’s working, which fabricates the forms taken
by it in the course of its mutation. In respect of its formlessness
then, matter was without beginning; but in respect of God’s
working on it, it has come into being.

EXCERPT X

An extract from the Discourses of Hermes to Tat.

. » + concerning the three times*. .. For they are neither x
independent of one another nor united with one another; and
again, they are both united and independent.’
If you suppose the present time to be separate from the past 2
time (and the future from the present, you will find yourself in
a difficulty. For) it is impossible for the present to come into
being unless the past also has come into being, (and for the
future to come into being unless the present has ;) for the present
issues from the past, and the future from the present. And 4
inasmuch as the past joins on to the present, and the present
to the future, they are made one by their continuity. They are
therefore not separate from one another.
(On the other hand, if you suppose them to be united with 5
one another, you will again find yourself in a difficulty. . .*).
Thus it appears that, though time is one and the same throughout,
its parts are separate.
If we are to investigate the matter yet further, let us reason 3

' Or, ‘the germ from which spring all things that come into being’.
? Te. past time, present time, and future time.
® Perhaps, ‘For they are not independent, but are united with one another;
and again (in another sense) they are not united, but are independent’.
* Here must have followed a passage, now lost, in which reasons were given
for saying that the three times are not ‘united’,

§5 18 rf (ante cuvexeig) om. P 19 od« dpa scripsi: ob yap codd.

|€avr@y scripsi (abr&v Usener): abtay FP
 426 STOBAEI HERMETICA

Tov pev mapeAnduOdra xpovov ‘oixerOa eis rd penkért

[oixerOat els rd pnkért| elvae Todrov', roy de pédAovTa ph
brdpxev, ev TO pyndérw wapeivarr GAA pede Tov evertora
‘ouprapeivat', ev 7 (uh) pévetv. ds yap ovx EornKev)
[[Aorjv]], Exav odd? Kévtpov poviv [xpévov], mas eéverTas 5 —
elvat Néyerat, 6 pnde ((pomhv)) Eordvar duvdpevos ;))

EXCERPTUM XI

Stobaeus 1. 41. 1(b), vol. i, p. 274 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 702

Heeren).
1 viv 6€, & Téxvov, (ev) Kedaratos [Ta dvTa] (wdvra)
dieEehevoouat vofoes yap Ta Aeydpeva, penvnpévos dv
WKoveas.

2 (1) mévra r& [dvra] (obpara) Kweirat povoy 7d [pi dv]10

(doéparov) dxlyqrov.
(2) wav cGpa petaBryT6vr ob wav oda, Siadurov. [era
Tov copdtov dtaduTd.]
(3) ‘ob may (Gov Ovnrév: od mav (Gov dbdvaror".
(4) 7 dcadurov POaprév [[rd]] pdvoy ((7d)) adaidAyrov 1
aidiov, ;
(5) 70 det yuwopevor dei al pbeiperat, rd d dmak yevd-
Hevov obdérore POelperat [ovdt dddo Tt yiverat].
6) mpa@rov 6 eds, Sedrepoy 6 Kécpos, Tplrov 6 dvOpom
3 6 Kédcpos dia tov dvOpwrov, 6 St dvOpwmos
Tov Oedv".
[[(8) Wuxas 7d wey aicOnriv Ovnrév, 7d dS? AoyiKdv aOd-
varov. ;
(9) [mwaoa ovoia a0dvaros:| Taoa ovota petaBAnrT:
aca ovata pbapry.)

ctxentas(wal)[ds193pactreGregpeeseoren; OmD plots toeSed

& 7h pydéera wapetvar 2 oixecOau eis 7d ynucbrsaie spt
oor F
edd. |rodrov del. Usener 4 ovpmapeiva codd.: fortasse
dn(aprifévtas) 5 xpévou seclusit Wachsm. anak
ana sloAS diasUre” 138
bn Sa
Wachsm, 14 Fortasse [od] wav (gov yernrév, ob av
15 povoy 76 ddutdvroyv scripsi :7d pévov pai Reca codd,
 EXCERPT X. HERMES TO TAT 427

as follows. ‘lhe past time has departed, so that it no longer is;

and the future is not in existence, in that it has not yet arrived.’
And even the present is not ...,? in that it does not abide.
For seeing that the present does not stand fast, and does not
abide even for an instant, how can it be said to be ‘present’,
when it cannot stand fast for one moment? *

EXCERPT XI

Hermes. (Hitherto, 1 have given you instruction by means 1

of numerous discourses ;) but now, my son, I will sum up in
brief sentences all that I have taught you. You will understand
what I say, if you bear in mind what you have been told before.

(rt) All bodies are moved; only that which is incorporeal is 2

motionless.
(2) All bodies are subject to change; but not all bodies are
dissoluble.
(3) +.
(4) That which is dissoluble is destructible ; only that which
is indissoluble is everlasting.
(5) That which is ever coming into being is ever being destroyed,
but that which has come into being once for all is never destroyed.
(6) God is first ; the Kosmos is second ; Man is third.
(7). 5"
(9) Everything that exists’ is subject to change; (but not
everything that exists is destructible.)

1 Perhaps, ‘ That the past time is not in existence, is shown by the fact that
it has departed and is no longer here ; and that the future is not in existence, is
shown by the fact that it has not yet arrived’.
2 Perhaps, ‘is not exactly in existence’, i.e. cannot, strictly speaking, be said
to be in existence.
3 Literally, ‘ how isit said to be “ standing in”, when it cannot stand even for
a moment?’
Perhaps, ‘ Every living being has come into being; but not every living
being is mortal’.
5 Perhaps, ‘The Kosmos has been made by God, and Man has been made
by means of the Kosmos’.
> Te, every material thing, or body.
BAyroy add, 70 dperaBAnroy P* 17-18 yevdpevoy scripsi : yvdpevor codd.
20-21 Fortasse 5 xécpos ind rod Oecd, 0 5& dvOpwmos bd Tod Kdopov
22-23 Sententiam (8) hine transposui: vide post sententiam (11)
 428 STOBAEI HERMETICA
(10) wav 7d dy Kinnrév: obd&(v) rév dvTay Larner.
(11) od mdvra [Wuyf] Kweirat, wav dt (7d Kiwvotper)ov
Wuyxg Keveilra).
(8) Wuxiis 73 pev aicOnr(ex)dv Ovgrév, 7d dé doyiKdv
a0dévarov.))
(12) [wav 7d méoxov atoberat| wav 7d aicO(avdpevor
maoxet’ (pévos) ((6 vobs dmabys.))
(13) wav 7d Avmodpevor Kai ASerat [(@ov Ovnrév} ov mav
70 Hd6pevov AuTE?rat [{Gov didior).
(14) ob wav cGpa vooet wav cpa vocoby Siadurov. 10.
(15) 6 vos &v 76 OeG- [6 doyiopds &v 7G avOpdro|
6 Abyos év 7G vol. [[6 vods drabis.]|
(16) odd[eltv copari(kdv) ddnOés: (n6vov ((70)) dodparon
[[79]] [wav] awevdés,
(17) wav 7d yevopevov peraBdnrov: ob wav rd yevdpevor 15
poaprov. q
18) oddey dyabdy émi rijs ys obdtv Kaxdv ev 7G ovpard.
19) 6 Oeds dyads: 5 dvOpwros Kaxés.
20) 76 dyabdv éxotatov: 7d Kakdy dkovctov.
21) of Oeot 7a dyabd aipodvrat (of dvOpwrot Ta Kak 20
aipobvrar) ws dyabd.
(22) '} ebvoula peyédn edvopta t edvopta 6 vépos.'
(23) ‘Oetos xpdvos vipos dvOpadmwwos."
(24) 'kaxia xbopov rpudi) xpévos dvOpdrov pbopa'.
(25) may (70) ev odpav@ dperdOerov' wav 7d éml yas
peraderéy.
(26) ovdey év ovparg dobdov: oddtv emi yiis edevO«pov.
1 70 dy... ray bvrww codd,: fortasse c@pa .. . Trav cwpdrow |m
scripsi: d&rrdv codd. —|obdév P2: 085% FP? 2 Yuxf Canter :
70 «votpevoy scripsi: dv codd. 2-3 Fortasse: [od. . . weira
5] 70 xevovpevov Yuyp xuwvetra 3 vuxn «xweira Canter: yu
«wet codd, 4 alc®yridv Meineke: aladynrdv codd. 6 al
Hevoy scripsi: aic@dpevoy codd. 76 vovs drabjs huc a s
(15) transposui 8-9 (Gov Ovnrév et (Gov didioy seclusit Wach
| Fortasse [od] wav 7d #8dpevoy (nat) Aumetra 8-10 Sententiae (13)
(14): fortasse wav 7d Avmodpevov [ ] voce wav cpa (vel nav 70)
diadurév 13 abby cwparindy scripsi: ob5% ty o@par: FP}: ovddey év a
bs | Hévov 7d domparor scripsi: év dowpdtw 7d wav codd. 15 pw
Banrév. .. yevdpevov om, P 18 6 5 Oeds F 19 éxovoror (
xardy)) Pt 20-21 ‘ post és dya0d Meinekio addendum videtur of é
74 Kaka alpotvra ds dyadd’, Wachsm. 22-24 Fortasse (22) # ebvopia
Geo dudvaa’ 7» dvopia (mpds bedy sit (23) vépos Oetos dperh: vdpos
muvos aria (vel vépos Betos edvoplar vépos avOpamwos dvopia). (24) 6
néonou atpopy’ b xpivos dvOpdamov pOopa 22 peydan F : peyddou P
@eov Meineke ebvopia (post peydAy) codd, ; dudvora Usener | 4 ebv
 EXCERPT XI. HERMES TO TAT 429
(10) Everything that is, is movable ; nothing that is stands fast.’
(11) Not all things are moved ; but? everything that is moved
is moved by soul.
(8) The sensitive part of the soul is mortal; but the rational
part of the soul is immortal.
(12) Everything that has sensation is passively affected ;* mind
alone is free from passive affections.*
(13) Everything that feels pain feels pleasure also; but not
everything that feels pleasure feels pain.*
(14) Not all bodies are diseased; but all bodies that are
diseased are dissoluble.*
(15) Mind is in God; and reason? is in mind.
(16) Nothing that is corporeal is real; only that which is
incorporeal is devoid of illusion.
(17) Everything that has come into being is subject to change;
but not everything that has come into being is destructible.
(18) There is nothing good on earth; there is nothing bad in
heaven, .
(19) God is good ; man is bad.
(20) The good is voluntary ; the bad is involuntary.
(21) The gods choose the things that are good; men choose
the things that are bad, thinking them to be good.
(22) 001s
(23)...
(2H )irel asia
(25) Everything in heaven is unalterable ; everything on earth
is alterable.
(26) Nothing in heaven is in bondage; nothing on earth is
free.

1 Perhaps, ‘ All bodies are movable; no bodies stand fast’.

2 Possibly ‘Not all .. . but’ ought to be struck out.
’ Or ‘is disturbed by passion’.
* Or ‘disturbing passions’.
5 Perhaps, ‘and everything that feels pleasure feels pain also’.
® Possibly (13) and (14) have grown out of a single aphorism, which might
be restored thus: ‘ Everything that feels pain is diseased ; and everything that
is diseased is dissoluble’.
7 Or ‘speech’.
8 Perhaps, (22) ‘Obedience to law is unanimity with God; lawlessness (is
strife against God)’. (23) ‘God’s law is virtue ; man’s lawis vice’. (24) ‘ For
the Kosmos, time is revolving movement ; for man, time is destruction,’

(ante 6 vépos) codd.: 4 davopuia Heeren 24 rpupi) FP: rpopi Canter

25 7d (ante év odpav®) add, Meineke
430 STOBAEI HERMETICA

(27) oddty dyvworov ev ovpava: oddtv yvapipov emi

THS ys.
(28) od Kowovei (rd év odpav@ Trois emi yijs* Kowwvel) Ta
éri ys Tots év obpava.
(29) mdvra rd ev ovpavG dupa wdvta Ta emi yas
erripopa, 1
30) ‘rd dOdvarov ob Ovnrév: 7d Ovnriv ovk abdvarov.
3 TO omapty od mévrws [y]ovnréy, 7d dé [ylovnrov
mdvrws Kai omapér.
(32) Stadurod odparos dvo Xpovot, 6 "amd THs omopas to
héxpte tis yevécews' kal 6 ‘dwd ris yevéoews Béxpt Tod
Oavdrov': [rod] didiov cdparos xpébvos ‘ex ths yevécews!
pévos.
(33) 7& Siadura cdpara abfera kal pewodrar (ra didia
oodpata...). 5
(34) 4 dtaduri) “WAn’ els rd evavria evadrovodrat [POopay —
kal yéveow), h d& aidtos [} els adrhy 7] els Ta Cuore. .
(35) yéveots [dvOpdrov| pOopa(s), pOopa (dv0 pdmolil
yevérews dpxy.
(36) 7d droytyvépevor (Kalé ameytyverar: 70 emytyvopevov) 20
kal dmoylyverat.
(37) Tay dvrov Ta pev [er] odpard éctt, TH St [ev] Ears],
7a O€ évépyerais}' [cdma de [év (Slats) idea dé Kai evépyea,
(dodpara bvra,) év cdpari éor.
(38) 73 dOdvarov ob peréxer rod Ovnrod, rd St Ovnroy a;
Tov dOavdrou peréxet. q
(39) 78 pev Ovyriv els dOdvarov cpa ovK Epxerat, Td 8
abdvarov es Ovnroy (oGpa) mapayiverat,
3 rd ev, . . kowove add. Wachsm. 7 ob Ovnréy codd,: fortasse ob ma
8 Ovnrév. . . Ovnrdy scripsi: yevnrév. . . yevntov codd. 10-15
tasse, inverso sententiarum ordine: (33) 74 Siadurd owpara aiferar
peovra (7a didia cbpara obre atifera ‘ TE pecodrat (vel Ta do. Thy Tavr
awe). (32) dadvrod oeparos dio xpdvor, 5 tiic ayZHceme Kal 6 Thc melace
didiov owparos xpdvos 6 Thc TayTOTHTOC pévos. Post 6 Ths aignoews
puta glossema 6 dwd rijs omopas (trot yevévews) BEXpL THs TeheloTHTOC
6 Tijs pedoens additum glossema 6 amd rijs TeAcIOTHTOC péxpt TOD
11-12 péxpi rod dGavdrovP! 16 An codd.: fortasse ofgia «16-1.
kal yéveow seclusit Wachsm. Ru abriv FP: abriv Wachsm.,
(ante p@opd) ‘sic ut vid. P corr.’ Wachsm.: 0opa FP
emyryvspevoy add. Heeren 22 oéspard éore scripsi: wv oipaaly
codd, |lé€a scripsi: év iSéais Canter: év iilais FP 23 evépyeva seri}
évepyeias codd. | 5a Heeren: idia FP 23-24 Fortasse lbéat 6
evépyerar, Cdowparo: odcat,) tv ohpaciy clot 27 peév (ante Ovyrdv) Fs.
 EXCERPT XI. HERMES TO TAT 431
(27) Nothing is unknown’ in heaven; nothing is known ® on
earth,
(28) The things in heaven have no communion with the things
on earth; but the things on earth have communion with the
things in heaven.
(29) All things in heaven are without blemish; all things on
earth are marred by blemishes.
(30)... .°
(31) That which has been generated is not in all cases mortal ;
but that which is mortal is in all cases a thing that has been
generated.
(32) A dissoluble body has two times, namely,... and. . .;
an everlasting body has only one time, namely, . . .
(33) Dissoluble bodies increase and diminish; (everlasting
bodies . . .).4
(34) ...°
(35) Coming into being is the beginning of destruction, and
destruction is the beginning of coming into being.
(36) That which goes out of being also comes into being ;and
that which comes into being also goes out of being.
(37) Of the things that are, some are bodies, some are forms,
and some are forces. Forms and forces are incorporeal things,
but are in bodies.
(38) That which is immortal has no part in that which is
mortal; but that which is mortal has part in that which is
immortal,
(39) That which is mortal does not go into an immortal body ;
but that which is immortal enters into a mortal body.

1 Or ‘unknowable’.
2 Or ‘ knowable’,
* Perhaps, ‘That which is immortal is not subject to passive affections (or
disturbing passions); only that which is mortal is passively affected (or is
disturbed by passion) ’,
* Perhaps, (33) ‘ Dissoluble bodies increase and diminish ; everlasting bodies
neither increase nor diminish’, (32) ‘A dissoluble body has two times,
namely, the time during which it is increasing, and the time during which it is
diminishing ; an everlasting body has only one time, namely, the time of its
uniform existence’.
® Possibly, ‘ Dissoluble things are changed into their opposites’ (i.e. into
indissoluble things, viz. the elements); ‘everlasting things are changed into
things like themselves’ (i.e. into other everlasting things), The latter state-
ment might be taken to mean that each of the elements is, part by part, trans-
muted into other elements,
 432 STOBAEI HERMETICA

(40) al évépyerat ovk cioiv dvwpepeis, dAAA Katwpepels.

(41) oddéy apedeira(:) [[émi yfs\] 74 €v odparG (awd Tay)
((émt yhs))) mdvra dpedrei(ra) Ta Emi yas (amd) TA(v) ey
ovpare.
(42) 6 odpavis copdrov didiwy dextixds* 4 yi copdror5
POaprav Sexriky.
(43) % vi dAoyos: 6 odpavis Aor(ex)és.
(44) ‘ra é ovpav@ bréxerrav 7a emi yas TH yh ent
ketrau.!
(45) 6 odpavds mprov (7Gv) oroxelwvs 4) yj boraTov 10
ee (rv) arorxetwr. {
oe
at 46) mpévora Bela régis: dvdykn mpovola brnpéris.
—— 7 Tixn popa (draxros) [drdxrov évepyelas (mpoc-
nyopia)’|] (...). ["e’dwdrov déga yevdys'.]
(48) rf Océs; drperrov, dyadv. ri dvOpwros ; [d|rpem- 15
TOV, Kakov.

3 robrwy Tav Kepadralor pepynpévos, Kal dv cot did tret6vev

Abyor SteEHrAVov evkbrws avapvnobjcn tadra yap exeivoy
celal mepioxal. .
4 Tas pévToi mpds Tods Toddods dutrlas mapattod: POoveiv20
pev ydp oe ob Botopat, paddov S& dre trois mordAois dbges
katayéactos elvat. 1d yap Spotov mpds Td buo.oy mapa- —
AapPdverat, dviporos 5 dvopolm ovdérore piros. obror Se
of Abyot dALyous TavTEAas Tods axpoards EZovew (d£fous),
5 Téxa ovde rods dALlyous [Efovow], ~Exovar SE rt Kal idoy
éavTois: Tods Kakods paddov Tapokbvovet mpods THY Kak
[dd xp% rods moAAods guddrrecOat, (ds) pH voodvras
Aeyopévav thy dperiv.|—Ilas das, @ wérep;—Otros,
téxvov. [wav] 7d (Gov (rd) rév avOpémov émipperéor
éorw els tiv Kaxiav’ Kal (yap) rabrn obvrpopoy ylyvere
66 Kal Hdera adtH. tobro d& rd CGov édy paOn bre yern
6 Kkécpos, Kal (671) mévra Katd [mpbvoiay Kail avd
2 dpedrcira scripsi: apere? 7a Ent yHs codd. 3 dpercirar
dpedct codd. |awd ray scripsi : 7a codd. 6 pOaprav P: pbap
7 Aoyids P?: Aogds FP? 8-9 yf inéxera Pt | Fortasse ra év
(npovoig) tmécerae ra ent ys [7p yp) (avayen) tdwera (vide sen'
(46)) 10-11 rv arotxeiwy bis scripsi : erorxeiov bis codd, 14 Fo
Créxvn evépryea evrakros) 15-16 rperrdv Usener: drperrov
18 cixddrws P: eibéws F 21 rois (ante moAAois) P: om. F 24 oddly
P | &ovcw scripsi: éxovew codd. 25 ofS@ om. P 29 TeV
 EXCERPT XI. HERMES TO TAT 433
(40) The forces! do not work upward from below, but down-
ward from above.
(41) The things in heaven receive no benefit from the things
on earth; but the things on earth receive all benefits from the
things in heaven,
(42) Heaven is receptive of everlasting bodies; earth is
receptive of destructible bodies.
(43) Earth is irrational ; heaven is rational.
(44)... .°
(45) Heaven is the first of the elements; earth is the last of
the elements.
(46) Providence is God’s ordering; Necessity is subservient
to Providence.
(47) Chance is a movement without order; . . . °
(48) What is God? <A thing immutable and good. What is
man? A thing mutable and bad.

If you keep in mind these aphorisms, you will easily recall the g
fuller explanations I have given you in numerous discourses;
for my previous teaching is summed up in these brief sentences.
But avoid converse with the many. Not that I wish you to 4
grudge a benefit to others; my reason for this warning is rather
that the many will think you one to be laughed at (if you speak
to them as I have spoken to you). Like welcomes like ; but men
that are unlike are never friends, And these discourses* will find
few indeed that are worthy to hear them; nay, perhaps not even
the few will be worthy. Moreover, my teaching has a certain 5
property which is peculiar to it; it urges on bad men to worse
wickedness.— Za¢. What do you mean, father ?—Hermes. This
is what I mean, my son. The living being called man is inclined
, to evil; he is brought up amidst evil, and therefore he takes
pleasure in it. If then this being is told that the Kosmos has
had a beginning, and that all things take place by necessity,
1 Ie, the cosmic forces by which all things (or at least all things on earth)
are moved and vivified.
2 Perhaps, ‘ The things in heaven are subject {to Providence) ; the things on
earth are subject (to Necessity)’.
8 Perhaps, ‘(skill is a force which works in good order)’.
‘4 Le. the ‘ Discourses of Hermes to Tat’.

dvOpunov FP: 7d dvOpimvoy Usener 80 ra’rnyv P 31 8 codd.:

fortasse 57) 32 dvdynnvy FP; dvayen Gaisford
2806 Ff
 434 STOBAEI HERMETICA

yiverat, eluappévns mdvrev dpxovons, oi{re) TOAAP eavrod

Xéipov éorat, KaTappovijoan pev Tov TravTos ws yevyrod, Tas
8: airlas tod Kaxod 77 eiuappévn dvadépor, odd’ apégerat
mote mavtds Epyou Kaxod. did gudraxréov abrovs, bras év
dyvoia dvres Eharrov aot Kaxol [p6Bo rod adxAov). p

EXCERPTUM XII

Stobaeus 1. 5. 20, vol. i, p. 82 Wachsmuth (Z¢/, I. 188

Heeren).
‘Eppod €x tov mpos "Appova,
1 wdvra 8 yivera ‘pice kal eluappevy’, kal ovK éore
rémos Epnuos mpovolas. mpdvora dé éotiv srarehns Abyos
Tob émovpaviov Oeod: dv0 dé rovrov ‘abrogveis' duvdpes,
dvdyxn kai civappévn. (kal I yey dvéynn --) h O10
2 eluapyévn danperet mpovota ‘kal dvdyky.' rf St elpappévy —
tmnperovow of darépes. [otre yap eluappévny gvyely Tis
Svvarat, ore puddgar éavtiv amd Tis TovTwY dewvdrqros.)
érAov yap elpappévns of dorépes: Kata yap TavTny "én
dmorehovar TH piace Kal Tois dvOpéros.

EXCERPTUM XIIT

Stobaeus 1. 4. 7b, vol. i, p. 72 Wachsmuth (Ze/. I. 158

Heeren).
(‘Epuod éx rév [[lAdrevos] (pds) “Aupova.))
dvadykn éotl kplois BeBaia Kai dperdrpenros [dbve
mpovolas.
1 otrw Usener: od FP 2 Katappovijcay ane rina
3 dvapépov Heeren: dvapépwy FP |ovd’ Wachsm.:
6 dpova P 7 Fortasse ravra 5 (xara cones, cote (rd)
épeva) wal elpappévy secludendum? 10 Fortasse («a
ngs orl tari Kpicis BeBaia wai dyerdrpentos mpovoias) (vide Lxe.
11 Kat dvdyep codd.: fortasse Kar’ dvaryeny
 EXCERPT XI. HERMES TO TAT 435
inasmuch as Destiny governs all,—if he is told that, he will be
far worse than he was before; for he will despise the Kosmos,
as a thing that has had a beginning, and he will put off on }
Destiny the responsibility for evil, and so he will never refrain
from any evil deed. You must therefore beware of talking to
them, in order that, being in ignorance, they may be less wicked.

EXCERPT XII

From the teachings of Hermes to Ammon. |

But all things come to pass . . .,! and there is no place destitute 1
of Providence. Now Providence is the sovereign design of the
God who rules over the heavens; and that sovereign design has
under it two subordinate powers, namely, Necessity and Destiny.
(Necessity is . . .;)? and Destiny is subservient to Providence . . .*
And the stars are subservient to Destiny. [ ]* For the stars are 2
the instrument of Destiny ;it is in accordance with Destiny that
they bring all things to pass for the world of nature and for men.

EXCERPT X1TIT

From the teachings of Hermes to Ammon.

Necessity is a firm and unalterable decision of Providence.

1 Perhaps, ‘all things that come to pass by nature (that is, all events in the
physical world) come to pass according to Providence’,
2 Perhaps, ‘(Necessity is a firm and unalterable decision of Providence) ‘
8 Perhaps, ‘in accordance with Necessity ’.
4 [* For no man can either escape from Destiny, or guard himself from the
terribleness of the stars.”] 4

16 Nullum hic lemma est in codd. Stob.: sed ante eclogam praecedentem
7 a (@aAfs épwrnOets x.7.A.) habent codices in unum locum congregata quinque
lemmata, quae videntur pertinere ad eclogas 4,5, 6, 7b, 7c, Ex his quartum
est Epyov éx rav mAdrovos (add. marg. dicpwvva) F : épuod ex rod mAdtavos.
dxpova P, Inde colligit Wachsmuth eclogae 7b (avéywn éori «.7.A.) lemma
fuisse ‘Eppod é« ray mpds "Anpora
Ffa
 436 STOBAEI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM XIV

Stobaeus 1. 5. 16, vol. i, p. 79 Wachsmuth (Z¢/. I. 182

Heeren).
_ [wept ris OAns oixovopuias.) “Eppod ex trav
mpos “Apody.
1 Kai 4 pev diaxparoioa Tov bdov Kbcpov mpovord eoriw
4 8 ‘ouvéxovea Kal mepiéxovea' dvdyxn early. elpappévn
6 dye kal mepidyer mdvra, Kar’ dvdykun (évepy)odoa:5
gtois ydp éorw abris Td dvaykd¢ew, [aitla yevécews kai
al>
nt
oe
POopas ' Bou".
2 6 pev ody Kdcpos 'rparos eye: Thy mpbvotav' mpOros yap
adris tuyxdver'. 1% 8 mpdvoa eéfmdrwrar &v 7@ odpav@.
"Sére Kai’ (of) Ocot wept adrov orpépovra [Kal Kwodvrat]
dxdparov kai dmavotov kivnow Exovres. ecluappéevn be
"St6rt kal dvdyxn'. Kal 4 pev mpédvota (. . .) mpovoel, elyap-
pévn 8 airia éorl ‘ris rév dotpov diabécews.'
Tobros' vépos dpuxros Kab’ dv mdvra réraktat.

EXCERPTUM XV

Stobaeus 1. 41. 7, vol. i, p. 289 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 740

Heeren),
‘Eppod éx trav mpos "Appova.
I kwveirat 8 7d Kwotpevoy Karla riv) évépyeav
[xivjoews| (pioews), Tis Kiwovons 7) wav ((Kai did me
mepoirnkyiac)). 1% (wer) yap pbots [rod wavrds] TO m
mapéxer kujoes [play pey thy Kata Sdvapur ‘adras', ér
8 ri ar’ evépyerav): (i) 6& voepd odcia....) Kal yy
1 GAns olxovpévyns P 3-4 Fortasse 4 bev Tov bAov Siaxparodoa
mpdvork gor, h Be (rd Kad’ Exasrov) auvéxovaa dvdryien tariv
dvayeny évepyodoa scripsi ; KaravayKdcovea codd. 8-9 Fortasse 6
wdapos bAos éxeTat THs mpovoias* }] 4 88 (ris) mpovolats evépyeca mpar
einmhora ey 7 ovdpave: ante yap avry . >
10 Fortasse &:d[t:] «at 11-12 Fortasse efpappévy 5 ¢ 0
ave 12 b&dre codd.: t&ari@not Usener ; ‘ diorxed vel dar:
Wachsmuth 12-13 Fortasse 4 pév mpdvora (oupravray dpov) mpovoe
Heyy Bé, Cinnperoica rh hw iTa pev dotpa orpépe dpueraBAjras,
émvyelous yevétews kal pOopas) airia éatt (5a) ris Tay dorpow Fiabeaews
15 dppov P? 16 Kara ri scripsi : Kar’ codd. 18 meporrnne
 EXCERPT XIV. HERMES TO AMMON 437

EXCERPT XIV
From the teachings of Hermes to Amun.
And the power which holds the whole Kosmos in its grasp!
is Providence ; but that which . . . is Necessity.'’ And Destiny
makes all things move with a cyclic movement, working in
accordance with Necessity; for it is the nature of Destiny to
compel.”
. . .(The working of) Providence is spread out*® in heaven ;2
. . the star-gods circle in heaven with a movement which
continues without failing and without cease. But Destiny. ..
And Providence takes thought for. . .; but Destiny is the cause
Of see ae
(Providence is the) inevitable law according to which all things
have been ordered.°
EXCERPT XV
From the teachings of Hermes to Ammon.
And that which is moved is moved in accordance with the 1
force exerted by Nature, which moves the universe, and permeates
all things. For Nature gives movements to the universe; (but
the Mental Substance*. . .). And Nature pervades the whole
1 Perhaps, ‘the power which grasps the Kosmos as a whole is Providence ;
but that which puts constraint on (particular things within the Kosmos) is
Necessity *.
2 Or ‘ to subject things to necessity’.
3 J.e, is extended in time and space. Providence, regarded as a function of
the incorporeal and eternal God, is one and indivisible; but its effects in the
Kosmos are ‘ spread out ’.
‘ The author’s meaning might perhaps be expressed by rewriting this para-
graph as follows : ‘The Kosmos as a whole, then, is dependent on Ryavidence ;
but the working of Providence is first spread out in heaven, for heayen is the
first thing that encounters it (¢.e. God’s Providence acts on heaven more imme-
diately than on the rest of the universe); and hence it is that the circling
moyement of the star-gods in heaven continues without failing and without
cease.... Providence takes thought for (all things together); but Destiny,
(operating in subservience to Providence, works the unvarying movement of the
stars, and) causes (the birth and destruction of things on earth by means of)
the arrangement of the stars.’
5 This sentence appears to be wrongly placed.
§ The ‘ Mental Substance’ (or ‘Mental Being *) means the divine and supra-
cosmic Mind, Perhaps, *¢but the Mental Substance supplies to Nature the
force which Nature exerts)’.
scripsi : meporrnKact kow} codd, 20 Fortasse (% 5¢ voepa obaia TH pio
Xopnyet Thy évépyeav) vel simile aliquid
 438 STOBAEI HERMETICA

duper i& too otpmavros Kéopou Kal évros ouvexet, 9 68

‘rapier’ Kal éxrds mepiéxet. [Kal 8d révT@v TEepoiTiKact
Kot}.||
2 Kai h ddots, mdévta piovea Ta yryvopeva, (put) (uoppav)
mapéxer Tois puopévors, melpovea pev (eis DAnv) Ta EavTijs§
onéppara [yéveots], Exovea 5é (rij) HAny KunThy. —Kivou=
pévn 8% Oeppatverat (kal wexerar 4) (HAN), kal ylyvera t
[[GAn]] mop cat Bwp, 7d pev oOevapo v kat icxupév , (rd be
dobevés, kal 7d pv mowody,) 7d be méoxov. 7d SE Top,
évavriovpevov TO bdart, e&fpave rod Udaros, kal éyévero1
(i yf) [[dxovpévn emt rod bdaros)}, mEplEnpalvopevan Oe
(rovrwv), atpos eyévero éx [ray Tpiav] TOU TE ddaros (Kal)
4 Tis yas [kal tod mupés|, Kal éyévero dnp, ((dxotpevoc emt
f g (tis yas Kai) rob bdaros.)) tabra (82) ovvpdAde Kara 7 7
: Tis dppovias Abyov, Oeppdv Wuxp@, Enpdv byp@, kal x Ths
oupmvotas Tobr@y éyévero {. « +).
* * * * 2k

4 (...) mvedpa [kal oméppa] dvddoyor TO meptéxovte vet

part. Todro dé, és Thy pirpav épmeadv, ovK Apepel [ev
oméppart} ovk hpepody Sé, peraBdddet 7d Toméppa’, per
Badrdébpevoy S& (rodro) avénv toxe Kal péyeOos: emt
peyéber d& [e’deodror] emtowarar oxfpalros}. kai oxnpari
cera: [dx]elra{i] 88 ext 7 oxHpare (mpoodéxerat) 7d dos,
8 ob Kai €id[@Alororeirar 7d [eSwAomotodpevor| (ywwopevo
(rd 8 év rh vndt. apibpois Aoxeber Kal pasodrat (4 dots),
kai els Tov ew aépa dyet-))
5 ered Tovey Td mveOpa odk elxev Ev TH vndte Thy CoruKiy
kivnow, tiv dt Bdraorixhy (povyy), kai [ravrnv] ¢
mpooytppooey (4 pias TH) &ppovic, brodox}y ovcav

1 évrds céxa P 2 naphwe codd.: fortasse dmepéxer 4

scripsi: mévrav codd. | Hoppiy scripsi : puiy codd, (Poterat scribi
5-6 Fortasse 7a [éaurijs] onépyara (ris) yevecewo 6 Fortasse (8
ey hy 11 4 yf addidit Patritius 11-12 repignpawopevew Be
scripsi: mepifnpavopevov 5 codd. 12 «at add. Wachsm. 13
pevos scripsi: éxovpévy codd. 16 Fortasse éyévero (7d atvOera ot
17 Fortasse, (... gore B& &v 7H av elav onéppart) 18 Fortasse ép
odv({ros Tod onéppatos)> 19 7d anéppa codd,: fortasse 7d Tov pre
nepirrapa (cf. Ar. De gen. an. 2. 3) vel simile aliquid 20 avfew toxe
poo péyebos (rpocdapBdve) 21 émondra oyfpa scripsi:
monarat oxnpatos codd. 22 ira scripsi : dxerra codd, 23
noveira 7d “yvdpevov scripsi (eldowoe?ra: 70 elbomovovpevov Usener):
noirat TO €lSwAomoovpevoy codd. 24-25 7d 8’... dya huc a § 5 ft
 EXCERPT XV. HERMES TO AMMON 434

Kosmos, and holds it together within ; but the (Mental Substance)

transcends the Kosmos, and encompasses it without.
And Nature, producing all things that come into being, gives 2
form! to the things that are produced. She sows in matter her
own seeds;? and the matter which she has at her disposal is
capable of being moved. And matter, being moved by her,
is made hot and cold; and so there come into being fire and
water. The fire is strong and powerful, the water is feeble;
the fire is active, the water is passive. And the fire, being
opposed to the water, dried some of the water, and thereby
the earth came into being. And when the water and the earth
were being dried round about by the fire, there arose from
them a vapour; and so the air came into being, borne up on
earth and water. And these four elements entered into com- 3
bination accordin g to the plan of the cosmic structure, hot
combining with cold, and dry with fluid; and from their co-
operation came into being. . ..*
* a * * *

.4 a life-breath® analogous to the atmospheric life-breath 4

of the Kosmos. This life-breath, when it has been injected° into
the womb, is not inactive; and inasmuch as it is not inactive,
it works change in the...’ And this; through the change
worked in it, grows, and acquires bulk ; and thereupon, it assumes
a definite shape, and is shaped ; and thereafter, it takes to itself
the species-form, whereby the thing that is coming into being
is fashioned according to its species. And after a measured
interval of time, (Nature) brings the foetus to its birth, and acts
as midwife, and draws it forth into the external air.
Now the life-breath, as long as it was in the womb, had not 5
;
the movement of animal life, but only that of vegetable growth
and so (Nature, at the time of the birth,) joined on (a soul) also
to the bodily structure, as a receptacle for the force which works
1 Or possibly, ‘ gives movement Fe
g ’.
2 Perhaps, ‘ She sows in matter the seeds of coming-into-beinliving organisms
3 Perhaps, ‘came into being (all composite bodies)’, #.¢.
(plants, beasts, and men).
4 Perhaps, ‘(There is in the semen genitale of men and beasts)’.
5 Or ‘ vital spirit’.
6 Perhaps, ‘ when (the semem) has been injected’.
7 Perhaps, ‘in the matter supplied by secretion in the womb’.

27 Bdactiniv Usener: Bpaorixiy FP 27-28 kal ~uxiv

transposui dppovia codd.
mpoonppotey %) pias TH appovig scripsi ; kal ravTHY jppooev
 440 STOBAEI HERMETICA
[Stavonrixhs] fa(rix\is (évepyetas). ((mapecéprea yap TO
mvetpare () Wuyi), Kai Kwet fwrixas.)) [[€ore 8&2 abrn
dpepiys Kai dperdBAnros, ovdémore eEtotapévn THs dpera-
Banotas.\] [[7d 8 ev rH vndve dpiOpois Aoxever Kal parodrat, —
6 kai eis ov ew dépa dyet.]] Kal (i) éyyurdrw (((map)odoa)) 3
Wx? [[odoa]] (mpoo)oKxeodra, oF Katd Twla) ovyyeriKhy —
dmolornTa (mapayevopévn), GAdX& [THY] Kab’ cipappévnv ob
yap €pwls\[rov] éoriy abri (rot) per& odparos clva. did
todro Kad’ eiuappévny (.. .).
7 (++) mapéxe 7O yevouevo Stavontixiy kivnow.
(++) Kal voepav [{oms adrijs| ovotay. ((éort dé abry
apmepis Kai aperdBAnTos, obdémore ektorapévyn THs apera~
BXnotas.)) ; ‘G
[[mapeoépre yap TO mvedpart Kal Kwel fwrixds.]]

|S
aos
a
A

EXCERPTUM XVI
ary

eS
“i:
Stobaeus 1. 41. 4, vol. i, p. 281 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 718
Heeren).

‘Eppod éx trav mpos “Appova.

1 (9) Wuxi toivey ovoia éoriv dodparos: Kai év odpart
odoa ov éxBaiver ris Ldlas ovoidryros. Tvyxdver yap ot
‘decklynros Kar’ ovoiay Kat& vonow adroxivytos", obk ey
"kwoupévn', ob mpés Tt, ox) Evexév Tivos. mporepet yap
duvdpet, 7d 8 mpérepor ob Set Trav dorépar.

1 rijs (wrunhs evepyeias scripsi: ris dcavonruxhs Cwhs codd. 1-2 rape
oépme .. « (arinds hae a § 7fin. transposui 1 ydp P: BF 2-4
+ +. dweraBAngias hinc ad § 7 transposui 5-6 rapoica Yux) mpocouer
scripsi : Yuyx7 obea olxeodra codd. 6 ma scripsi : ry codd. 7 6,
TyTa scripsi: obeidrnra F: idéryra P: olxedrnra Meineke e cod.
8 ara eke pA sincior “potted torw ype a 10 Fortasse
uot (wrinds H5n kvouvpévy) napéxer yevouévm scripsi: yeyvoperg ci
11 Fortasse (6 88 Beds dAbyous fy:gS vel eiusmodi ailynia ri2-13
tasse Tis (Tov B00) dueraBAnoias
 EXCERPT XV. HERMES TO AMMON 441
in animal life ;for (the soul) insinuates itself into the life-breath,
and makes it move with the movement of animal life. And 6
it is the soul which is nearest at hand that is assigned to! the
organism ; and this soul comes to it, not because of any congenital
likeness, but according to destiny; for the soul is not impelled
by a desire to be combined with a body. For this reason, it is
according to destiny that...
. .. gives the man that has been born the movement of 7
rational thought.’
. . + also Mental Substance. And Mental Substance is in-
divisible and changeless, never departing from its changelessness.*

EXCERPT XVI
From the teachings of Hermes to Ammon.
The soul then is an incorporeal substance ; and even when 1
it is in a body, it does not depart from its own substantiality.®
For it is found to be. . . self-moved,’ not in something, nor in
relation to something, nor for the sake of something. For it is
prior’ in its power, and that which is prior is not in need of the
things which are posterior.
! Or ‘is appropriated by’,
? Perhaps, ‘ And after a man has been born, (and when he already possesses
the movement of animal life, Nature) gives him (in addition) the movement
of rational thought’.
5 Perhaps, ‘{And to some men God gives) Mental Substance also’. The
‘mind’ which enters into the elect among men is consubstantial with the divine
Mind, or with God himself.
Perhaps, ‘ from the changelessness (of God)’.
* This means that the soul, when embodied, is still a ‘substance’ (i.e. an
a existing thing), not a mere attribute of the body.
6 Perhaps, ‘For it is self-moved, being moved in the manner of an.
intelligible substance’ (i.e. of an Sncecceseal thing), That is, the movement
of the soul is of a different kind from that of bodies. The movement of bodies
is called by this writer ‘ physical movement’,
7 Le. prior to body and attributes of body.

15 dyuova P 16 ‘% om, pro rubr, FP’ Wachsm, 17-18 Fortasse

Tuyxaver oda a{iro)xivnros, Kar’ ovciav [xara] vontiv [avtomivnros}
(xwoupévn) | ota dxivnros P 18 xar’ otciay Kai xara P 19 odx
evexey Meineke : ob évexey FP
 442 STOBAEI HERMETICA

2 ‘rd & rim Toivw early’ 6 rémos Kal (6) xpévos "kal
géors). "7d 8 mpés te éoriv dppovia kal edos Kal oynpas!
37d d& ob &vexa (rabra), 7) o@pa, veka yap cdparos Kai
xpévos kai rémos Kal puork() kivnots): [ratra 6& Kare
ouyyerexny olxerérnra. kolvovet addjrots.] [eel rotvuv 735
capa édeiro Térov] dunyavoy yap [hv] cvotivat cpa dvev
Tomov, [kai peraBdddX\{cTar duo (kwice),) dddvarov dé
peraBodjy (odparos) elvar dvev xpbvou kal ris Kara pbow
kwhoews. [otre odparos olév te ototacw evar dvev
appovias. 10
4 &vexa ‘roivuy' rob odparés eat 6 Témos: mapadexdpevos”
yap ras Tod oéparos peraBodds ovK eG dwbrdrAVTOa 7d
petaBdddopevov. peraBaddébpevoy & (7rd oapa) and érépou
els Erepov peraninre, kal Tis pev E~ews oreploxerat, Tod de
elvat cGpa odxf [ovorardy): peraBhn bev d& elsErepov, Thy15
Tob érépov eéw exet. (7d o@pa tolvuy Kara Sudbeay
peraBddrera)) 7d yap capa, f cdpa, péver [odpal, ) de
mod didbeots od péver. [[7d capa toivyy card didbeow
petaBddrerau.]| |
* * *
5 (vex) odparos roivuy 6 rémos Kal 6 xpévos Kal } duotKi)20
kivnots.
6 rvyxdve dt Exacrov rovrwy ris idias iesrures! idtérns-
de [rod] térov mapadoxy, xpdvou dé didornpa kal dpOpds,
"picews dé Kivynots, [dppovias dt piria,] odparos St mera-—
Bory.’ idtérns 8& wuxns 4 Kar’ ovolav rene kivyn)ots. 35

EXCERPTUM XVIT

Stobaeus 1. 49. 4, vol. i, p. 321 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I.

Heeren).
Tov avrovd (sc. “Eppod).
I Woy?) toivuy eotiv,@ “Appor, ovcia abroredijs ev€ dpxfr
EAopévn (6%) Blov rov kal? elpappévyy, (...) Kal éreomdoa
€avtf (d)Aoyév (7) Suotov TH OAp.
1 Fortasse 7) & rin (=71d & @) 2 7) 52 mpés Te. . . walc
secludendum? 4 gvoun xivynors scripsi (vide§ 5): puoiscodd, 7 4q
 EXCERPT XVI. HERMES TO AMMON 443
. . . place and time .. .;? and that for the sake of* which 2
these things exist is body. It is for the sake of body that time g
and place and physical movement exist; for bodies could not
be constructed if there were no place for them, and bodies could
not change if there were not time and physical movement.
Place exists for the sake of body; for it receives into itself 4
the changes of the body, and so prevents the thing which is
changing from being destroyed. The body, when it changes,
is transformed into something different, and ceases to be in the
state in which it was before, but it does not cease to be a body ;
and when it has changed into something different, it is in the
state which belongs to that different thing. The body then
changes merely in condition; for the body, gua body, persists,
but the particular condition in which it was before does not
persist.
ok * * * 8
It is for the sake of body then that place and time and physical 5
movement exist.
And to each of these things is assigned its own peculiar 6
property. The peculiar property of place is receptiveness ; that
of time is interval and number;*. . . But the peculiar property
of soul is that sort of movement which belongs to intelligible
substance.

EXCERPT XVI
From the teachings of Hermes.
Soul then, Ammon, is a substance which is self-determining 1
in the beginning; but when it has chosen that course of life
which is dependent on Destiny, ... and it takes on’ as an
appendage something irrational, which is similar to matter.

1 Perhaps, ‘ That in which things are is place and time; (for it is in place
and time that) physical movement goes on’,
2 Or * because of’,
8 We may suppose that here followed two paragraphs, similar to § 4, in one
of which it was shown that ¢éme ‘exists for the sake of body’, and in the other,
that physical movement ‘ exists for the sake of body’.
* Perhaps, ‘ that of time is numbered (i.e. measured) interval’.
5 Perhaps, ‘ (it is embodied), and it then takes on’, &c.

FP: gvoeas vel puowy (vf) Meineke 20 évexa chparos scripsi

(vide § 3 d#it.): dodparos codd. 23 rapadox) F: mapacy?) P | «at
apOuds secludendum? An scribendum xar’ dpOpdv ? 25 vonriy xlvnas
scripsi: véyots codd. 29 ddoydv rt scripsi: Adyor codd.
 444 STOBAEI HERMETICA
2 (...) '€xovra! Oupdv Kal éribvpiav. Kai 6 pev Oupds
[omdpyxet HAn. dros), cay EE woijon mpos TO THS Wuyxijs
vonua, yiverat dvdpeia, kal ob mapdyerat bd Sethiasy 7H de
émibupia [mapéxerat. arn], cay E~w moijonrar mpos Tov
Ths Woxiis Aoytopdr, yiverar cwppoctvy, Kal od Kuvetrat bd 5
3 doris. [dvamdnpot yap 6 oyiopds 7d évdéov Tis emt-
——
——Eo
Oupias.| drav d& apdpérepa dpovojon Kai tony ew mojon,
kal exnrat adppérepa rod ths Wuyxis Aoyiopod, yiverat
Sikatootyn 4 yap ion Eis adrav apaipel pev Thy brepBoAry
4 rod Oupod, émavicot St 75 évdéov Tijs emiOuplas. [apxi) SE 10
tovrev % dcavontixi ovota| [kad abriy éavth odca ev TO
avris mepivontik® oy] [kpdros exovea rov éavTis Noyov.|
5 dpxet 8 (rodtwv) [[Kal syepoveder]] 4 (vontiKh) ovata, ((Kat
iry<povedet)) donep dpxev, 6 de A6yos (cuvakodovber) obras
aorrep avpuBovros.
6 6 [rept]. [[vontiKds]] Adyos rolvuy THs ((vonTiKiis)) ovolas
éorl: ‘yvaots Tov oytopav TOY TmapexdvTov' (. . .) (ame
kaopa Aoyiopod [7@ adbyo), duvdpdy pev os mpds Aoyiopdy,
[Aoytopdr] [[de ds mpos 7d dAoyor,)] Kabdrep HX® mpos Hovyy,
kal 7d THs ceAjvns Aapmpov mpds (7d ToD) HAloy, (cages) 20
((8& as mpds 7d &Aoyov.)) ‘i
7 [fppoorar dt Oupds Kal émiOupla mpds twa doyiopdr)
—_ta
mnie
Pe!
ee
[kal avOédxer ddAnAG] [Kal ewlorarar év EavTois KUKALKIY
—
Sidvotav.|
Se EXCERPTUM XVII

Stobaeus 2. 8. 31, vol. ii, p. 160 Wachsmuth (Zc/. Il. 358

Heeren).
“Eppov.
1 ‘éort roivey ovoia Kai AOyos Kai vonpa kai dudvoim,
peperae St ext Thy odoiav. péperat & én riy didvovav Kai
dba Kal aioOnots. ‘erat 8 6 AOyos emi Mild ovoiav. Td Oe
vonpa Ot adbrod ierat. émumdéxerar de 7d vonpa Th Stavoig:
AOovra dé d¢ adAdAHArov pla ideaé
tykvovro, airn € éotiv 7 39
Tis Wuxfs. péperar 8 ei rhv airis Sidvoay Sdga Kat
alcOnots. radra dé emi Tod adrob ob péve..!
2-3 7d. . . vénua codd,: fortasse Tov . . . Aopopdy 3 Bedias codd. :
fortasse Seiyaros vel ray Sewav 4 womonra FP: nomop Hee
 EXCERPT XVII. HERMES 445

. . repugnance and desire. And repugnance, if it has formed 2

a habit of will according to the thought’ of the soul, becomes
courage, and is not led astray by cowardice.? And desire, if it
has formed a habit of will according to the reasoning of the soul,
becomes temperance, and is not moved by pleasure. And when g
repugnance and desire have agreed together, and have formed
a habit of will that is well-balanced, and both of them cleave
to the reasoning of the soul, then justice comes into being ; for
their well-balanced habit of will* takes from repugnance its
excess, and raises to equality that which is lacking in desire.
And repugnance and desire are commanded by the (intelligent) 5
substance;* this takes the lead, like a commander, and the
reason accompanies it, like a counsellor.
The reason then belongs to the intelligent substance; .. . a6
copy® of reasoning, dim in comparison with reasoning, as is an
echo in comparison with a voice, and the brightness of the
moon in comparison with that of the sun, but clear in com-
parison with the irrational,

EXCERPT XVII
From the teachings of Hermes.
* x Be th * «6
1 Perhaps, ‘according to the reasoning’.
2 Perhaps, “by fear’, or ‘ by dangers’. ® Perhaps, ‘ their unanimity’.
4 ©The intelligent substance’ means the *Mind’, i.e. the highest and divine
part of the pal: The ‘reason’ here spoken of is the faculty of discursive
reasoning, which this writer regards as a thing distinct from and subordinate to
the ‘ Mind’. :
5 Perhaps, ‘(and opinion is) a copy’, &c.
® § 1, as given in the manuscripts, is meaningless. It may be conjectured
that the author wrote something to this effect: ‘There are in the soul then
intelligent substance (= mind) and reason. Thought is the fnnction of the
intelligent substance ;discursive-thought is the function of the reason. With
thought and discursive-thought are intertwined opinion and sensation (which
are functions of the irrational part of the soul). These things intermingle, and
together make up a single whole. Thus is the soul composed.’

7 nattony tw noon delendum? 8 éxnra FP?; éxy 7a P! 10-11 Fortasse

dpxe 8% rovrav % vont ovola (cf. § 5 init.) 11 éavri) F: éauvr® P
11-12 Fortasse adr} Kad’ abriy otca &v 7@ vonT@ xdopy (cf. Axe. XIX. 1)
14 adry scripsi: abris P: abrav F 17 Fortasse (cuvumdpxe: d& 7@ Adyp
4) yeas (cf. Exc. XTX. 6) 17-18 dmeiwacua scripsi: elxagpdy codd.
| Fortasse (4 8% Séfa) dweiwacpa Aoyopod 20 7d rod HAlov scripsi:
dor codd. 23 énlorara FP: émonara (rv) Wachsm. |wvnAueny
FP: bAunv Usener 27 péperat 68 Emi tiv obaiay F : om. P 28-29
tera: (bis) FP: tera (bis) Canter
 446 STOBAEI HERMETICA

2 (..) &Oev Kal tmepBddrc Kai EddelreE, Kal éavTe

Stapéperat. yelpov piv yivera brav dnoonacbj Tis Sa-
votas: dbrav dé dxodovO7 Kal reiOnrat, Kolvwvel TG [vonuaTiKe]
Abyo "did Tov pabnpdrov".
3 &..) 7d 8 alpeiobat Exoper 7d yap alpeicOat rd Kpetrror 5
ép’ hyuiv eotiv, dpoiws dé kal rd xeipov. (. . .) adKovolws:
éxopévn yap [alpecis] () Wuxi) Tay Kaxdv mAnoidfe TH
coparixi pice, (kal) did trodro 7G (7d xeipov) Aopévm
eipappévn duvacredet.
4 ‘ere rotvur™ 4 év iptv [o@partki] (vontixh) ovata abregov- 19
atds éorw. [6 mepl vonpatixds Nbyos.| atrn 8 dei xara
Tava Kal doatros Exel, ((duéroxos ovoa THs TaY yivopévor
pdoews,)) (Kal) did robro eluappévn tavruc ovx dmrerat.
5 ‘mapabeioa St tiv mparov dmd Tod mpérou Oeod dta-
vontixdy Abyov mpolnar Kal ddrov Tov Aédyov.' (. . .) Forlag
ovvéragely ) pbats roils yryvopévorss rovros (dt ) uxt
Kowovnioaca Kovevei kal THs TobTwY efuappéevus. [[duéroxos
odoa THs TaY ywopever diccws.|]

EXCERPTUM XIX
Stobaeus 1. 49. 6, vol. i, p. 324 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 808 |
Heeren).
Tod avrod (sc. “Eppov)
Ih) Wux? tolvey éoriv "aidios vonrixi odoa vénpa Exovra20
tov éavTis Aébyov. avvvoodca dé Sidvoiay ths appovias
émiomarat.' dmaddayeioa St Tod dvotko} cdparos, adri
Kal’ adriy péver [adi éavths odca] ev 7@ vont@ Kéouo.
"dpxet S& rod auras N6you dépovoa spolay kivnow ev TO
1 éAAeines Meineke: éxAcines FP 8-4 Fortasse kowwve? TO AdyQ
Tav Savonpator 3 vonparin@ F: vonrin@ P 6 ‘Num GA"
dxovalws?' Wachsm,: fortasse (7d 5% xaxdy) daxovooy 8 bd 2
toro Usener 10-11 Fortasse [énel] (udvn) roivuy [[9]] (rev) ey jay
(Qh) Nout otcia abrefovaids éorw 10 vonruc scripsi (vonparu)
Patrit.) : owpariay FP 11 Fortasse (...) 5 wept Cabri) (Siavonrinds?)
Adyos 12-13 dpuéroxos. . . dicews huc a § 5 transposui 13 .
Wachsm.: tovrov codd. 14-15 Fortasse mpoeeiva 88 (sc. i) vontuc) odaia)
70 mp@rov dxd rod mpwrou Sed, mpoinoe Kai tiv Ad-yov 15 dy cod
fortasse {7d 52 ddoy)ov (sc. THs Yuxis pépos) vel (7d be aloOyrex
17 Kowvover kai ris TovTav eipappérns scripsi (posset scribi «. x. THs Tobri
(xparotans) eiuappévns): xowevetrat rats ToUTwy eluappévais codd.
20-22 Fortasse (7) Wux2) Toivuy dd <#aé’) éavrin odca)) early ob
aes vontuxn, vonwa (an KiNnwa t) Cidiov) Exovca Tov EauTis Ad-yor, GuvVOO
5e (7H) Belg (mpo)voia (2). (nai cmpart pev cvvodaa, ddoydv Tt an 7
Gpyovias émonarat dnaddayeica 88 KT. 20 otca FP‘: ovcia
 EXCERPT XVIII. HERMES 447

. . « Whence it' both exceeds and falls short, and is at2

variance with itself. It becomes worse when it is separated
from the discursive thought ;but when it follows and obeys the
discursive thought, it shares with the reason . . .”
. . . But we have power to choose; for it is in our power 3
to choose the better, and likewise to choose the worse... .
involuntarily ;* for the soul, when it cleaves to evil things,‘ draws
near to corporeal nature, and for this reason the man who has
chosen the worse is under the dominion of Destiny.
. . » The intelligent substance in us is self-determining.’ The 4
intelligent substance remains ever in the same state without
change, not partaking of the nature of the things which come
into being, and therefore Destiny has no hold on it.
..-° Nature has thus co-ordinated . .. with the things that 5
come into being;7 and the soul, when it has taken part with
these things, takes part also in the Destiny by which they are
governed.®
EXCERPT XIX
Irom the teachings of Hermes.
The soul then is ...; but when* it has been released from I
the physical body, it abides by itself in the intelligible world...
¥ ‘Tt’ probably means ‘the irrational part of the soul’.
? Perhaps, ‘it shares with the reason in its (i.e. the reason’s) discursive
thoughts ’.
8 Perhaps, ‘{Yet men’s eyil actions are) involuntary ’.
* T.e. bodily or material things.
© Perhaps, ‘The intelligent substance then is the only thing in us that is
self-determining’.
® Perhaps, ‘ The intelligent substance has been emitted in the beginning from
the primal God, and emits from itself the reason ’,
7 Perhaps, ‘ But Nature has co-ordinated (the irrational part of the soul)
with the things that come into being’.
8 Ie, is governed by Destiny, as they are.
® Perhaps the meaning of the original text may have been, ‘ The soul then,
when it is by itself, is intelligent substance (i.e. pure mind).... When it is
joined to a body, it draws to itself from the structure of the body something
which is irrational; but when’, &c.

21 auvvoctca F : avvotca P 24-1 infra: fortasse dpxe 58 Tod (u66”)

éavrijs (a)Ad-you, pépouga (els abrd [f J) «now ((opolav)) 7O éavriis voqpart
[dvduare], (eat wapéxovea) (anv (ad)re@ 24 & om. P

£xc. X1X init. iteratur Stob. 1. 49. 1c, vol. i, p. 320 Wachsmuth (Ze/. I.
798 Heeren), ubi legitur:
‘Eppod. uxt) tolvev éorly oboia didios vontixh vénpa
Exouca Tov éavTis Adyor.
 448 STOBAEI HERMETICA

2 €auriis vorjpart dvouati (wiv 7@ eis (wv Epxouév.' rodTo

yap Wiov uyijs, 7d mapéxewy Erépors Gpordy (rt) rH idtéryre!
auras.
3 dvo roivuy cict (wai cat dvo kwhoes, pia pey Kar
ovotay, érépa 6& 4 Kata piow [odparos|. Kal 4 pev [yevi-5
k@répa Kal %| Kar’ ovolay ad’regovatos, 1) 6& dvayxact|tk}j-
mTav yap Td Kwovpevoy Th TOO KivodvTos avdyKn bToréTaKTaL,
4! 8 xwodca kivnots TO Tis vontikis ovoias epwrt oxelwras,
ein yap dv uxt) dodparos' — ovo{ija rob queue
cdéparos. el yap exer cpa", ore Abyovexer obre vénow. 10
wav yap cGpa dvéntov: peradaPor St ovcias, rd elvar (Gov
eumvovy Exe, :
5 kal7d pey mvedpa TOD odparés (éoTt Td alcOnriKév), 6 de
Abyos ris odoias ((€oTi 7b dpovody. ouvuTrdpyxet Se TO (per)
Abyo 4 Tay 'Tipiwr’ yrdors, bg dt mvedpart 4 S6ga)) (6 wey;
yap) rod 'kadod' Oewpnrixés éort, 7d St [aloOnrixdy mvedpal
Tov pawopévey kpitixéy éort. Sippynrat St (7d mvedpa) els
Tas dpyavixas alcOjoes, Kai éore [Tt] pépos avrod [mrvevpa-
Tikh| dpatix(dv) Kai dxovotixéy Kal dogpytixdy Kal yevoriKoy
kai dmrixév. Todro Td eveiiyc ‘dvdyov yerdystor dtavotas"ac
kplvet "rd aicOnrixoy> ef dé Hh gparvrdgerat povor.
6 [rod yap odparés éore Kal Sextixiv mdvrov, 6 dé Abyos”
Tis oveias] [[éort 7d gpovody. auvumdpxe St TO NO6yo H
Tov Tistoy yva@ots, TO Ot mrvedpati 1) d6€a.]|
7 (+4) 7d pey yap amd rob mepiéxovtos Kbcpov Ti €
evép- 2
yetav exe, i) O& ad’ éeavrijs.

2-8 Fortasse 7p oycidryre airs 8-10 Fortasse#88 (riyv) kar’ via(eh

wcivmown (Kvoupern7 pox) T@ rhs vont[uc lis ovatas Epwr: Kinetrat, [| aero:
ova[tla Tod pvoikod gwuaros. el ee (uer exer owpatros) (an el yap ind
odpatros pat) ?), ore Adyor exe ovre vénow 9 otca Usener:
codd, 11 8 om. P 14 ris (vonrinijs) ovatas? 14-15 éort -
ppovotvy ...% Sdga huc a § 6 transposui 16 Kadod F : adbrov corr, in|
xahod P, "Aptius esset évros 17-18 «ls ra dpyava ris alaOna
19 dparidy scripsi: épacis codd. 20 dvayor F: dyddoryov P| Fe
tasse dvayduevoy (yey els HeroxI) davolas 21 xpiver (xar’ G70
22 Fortasse fis yey mvedpa) TOD Gwpards tort Td aicOnrixdy (vide § 5
25 xécpov secludendum ?
 EXCERPT XIX. HERMES 449
. . . For it is'a peculiar property of soul, that it gives to@
other things something similar to its own . . .?
There are then two kinds of life and two kinds of movement, 3
one that is according to true being, and another that is according
to nature.* And the life which is according to true being is
self- determining, but the other is under compulsion ; for everything
that is moved is subject to the compulsion applied to it. by that
which moves it.
. + . not partaking of the physical body. Forif..., it has4
neither reason nor intelligence,t For all bodies are devoid of
intelligence ;but when a body has received a portion of true
being, it becomes a living creature that has in it the breath
of life.
The vital spirit® is that part of the body to which belongs5
sensation ; the reason is that part of the intelligent substance
which has understanding. With the reason coexists knowledge
of ...; with the vital spirit coexists opinion. The reason con-
templates the. ..,° but the vital spirit discerns appearances.
The vital spirit is parcelled out among the organs of sense;
there is a part of it that sees, a part that hears, a part that smells,
a part that tastes, and a part that feels by touch. This vital
spirit if,. . .,7 discerns things rightly ; but if not, it merely receives
illusory impressions.
. »» For the vital spirit gets the force with which it works7
from the Kosmos by which it is environed ;* but the soul gets
from itself the force with which it works,
1 Perhaps, ‘The soul rules over the irrational thing which is joined to
it, bringing into that thing a movement similar to the soul’s own thought, and
giving life to it when it comes into life; for it is’, &c.
2 Perhaps, ‘similar to its own substantive existence (or reality of being)’.
’ T.e, that belongs to the physical or corporeal world,
* Perhaps, ‘When the soul’s movement is the kind of movement which
corresponds to true being, the soul is moved by love of * intelligible substance”
(i.e. by desire for that which truly is,—the incorporeal and divine), and has no
part in (i, e. is not affected by) the physical body, If it takes, part in the body’
(or ‘is mastered by love of the body *), fit is unable to think rationally
or intelligently’,
5 Or ‘life-breath’.
" Tt ought to be ‘ the real’, or ‘that which truly is’.
7 Perhaps, ‘if it is brought into connexion with discursive thought” (which
is the function of the ‘ reason’),
§ Perhaps, ‘from the atmosphere ’,

2898 Gg
 450 STOBAEI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM XX

Stobaeus 1. 49. 3, vol. i, p. 320 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 798

Heeren).

“Eppood.
I art Toivev 4 Wuxi dodparos ovoia: (...). ef yap (ui
Wuxi) Exet (7d) cGpua, ovxért Eora: [éavriis oworikh). mav
yap oGpa [detrat] (rpis) rofv] efvar detrat [kai] (oms, TAS év
[rd fer] (ruxh) Ketpéevns.
2 arti yap To yeveow exovte Kai [peraBodjr] (POopav) det emaxodov-
Ociv, rd yap ywopevov "yiverar ev peyéber, ywopevov' abfny exe"
marti [yap] (8) 7G adgavopev éraxodovbei pelwots, pero (8e) pOopa.
3 pereiAndos Se [eidous] [Kwfs] (uxis), Cf, Kal Kowovel Tod
clvat TH Woxti. 1) 88 airla érépw rod dvar abr) mpdrac x
[dr] Eore. 76 88 elves viv Aéyw 7d [év Abyo yevécOat Kal]
peréxey (ais [voepas}. [[mapéxer dé 1) ux?) Cory voepdy,]]
4 kadeirat dé (5 dvOpmrros) (gov piv did thy Cwhv, Noy —
8 dtd 7d voepév, Ovnrdv d& Sid 7d cdma. (}) Woy} dpa
[dodparos], duerdmrwrov exovoa tiv Siva (rod Copp1;
mapéxe, TO avOpdmo) ((mapéxer [Se 1) uyx?)] Cony voepdv.))
mas yap oliv ré gor Aéyetv (Gov [voepdy] (riv dvOpwrov),
Bi) ovens ovolas ris Kal mapexotons Cov; ddrrd ovdde
Aoyixdy olév ré eorw eimeiv, pi ovens [THs dtavontixAs]
ovatas Tis Kal mapexovans vocpay Lory. a
5 ((ov)) év maar d% [[ovx]] (él rd rédos) agixvetrar 7d
voepov, did (rd Ev riot pi) KaT& Td péoor hpydcbat) Thy Tod
céparos ctaracw [mpds tiv dppoviay|. édv yap drrepéxn
& th ovordcea rd Oeppév, Kodpos Kai évOeppos yiverau
(6 dvOpwros) dv 88 rd Wuyxpér, Bapds kal voyedis yiverat.
(h per) ((yap)) pars [[yap] dppdger thy 70d cdparos cbora-

2 éort ... odaia codd.: fortasse gor: roivey tv 7H WuxG H Tod chparos odala
| } om..F 3 éavrijs cworey F: per’ abrijs cwyarict P 4 ‘Sefrar
ante Tod ighdeleverim ’ Wachsm, | mpos 70 elvac scripsi: Tod elva
7 Fortasse vyiverae év peyéOe (ri), yevduevoy (52) abfny Exe 8 _wav7l
FP: nav7t 6 Heeren 9 pe Tt F ‘ ib Th Yuxn scripsi ((dia) bi
yuxqv Wachsm,): iv yuxqv codd. | mp@rws scripsi (mporod Wachsm.):
upiorn FP 11 & Adyw codd.: fortasse ZA\Aoyor 12 mapéxe... 4
hinc ad § 4 transposui 17 voepdv seclusit Wachsm, 22 70 & Teh
 EXCERPT XX. HERMES 451

EXCERPT XX

From the teachings of Hermes.

The soul then is an incorporeal substance; ...! For if the 1
body has not soul, it will no longer be real. For all bodies need
life to make them real, and life resides in soul.
For? in the case of everything which comes into being, the coming-to-be 2
must be followed by destruction. For that which comes into being . . .?
increases ;and in the case of everything which increases, the increase is followed
by diminution, and the diminution by destruction.
But if a body has a portion of soul, then it is alive, and shares 3
with the soul in the possession of reality. And thatrwhich is the
cause of reality to another thing must itself be real in the highest
degree. By ‘reality’ I here mean participation in life.
Now man is called ‘a living being’ because he is alive, and 4
‘rational’ because he has intelligence, and ‘mortal’ because
of his body. The soul then, retaining unchanged its power
of conferring life, confers on man /née/ligent life. For how could
one say that man is a living being, if there were not a really®
existing thing that confers life on him? Nor could one say
that man is rational, if there were not a really existing thing that
confers on him inéelligent life.
But the intellect is not fully developed in all men, because 5
in some men the composition of the body (is not so contempered
as to hit the mean.) For if there is an excess of the hot element
in the composition of the body, the man is rendered light-minded
and fervid; if there is an excess of the cold element, he is
rendered dull and sluggish. For nature contempers the com-
' «Perhaps, ‘The soul then is a real (or substantively existent) thing that
is incorporeal ;(and it confers reality on the body also)’. Or possibly, ‘ The
reality of the body then is in the soul (i, e. depends on the presence of soul in
it); for if the body has not soul’, &c. a
* § 2 has nothing to do with the context; it appears to be a fragment
placed here by mistake.
8 Perhaps, ‘For that which comes into being is of a certain size when it first
comes to be, and having come to be, it increases’,
* The writer assumes the definition of man to be ‘Man is a rational and
mortal animal’,
5 Or ‘ substantively’.

Hi) kara 70 pécov HpydcOa addidi: vide § 6 25 6 dvOpwmos addidi (ante

yivera: add. dv@pwmos Wachsm.)
Gg2
 452 STOBAEI HERMETICA

ow "mpds thy dppoviav ((mapadaBotoa dé (i) Wux7) (7d

capa) Kabds cipyacrat, [rlotrm mapéxe (wijy TO Tis
dvoews Epyo.))
| 6 cidn St rhs (roo cédpatos) dppovias Ttpia, Td Kata Td
Oeppdv, Kat 7d Kar& (7d) Wuxpév, Kal 7d KaT& 7d péoor 5
dppocer dé (4 gvows) Kara Tov émtkparicavta aortépa Tijs
| ovyKpd[rn|oews [ray dorépwr)]. |[mapadaBodca dt Wuyi)
| kabas elpyactat rovTo mapéxet Conv TO THs pioews Epye.]]
7 = gbois Toivvy dpotot tiv dppoviay Tod cdpatos TH Tov
dorépov ‘ovykpdéoe', “kal évot ra modvpryh mpds Tiv TAY 10
dotpov dppoviav'’ dare exew mpds GAdAnAa ovpMdBeavy, —
"rédos yap THs Tav dorépav dppovias 7d yevvay ovpmdbeay
| Ka’ eluappéevyny avrav,'

EXCERPTUM XX1

' Stobaeus 1. 41. 11, vol. i, p. 293 Wachsmuth (Zc? I. 750

_ Heeren).
“Eppov.
I fort rotvuy rd mpodv énli\éxewa) mévtov rdv dvT@v, Kai 1
rav dvrws bvrwv mpobv. ‘dv ydp ore Se ob’ x obordrns, —
| [}] KaOddrov Aeyouévn, Kowh (€or Tov) vonTay (kal Tay
alcOnrav). (...) rav bytes dvtwv Kal [rdv dvrwv Tey] Kad?
, €avr& vooupévov, Ta dt (aicOnrd), evdvria (dvTa) Todras,
| kara 7d Erepov mdduv (€or: od yap) abt Kal’ éavTd Eort,
( . « 88) gdvais obola alcOnr}, txovoa & éavti (Ta)
| aloOnra mdvra. peragd 8& rovrwy [von[palr[exjol Kal
aicOnrot beol] (ra dofacrd), Ta pév peréxovTa TOY vonTar,
Ta 6 (ov). [Sogacrd 7a Kowvvoivta Trav von|pa)r[tK]@v.]
} 1-3 mapadraBodca ... pyw huc a § 6 fin. transposui 1-2 7d c@pa addidi
(oGpa add. Usener) 2 ofrw scripsi: tevrw codd. 2-3 rijs picews F: ris
t kara dicews P 5 7d (ante Yuypdv) add. Patr. 6 ‘Num corépa
| delendum?’ Wachsm. 7 ovyxpacews Patr.: ovyxparncews FP 10-11
! Fortasse ad (yap) fjvwra ta Eni ys mpds thy Tay dorépwy ‘dppoviay'
11 dorpay FP: datépwy Wachsm. 12-18 Fortasse [réAos] (€pyov) yap
' freedaf dorépaw [dppovias] 7d yervay (ovpmdbeaav] (ompata) Kad’ elpappévqy —
avrav
. 15 éréewa scripsi: én codd. 16 Fortasse dv(zos) yap (rod) “ éo7”
577 )od, % obardrys K.7.A.: vel 7d wae“ gar.” dirrws (A€yerat, Kal) % obaidrns
; 19 vovpeven Pt 21 Fortasse (ee 5 piv dvw xdcpos éoriv ovoia v , exov
év éauT@ ra vonta mdvra’ # 5%) age 22 vonrol scripsi: vonyaruol codd,
23 réy (ante vonray) Canter: roy P: om, F 24 vonréy scripsi :vonHa-
| Tukav codd,
 EXCERPT XX. HERMES 453

position of the body according to... - ;! and the soul, taking

over the body as made by nature, thereupon confers life on the
body which nature has made.
The contemperation of bodies is of three kinds, namely, that 6
in which the hot element preponderates, that in which the cold
element preponderates, and that which is in the mean; and
nature contempers them according to the star? which has got
control over the mixing of these elements.
Nature then makes the contemperation of the body resemble 7
the... of the stars; ... so that they are mutually affected.*...‘

EXCERPT XXI
From the teachings of Hermes.
The Pre-existent ®then is beyond all existent things, being prior 1
even to the things which rea//y exist.’ For . . . the term ‘sub-
stantive existence’,’ employed as all-inclusive, is applicable both
to the objects of thought and to the objects of sense. . . . the
things which really exist, and which are regarded by thought
as existing of themselves. But the objects of sense are contrary
to the objects of thought, and exist in the other way ; for they
are not existent of themselves. . . . The world of nature®* is an
existent object of sense, and contains within itself all objects
of sense.
Intermediate between the objects of thought and the objects
of sense are the objects of opinion ;* and of these, some partake
of the objects of thought, but others do not.”
1 Perhaps, ‘according to the influence of the stars %, 2 Or ‘ planet’.
3 Perhaps, ‘for the things on earth are united to the (system ?) of the stars,
so that the things on earth and the movements of the stars are mutually
affected’.
4 Perhaps, ‘For it is the function of the stars to generate bodies in
accordance with Destiny’.
3 ‘The restoration of § 1 that is here proposed is very doubtful; but it
probably does not differ widely in meaning from what the author wrote,
®¢The things which vea/ly exist’ are ‘the objects of thought’, i.e. the
things apprehensible by thought alone, and not by sense.
the
7 Perhaps, ‘ For the word “ exist ” is used in two different ways, and
term “substantive existence ”’, &c.
5 Perhaps, ‘(The higher world is an existent object of thought, and contains
within itselfall the objects of thought ; but the world of nature (i, e.the corporeal
or material world)’, &c.
® More literally, ‘the things opined’.
10 Opinions may be true or false. When an opinion is true, then, and then
only, the ‘thing opined’ partakes of the reality which belongs primarily
to the ‘objects of thought’.
 454 STOBAEI HERMETICA

2 (.. tav alaOnrar) Oedv obra dé eixéves eal (ror)

von|palrav (Acar). olov Atos elev éatt Tod émoupaviov
Snutoupyod [Oot]: Kabdmep yap éxeivos 7d ddrov ednpovp-
ynoe(v, obrw) Kal 6 Hrtos Snuuoupyet Ta (Ga Kal [yevrg] (ra)
gurd [kal rev mvevpdrov mpuTavedel). 5

EXCERPTUM XXII

Stobaeus 1. 42. 7, vol. i, p. 295 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 754

Heeren).

‘Eppot ex ras “Adpodirns.

map tl ta Bpépn bpora rois yovedor ylverar '} ovy-
yevelais drrodidorat' éxOjow Aébyov. bray vooripou aiparos
éfagled]povpevon "} yéveots’ drobncaupi{n yovov, cvupBaive
mos exmv[eleiv ex TOO océparos ddrov [peA@v] ovolay Tiva Io
(.++) Kata Olav evépyerav, ds [rod adrob] avOpdérou yivo-
pévov. 7d 8 avrd Kal emi ris yuvaikds elkdc ylyveoOat.
brav (odv) Kabvmeprepricn Td prev amd Tob dvdpds Kal
dtuxrov yévytat, TH marpl dporovperjov 7d Bpépos azro-
dex Ojoerat, ds 7d dvdmadw tov abroy rpémov TH pntpl. 15
édv (88 emt) revos pépous (i) Kaburepté(pnyois yévnrat, mpos
éxeivo 7d pépos dpopooira. (. . .) é06' bre 8 Kal els
paxpas yeveds. (...) mapaBdddev 7d Bpépos tH poppp
To yevvnoavros. (..-) ‘éxelvou' (rob) Sexavod (rod) Adyov
exovros mpds‘ tiv mpay
oi 4
év? 7- 7) yuvt, émadorroéet.
2 ig
a3
1 obra scripsi: bra: codd, 1-2 tv vonrav bedy scripsi: vonuérow codd,
2 énovpaviov codd,: fortasse imepovpaviov 3 Snpuovpyod Geod F: Oeod
Symovpyod P|éxeiva P 4 rd (ante pura) add, Patrit. 5 ral ray
nvevparov mpuravede om, F
7 rita: ri 887d P 7-8 Fortasse napa ri 68 rd Bpépy Spora Tois -yovetat
yivera i ovyyeréat Tisty, drubuow [etiess Adyor, 9 e€appovpevov scri
(éfappoupévov Usener): éfapedpovpevov FP % yéveots FP : fortasse 4} piers
| dwo@qoavpitn (ultima 7 in ras.) F : dwoOnaaupice P 10 éxnveiv Meineke :
éxnveew F : eionvéew P 11-12 ds rod abrod dvOpwrov ywopévov ut glossema
del, Meineke; an delendum xara Oeiav . . . yvopévou? 12 eixds Canter:
els TO FP 13 ody add, Heeren | waOumeprepnon Wachsm.: kadumep-
tepicn FP 14 drnerov Patrit.: dxrov codd. | Spooy scripsi : duorov-
pevoy codd. 16 8 én addidi (5: add. Wachsm.) |xaBumeprépyas
Meineke: xaOumépOects FP
 EXCERPT XXI. HERMES 455
are2
. . of the gods apprehensible by sense ; and these gods
. The Sun,
images of the gods apprehensible only by thought
is above the heavens;
for instance, is an image of the Maker who
universe, so the
for even as that supreme Maker made the whole
Sun makes the animals and the plants.

EXCERPT XXII

From the discourse of Hermes which ts

entitled APHRODITE.
resemble their
How does it come about that children
. stores up* semen
parents. ..?? I will explain this. When. .
it comes to pass that
that is foamed forth from productive blood,
n substance*.. .
there is exhaled from the whole body a certai
as it is a human
by‘ the working of a divine force, inasmuch
And it is to be
being that is being brought into existence.’
in the case of the
presumed that the same thing takes place
man is prepotent,
woman also. When then the efflux from the
is produced will
and its vigour is not impaired, the child that
the conditions are
be like its father; and in the same way, if
And if there is such
reversed, the child will be like its mother.
the child comes
a prepotency in respect of some part of the body,
part... . and
to resemble the father or the mother in that
compare the child
sometimes even to remote generations. . . . to
who had to do
with the form of its father. . . . of that Decanus
°the child.
with the hour in which the woman was bearing
kin’.
1 Perhaps, ‘or (resemble) certain others of their body) stores up’, &c.
2 Perhaps, ‘ When nature (operatin in the father’s ingredient in the semen.
3 Viz, the ¢ vital spirit’ which is the living and active
by’, &c.
* Perhaps, ‘ and this substance is vitalized animals there is no such
5 ‘This seems to imply that in the case of the lower
8 Or ‘conceiving”?
intervention of a divine force.
 456 STOBAEI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM XX/1T
Stobaeus 1. 49. 44, vol. i, p. 385 Wachsmuth (Zc. I. 926
Heeren).

‘Eppobd tpwpeyicrou €x rhs iepas BiBdou (ris)

emtxadoupevns Képns Kdopov.
32 (IIpécexe, réxvov “Ape xpumris yap éraxoves Ocwpias,
js 6 piv mpordrop Kapigus (qv dpxnyérns, ‘Eppis de)
(rapa rod mdvtwy mpoyeveotépov Kapydews)) eruxev 5
émaxotoas, (éyi 8%) mapa ‘Eppod roi [xdvrav epyov]
Uropvnparoypdgou [mapa tod mdévrwy mpoyeverrépov Kapy-
pews]), dor’ ene Kai ‘tO rerelm pédran ériunoe', viv d
avros od map’ éu0d.—))
1 tabra cimoioa "Iois éyxei m(p)tov “Npw ydvki{r] Tlyo,
m[plorov duBpocias, 6 al Wuxai dauBdvew eos exovew —
"Oedv", kai obras rod lepwrdrov Abyouv &pxerat [*Iois).
2 ’Emixeipévov, réxvov “Ape, th trav bro(kdro) [Ketpéveov]
pice. méon Tod modvorégovs ovpavod, "kal Kar’ ovdéva
témov orepovpévov tivds dy viv 6 obpmras exer Kbopos", 5,
avdyxn méoa bd tov dmepKeipévor ovyKexoopnobat Kai
memdrnpdoba giow macav rv wroKepévnry: ob yap Shmou
duvara ((r& Kérw)) Koopioa [re Kxdrol] Tov irepbev
[Stalkdopor. dvdyxn rotvuv rois xpecrroct puotnplas eixew —
Ta €Adooova: Kpeioowy Sé rev broKetpéver %) TOY HET Ecpov 2
éori [dtalrdgis, kal 7 mavrl dogpadss [re], kal Ovnrdv ody
broninrovea Savota.
x * * % #
1_rijs (post BiBAov) add. Gaisford 3-9 § 32 (IIpécexe, réxvov ... map
éxod) huc transposui 83 Fortasse éraxotces 6 éye be ante mapa ‘Epyod —
addidi (éya 52 ante mapa Tod . . . Kaytypews add. Canter) 8 Fortasse
Téa (TS Tpérave) (ueydd@?) érédece, vel TH Tederh TH “pedralvy” (weyadn 7@
éréteae 10 "Ios om, P_ «10-11 eye? mpwrov "Opy yAuxd rT wordy scripsi :
eyxet wordy “Opw yAuxdy (yAued Heeren) 7d mp@rov codd. 11 8 codd.: fortasse
olov | Fortasse ai (paxdpiat) poxal 12 Bedy codd.: (dnd) Oeév Patrit.
delendum? An seribendum (era av) Oeav (Sdyouca) vel simile aliquid?:
|Ios del. Heeren 13 Tw scripsi: twoxepévoy codd, 14-15 Fortasse
kat Tov odpmavros Kécpov Kar’ obdéva Ténov arepoupévov tivds dv xpeiav exer vel
simile quid 15 orepopévov P 18 Fortasse (ovy)xoophoa | rov
imepOev F : rev irepdey P 19 xécpor scripsi: S&daxocpor codd. | puorn-
pious delendum? 20 5 Patrit.: 5) F: de P 21 ragis scripsi: didragis
codd, 21-22 Fortasse [wat] 7@ zavzi dopadrs [re] {odca), Oavare ovx
broninrovga [d:avoic]
 tied‘1

EXC. XXIII (KorE Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 457

EXCERPT XXIII

From the holy book of Hermes Trismegistus

which ts entitled Kore Kosmu+
Jsis. Give heed, my son Horus; for you shall hear secret 32
doctrine, of which our forefather Kamephis was the first teacher.
It so befell that Hermes heard this teaching from Kamephis, the
eldest of all our race; I heard it from Hermes the writer of
records, at the time when he ...;? and you shall hear it now
from me.—
Having thus spoken, Isis first poured forth for Horus a sweet 1
draught of ambrosia, such a draught as the souls are wont to
receive . . .;* and thereupon she thus began her most holy
discourse:
Inasmuch as heaven with its many circles, my son Horus, 2
is placed above all the world of things below, ...,‘ it must be
that all the world which lies below has been set in order and
filled with contents by the things which are placed above ;° for
the things below have not power to set in order the world above.
The weaker mysteries * then must yield to the stronger ; and the
system of things on high is stronger than the things below, and
is wholly steadfast, and cannot be apprehended by the thoughts
of mortal men.”
ok * * * *

’ Le. ‘the Eye-pupil of the Universe’.

* Perhaps, ‘ when he initiated me in the Black (?) Rites? (or possibly, ‘in the
great rites”),
* Perhaps, ‘such as are the draughts which souls in bliss are wont to receive
when they dwell among the gods’.
* Perhaps, ‘ and the whole universe is not in any of its regions deprived of
(i.e. left unprovided with) any of the things it needs’,
® Ie, we see that the terrestrial world is organized, and filled with living
beings ;and this must have been done by the celestial gods.
* *Mysteries’ seems here to mean supernatural powers or forces. But it
might perhaps be better to write ‘the weaker things’.
7 Perhaps, ‘ is stronger than the things below, inasmuch as it is secure from
disturbance and not subject to death’.
 458 STOBAEI HERMETICA

3 evbev earévazon ‘ra xarw! pdBov exovrec, (. . .) my repixadd

( » +) kal eis det daporny ray eTtKeLpevor. hw yup a&vov Pewpias dpod
kal dywvias' épav ovpavod Kaddos [[4e9 |] (prig) Karapwritopévoy (Ire
ér dyvoore ||, (rapa)mhuolav re vukros cepvdrnta, eAdtrom pév HAlov
dkei 8é myphopovpérnc ori, rav [re] Gov Kara pépos Kwovpevov ev ¢
odpavo pvotnpiay rakrais [[xpdver]] xujorect cai ((xpdvev)) meptddots,
dud (ré) rw@v KpuTrav dmoppody Tra Kérw ovyKospotvray kat our
avédvrov, Kal obras (eyevovro) pdBor pev emdddnor, (ntjnoes dé
aAuKToL, ;
4 Kal fas (nev) 5 rev cupmavrov obx eBovdero rexvirns (yroobiva), 10
dyvacia Kareiye ra Evpmavra’ dre de expwev abrov bors éort
dnraoa, epawrals| evedlolionce Oc(iors (reo dvOpdras), xa abpiy
iis) elxov ev orépvas mdeiova tais rovrav éxapioato diavoias, iva
((dedn)) ((rdN ere dyvooron)) mparov pev Cyreiv Oernowow, eira (de
5 xal) [eriBupnowow) eipeiv [elra kai katopbacat| durnPaor. roiro & 4;
[a], & réxvov dfvobavpacroy “Ope, ovx dv (jv) ext Ovnrii omopd, (et Bi)
éyeydver [odd yap fv ovdéra] puxils be tiv] ovpmddecay Exovea[s]
rois odpavod puornpiots. r(ot)odro(s) 8€ iv 6 mavra (y)wots ‘Epis
és kai elde ra ctpmavra, Kai dv Karsvénoe, Kal Karavonoas toxure
dpraou [re kat deiga}, (. . .°) Kal yap & evince éxdpake, kat a
xapdéas expupe(v) ((dopadas)), ra mrciora ovyjoas [[dopurds]] {a
Aadjoas |, iva (nrh ratra was alay 6 perayevéorepos Kéopov, "
6 kai dros (pév), tods cvyyeveis Oeods dopudopeiv (mpooray6eis),
dvéBawev els dotpa’ adN jv air@ duddoxos 6 Tar, vids bpod ((rovroy
kai mapadpmrop trav pabnudrev {[[rovror]|, odx «ls paxpay be
"AarAnmids 6 (Kal) IpovOns, 6 T(r)avds (rod) Kat ‘Hpaiorov [Bovdais],
@ror re boot (ra) ris odpaviou Oewpias m(dedlory dxpyBeia Epedov

1 Fortasse ((xal dyvoora [piv] fv kar’ dpxds mdvra naar (rots dvOpéomo
eS évOev éarévalov #.7.A. (vide § 53 zit.) | éorévatoy . .. péBov
scripsi : éorévage . . . pdBov éxovra codd. 1-3 Fortasse (aya 5’ tap
Thy mepiearrAn Cragw ive! dppoviav)) [ ] Trav émnepévav,—iv yap
Oewpias [ ],—édp@v res ovpavod KddAos K.T.r. 8-4 Oe et 7H er
hinc ad § 4 transposui 8 xarapwriCopévov scripsi: KarapavtaCépevor
4 napanAnolay scripsi: mAovaiay codd. 5 muppopoupérns scripsi :mpoag
pévny codd. 7 dropav P | koopoivrav P 8 otirws éyévovTo
pev énaddndor scripsi: ovros péBos wiv endddAndos codd. |82 seri
codd. 9 dAnerot P?; ddexror FP" 12 épwra seripsi :épwras
Fortasse Epwra o(oplas | é&vepdonce scripsi (posset scribi etiam évény
évefovgiace codd. cis Tio dvOp@mas scripsi: Pots codd, y
Canter: adriy FP 13 fs exov scripsi: 7 exev codd. 14 Gedy tov
dyvworov addidi (vide § 3) 16 dy (ante &) om. Patrit. 16-17 od
emi Ovnrh omopa, et pi) eyeydvet scripsi : ob dv ém Oynris omopas éyeyévet Co
17 ux’) cupnddeay éxovoa scripsi: yuxis be THY gupnddaay Exovons c
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 459
Thereupon! men moaned, being afraid,. . . the beautiful. . . and everlasting 3
duration of the things above. For it was. . . to see the beauty of the sky
?when
it was flooded with light by the Sun, and the well-nigh equal majesty of the
night, torch-lit with light less than the Sun’s, yet bright, when in their turn
the other holy Powers* moved along their paths in heaven with ordered
movements in fixed periods of time, and by certain secret effluences wrought
order and growth in the things below. And thus arose fears upon fears, and
ceaseless questionings.
And as long as the Craftsman who made the universe willed not to be 4
known, all was wrapped in ignorance, But when he determined to reveal
himself, he breathed into certain godlike men a passionate desire to know
him, and bestowed on their minds a radiance ampler than that which they
already had within their breasts, that so they might first will to seek the yet
unknown God, and then have power to find him, But this, Horus my 5
wondrous son, it would not have been possible for men of mortal breed to do,
if there had not arisen one whose soul was responsive to the influence of the
holy Powers of heaven, And such a man was Hermes, he who won knowledge
of all. Hermes saw all things, and understood what he saw, and had power
to explain to others what he understood. . . .4 for what he had discovered
he inscribed on tablets, and hid securely what he had inscribed, leaving the
larger part untold, that all later ages of the world might seck it.
And Hermes, having been bidden to attend on the gods to whom he was 6
akin,® was about to ascend to the stars; but to him succeeded Tat, who was
his son, and therewith inheritor of the knowledge which Hermes had acquired;
and not long after, Asclepius, also named Imuthes, the son of Ptah, who is
also named Hephaistos, and all those other men who, by the will of that
Providence which reigns over all, were destined to search out with the utmost

1 This passage (§§ 3-8) is inconsistent both with the introductory passage
which precedes it (§§ 32, I, 2) and with the narrative which follows (§§ 9-70),
and must have originally belonged to a different document,
There is reason to suspect that the preceding passage also (§§ 32, 1, 2) did
not form part of the /éde//us which contained §§ 9-70, but was the beginning
of another /ébe//us, all the rest of which is lost.
2 Perhaps, ‘(In the beginning, all was unknown to all men ;) wherefore they
moaned in fear. But at the same time they marvelled at the beauteous order
of the things above (for it was a sight well worth their contemplation), when
they saw the beauty of the sky’, &c.
> T.e, the moon and stars.
* Perhaps, ‘(Yet he did not make the truth known without reserve)’.
‘ 5 I.e. having been told by the gods that he must now die and go to
eayen.

18 roodros scripsi: totro codd. | yobs P?; vos FP! 20 Te om. P

| Fortasse (ov pay ovd' dmepoxéntas eSeife) vel simile quid 22 Kédcpou
secludendum ? 23 obros scripsi: obras codd. 24 dvéBevey P!
25 rovrwy FP: rodrov Meineke 25-26 xaid6’AorAnmods P 26 6 Iravds
rod scripsi (IIravés vel Mravds (rod) Reitzenstein) : omavds FP!; mavds P?
27 mdclorp axpiBeia scripsi : mori dxpiBeav codd.
 460 STOBAEI HERMETICA

7 Bovdopeémms ris mavtav Baowdidos iorophaat mpovolas. “Epps pev ody

VGmedoyeiro TO TEeplexovTt as! ob3€ r@ mardi wapédoxev ddoreAij (ri)
Ocwpiav, Suc rd Ere rips HAckias Neoetoes. (ele be ovras’) ‘Eye 84
[ris dvarodjs yevopevos| trois mdvra BAérovew dpbarpois (rod vod) ra
ris ‘dvarodjs! (2)Gecpnoale re] dedi Kat érioxonodvri (yor) Bpadéas 5
pév, GX’ obv HOev H dxpyBhs [Salyroors. (. « « xpy pe) mAnolov ray
Ovipidos Kpvpioy dmobésba Ta iepa Tdv KoopiKav oTotxeiav cipBoda,
émarevédpevoy 8€ [Kai rods Adyous rovade cixdvrals| | eis odpavdy
dred Oe(iyv.”
8 GAN od KabijKov dred tiv dmayyediavy, & Tékvov, TabTny pe[v] a0"
karadeipat, eimeiv F Goa tus BiBous KarariHeuevos eb cime[ev ‘Eppijs. :
[e€ etme yap otras’ “OQ fepal BiBdo, rev [a|p@aprav Fai rerevxarai! :
pov xepar, ds rO ris apOapoias appaxp "yopelas ém«pard', doameis
mdvras alavas [kai apOapro] diapeivare [xpévous], dedpnror kat
dvetperoe yeyvspevae ravtl TH Ta Cis Tavrns wep(ioSevew péddovre media, 15
diypts of yépov odpavds ovornpara ipav aga rexvoonra [ds Yoxas.
6 Snuoupyds mpoonydpevoe|. rocaira [eimdv ras BiBdous kai] rots
éavrod xarevédpevos epyos, (rats a)dious (év)repevigerat Covats.
* * * * d *

50 (...) (([mddw] 6 pévapxos obyxAntoy Tay Oedv Eoinge

avvédpiov. Kal of Ocot maphoav: Kai [wdédw] adros [radra]2
obras epavnce, * Oeot” Aéywr, “ Boa "ris Kopupatas', bc a7
kal apOdprov gicews teredxate, of Tov péyay aidva dvérew
és det kexdArjpwobe, of [s avra] éavrois dvrimapadidovre(s)
ovdérore Komidoer(e) Ta otpravra, péxpt Tore |[THs]] avemi-
yrooto tairns Seorécoper ((rijs)) tyenovias; péxpt mér
[abedpnta yevfioerat tabra HAl@ Kal ceArvy) [[Exaoros Hue
ép éavtd yevvdro)] ((dpyiv)) (k)atadelpouer [7d divacba
rv [ert] [[apyhv]] cvoracw tadtny; admioros Tois perayeve-
arépos pibos di dogdrw (7d) xdos elvat. epywv antec
2 dmedoyeiro TG repiéxovrs ws codd. : fortasse ((ds)) dmeAvero Tod (axjvov
3 70 én rhs P |veoedes Patrit.: Geoedés FP | &) scripsi: 5& codd.
4 yevspepos FP: yevouerys Patrit. 5 @ewpyoa dady scripsi: Cewphaal
dese FP!: Oewpica 7@ deed P? | Emoxonodvei por scripsi (¢moxonady
Patrit.) :émoxorotvr: FP 6 yaots scripsi: diayv@ou codd. : an <t)p
yaos ? 8 émearevgdpevoy F : émnararevgapevov P d einévra scr
elnévras FP —@_-dimeAOetv scripsi: dw@AGev codd. 10 pe Meineke: pev
1l éfetrey (ante ‘Eppijs) Patrit.: éfeemety FP 12 eine (ante yap) serij
éfetme codd. 12-13 Fortasse "A lepai BiBAn, as dd rav $6
Terevypévas pov xepav TH THs apOapoias dappdaw expicev 6 em waor Kparé
12 pOaprav scripsi: apOaprow codd. | reredxarai F; reredxaré
13 yepav as Meincke: xeipovas FP | xopelas FP: xpioas Meinek
EXC. XXIII (KorE Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 461
exactness the truths of the heavenly doctrine. But Hermes .. .' did not
transmit the doctrine in its full completeness even to his own son, because
Tat was still in his early youth. And thus did Hermes speak: ‘TI, even I,
have beheld with the all-seeing eyes of mind the unseen things of . . .; and as
I examined them, there came to me by slow degrees, but came in very deed,
accurate knowledge of the truth. «. .. And now, I must)? deposit hard by
the secret things of Osiris these holy symbols of the cosmic elements,* and
after speaking over them a prayer, depart to heaven.’
It is not fitting, my son, that I should leave this report unfinished; I must 8
tell you all that Hermes said when he was depositing his books. Thus did he
speak: ‘Ye holy books, which have been written by my perishable hands,
but have been anointed with the drug of imperishability by Him who is
master over all, remain ye undecaying through all ages, and be ye unseen
and undiscovered by all men who shall go to and fro on the plains of this
land, until the time when Heaven, grown old, shall beget organisms‘ worthy
of you,’ Having spoken this prayer over the works of his hands,5 Hermes
was received into the sanctuary of the everlasting zones,®
% % * * *%
. ». the Sole Ruler summoned a council of the gods. The gods 50
came, and He spoke, and said: ‘Ye gods, all ye . . . whose
being’ has been made imperishable, ye whose lot it is to bear
=me
—
——
om
-a
>
z
sway over the great world for ever, and who will never grow
weary of transmitting the universe from hand to hand among
you ; how long shall this our sovereign rule remain unrecognized?
How long shall we leave this conglomerate mass inert? Let it
seem to those of after times an incredible tale that there has been
a Chaos. Set your hands to mighty works. Let each of you for
! Perhaps, ‘when he was about to be released from the body’.
® Perhaps, ‘(That knowledge I have set down in writing; and now
I must)’, &c,
% I. e. the books of Hermes, written in hieroglyphs.
* Literally ‘composite things’; that is, men, composed of soul and body.
After long ages, there will be born men that are worthy to read the books
of Hermes.
5 T.e, over his books,
© T.e. he died, and went to dwell in heaven.
7 Perhaps, ‘all ye who are stationed on the topmost height, and whose
being’, &c.

14 navras aldvas scripsi: mavrds aldyos codd. 15 yijs Meineke: tis codd.
| mepodevev scripsi: mapodedery codd, 16 Fortasse -yépar (yevoperos)
| rexv@onra FP: rexvwoera Meineke et Wachsm. 18 katefapevos P | rais
Gudiows évrepeviCerat scripsi: lias re peviterar FP 19-8 tufra: § 50 (nddw
6 povapxos ... agracis éyéve-o wat) huctransposui §21-22 Fortasse éco ris
(ndvrev) xopupas (émBe".nare), [Goo] nat 23-24 of éavrois dvrimapads:ddvres
ovdénore xomdcere scripsi: ols avra éavrois dvrimapadidév7a obbémore Komadcet
codd, 24-25 dvenlyvworo scripsi: dvemryvmorou codd. _|rs transposuit
Usener 27 xaradetpopev scripsi: dmadcipapev codd, 28 én FP?*;
aitiay P! 29 5) Wachsm,; 6 FP

—
 462 STOBAEI HERMETICA
Heyddov. ((Exacros fpuav éd’ éavt@ (rt) yervdra)) yd &
avros dptouat mpa@ros.” lie, kal edOéws [kooptxas] THs ert
"pedralyns' évdcews didoracis eyévero: Kai)) (. « ..)
1 ((xal (era) rafra ere eis Td meptéxov arevicas (2)bd-
vncevs “"Eorw memdnpdpevos 6 obpavis d(c)rpacw (. . ‘)5
[ap Te kai alOip).” elmer 6 Beds, kal Hr.)) (, . .)
9 ikavon 8€ TON pécon Hpyet xpévon [éxéxpurro] [[Kai]] ) (rev
broketpévov) ddats, @ Téxvor, ((kal)) érdyyxave oTeipa, ews
adroit of 48n mepirodeiv Tov ovpavoy Kedrevabértes (eo! )),
TH mdvrov [[Oe@]] Bacire? mpocedOdvres, Thy TOV (KéTw) 19
dvTwy hovxlay dmjyyedav, kal dre Sov éort cvyxoopunOAvac
(kai rad)ra [ovpravra] |[xal rodro ovy érépov rwds éorw
épyov 7) avrod)| Kal “ AedpeOd cov” edeyov “ rd viv bvta
kai [bv] borepoy (erdpeva rivos) Exe xpelav diacKéyac(Bat),
(kai (yap) robro obx érépov tivés éorw Epyov 4 adbrod)) 15
(aob).”
10 Tabra elmovtwv epediacer 6 Beds, kal ere Diow dvat,
kal Ofjdv méyKadov xpihiya ex Tijs dovijs adbtod mpo7ndOev,
8 Kai Oewpioavres of Deol katenAdynoav: Kal rabrny Picews
(a)népart ériunoey 6 Ocds 6 mpomdrwp. ((xal rf [Edpé
(Dice) rv] trav [7d] kéroy MANTov éxapioaro Hyepovixéy.
kai ratrnn mpocérager elvat (. . . omeppdrov) yevynrixiy.
1 [kal radra er els rd meptéxov drevioas gadvncer “"Eotw
memdnpopévos 6 ovpavds dracw dip te Kal aldip,” me
6 eds Kai jv.))
12 4) & Dios éavT# AadAjoaca eyvo ds pi Séov adriy éore
Twapakodoat THs Tob marpods évro\ns: Kal (...).
1g [kadjy IIévm cvvedOoicaly] Ovyarépa énofnoer,
Evpeow éxddece.]
[7H dé 6 Beds éxapioaro ‘vat’, cat yapirdpevos.]
[Stéxpive ra Hdn yeyovéra, Kal émArpocer atta pe
plov.]
[kal tH Evdpéoa rotrov 7d Kati tovroy éxapicato
Hy epovixér,|)
52 ((wAnpdoas St ras [i] ce(Ba)oras [vas] xeipas 76 "wept;
éxovte! rev éx ris Sicews drapydvrov (omepudror), Kal 7a
1 bya Patr.: qudy codd, 3 pedaivys om. P: fortasse dxocpyr!
 EXC. XXIII (KorE Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 463
his own part bring something into being; and I myself will be
the first to begin.’ He spoke, and forthwith the hitherto .
homogeneous mass" was separated into two parts®; and. . .
And thereafter, He gazed into the space around, and spoke 11
again, saying ‘Let heaven be filled with stars...’. God spoke,
and it was so....
But during no small interval of time the world below, my son, 9
was inert, and remained barren; until those very gods who had
already been bidden to go their rounds in heaven *approached
him who is King of all, and told him of the stillness of the things
below, and said that these things also ought to be set in order.
‘We pray thee then’, said they, ‘to look into this, and find out
what is lacking to the things that now are and shall be hereafter;
for this is no one’s task save thine alone.’
When they had thus spoken, God smiled, and bade Nature‘ 10
be ;and there came forth from his voice a Being in woman's
form, right lovely, at the sight of whom the gods were smitten
with amazement ; and God the Forefather bestowed on her the
name of Nature. And he conferred on Nature the government
of all things in the world below, and bade her be productive
of all manner of seeds. And Nature communed with herself, 12
and saw that she must not disobey her Father’s bidding; and. . .°
And God filled his august hands with the abundance of seeds 52
which Nature supplied, and gripping the handfuls firmly, said

1 Perhaps, ‘the homogeneous mass, hitherto unorganized (or formless)’.

* The ‘two parts’ are heaven and earth. 5 T.e, the star-gods.
* “Nature” means the force which manifests itself in the production and
growth of living things on earth. That force is here personified. But in this
passage, the only function that ‘Nature’ is called on to discharge is that of
producing plants.
5 Perhaps, ‘and (so she brought into being the seeds of all kinds of plants)’.

7 ixavoy 8 rdv péaov hpyet xpévoy scripsi: ixavds 82 5 péoos Hpyer xpdvos-codd.
9 of Han F | KeAevobévtas F |eo) (post «eAevadévres) add. Wachsm.
10 76 (ante ndvrwy) Patrit.: trav FP 12 xat ratra scripsi: ra codd.
| rodro ody P: rovro br obx F 14 agxéaoGa: scripsi (3idoxear Meineke) :
deacképas FP 19 ravrny om. P 20 dvépat: Meineke: mépart FP
20-21 Kal... iyyenovixdy huc a § 13 transposui 21 dice scripsi: cipéce
codd, | 70 Tay Kate maytov scripsi: to’rav 7d Kata rotray codd.
22 nal ravtp .. . yevyntimy Meineke |ravrny Patrit.: ravrns FP
| Fortasse (mavroiwy omeppatov) 23-25 § 11 (wal rata, . . nal jv): vide
ante§9 28 avvedGoioa Patrit.: cuvedOodoav FP 83-84 nal rH... Hye-
povixdv hinc ad § 10 transposui 35-5 infra: § 52 (wAnpwoas... cvordoe)
huc_ transposui 35 oeBaords scripsi: isocracias FP: doias Usener
35-36 mepiéxovri codd.; fortasse meprovaia vel AHGE

Se
 464 STOBAEI HERMETICA
dpdxas kaprepas odiyéas, “AdBe” erev, “ & lepd yi, AdBe, ‘
mavrime, [kai] (4) evar yervijrepa péddovea mdvrov, Ka} _
pndevd(s) evredOev refer Oat Séxet.” eimev 6 Beds, kal Tag
xelpas [otas dH Oedv (eikds) exe] dwhdoas révra adbqner
[€v tH Tv dvT@v cvoTdoell.)) (. . .) F
SI (otirw 3}) ((Epdvn piv ovpavds dvw ovyKexoopnpévos Trois
éavtod pvornpios maot, [kpadawopévn er yh HAlov Adp-
Wavros emdyn Kai] épdvn (6% Kal yi) maor rots epi avriy
ovyKekoopunuevi|s] Kadois. Kala yap TO OG Kal Td
Ovyrois elvat voptfspeva padha, bri 5} Tois Tod O<od vonous r
Sovdrederv émoijOn. exaipe 8& 6 Beds dpdv HSn éavrod Te
épya Kwovpeva.)) :
14 (. + +) adrés & ovxéri BovdASpevos apydy Tov b7ro(v)pavio(y)
Kéopov elvat, dAX& ‘rvevpdror' mrAnpooat Soxiudoas (kal)
ToOrov, ds pi) 7a KaTa pécon axivynra [kal dpyd| pévy, obras1
eis tadra ipgaro rexvirelalt|s, ovo(i)ais mpds tiv Tod [dtov} |
Epyou (dmo)rércow xpnodpevos (émirnyaciats. mvedpa yap
dcov apkerdy amd Tod idiov haBdy, Kal voepiy rodro Tupi
pigas, dyvdorois tioly érépais bras éxépace: Kal radra
[éxdrepoy éxarépo] perd Tiver éemipovioewv KpuTTav évécas, :
TO wav obrws eb pddra dtexl(p)ynoe(v) [kpapal, ews éreyéace
tis UAn TH plypart emrorépa Te Kai Kabapwrépa paddov
[kal diagaveorépa] 1) é€ dv eyiveror dierdjs Se Hv abrn, iv
15 3} kal povos 6 rexvirns édpa. emetdiy dé ((reheoroupynOeioa))
~ obre [ds €« mupds] Katopévn Sterhxero, ote piv [os &x
mvevparos| [[redeovoupynOeioa]] [e] Woyer (erryvuro), dANé
twa idtoyerA [Kai oixelay] ele [tiv Tod Kpauaros] ovoracw
[Stérumév re Kal iStocvyKpitor], (rabr)ny Sh [kal dd Tod
edpnpotépov dvoparos Kai ths Kad’ dpoibrnra evepyelas]
Pixoow 6 Oeds exddrece(v) [tiv otoracw). e ob dh
emmdyou pupiddas wuyav ixavas éyeveoiodpynoe, 7d [rap
abrob] Tob kpdparos émdvOovv mpods d Oédet rAdo ow ebrdxtos

1 opiygas F: opitas P 1-2 AdBe mayrTipe om, P 3 pndevds seripsi s

pnbevi codd, Fortasse pndevds (rev) (Cév 19 tov bv row ovarace)) 4
scripsi: def codd. 6-12 § 51 (epdvy piv... mvovdpeva) huc transpo i
6 6 odpavds P | ovyeroopnpévos codd.: fortasse menAnpopévos 9 avy- ‘a
Kexoopnpévy Patrit.: ovyxexoopnpévors FP | kad om, P 9-11 ada i
yap . . . érouj6n secludendum? 13 imovpdmov scripsi: trepdavas
codd, 15 pésoy scripsi: pépos codd, 16 rexreias, ovoiais Usener:
Texvireiais ovcas codd. 17 dmoré\eow scripsi: yéveaw codd. | émerg-
deias scripsi:fepais codd. 18 voepS Meineke :voepas FP | rolrm P2
 EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 465
‘ Take them, thou holy Earth, take them, all-honoured one, thou
¢ that art destined to be mother of all things; and henceforward
be not thou thought to come short of anything’. And saying this,
God opened his hands, and flung forth all that was in them... 2
Thus it was that heaven came to be seen above, equipped 51
with all its holy Powers,’ and the earth below,,equipped with all
the goodly things that appertain to it. For even those things
which mortals deem foul are goodly in God’s sight, because they
have been made subject to God’s laws. And God was glad
when he beheld his works‘ and saw that they were now in
motion.°
... And God was no longer willing that the region next below 14
heaven ® should be inert, but thought good to fill this region also
with living beings, that the intermediate space’ might not remain
devoid of movement; and so he began to ply handicraft for this
purpose, using substances suitable for the accomplishment of the
work. He took of his own life-breath as much as would suffice,
and blended it with intelligent fire, and mingled the blend with
certain other materials unknown to men; and having fused
together these ingredients, with utterance of certain secret spells,
thereon he thoroughly stirred the whole mixture, until there
bubbled up upon the surface of the mass a substance finer and
purer than the things of which it was composed. This substance
was transparent; none but the Craftsman himself could see it.
And when it was wrought up to completion, and was neither 15
liquefied by burning heat nor solidified by cold, but had a certain
consistency peculiar to itself, God named it ‘soul-stuff’, And
out of this scum he wrought into existence many myriads of
souls, moulding to his purpose in right order and due measure

1 tan ne ‘to lag behind any of the contents of the composite universe’,
i.e, any other part or region of the universe.
2 Here probably followed a sentence in which it was said that plants sprang
up on the earth,
8 T.e., filled with stars, or peopled with star-gods,
* Ie. heaven and earth and all things in them.
5 Or ‘in action’; i.e, that they were no longer inert and lifeless,
® T.e. the atmosphere,
7 T.e. the space between heayen and earth.

| rtp P 19 dyworas Patrit.: dyvworws FP 21 dcexlpyycev scripsi :

dexivnge codd, 26 wixe Emjpyvuro scripsi: éuyxev codd, 28 jv 5) FP:
“* @yOev d) scripsi. ..; poteris etiam (ravr)nv 57)” Wachsm. 31 ént mayou
FP? 82 rod (ante xpdparos) om, P | mpos 3 F : mp od P': wpa, & P?
2806 wh
 466 STOBAEI HERMETICA

re kal ovppérpos per(&) [eumerplas Kal] Abyou Tod Kady.

KovTos, @s unde TL (. « +).
16 (+) Staéepev [<ladras éavtav jy dvayxaiov, erecOnmep
7d éx rHs Ki(pvioews [Tod Bod) eEarpifopevor dvOos obk Hv
éav7G Spov, adda [pelfov Kal] (ddo)kAnporepoy jy TOD5
Sevrépov 7d mpOrov Kai TG wavtl Kabapérepov, 7d Sebrepov
d& ixavas pev (Hooov) Hv Tod mpwrov [Td debrEpor], TOAAG
88 (kpeiaoor) Tod tpirou [rd peifov], kal obrws dxpi Babuav
éfixovra 6 mas dmiprioto apiOués: mri ort ye mdoas
(6potws) didlos evar vopoberioas eragev, os dy €k [Gs io
(yevopévas) obotas, Hs povos avros fon ‘reAca', (rad)ras
8 Kal tpipara [kal r(a)pli)eia] ev perapoip dérage [ris
dv gbcews] [odpavod], bras rév te KUAWdpov mepioT poBact
rdget tivt Kai oixovopia. KaOnkoven, Kal Tov marépa TépTrociy,
17 obrws 6 [kal] év Th mepixadde? rod alBépos oras Fel, rex

kat tas tev Hon oycav (yuxa@v) perarepdpevos pudds,

Ns] (apuxaty)”, gno(O, “[rvedparos pod Kall pepiuyys
éuas [[Wuxal]] Kad& téxva, & rois euavrod pawwodpevos
xepoly Hon (ev) 7 plérlp Kabiapliyo Koopo, [Adyor €uav
os] vépov rovTwy émaxotcate, Kai rémov pndevds GAdov 2
Oiynre mdrdv tod Siatayévtos piv bod THs Enis yvopns.
evotabnodcas pev obv vpiv obpavds [re kat péver marr]
6 piceds, kal [db diarayels] (kar)aorepiopés, Opdvor Te dperhs
memdrnpopévor ef d€ Tt vedrepov mapa Tana mpdenre Bovred-
para, lepdv [dpiv] duvdo [rvedpa Kal] Kpapa roor’ ad ovmep
dpas éyévvnoa, Wuxoro.ovs re Tavras pov Tas xXéipas, ds OvK
cis paxpay Seopods kal KoAdoes tpiv texvitedow.”
1g Tocadra elmav 6 Beds [d Kapod Kvptos] Ta ord TOV
oroxelov [ovyyerh) pigas, bdwp Kal yay, ((kat worotdy

1 pera scripsi: per’ éwmetpias Kat codd. 83 airds Meineke: éavrds FP

FP: reAeiwpa Usener: fortasse wr avaraow) redaa{ car | ravras

scripsi: vais codd. 12 rayeia Wachsm. (vide § 24): rapeta Patrit.: tpeta
FP | Fortasse d:érage{v) ((oixovopig (rl) xabneovan)) 13 odpavod
del. Heeren | rév re KAWSpor mepioTpoBGot obscurum : nescio an omissum
sit aliquid 14 rdfe . . . Kadnxovop transponendum? | An réprwow
Cipuves)? 15 ardce codd.: ards Baoe Usener: fortasse ords ayide
16 obcav Yvyav scripsi: dvrwy codd, | pvAds scripsi: puaes codd.
17 “"0 yuxai”, pnol scripsi: ds pis FP: & pyat P*: ad”, noi Wachsm.
18 ‘an yvyxai secludendum ?’ Wachsm. 19 & 76 péow scripsi : 7S po
FP: 70 éuw Meineke | api scripsi: xabep® codd. | Kdopm codd.;
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmvu). ISIS TO HORUS 467
and there-
the stuff which formed on the surface of the mixture,
with speaking the fitting spell, that nothing might
But the souls necessarily differed one from another, because
stirred
the froth which exhaled from the mass when it was
all of one quality. The first portion of it was
together was not
the second, and altoget her purer ; and the
more perfect than
was much inferior to the first, but far superio r
second portion
of the
to the third; and so it went on, until the whole number
by
different grades amounted to sixty. But God made a law
be everlas ting,
which he ordained that all the souls alike should
ition
inasmuch as they were all made of one substance, the compos
he assigne d to the souls
of which was known to him alone. And
grade of souls; ...* that
divisions of space on high,’ one to each
accord ing to a fixed order
they might make the cylinder revolve *
Father.‘
and a fitting arrangement, and might give joy to their
in the beaute ous vault of the 17
Thereupon God took his stand
were now
aether,’ and summoned to him the tribes of souls that
childre n of my anxious thought,
in being, and said, ‘ Ye souls, fair
whom
whom I have brought to birth with my own hands, and
diate region of the univers e, hearke n
I now station in the interme
meddle with no place save that which is
to these my laws, and
my decree. If you are steadfa st in obedien ce,
assigned to you by
the
heaven shall be your reward; you shall be placed among
potent forces.
stars, and shall sit on thrones that are charged with
rash deed you transgr ess my ordinan ces, then,
But if by any
being,
by this holy mixture out of which I brought you into
soon will
and by these my soul-making hands, I swear that full
I construct bonds for your chastisement.’ *
ing 18
Having thus spoken, God mixed together the two remain
them a certain
elements, water and earth,” and breathed into

1 J.e. distinct strata of the atmosphere, and bade them dwell

2 Perhaps, ‘(and he placed the souls in those divisions,
there)’, or something of the sort.
3 Ydo not know what is meant by ‘the cylinder’.of praise)’.
' Perhaps, ‘ give joy to their Father (by hymns the upper surface of it.
5 T.e, in the highest part of the atmosphere, or onbe punished by incarnation.
© Te. Iwill make bodies for you, and you shall .
7 Fire and air had been used in making the first mixture

|Aéyow P? 20 rémov secludendum ?

fortasse rémy vel rod Kéopou Témy scripsi : dpolws codd. | karagrepi-
22 ebaradnodaa Pt 23 5 piaGds
24 mpatnt e P: mpagnr a F: npagere Patrit.,
yds scripsi: dorepropds codd. 27 Secpod s P: deopov F
Wachsm. 24.-25 Bovdedpara om. P
Wh 2
 468 STOBAEI HERMETICA

émvarioas)) (rivd& ovolav), Kai rtivas [dpolws| kpumrods

éreimav Abyous, Svvatods pév, od Tois mpe@rTots & dpoious,
eb Te kipvricas [[Kal (worody évOovordoas]}, (Tov) TO Kpdpare
émimdéovta [dpolws| érimayovy [evBapy te Kail ed[rlay7A
yevopevoy ehaBe, kai €x trovrov 7a [dvOpwmroedq] (rvedpara)5
19 raév (dev SiétrAace 7d St Too plyparos AEiavoy tais HOy
mpoxodaas spuxais axe, [Wuxais d& ravras] tais els
[xepla Ocdv Kal] rods éyyds dorpwy Témous (dvaBdoass),
Kai lepois. Safpoci peraxerAnpévat)s, [mwAdocere] Néyor “7D
réxva, THs euns “pioews' yervipata, Séxerbe Ths ensio
rexvi(relays Ta dehpava, kal éxdorn TH eéavTis gpioe
(meroibvia) mraccéro tt [wapamdijotoy|: mapabjoopar &
éra) [kal] tad0’ dpiv mapadelypara.” Kai daBdv & Kal
Karas (.. «)
20 [[rév (@diaxdy ovpddves tais Wuyikais kujoeot diérage
Kécpov, mpds Tois avOpwroedéor tov (wdiaxdy ra é£fs
drapricas olov (wdios, Kal Tas mavodpyous éxapioduny
duvdpes Kal mdvrexvov mvedpa yevyyntixdy trav els det
perdvrav tceabat KabodrLrKds mdvrov.|) ;
ar (...) Kal dréortn, vrorxbpevos Tois dparois Epyos avray a
Td (a)bpara mrevpalra) emifedgar, (éé)ovalay TE Spotoyovias
(Sodvat) éxdoro, brrws [ade [avrois] reps yerve bpota,)
avra(i) [re] mukére dvdyknvy Exwow addo Tt motelv (rap)
a epOnoay épydoacbat.
22 —Ti ov, @ Texodea, émoinoay al puxal ;—kal elev 23
*Iow: Td Kexepacpévor, @ rtéxvov “pe, [rhs rns]
AaBofcat Kkatevdovy mp@rov [kai Td Toi marpds mpoceKvvouy
kpapa), kat dmdbev A(v) oupmemdcypévoy émeirouv: 7d be
jv avtais ovK edmopov émvyvavar. €évOev 82) Kal dre émegq-
thoav époBodyro pi) TB too twatpis dromécwor xbdo Kal¥

3 «d re mipvnoas scripsi: edrexeiy ioas FP («wjoas man, 2 marg. P): Te

swhoas Wachsm. 3-4 Fortasse xpapyats émmodd(ovra 4 ebayi scripsi:
eiBagh Te wal ebnayh codd. 5 dvOpwroedy (num depoedi?) seclusi :
mvetipara addidi (vide § 21 inzt.) 7 Wuxais (ante é5wxe) om. P 9 lepois
Salpoor scripsi : iepods daiyovas codd. | heraxexAnuevas Patrit.: weraxexAn-
pévas FP | ‘wAdooere (wAdooe re F) suspectum; fort. AdBere, nisi mA.
delendum ’ , Wachsm, 10 picews codd. : fortasse ‘odaias | 5€xecdar P
11 rexmrelas scripsi : TEXVTS codd, 12-13 8 eyo scripsi : bé 7 FP
13-20 Fortasse AaBdy ed nal Kadds (5n danpricpéva 7a mvevpata tais Yuyais
eepctant) nal dnéarn, brogxépevos #,7.A. 15-19 § 20 (rdv Cydiaxdy
xaGodnas mévrwv) hine transposui: vide post § 23 21 7a dépara
 (KorE Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 469
EXC. XXIII
certain secret spells,
life-giving substance, and spoke over them
he had uttered
potent indeed, but not so potent as those which
her ; and when the
before. These things he stirred well toget
mixtu re had become
scum which floated on the surface of the
of it he fashi oned the
translucent, he took this scum, and out
But the residu e of the mixture 19
vital spirits of the animals.’
time made progress,
he handed over to the souls that had by this
near the stars,” and
those souls that had ascended to the places
and were called ‘holy daemons’ ;
had been given a new name,
childr en, offspr ing of my being, take
and he said to them, ‘ My
my handi work, and let each of you
the residue left over from
g on his own abilit y ; and I will set
fashion something,® relyin
made’.* And
before you as models these things which I have
and fairly ... and then he withdr ew,’ after 21
having taken... well
s °the invisible
promising to join to the visible works of their hand
that should be
vital-spirits, and to give to each of the creatures
order that the
made power to generate others like to itself, in
anything else
souls might not thereafter be obliged to make
beside what they made at first—
make ?—And 22
Horus, Tell me then, mother, what did the souls
Horus, had received the
Isis said; When the souls, my son
to find out
mingled mass, they first examined it, and sought
; but this it was not easy
of what ingredients it was compounded
they feared they might incur
for them to discover. Thereupon
to find out; and they betook
the Father’s anger for having tried

animal to be a sort of
1 ‘The writer assumes the ‘vital spirit? of an to the gross and visible ‘
pesos and invisible body, like in size and shape ,
body.
2 T.e, to the highest of the atmospheric strata,
3 Le. the body of some kind of animal,
* Viz. the ‘ vital spirits’ of the animals.
the animals, which were by
5 Perhaps, ‘ And he took (the vital spirits of before
(finishe d, and set them the souls ;) and then
this time) well and fairly
he withdrew’.
6 I. e, the gross bodies of the animals.

dpardv mvetpa FP |éfovciay

rvevpara scripsi (7d déparoy mvedpa Canter): 70 Heeren : air@ adrois FP!:
scripsi : ovatav codd. 22 aro (om. adrois) )
P: gird
oa avrois P? 23 adral scripsi (avrat te Meineke): abra re | map |
yeF | pnwére scripsi: ob« ért FP | xaow P?: Exovow FP?
27 AaBovo a scripsi : THs Ans AaBope var codd,
add, Heeren: # add, P?
28 rédev P | Hv (post dwd0ev) Heeren : 4 FP
 470 STOBAEI HERMETICA
agéml To mpdrrew Ta mpootaxbévta érpdancav. Whey éx
pev THS dvwrépw LAns, Tic UrepBorf Koigov éxobouc Toy
'értmayov', Td trav dpvéwy yévos euludpgour, [[ev rovr@ &
Hpimayods Hon Tod Kpdparos yevopévov Kal Hbn Thy orepedy
migw aBévros 7d Tay TeTpamddav yévos Erdacaor,]) (Ex de) 5
tod) [8] Arrov Kovpoy [ai érepas bypas[ias] (o\dclas
Sedpevov eis Sidvngw] 7d trav ixOvov. ((év Tobrm O Hye
mayods [5n] Tod Kpdparos yevopévov, kal On [[Tiy oTEpedy
migwv AaBébvtos]] ((Katwpepods bmdpxovtos)), TO TGV TeTpa- —
médwv yévos Erdaccor')) yuxpod dé (yevopévov) Tod dourod, 10
Kal On ((([rhv]] crepedy ((rhv)) wifi AaBédv7os)) [[Karw-
pepods wrdpxovtos||, tiv tav épmerav ai yuyxal diow
éxaivovpyour.
20 (@ dt Beds...) ((rdv (@dtaxdy cuvpdadves rais ductkais
KWHoETL dtérage [kécpov], [mpos Tots dv OperroclSeot TOV 15
(oSilaxlov ra éfijs dmapricas| (oloy (pdiors,| Kal (rovr@) [ras]
mav(tyoupyovs [€|xapiodper(os) duvdpes [kai mdvrexvoy
mvedpal, yevyntixoy (éxéXevoer elvat) Tov els det pedAdOvT@Y
EecOar [kaborKas] mdévrov (¢dmr).))
24 [aurjai ae (wuxal), @ rékvov, ds (uéya) Tt mpdgacat,20
H0n Kal meplepyov wmdifovto Té\pav, kai mapa Ta SiaTeTay-
péva érrofovy (rots (y4p) év oupav@ Oeois édidovelkouv,
@ens [ [<lavrois ebyevelas [weptxpatodcat Kal] dvr:AapBavo-
Hevot, és Kal avrai Tob ad’tob [€|rvxof (car) Snpsoupyod.))
kai %8n Tév iSiwv THnyaTov [kai Taprelor] ™ poripXovro" kal a5
(yap) ép’ évds ovdxére HOedov Témov pévery, dei SE exivobvTo, —
kal 7d [érc] emt peas povis vat Odvaror yobvro.
25 roto piv obv (pyoiv], & Téxvov, ((as)) “Epps ([os]] [x]
époi Aéyor (€pn), [kai] Tov Trav bA@y KUpiov [Kal Bedy] obK
ehavOavoy [3] mpdoooveanr Kédacw St abrais éwé(nre [Kal 3
Seopiv dv TAnpdvas bropevoict]. Kal 8) Kal éofe ro
mdvrev hyepove kal deoréryn 7d Tov avOpéreov ovornpa [rt]

2 ris (post #Ans) Meineke : TH FP 2-3 Fortasse Kovdny éxovans TH

ctoraawy yel simile quid 2 éxovons Patrit.: €xoven FP 3. ei mayor FP?
| €xdppouv P*: edpdppovy FP? 5-6 &« 6@ rou Hrrov Koupov scripsi :7d 81)
Hrrov odpov codd. 6 bypas ovaias scripsi (oypagias vel iypas
t otcias Heeren,
iypacias Wachsm.): bypacias taias F!: iypacias _tyias P': typacias ovaias
F7p? 13 exawovryouv F! 14 puorrais scripsi : Wuxicais codd. |
15 Fortasse xwjoeot (rav (ger) | xéopov codd.: _fortasse winhov
16 (wie Patrit.: (wtiaxdv codd. 17 mavToupyyovs scripsi : mavoupyous
codd, | xapiodpevos scripsi (‘an yxaptodpevos?’ Wachsm.) : ixcpniaa
 ISIS TO HORUS 471
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmv).
bidden to do.
themselves to doing the work they had been
part of the stuff, which was of very light con- 23
Out of the upper
and out of the part
sistency, they fashioned the race of birds;
when the mixture
which was less light, the race of fishes. And
they fashioned out
had become half-solid, and was now heavy,
was left of it had
of it the race of quadrupeds ; and when what
souls made of it yet
grown cold, and was quite solidified, the
ng things .
another sort of creatures, the breed of creepi
with the movings 20
_. .} And God arranged the Zodiac in accord
of nature ;? and having bestowed on it powers of all-various
working, he bade it be productive of all the animals that were
to be in all time to come.’
had now done some- 24
But the souls, my son, thinking that they
mptuous audacity,
thing great, began to array themselves in presu
ands ; for they sough t to vie with the
and transgress God’s comm
, in that the souls
gods in heaven, claiming nobility equal to theirs
.* And so they
themselves had been made by the same Maker
divisions of the
now began to overstep the bounds of their own
abide in one place,
atmosphere ; for they would not any longer
death ® to stay in one
but were ever on the move, and thought it
abode.
the Lord of all (so 25
But when the souls did thus, my son,
failed not to mark it ;
Hermes said when he told the tale to me)
And so the Ruler and
and he sought a way to punish them,
the human organism,
Master of all thought good to fabricate

e in which it was said that God

1 § 20 was probably preceded by a passag bodies (as he had promised to do,
put . vital spirits of the animal s into the
§ 21).
bodies of the animals.
2 {e. the processes operated by nature in the

20 ai 5¢ yuxai scripsi: avral re

FP! ; ‘éxapioaro, ni fallor, Pp?’ Wachsm. huc a § 53 (p. 486) transposui 23 tons
22-24 rois.. . Snpuo upyod
codd,
Tis éavTa v codd. | reptx parot oa nai seclusi (an secluden-
avrois scripsi: | zvxoGcar scripsi:
dum kat dy7:AapBavdpevot 3) 24 kai adrd tov P
ert HOedo v P: ove HOcAov F 27 ér (ante én)
érvxor codd. 26 odk
28-29 ws ‘Epps Epol A€yov Ep scripsi: “Epyijs os
seclasit Wach sm. codd.
30 éAdvOavov Heeren: éAdvOavev
napod (Kaye P®) Ayo FP 32 wyendve Kat secludendum ?
| mpacgovea: scrip si : 3 mpacc ovor codd.
| 70 F: 70 eras, ex 7@ P | ovornpa (om. mt) P?; svorhpare FP!
 472 STOBAEI HERMETICA
Texvijcacbat, bras ev TovT@ Td TeV Wuyxdv SiaTravrds yévos
KoAa(nrat.
26 6Tére di) peramepydpevos ene, pnoiv ‘Eppis, drev «Q
Wuxiis €ua(s) Wuxi) Kal vods lepof énod vod(s, . . .).”
27 (... elmer 6 Beds") “"Aype rod arvyyn pits ) Tey broKeynever éparar;5
axpt mére ra Hn yeyovsra [dpya] péver [xai] dveyxopiacra ; ddd’ dye 81 por
Tous év olpavg Beods (xdrecov) mivras Hn” [etrev 5 Beds, & réxvor, ds now
‘Eppijs]. of 8€ (ds) §AOov mpos (rd) émiraypa, “’Amidere” eimev “ eis rip
yiw kat mdvra ra xapai: (....)” of 8€ ev rdyee [kal eldov kal] évdnoav 4
€Botdero (6) Suvdorns, Kal eindvre imép ris trav dvOporev yeverews 10
28 ovréBevro, (¢meporavros de) [ei re map’| &va éxaoron ri Buvards eon
mapacxeiv Trois péAAover yiyvebat, Edeyev "“Hdos “Emi mréov! Adpyo.”
tmoxveiro Zedjvn [rv] pera tov “HAloy Spduov qwrioa’ eAreye 8€ Kad
mpomerradorroinxévat [pdBov xal] oryiy kai Smvov [kat thy péAdovoay adrois
Eveabat (r)avapeAi prnpnr|. Kpdvos dmipyyetev fdn marip yeyovévat [xai]
dixns Kai dvdyns, Zeds Edeyev ‘Qs pi) mavrdmace modépors (arrdAnr)at rd
Pirov rd eadpevor, Sn abrois [kai rixnv kai éAi8a Kai] eiphyny yeyévvnea,”
"Apns dyovias Edeyev fbn Kai dpyijs cai Epdos mari elva, *Adpodirn ode
€pedAnoev, ara elmev “"Eya d€ wdOov adrois, & Béarora, Kai ndovny
emevéw rai yédwra [ws pi) xaderordrny ai ovyyeveis Wuyal ry xaradixny
imopévorain] [emi mAéov Kuddgwvra].” éréprero, & réxvoy, [emi meow]
29 (6 marip) "Adpodirns radra reyovons. “"Eya 8é”, elnev ‘Eppis, “[xat]
(owveriy) mojow ri (rév) dvOpdrwv iow [@n], Kal copiay abrois [kat
copporiryy ral med) Kat ddyOeav (m)apabjow Kal od mavoouat [ra
cipéoet ovvar] [GAAG Kai rav ind C@diav Trav eudy ywopevor avéparer] 2
cioaei rov Ovytev Biov apeAlnola(v), [fda yap [[ra]] eyol dveOnxev 6
marip Kai dnpuovpyis ((rd)) Eappova [ye] Kal voepd,] kat rére mhéov, Grav Hh
emxeysemn adtois trav dorépwv Kivnots avpdavov éxy ri évds éxdorov
puorxiy evépyevav.” Exaupev [6 beds] 6 deomdrns [xdopou] raira dxoveas,
kai mpootrage yiyverOat pidov rd dvOparrwr.|
go (++) ey@ b&, pnolvy ‘Eppiis, éregirovy wAnv, rin déov
1 rexvicacda P 4 épijs Patrit.; eu) FP | Yuxiis éuns Yuxy wat
secludendum ? | vods lepod Enod voids scripsi (vods iepod {uod vod Wachsm.):
vos lepds éod vod codd, 6 7a €idn yeyovéta P |GAAd re Spor Pt
7 «ddeoov add, Usener; an (xadcirw 7s)! 8 ds (ante #AGov) add.
Heeren 9 Fortasse xai efdov A Tav Kato épnpiav?) Kat événoay
10 6 P?; om. FP! 11 ovvédevto P?: auvqbovro P': cuvjabovroF | éva
xacrov scripsi: ¢i 7: map’ évds éxdarov codd. | 7 (ante dvvarés) FP': ms
pa 13 perdyF | ‘HAiov scripsi : fAov codd. 14. mpowemardonemounxévat
P 15 navoxpedy Meineke :dvapedj FP | kal om, Heeren 16 moAé-
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmu), ISIS TO HORUS 473

to the intent that in it the race of souls might through all time
suffer punishment. ‘And thereon’, said Hermes, ‘he sent for 26
me, and said, “Thou soul of my soul, and mind of my holy
mind,,..!”
. . And God said,? ‘ How long shall the world below be gloomy to look 27
on? How long shall the things that have been made remain with none
to praise them? Come now, summon to me forthwith all the gods in heaven,’
And when they had come in obedience to his command, ‘Look down *, said
God, ‘on the earth and all things there below, {and see how . . -)’. And
the gods quickly understood what their Sovereign wished to do ; and when
he spoke of the making of man, they agreed. And God asked each of them 28
in turn, ‘What can you provide for the men that are about to be made?’
Then the Sun said, ‘I will shine . ..’* The Moon promised to give light
after the Sun had run his diurnal course; and she said also that she had
already given birth to Silence and Sleep. Kronos’ announced that he had
already become father of Penal Justice and Necessity. Zeus® said, ‘In order
that the tribe that is about to be may not be utterly destroyed by wars, I have
already begotten Peace for them’, Ares? said he was already father of
Struggle, Anger, and Strife. Aphrodite® delayed not, but said, ‘And I,
Master, will attach to them Love and Pleasure and Laughter’, And the
Father was glad, my son, at what Aphrodite said. ‘And 1’, said Hermes,* 29
‘will make mankind intelligent; I will confer wisdom on them, and make
known to them the truth, I will never cease to benefit thereby the life ot
mortal men; and then above all will I benefit each one of them, when the
force of nature working in him is in accord with the movement of the stars
‘above.’ And the Master was glad! when he heard these words; and he gave
command that mankind should come into being.
... ‘And I’, said Hermes, ‘sought to find out what material go

1 Perhaps, ‘{make bodies in which the disobedient souls may be im-

prisoned) ’, or something to that effect.
4 "This passage (§§ 27-29) must be an extract from another document.
The gods who speak in the council are the seven planets.
3 Perhaps, ‘quickly saw (the desolation of the earth), and understood ‘
+ Perhaps, ‘1 will shine upon them in the day-time, and . , .’.
oe theplanet Saturn. 6 The planet Jupiter. 7 The planet Mars.
* The planet Venus, ® ‘The planet Mercury,
1 Perhaps, ‘ was yet more glad’,

pots dwéAnrat scripsi: modepioa codd, 17 1d éadpevoy Patrit.: 7d

écopévoy P; Tay toopevov F 19 éuéAnoey F 21 tbropévwow
scripsi : dropévoveat codd. | émi mAgov seclusit Wachsm. 22 6 narip
addidi (‘addiderim 4 és’ Wachsm.) | rade P | *at del. Heeren
23 vv add, Heeren | pn KP: ebpv7 Heeren et Wachsm. 24 mapa-
@how scripsi: dvabyow codd. 26 dpeday scripsi: wPpedyow codd.
26-27 Fortasse (Ga yap éuol dvéOnne 6 marip Kat Snpovpyds Ta Euppova wai:
voepa (sc, Tods avOpm@nous) 27 ye FP: te Meineke | 7 Wachsm.
xkai FP 27-28 Fortasse ) Tov émneipévav adrois dorépav Kivnois
29 Fortasse éxaipey (Céni (vel Ext) wAcov)) (vide § 28 fin. 30 70 (post
podov) F : trav P 81 Fortasse (Exe 57, pyoiv ‘Eppis, éxérevoev 6 Oeds
7a ohpara wAdga*) eyo de érefhrovy vAqy vel simile quid
 474 STOBAE] HERMETICA

éori ypioacba. Kai mapexddovy Tov pévapxov* 6 dé rais

wuxais mpoérage tod Kpdparos 7d delypavov doivat. Kai
AaBov eBpov abrd wavrehas Enpdv. evOev ToAN@ [mAciovt
rod Séovros] éxpynoduny (els) kardmgw dart, (obr)ws (Be)
tiv Ths OAns ovoracw veaporoijoas[Oa] [ds ExduTov 5
mavrdmacw Kal dobevis Kal ddvvarov 7d mhaccbpevov vat]
[os pi) mpds 7@ ouverdy elvan Eri Kal duvdpews 7) memAnpw- q
pévov| erdaca: kal Kaddv bmApxé ((uov 7d Epyor)), Kal
éreprounv Brérov [[pov 7d Epyov]]. Kal [kdrwOer| emexade-
odpny tov povapxov Ocwpioa: 6 dt Kai ede Kal éxdpy, Kal 10
Tas Wuxds éxédevoer evowpatiabijvat.
gr ai 8& rére mparov [[orvyvdeacat)| Kataxptrous éavras
pabodoa (((2orbyvacan)). [@atpara ody] (Aé~w 6€ cor)
kal Tods Tov Wuxey dbyous.
32 [[mpdcexe, Téxvov “Qpe, kpuTTHs yap érraxovers Oewpias, 15
fs 6 piv mpomdrop Kapigus truxev eraxotcas mapa ‘Eppod
rod mdvrav epyov brouvnpatoypdgov, mapz Tod mdvTav
mpoyeveotépou Kapipews, dmére pe kai 7 Tedelp pecan
ériunoe, viv dt abtos od map épod.||
33 bre ydp, & [Oavpacre] mat peyadddoge, Eweddrov eyKara- 20
krelecOat Trois cépacw, ai piv [yap] addy adbtd povoy
adipovro Kal eorévagoy, ((ai St (Kai dvre)rddauov,)) [Kal]
évrep Tpbrov Tav [yeyovbrwr] Onplov ra EevOép(t)a dd{ulAots
movnpav [medjoet] THs ovvyiovs [Kal PiAns] aTroo Tm Leva
épnutas (émtxetper) padxecOar [Kal oracid¢etv] [kal ody 25
dpovoeiv| mpos Tods Kpaticavtas avray [kal oracrdgetv]
[adda Kal, cay rox mepryevopeva, Oavdr mapa(dt)dal coulot
trols abrots émiBdddovras}. {lal d& wadatav)] [Erptfov Sixny
34 domidov,] £0 8% koxtoaca érépa, [kai mpd tev hoyor ikava
kdatvoaca,) Kal moddgdks dvw te Kal xdrw [rods (ol)oys3
érvyev xovea] perapépovoa (rods) dpbadrpovs, Ovpavé,
Tis herépas” dmev “dpxi) yevéoews, ((wepthapmy TE
[dpOarpoi Pedr] dopa, Kai [[pads]] HAlov Kal ceAjvns ((p@s))
dkontacrov ')) aldiip te Kai ap, Kal Tod povdpxov [Aco]
[xetpés re Kal] lepdv mvedpa, |[wepiAapmy Te dpbarpoi Oedv35
dotpa Kai pas HAlov Kai cedjvns dxoriacrov,|| T& THS
jperépas “dpyis’ obvrpoga: dc [dmdvrar] ((meyddov re kal
Aapmpav)) dmoomdpevalt) da mdoxopev. "rréov ovd?
drt! amd ([peyddov te Kal Aapmpar]] [Kat] Tod lepod mept-
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 475
I was to use ;' and I called on the Sole Ruler, and he commanded
the souls to hand over to me the residue of the mixture.’ But
e
when I received it, I found that it was quite dried up. I therefor
used much water for mixing with it; and when I had thereby
renewed the liquid consistency of the stuff, I fashioned bodies
out of it. And the work of my hands was fair to view, and I was
glad when I looked on it. And I called on the Sole Ruler
to inspect it; and he saw it, and was glad; and he gave order
that the souls should be embodied.’
Then first did the souls learn that they were sentenced ; and 31
said ;
gloomy were their looks. I will tell you what the souls
up 33
listen, my glorious son, When they were about to be shut
that and
in the bodies, some of them wailed and moaned, just
more; but some there were that struggle d against their
nothing
are caught
doom, even as beasts of noble temper,’ when they
wild i
by the crafty tricks of cruel men, and dragged away from the
those who have (
land that is their home, strive to fight against
again 34
mastered them.! And another shrieked, and again and
d,’ said, ‘O thou
turning his eyes now upward and now downwar
ye bright-s hining stars, and
Heaven, source of our being, and
; and ye, aether and air,
- never-failing light of sun and moon
rules alone,” ye that have shared
and holy life-breath of Him who
away from
our home; how cruel it is that we are being torn
d!... We are to be expelled from
things so great and splendi
the holy atmosphere, and a place nigh to the vault of heaven,

be imprisoned. |
1 Sc, in making the bodies in which the souls were to the mixture should be |
2 Perhaps, ‘he gave command that the residue of ;
handed over to me’. (It is the second mixture that is meant.)writhed like asps * |
8 E. g. lions or elephants. 4 Perhaps, ‘ And others
* T.e. looking at heaven and earth by turns.
6 God's ‘life-breath’ is the atmosphere.

1-2 rais Yuxais secludendum? 4 eis wardyugw scripsi: xara pif (ward
|orws dt scripsi: &s codd. 5 veaporojoas scrips :
pigas P?) codd.
veaporonsacbas codd, 7 mpds 7d P 15-19 § 32 (mpdcexe . . . énov)
16 Kapnpis F : xaphpys P 22 ai be
hinc ad initium excerpti transposui
nat dvrerddaiov huc a v. 28 transposui —_|kal dvrenddarov scripsi : nadaidy F :
23 trevdépia scripsi; EAetepa codd. 23-24 SdAcs rovnpav
mdéov P FP}: dovAcs wovnpots Pe
scripsi_ (an 3dAas movnpoist): BovAcis wovnpar re Kai pidns P 26 Kat
24 pedajoa F: peddjoe P | wad gidrns Fs
oranatevy FP: om, edd. 27 napadidwor scripsi: napadicovcr codd.
28-29 érpiCov dieny donidov seclusi (an scribendum
28 robs P?: rots FP! 831 épovca
al 58 &AvytCov Sieny donidwv *) 80 vious scripsi : ws codd.
| ds scripsi : dy codd. 38 do-
P 37 dpxjjs codd.: fortasse picews
ondpeva P?; droonmpeva FP 88-39 rAgov obd' Sr Fs mAgov 5 bre P=
num waco 8° gre?’ Wachsm,: an mAjjy of5' bre?
 476 STOBAEI HERMETICA

Xvpatos Kai (rémov) mAuolov (ro) médov Kai [emi] ris

paxapias [pera Oe] wodireias els Atipa Kal Tamed ovTws
85 €yKaretpyxOnodpeba oxnvdpara. [[rf tais dvorivais jpiv
ampents odtws mémpaxtat; ti tev Kodoewy ToT dé£Lov ;))
ola Tas Setkalas pads [dpaprias] (dvdyKat) mepipévovow:5 .
cia [did ra movnpd trav eAridwy] mpdgoper, iva TO [Wdapet
36 kai] rayd Siad’T@ odpati ropl{opey ra émitHSera. (ol)
bpOarpoi [ras ovKért TOO Oeod yuyxds] xwpHaovew ddrLyon,
kal |[wavreha@s puxpov]] Tq év TovToLs (Tois) ((KUKAOIC)) dype
[kai] [[xbxAwy]] ((ravreA@s puxpdv)) Tov éavra@v mpébyovor io
ovpavoy épacat orevdgoper del. [éort 8 bre] kai (BA€rovtes
8) ob Brépopev ((dvrixpus)) [EvO(ev) ’Oppets “7G Aapmp@
Bréropev, trois & Oppaciw ovdty dpapuev’’| aOdALai(s) yap
karexpiOn (1)piv (oxéros). [kai 7d BAérew yty ovK
([avrexpus]] éxapioOn, drt xwpis Tob dwrds hyiv rd dpav obK 15
€666n.| ["réro' rolvuy Kal odxér’ city dpOadrpol.| ds de —
kai Tav ovyyevav volo |évt@y év dépt mvevpdtev adkov{ov)car
TAnpéves oicopev Ste pi) cvpmvéopev adrois olkos (yap)
heads dvti Tob perapolov Kbcpou rovrov 6 Bpaxds mepipever
37 Kapdias Syxos. ((ri rats dvorivais huiv [dmperts ob'rws] 20
ménpaxrat [ti] tav KoAdcewy Tovrwy déwov;)) [[del d&
dmodveas has ad dv els ola xkaréBnpev arodet 7d Av-
meiaOat.|| (@) décrora Kal mdrep Kal moinrd, [el] (Sia rl)
Taxéws otras cay Epyov Hpédnoas; [[didragoy ipiv tivas
dpous.]] ere kdv Bpaxéwv huas dglmoov Abyowv [ews Ere Ot 25.
bdov Tob mepipavots éxouev Br€rew Kéopov}. ((didragov
hply twas Spovs (ris Koddoews)')) (([a]jel SE ( . »),
emAtoas Hpas ad (ol)wv es ola xaréBnpev amodye Told) —
Aurreio Bat.))”
38 — éwéruyov, réxvov “Ape, al Wuyal rafts elmodoat maphy 30
yap [kai] (6) pévapxos, Kai {[rdde]] eri rod tHs dAnOclas
kabicas Opdvou, rais Senbeloais epdvnoev ((rdde)) [Adyor
Tod Oeob.| [["Epos spay, Wuyxal, Seorice: Kail ‘AvdyKn: —
oide yap per’ eve mévrov Seomérat Kai taglapyxo..}| Puyal —
1 rémov mAnatov rod scripsi: mAoveiov codd. | én FP!; awd P?
1-2 Fortasse rijs (éxei) pawapias modirelas (éxmecodoat!) 2 Kai
Tamewa (aut dria xal) secludendum? 3-4 ri vais . . . doy hinc
ad § 37 init. transposui 5 ofa: scripsi: 6 nai FP1; bom
|duaprias FP!; dyapria P? 6 ofa scripsi: doa P: boa F 6-7 ola =

- + + ém7jbea secludendum ? 8 dAiyov Meineke: dAtya FP 9-10 Kai

TP &v rovros roils KiKAos byp@ mavrTeA@s juKpdy scripsi: Kat mavTeA@s

—
EXC. XXIII (KorE Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 477
and from the blissful life we lived there, and to be imprisoned
in habitations mean and base as these.’ Poor wretches that we 35
are, what hard necessities await us! What hateful things we shall
have to do, in order to supply the needs of this body that must
so soon perish! Our eyes will have little room to take things 36
in ;we shall see things only by means of the fluid which these
orbs contain; and when we see Heayen, our own forefather,
contracted to small compass,? we shall never cease to moan.
And even if we see, we shall not see outright ; for alas, we have
been condemned to darkness. And when we hear the winds,
our kinsmen, blowing in the air, deeply shall we grieve that we
are not breathing in union with them. For dwelling-place, instead
of this world on high, there awaits us a man’s heart, a thing of
little bulk. Unhappy we! What have we done to deserve such 37
punishments as these? O Master, thou that art our Father and
our Maker, why hast thou so soon ceased to care for the works
of thy hands? Even yet hold us of some account,’ though it be
but little. Ordain some limits to our punishment ; and if.. .,*
make us forget what bliss we have lost, and into what an evil
world we have come down, and so release us from our sorrow.’
Thus spoke the souls, my son Horus ; and they obtained that 38
which they sought. For the Sole Ruler came, and took his seat
on the throne of truth, and spoke in answer to their prayer,
saying: ‘Ye souls, all ye that do obeisance to my unageing
1 T.e. in earthly bodies.
2 An object cannot be seen by bodily eyes unless an image of the object
enters the eye or is formed it it; the image (of the sky, for instance) which
presents itself to our sight must therefore be small enough to be contained
within the eye.
8 Or, ‘ permit us to plead with thee’.
4 Perhaps, ‘and if the sentence is irrevocable’.

puxpdy tv ey robros bypav Kai Kdirov codd, | An secludendum ray éy

Tovras typav Kat Kixrov? ll arevagwpey F 12-13 bev ‘Oppeds
. +» Op@per seclusit Heeren 12 évOev Meineke ; évé” FP 13 dpacw P
18-14 dOAtas yap xarexplOn huiv oxdros scripsi: dOAca yap KarexpiOnner codd.
15 éxyapiadn Canter: éxwpic8n FP 16 rénoc FP: drat Heeren: mip
Meineke 17 guowvrav Wachsm.: guacdvrav FP | dwovouga: scripsi:
dxovoa codd, 18 cuprvéopey F : ovpmvéuev P 20-21 ri rails... agiov
huc a § 35 transposui 23 dSéorora xat secludendum? |e F: «at P
27 «i 82 scripsi: det Bt FP: ddd’ Meineke: fortasse «i 58 (dperaBeros 4 KaTa-
Bien) vel simile quid 28 émAjaas Wachsm.: dmodvcas FP | ota
scripsi: ay codd. | dwéAve tod Usener: drove? 7d FP 30 raira
scripsi: 7a5¢ codd. 31 6 add, Heeren 32-33 Titulum Adyor Tov Oeod
habent FP: om, edd. 32 Adyor codd. :fortasse Ad-yos 34 Seamira
wal P; deonérat re kal F
 478 STOBAEI HERMETICA

[8%], boae thy dyfparév pov oxnmrovxiav Oepareiere,

((éméyvare Sri(m)ou[y] @s dia Ta mpdodev mpaxbévra dpiv
cédacw rairny vropévere [THY éevowpdrwow).)) tore (yap)
és fos piv dvapdpryto fire, Td (Anolov) Tod ovpavod
Gxeire xopiar (eet 8 dpa tis tyav [Twos] Hyytoe[e] 5
penis, ((amddyxvors katadixa cbeicat) ) bynrois, kai avrai
(rov robrois) mpoopeporpala|uévoy x@por [[amwAdyxvols Kara-
dixacbeioa|| évorxjoere, (Sov) (Epos tpav [Wuyxal]
Seonbcet kal “Avdyxn: ode yap per ene (trav Kdrw) wdvrev
39 deombra Kal raglapyxo.)) ((adX odk [88] elk Kal O19
éruxev évopobérnoa Tas metaBodas budve aAX’ os emt 7d
xetpov (. . .) ef te [dtalmpdgere doxnpov, ovrws emt 7}
Mv of WEE
a ad

BédArtov, ef re Bovded(a)eaOe Tijs EavTa@y yevérews dftov. éya

yap (kal obris Erepos] eémrns avrds [kal émicxoros| Eropat-))
kav pev i dpav pérpia 7a aitiApara, Tov émiknpov Tap 15
capkav [ovv\decpiv Karadimodoat médw dorévakTot Tov
éavrav ‘obpavov' dondcecbe: ef & dpa 2 tidy 6% pegovev
dpaptnudrov eoeade ‘rontixal’, [od pera Téhovs KaOjKovTos|
£ Z, 4 6 r ral > x

Tov mracpdrov mpoedOoioa: ‘odpavev' pev ovKért olkicere,

obS ad cdpara dvOpérev, (eis) (Ga & ddroya pera(Bacat,
xapal) mravdpevar (7d) otrrov dtaredécere.
» 4 4 4 4 »”

40 rdde cimdv, & Téxvov “Ape, mdoats avrais 'éxaploaro

mvetpara', kal médw epdvncev “[['Addous dé eixf Kal os
Ervxev evopobérnoe ras SiaPodas byav, dAdws emi Td xElpor
ei tt Stampdtere doynpor, obrws emi 7d Bédriov et Thas
v ’ s \ 4 W
” s

Bovreterbe ris EavTav yevéoews dfiovr éyh yap Kal odrus

Erepos érémrns avros Kal énioKxoros Eoopat.)| [[emlyvwre dé
a 4 ” ’ ‘4
bi 2 Z >

oby ds dd ta mpbcbev mpaxOévra dpiv Kédaow ravrny

4t bropévere Thy évowpdrwow.)| (.. + apx)) Toivuy [Sagopa]
[ris] madtyyeveotas piv tora 4 Tav copdroy [ds pny] 30
Siag(Oopd, [edepyeoia St] Kal (ris) mpdadev evdatpovials
dvavéwats) 4 Siddvois’ Tupr@Ojcerar 8 dpav t Ppdynors,
[édv re dvdgiov Euod dbgnre mpdocery,) dare hpoveiy Ta

1 Geparevera: P? 2-3 énéyore.. . vowparwow huc a § 40 fiz, trans-

josui 2 énéyvwre scripsi: ériyrwre codd. | ywov scripsi (8) obv
Wachsm.): 5¢ otvy FP 3 riv (ante évowpdrwow) F: wai P 4 ijre
scripsi: éore codd. 5 qxeire scripsi: oi«joere FP*: olxqoerat Pp!
| éwet scripsi: €i codd. | frye scripsi: éyyioe codd. 7 mpocpe-
potpapévov§ scripsi: mpoopepoipacpévoy codd. 8 evouwhoera P?
9-10 Fortasse olde yap [per’ éue] (rev narw) ndvraw [Seowdrac Kat] ragiapxot
(an secludendum oie . . . ragiapxot ?) 10-14 dad’... evo huc a § 40
EXC. XXIII (KorE Kosmv). ISIS TO HORUS 479
is by reason of
sovereignty, you have learnt, methinks, that it
that you have to endure
the deeds which you have done before
that, as long as you were sinless,
this punishment. For you know
heaven ; but now that blame has
you dwelt in the places nigh to
been conde mned to impri sonment
come upon you, you have
bodies , and must yourse lves dwell in
in the organs of mortal
And in that region Desire and
the region assigned to them.
Necessity will be your master s; for it is they that, after me, 39
Howbeit, not at
are masters and captains of all things below.
state ; but as your
random have I ordained the changes of your
aught unseemly,
condition will be changed for the worse if you do
resolve on action
so will it be changed for the better if you
on you; and
worthy of your origin, I myself will keep watch
shall be released
if the charges against you shall be but slight, you
freed from sorrow,
from the deadly bondage of the flesh, and,
if you shall be found
shall greet again your home above. But
you quit your bodily
guilty of any greater sins, in that case, when
yet in human
frames, you shall not thereafter dwell in...,' nor
of beasts,
bodies, but you shall be transferred into the bodies
and shall thenceforth continue to wande r upon earth.’
all the 40
_ Having said this, my son Horus, God gave ... to’
The destruction 41
souls ; and then he spoke again, and said, ‘...
a rebirth, and
of your bodies then will be the starting-point for
l of your former happin ess. But your
their dissolution, a renewa
d, so that you will think the contrar y, and
minds will be blinde
the atmosphere’. i
e
1 MSS., ‘in heaven’, But the sense required is ‘ in
2 Perhaps, ‘assigned bodies to’.
6 FP
transposui 1o aan’ od« Patrit.: GAA’ odd? Canter: dddous rnoe F:
seclud endum ? 11 tvonodé rnaa Patrit.: évopodé
10-11 xai ds érvxev Heeren :
dvopobérnoe P | wetaBodrds (vel diavopds) Meineke: xaraBodds r) yer7-
| GAA’ ds Patrit. : ddAws FP 12 Fortass e (4 peraBod
SaBodds FP 12 mpagere
nabe
cera) 12-13 Fortasse éay 7 mpagnre... dy 7 BovdevoMeineke :BovAeveade
duanpdg ere F; dtampag yre P 13 Bovdeda enbe
scripsi: 15 7 Meineke :
F ; Bovdevecda P 14 Kai ériakoros del. Meineke
| airidpa ra Patrit.: alriwpa ra FP 16 Seopdv scripsi: ovviec-
jv FP 17 éavrdv F et P marg. :
pov codd, | dorévaxroy P: an darevanri ? | mounriwat codd. :
én’ airdv P | donacecda P 18 écecba P
19 mpocedABodca P | oluhaera - 20-21 pera-
fortasse dmdducot codd. 21 7) add. Heeren
Baca, xapat wAavd@peva: scripsi : peramAavdwpevar 23-27 dddAous...
diédaxe twpara
22-23 éyapicaro mvevpara eodd.: fortasse
copa hinc ad § 39 transposui 27-29 eniyrore, .. vowparwow hine ad
29 dpx} scripsi: 9 cudd. 30 ) rav om. P
§ 38 transposui
31 BiapOopa scripsi : Beapopd codd, 31-32 cidaipovias dvavéwors scripsi t
diddvors
evdaipovia codd. 32 Fortasse } (rod mAdoparos (vel cvothparos))
secludendum ?
|jpay P = 83-1 infra: gpovery 7a evdvria Kat
 480 . STOBAEI HERMETICA

évavtia, kal thy piv Kod\acw ds evepyeoiay ‘dropévew",

rhv 8 els ta Bedrrlova peraBodr\gnv (as) atiplay [re] Kal -
bBpw. al S&xasrepa & suav cal tiv es 7d ‘Ociov’ pera-
Body éxdexduevat (...)”
42 (...) els pév dvépadrous, Bacireis dixaror, prcoopor yrnotot, Kriorat Kat 5
vopobera, pavres [oi] ddndeis, [prfordot yriown], dproror mpopirat Oeav,
povarxol eumerpor, dotpovdpot voepoi, olwvooxdrar cadeis, dxpiBeis Ovrar,
kal dda és 71 Kaddy xdyabar GE, «is B€ wrnva, deroi, dude obSev (odrot)
rév dpoyevdr obre VéxSonoovew! ore Bow{na|avra, ddd’ od8e [mAnoiov
rovray| (Gov érepov dobevéorepsv te abradn adixeiv TapeOnoera’ évdiko- 10
TATH yap 1) Toy derav uois [uerehevioerat]. els 3€ rerparoda, déovres*
ioxupdv yap rd (pov, [kal pivews eruyev dxoiunrov tpdT@ rim,| kal pOapre
oopart ri advarov yupvatspevoy piaw oi're yap Kduvoyow ore Koimavrat,
eis 8€ éprerd, Spdkovres, Suvardv Gri rh (Gov, kai paxpdBtov, dxaxdv te, Kat
PravOporov otras (da)re (eviove cat mBacevectar, Kal ldv odk get,
(v)edzer 3€ xal ynpdoay, xabdrep picts 7 Oeav. ev bE vnxovar, SeApives*
cvprab[na odor yap [kai] rois els méAayos éuninrovow obrot, kai rots) pev
éumvofc Siaxoui(Covow els yiv, tov S€ redevrnodvrav odd ddws more
dnrovrat, xaitot poB(o)pwrdrou mévrav ONTOC Tov Tay évidpav yevous.
tocadra 6 eds eimav adparos (voids) ylyrerat.
43 rotrwv ovrws yevonevwr, réxvoy “Ope, icxupdrardy Te ard yis dvicrarat
nvedpa, dxardAnmroy pév mepioyii odpatos, duvduer dé ppovyrews imep(é)xov,
[8] [[kainep ei8ds trép Sy eruvOdvero|| rd capa [[yev]| xar(a) riov dvdpds
meptkelpevor, Kur Kadov ((uér)) kai wepvorperes bv, trepBodj S€ dypiov Kab

1 bwopévery codd.: fortasse imovocivy (an riy piv widAacw ds evepyeciay

{ ] mpociecOa), riv B8 «. 7. B, peraBodgy ds bBpw (pedyev vel poBei-
oat)? 2 re seclusi (an secludendum dripiavy te kai?) 3 xal-
(post bua@v) F: xara P 3-4 wal. . . éx5exdpevae secludendum?
| @efov codd.: fortasse BéAriov 5 Fortasse (ai etvyevécrara (vel
BaowAtkal) puxat) els piv dyOpamovs (eiceA9ovca -yiyvovra) —~ 5-6 For-
tasse Baotreis Sixator wat xricra Kal vopobérar, prrddcoor yvnorot 6 of
F: # P: seclusit Wachsm. |PGorduor ywhovor aut delendum aut trans-
ponendum | dporo codd.: fortasse maorot | Gedy secludendum?
7 Fortasse olavognédma aapeis, (pCordport) dxpiBets [Otrar] 8 ism
Usener : éo72 codd. | @écat codd.: ‘num dio?’ Wachsm. 9 éxBon-
covaw FP: éxooByaovaw Wachsm.: fortasse efa6[ no }odaw | Oowavrat
scripsi: Gownoovra: codd, 10 abréy scripsi : avrod FP | dpeOjoera
codd,: fortasse épievrat 10-11 éviiewrarn scripsi: tviuwrépa FP
11 4 ray dperay pias P 13 xapvovow Patrit.: képvwow FP 15 obras
+. Taceverba secludendum ¢ |Gare évious scripsi: re obv FP | 718a-
cevecba scripsi: TWacevOnoera codd, | ote exer scripsi: ody Efe codd.
16 ved{er scripsi (vedoe: Wachsm.): édcer FP 17 cupmraoda: scripsi: —
 EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 481

will regard the punishment ' as a boon, and the change to a better
state * as a degradation and an outrage. But the more righteous ®
among you, those who look forward to the change .. - u
(Souls of the noblest kind,)' when they enter human bodies, become 42
righteous kings, founders of cities, and lawgivers, genuine philosophers, true
diviners, trustworthy prophets, skilled musicians,” sage astronomers,” men that
find sure omens in the flight of birds, priests exact in the rites of sacrifice,?
and all kinds of men that are of high worth in any sort of work. When such
souls enter the bodies of birds, they become eagles; because eagles neither
drive away other creatures of their kind® nor devour them, and do not seek
to wrong any other sort of animal that is weaker than themselves ; for eagles
are most righteous by nature. When they enter the bodies of quadrupeds,
they become lions; for the lion is a strong beast, and one that trains itself
to imitate with its mortal body the immortal nature of the gods, inasmuch
as lions are never tired, and never sleep. When they enter the bodies of
reptiles, they become dragons; for the dragon is a powerful animal, and long-
lived; and it is harmless, and so friendly to man, that some dragons are even
tamed by men; it has no venom; and it renews its youth when it has grown
old, resembling the gods in this. And among the fishes,? such souls are
dolphins; for dolphins take pity on men who fall into the sea; they convey
the man to land if he is still alive, and they never even touch him if he is
- dead, though the race of fishes is voracious beyond all others.
And having thus spoken, God vanished from their sight.
When” these things had come to pass as I have told you, my son Horus, 43
there arose from the earth a mighty spirit, named Momus, who had a body
of enormous bulk, and a mind of surpassing power. This spirit was clothed
in a body of manly form; he was comely and stately to look on, but exceeding

1 I. e, your life in the body.

2 T.e. death. 8 Possibly, ‘ the more right-thinking ’.
‘ This paragraph has evidently been taken from another document, and
inappropriately tacked on to God’s speech to the souls.
5 Perhaps the kind of music meant is chiefly the singing of hymns to the gods.
6 Or ‘astrologers’. 7 Or possibly, ‘unerring herbalists’.
® I.e. other birds.
9 Or ‘when they are in fish-bodies’.
” This passage (§§ 43-48) is another account of the making of men, and is
inconsistent with the story told in §§ 24-41. Perhaps the words ‘ When these
things . . . my son Horus’, and the phrase ‘as soon as he saw the souls
——s into their bodily frames’, were added to the passage by the man who
inserted it into the Kore Kosmu.

ovpnabqcovar codd. 17-18 rods piv éunvois scripsi: 7a pév Eunvoa codd.
18 daxopiCovow scripsi: daxopodow codd. 19 awrovra scripsi: apovrar
codd. | giAoBopwrarov Meineke: qidoBpwrarov P: proBpwrarov (sed w
corr. in 0) F: qiAoBopwrorarov FP? | dvros scripsi: égopuévov codd.
20 déparos scripsi: dpOapros vods codd. Q1indrdF:tedrd P 22 For-
tasse mvedpa (p dvoya M@pos) |weptoxp P?: meproxiis FP | dwepéxov
Meineke: indpxov codd. 23 ddbsWachsm, : eldos FP | #év (post
o@pa) om, Patrit. | xara rUrov Meineke: xal rUnov FP
2806 li

a
 482 STOBAEI HERMETICA

mrjpes pdBov' 6 8) mapavrixa ras Wuxas elowovoas eis Ta mAdopara

Bewpijiran [av], ((Kairep €idds tmep dy éxuvOdvero,)) “ Tives” €eyev “ obror
44 xadodvrat, & ‘Eppa, Geav tropynparoypade ;” eimdvros dé *AvOperor”,
[eqns] eb “2 “Epp, rodpnpov Epyov moujoa tov dvOparov, mepiepyov
dpOarpois ((wéddor{ra) elvat)), Kai [Addov yAaoons| dxoverixdy [[padrov 5
elvat]| [[xai]] ra(v) arg pi) mpoonxdvray, ((xal)) Aixvov (yeboret, kat...)
sogphoet, cai péxpe mévrav ro [ris ddijs| dmreG peddovra Karaxpao(O)at,
Tovrov dpéptavoy Karadeiyrar Kexpikas, @ yeveotoupyé, Tov dpav peéAdovra
ToApnpas Ths picews Ta Kaa pvornpia ; dAuTov eGoa Hédes TotTor, (ror)
kal péxpe [rav] mepd(re)y yas tas Téavroi! pads lovra repre emwvoias;10
45 ((elra [od kai péxpis otpavod repiepyov dmdvcOnaOv)rat TéApay obrot 5] ovK
[dpepipvovs] [éxrevodow] ene li [xat] ra orotxeia [ras Wuxds avray]))
((rokpnpas éxre{e|vodor xeipas ;)) pifas purdv dvacedyovow dvOpwrot, Kat
[mowdrnra(s) ekeracovar xvAGr,| Oar pices emaxomnaovar’ Kai dut pecoy
dvarep| voter tav {pav Ta Goya, ob pdvov (8€ raira), dAAd Kali éavrots, 15
(m)as (. . .) eyévovro eberdfew Oédovres, ((xai ris évBorépw rev [lepav
adirar] (...) pias tmdpyet.)) [[roAunpas ékredvovar xXeipas]] [kal péxpe
Oardoons Kai] ras abropueis bAas répvovres [wéxpe xal] [[r@v mépav]]
SiaropOpec{r)over{y addjrovs] (Addaoaar) ent Cyrnow ((rav mépav)) [[kat
ris evBorépw rev lepav ddirav iow bmdpxec]]. (( (dptocovres peér)adda 20
[xai rovrav] ri éxxdrnv [rp Oérew] (rdv dmoyciar) epevrnrovar vixra.))
(Ere pérpia radra’)) (Kal) ra [néxpis] dvw didEover, maparnpiioat BovdAdpevor
ris ob(pa)r(ov) kabéarnxe kivnots. [ere pérpra raira.]] [deiner yap obdév
ert mAyy yis réros €oxaros.| [[dAda Kal rovray hv éaxdrnv rp Ochew
46 epevvyjcover virra.|] pydév obv eumddiov €xwow obra, adda [tO rhs 25
Gnbeias dyabG punbdor xai| rois xaderois pi) BiacGevres rod pdBov Kevrpots
dpepipye Big (évr)rpupjcwow; [letra ob kai péxpis odpavod mepiepyov
SmducOjoerat TéApav ; obToL OVK apEpipvous ekrevoior ere Kai TA OToLXela
ras Wuxas abray ;]| didagov evredbev "épav rod ri BovdeverOar’ (. ..) [iva
yoo Kal ris droruxias 7d xarerdv HoPnOijvat,| iva rH rhs AUmne Saxvnp@ 30
dapacdaor, rav éAmi{opevwv aroruxovres. xpeoxoreiaba [rav Woxer]
aitav rd mreplepyov [émOvpias Kai PéBots kal Avrats Kai eArioe mAdvors].
érddAnror ras Woxas airav [épwres| vepérOwoav edmides morxidat [em-

2 Ocwphaav, ‘*rives” Wachsm.: Oewphoa dv tives FP | &Aeyev Heeren :

éreyov FB. 3 imopuvnparoypape Heeren : bropynparoypapa FP 4 épys
(ante én) del. Heeren 5 paddov FP: wéAdovra Wachsm. 6 ray
Patrit.: 7@ FP | Aéxvov Patrit. : Adxwov FP 7 Fortasse (rpupepdv)
doppjoa |xaraypacda Heeren: karaxpaoa P : xataxpaca F 9 roApnpas
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 483

fierce and terrible. And as soon as he saw the souls entering into their bodily
frames, he asked (though he well knew the answer to his question), ‘ What
are these creatures called, Hermes, you record-writer of the gods?’ ‘ They 44
are called mem,’ said Hermes. Then Momus said, ‘Hermes, you are doing
a rash thing in making man; for he is like to be a creature that sees with
inquisitive eyes, and hears things he has no right to hear, and indulges greedily
his sense of taste, and makes voluptuous use of his sense of smell, and misuses
to all extremes his sense of touch, Tell me, you that are the author of his
being, is it your settled purpose to leave him free from care, this being that
is going to look with audacious gaze upon the beauteous mysteries of nature?
Is it your will to let him be exempt from sorrow, this man that is going
to send forth his designing thoughts to the very ends of the earth? And if so, 45
will not men put forth audacious hands against the elements? They will dig
up roots of plants, and investigate the properties of stones. They will dissect
the lower animals,—yes, and one another also,—seeking to find out how they
have come to be alive, and what manner of thing is hidden within . ...? They
will cut down the woods of their native land,’ and sail across the sea to seek
what lies beyond it. They will dig mines, and search into the uttermost
darkness of the depths of the earth, And all this might be borne, but they
will do yet more: they will press on to the world above, seeking to discover
by observation the laws of movement of the heavens, Are they then to meet 46
with no impediment? Shall they never be overpowered by the cruel stings
of fear, and shall they luxuriate in a life exempt from cares? Teach them
henceforth to....4 (Make them . . .,) that they may fail to get the things
they hoped for, and be subdued by the pangs of grief. Let their presumptuous
eagerness be disappointed of its expectations. Let their souls be a prey

1 This probably refers to the use of scents and unguents.

2 Perhaps, ‘is hidden beneath the outer flesh’. 3 Sc, to build ships.
4 Perhaps, ‘to keep their designs within the limits of what is fitting for them ’.

secludendum ? 10 péxpt mepdrow scripsi (exp Tv mepdrov Wachsm.):

péxpe trav mépav FP jr éavrod Heeren: 7a ceavrod FP | pOAAovTa
scripsi: peAAngovra codd. 11-12 cira . . . Yuxds airdvy huc a § 46
transposui 11 «ai om. P | éwAccOjoovra: Heeren: drdicOqoerar FP
12 émi Heeren: éwet FP |xa (ante 7a gro) om, Heeren 13 éxre-
voto. Heeren: éxreivovor FP | dvackayoutw F: dvaxappovow P
14 modrntas scripsi: modrnra codd, | eat (ante dd) secludendum?
| pécov scripsi: péoov F; péoaw P 15 dvarepoto: Heeren: dvaré-
pvovat FP 16 mé@s scripsi: ws codd. |Fortasse mas (énpuxor)
éyévovTo 16-17 ‘‘xal ris... brapxee num post OéAovTes transponenda t”
Wachsm. 16 Fortasse évdorépw trav capkav 19 dhanopOpetcovar
Oddaccay scripsi (S:anopOpevoovew aAAfAov Heeren) : diaropOpevovoww GdANAovs
codd, 20 dpiacovres péradda scripsi : dAAd codd. 21 Kal rovrwy F :
xat rovrov P_—| épedvnow P 23 otpavod Canter; oty FP 25 éxwow
F: gxovow P 26 dAndeias F : davmias P 27 évrpupyowow scripsi
(an scribendum évrpupaow?): tpvpjowow FP 27-29 cita. . . puxds
avray hine ad § 45 zmz¢. transposui 27 ob (post ¢fra) Canter: of FP
29 rod ri F: rovri P | Fortasse (yundév m)épaly] tod m(poonrovros)
BovrevecOa 29-30 iva éxwor . . . poBnOfva seclusit Wachsm.
32 meplepyov codd.: fortasse mepisodv (ris . . +) | wAdvors Heeren:
mAdvys F ; Adv (supra v superscr. s)P
Ii2
 484 STOBAEI HERMETICA
V
Ovpiat|, more pev emervyxdvoveat, more 8€ arevkrovoat, iva abrois Kat (rd)
tis emervyias Hd0 dédeap ff eis GOAnow TeAetorépwv Kaxav, 'Bapeira
muperos adtovs, ta, exxaxnoavres KoAdT wot riv émOvpiav.?”
47 [Aump, réxvov “Qpe, rade (dxovwr) ;((xaramAnoon)) éppnvevodans oot ths
rexovons [ov Oavpagers| [od] [[xataxAjooy]| mas 6 rddas dvOpawrros €Bapybn;5
(é)r1 detvdrepov émdxovcor. |
48 érépmero Mapov radra éyorros “Eppijs* éAéyero yap oixciws aig ra
elpnpéva, [[xal radra exparrev doa rep eipyxet]] [Aéyov] (72) Maye”,
(épn,) [GAN odxér” apy yerjoerat [mvevparos Beciov] picts rod mepi-
éxovros.] [etme yap elvai pe rapiay Kai mpovonriy 6 rav cupndvrav Seonérns.| 10
[[eromreripa roivwy ra yijs fora Tov draw d£vdepkys Oeds ’Adpdoresa.]]
(...) Kai te xpumrdy dpyavoy éy® rexvacopa, amdavods Kai drapaBarou
FBewpias) eydpevor, @ [ra emt yijs| dvayxaiws dovdaywynOnoerat mivra ra
(rav dvOpareav) ard yevécews dxpt pOopas eaxarns [[éxov thy droredou-
pévev migw)|" mec Onoera 8¢ 7G Spydve trovr@ Kai ra emi yijs Ga mavra.” 15
elrev ‘Eppijs [eyo 8é] raira tG Mozy, ((xat [radra] érparrey dca rep
elpnxet.)) Kat {5 Td Opyavov éxwveiro* ((éndmre(v[rn|pa [roivyy ra yas]
(8 enjéorn rav wv dtvdepxys Oeds *Adpdorea,)) ((Exoy(oa) rH (rar)
drorehoupévoy mijgw.))
49 Tadra dt ads éyévero, kal everwpaticOnaay ai wWuyxal, 20
[kal émaivov trip rev yevouévey avros Ervxer,] (- « +)
50 [[wdéAw 6 povapxos obyxAnTov Tay Oeay éxoinae ovvedpior.
kal of Oeot mapfoav, kal médw avros Taira obras Epadvnee,
“ @eot” réywv, “boo THS Kopudatas, doa Kai dpOdprov
pioews rerevxare, of Tov péyav aidva deme és del KEKAH- 25
pwobe, ols abr& éavrois dvrimapadidévta ovdémote Komidoet
Ta ovpravTa, péxpt wore THS avertyvdotov tavrns deomd-
copev wyepovias; péxpt wore aOedpynta yevijcera taira
Hrio Kal cedrjvn; Exacros huav ep eavT@ yevvdra.
drareipopey TO Stvacba tiv ert dpyhy obotacw Tavryy. 30
dmaros Tois perayeveotépos pibos dé dogdrw xdos «vat
tpyov dmrecbe peyddrav, eyo 8 abros dp£opar mparos.”
elrre, kal evOéws KoopiKas Tis Ere pehalvns Evdcews Sidaracis
éyévero: Kail]
51 {[épdvn pev ovpavds dvm ovykexoopnpévos Trois éavrod 35
pwaornpios mao Kpadawopévn ert yh HAlov AdprpavTos
émdyn, Kai épdvn waor ois mepi adriy ovyKexoopnpevors
kadois. Kadd yap TO Oe Kal ra Ovntois evar vopifopeva
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmv). ISIS TO HORUS 485
to a succession of varying hopes, sometimes fulfilled and at other times

a bait to lure
frustrated, so that even the sweetness of attainment may be but

the wretches on to more unmitigated miseries. . . ."!

s 48
Hermes was pleased by what Momus said; for it was said in friendlines

to him? ‘Momus,’ said he, ‘. . . and I will devise a secret engine,’ linked
their
to unerring and inevitable fate, by which all things in men’s lives, from
;
birth to their final destruction, shall of necessity be brought into subjection

and all other things on earth likewise shall be controlled by the working

of this engine’ So said Hermes to Momus; and he did even as he had said.

And when the engine began to work, the keen-eyed goddess Adrasteia took

her stand above to supervise the whole, having in her hands the confirmation

of all that was wrought by the working of the engine.

And when these things had come to pass, and the souls had 49
been embodied, . . . *

1 Perhaps, ‘Let them be scorched by the flame of desire, that so they may
lose heart, and be (the more severely ?) punished’.
2 Perhaps, ‘ for he thought there was good reason in it’.
3 Viz, the system of the stars,
4 Between § 49 and § 53 might perhaps be placed § 47: ‘Are you grieved,
my son Horus, when you hear this? Are you dismayed, when your mother
describes to you the miseries by which unhappy man was oppressed? You
must hear something yet more terrible.’

1 areverodca: Meineke: dmeverotoa FP 2 Adds P | els d0Anow

secludendum? An scribendum iva {airois] . . . S€dcap Tuts dOAlos?
2-3 Fortasse xavérw abrods 7d mip THs EmOuplas, iva .. . KkodacOaar 6 én
scripsi: 7d codd. 7 oleeiws codd,: fortasse elxdrws vel émrndcios
9 ovnér’ apy) Usener: ob tvapyi FP 10 pe raplay Canter: pera plav FP
| Fortasse rapiay ({nvevparos ciov)) | mpovonriy F: mpovontimjy P
| Fortasse povonriy (rav én ys) 13 Gewplas codd.: fortasse dvayxns
| dvayxaiws om, Heeren, nescio an recte 14 écxarys secludendum?
16 clnev Patrit.: elroy FP | &y 8& del. Heeren 17 éwénretpa
Meineke: éworrerfjpa FP 18 8 énéorn scripsi: éorat codd. | €xovea
scripsi: éyov codd. | 7@v (post 7i)v) add, Wachsm, vav
19 droredoupé
codd. : fortasse dworeAeoparov 20 évecaparicOncay Canter: évecy-
paricOncay P: evepBaricOncav F 21 érvyev Heeren: érvxoy FP
8
22-34 § 50 (wddw 6 pévapxos. . . éyévero eal) hinc transposui: vide post §
(p. 460) 35-2 infra: § 5) (épdvy. . . Kivodpeva) hine transposui : vide
ante § 14 (p. 464)
 486 STOBAEI HERMETICA

paira, bre Si tots tod Oeod vépots Sovdcdew éeroijOn.

€xatpe St 6 Beds dpav ibn éavr0d Ta Epya Kivovpeva.]]
52 [[mAnpdoas St Tas ivootagias xEipas TO TEplexovTt Tay
éx tis gicews brapxévtev, Kai tas Spdkas Kaprepas
opiyéas, “ AdBe,” elev, “@ lepa yi, AdBe, wavripe Kais
elvat yevyiretipa péddovca mdvrov, Kal pydevt eévreiber
AeltecOar Sédxe.” cimev 6 Beds, kal Tas xelpas, olas Set
Ocdv exe, atr\doas mdvta apnkey ev Th Ta dvTor
ovoTdaoet.||
53 [kal dyvwora piv jv Kat’ dpyas wavTdraci.| Io
vewotl yap ai wuyal Kabeipyeion [kai rijv dripiav ph
pépoveat] [[rois év ovpav@ Oeois EdidovetKouy, THs éavTay
evyevelas mepikpatodoat Kal avTikapBavbpevat, as Kal avral
Too avrod Ervxoy Snptovpyod,)| éotaciagov: Kal (of Kpeto-
coves), Tois Aemopévors avOpwrois dpydvois yxpdpevol, 15
érrolovy abrovs éavtois émiribecOa Kal advtitdooecbat, Kal
mohepeiy adAHAos. Kal [obrws 4 [per] loxds Kata Tis
adobeveias péya Hovvato, wate] of laxupol rods aduydrovs
kal ‘éxaiov' Kai épdvevor, kai [kara trav lepay] rodro pey
(avras (jvdpamddigov), toiro dé “kai vexpods Eppimroy 20 .
(dOdmrous) [kata tav addror).
54 ((modrrod dé dn yevopévov tod Kaxod,)) [€os] dyavaxri-
gavTa Ta oToLXEia TE povdpyw OG évrvyeiv edoxipagoy |
bmétp this Tav avOpdémav dyplov modzreias: [[roddAod dé dn
yevopuévov Tod Kaxod]| [Ta crorxeta] (kal) TO TaHoavte abra 25
[76 . 666] mpocedOévra ro.odtois Rbyos [bmép péuews]
éxphoavto.
55 kal di ((rd mip, mparov)) (yap) [kal] eye thy Tod Aéyev |
éefovolav [[rd mip mparov]], “ Aéomora” [de] edreye “Kal .
Tod Kawvod tovrov Kéopov Texvira, (od) Kat [[xpumrdr]] 3°
((aeBaorov (7d) dvopa)) év Oeois Kat ((Kpumrov)) [[oeBaoriv
dvopal] [méxpt viv dracw] dvOpéros, péypt wore [@ Saipor]
ddeov xatadciat tov Ovnraey Biov mpols|alpeow exes ; ((ovK
é@ot me ‘pévery’ els 5 wépuxa, mapaxapdooorres ov Kabn-
kévtws T dpOaprov)) ((ult\alvouar ydp, @ déomora, [méxpt 35
viv,| kat bd THs Tay [yevopévar] dvOpmrav [abéov] TéAuns
56 Tdpxas dvayxd{ouat THKev.)) dvddezov in ceavtov xpy-
[varilfovre 7@ xécpw, Kal tod Biov rd dypioy hd[n\cov.
{[efpjvn xadpico vopous 7G Bio. ydpioat vuxti xpynopods.
 (Kore Kosmv). ISIS TO HORUS 487
EXC. XXIII
imprisoned, they 53
For when the souls had but recently been
the stronger men used
began to quarrel among themselves ; and
each other, and array
the weaker as tools, and made them attack
on one another. And
themselves in hostile ranks, and make war
and they enslaved the
the strong ...' and slew the powerless ;

living, and cast out the dead unburied.

the Elements were 54
But when the mischief had grown great,
to God, who rules alone,
indignant, and resolved to make petition
And they approached
concerning the savage conduct of mankind.
s.
their Maker, and addressed him as follow

permitted to speak first, and said, ‘ Master, and 55

Fire was
universe, thou whose name is revered
Fabricator of this new
long is it thy purpose
among the gods and hidden from men, how
men do not let me
to leave the life of mortals godless? These
me ; they put a false
render the services for which my nature fits
I am polluted,
and unmeet stamp on my imperishable being.
to consume human
Master, and by men’s audacity I am forced
that needs thee, and 56
flesh. Reveal thyself at once to the world

1 Perhaps, ‘ tortured’ or ‘mutilated’.

transposui : vide post § 13 (p. 462)

3-9 § 52 (wAnpwoas .- - avardcet) hinc 15 Aotto-
dnmov pyod hinc ad § 24 (p. 470) transposui
19-14 trois. . . codd. 16-17 Kal mrodepeiv
| xp@pev or sevipsi : xpwpev ar
peas P | xara ray
@AAHAos secludendum ? 19 gxaov codd, :fortasse yatCov
21 xara ray abvrov del. Heeren 22-23 avay-
tep@v seclusi t Wachs m. 26 7@ Oe@ del.
Kkagtncovra P 24 imp... wodcrelas secludendum ?
30-81 ‘an xpumro y et ceBaor dv inter se mutanda?’Wachsm.
Usener $3-37 ove . .. dpBaprov et
83 mpoaipecty Heeren: mpos alpesty FP osui 34 pe scripsi: Te codd.
puatvo pat. . . Threw huc a § 56 fin. transp
codd.: fortass e ianper etv 35 juaivoya: Canter: patyouar FP
| névew 37-38 xpptovrs Usener: xpnpari-
37 dvddegoy scripsi : dvareAov codd, )Avaoy *) : pinoov codd,
(ovr codd. 38 Adaov scripsi (an (nara
 488 STOBAEI HERMETICA

TANpwcoy Kaddv éeAnidoy wavra.|] poBeicbwcav dvOparo |

tiv amd Oedy exdixiav, Kai ovdels Amaprnce. [emagious
dpaptnpdrov picbods dv arodkdBoot(v of duaprérvtes), pudd-
€ovrat of dorol 7d addikeiv.] [poBnIijcovrat dpkovs, Kal
ovdé es Ere dvéciov ppovice:.] ((elpyyvnn Xaptodmenos TO 5
Bio [xdpicat vuxti yxpnopodts] mAjpwoov Kadav €dridor
mdvta')) (kai) pabérwoay evepyernbévtes ebyaptorijoai, iva
[xatpov] [rapa oBais] mapa Ovoias imnper(obv) érw 7d
mip [iv] eddas drpods adm’ éoxdpas mporéuo cou. |
[[uaivopa: ydp, @ Séomora, péxpt viv, cal bwd Ths Tay al°
yevonévear avOpérav abéov réruns odpKxas avayxdfopa
THKelv.]] [[ovx é@oi re pévew eis b wépuka, mapaxapdo-
covres ob KaOnkbvtws 7d &pOapror.]|” |
57 6 8 atp “ Kai adris Oododpat, déorora,” edeye, “ [Kai]
a
amd (Tis Ex) Tv vexpdv [cwpdrov] dvabvpuidoews, vooddns 15
TE eit, Kal ((ovKért)) dyrecvds [[odKéri]} Epopa te dvwber oia
BH Oéuis dpav.”
58 Udwp éfis, @ wai peyaddowuye, Thy Tod déyew dyer
efovoiav, kal edeyev ob'rws: “ TIdrep [kal Oavpaore mora
mdvtov| avroyéve [Saipov] Kal rhs did ot mdvta yevvdons 20
manta picews, dn more [@ Saipor] [[del]] peiOpa [rorapar]
(rdud) kabapd mpdoragov evar: [i] ((del)) yap dmodovover |
mworapol Kai Oddacoat Tods hovetoavras [i] (kal) déxovrat
Tovs povevOévras.”
59 yf wapijv mepidumos éfs, kal "ré€opat THs amd Tay 25 |
Abyov', & wai peyadddoge, obrws Néyew fpgaro: “ Baoided
kal ((mdrep)), Tov ovpaviwv mptravt [kat déorora] dwidar,
(kal) orotxelov Hay Hyena [[rdrep|] Tay cot mapectéror,
ef dy [adfjoews kal petdoews] dpyiv exec Td wévra, eis a
kal méhw kaTadjyovta dvayxatws dpeidspuevov Tédros eet 30 |
[4Abytoros, @ modutinnre, Kal des] [[dm’ dvOpdérav én’ ene
Xopds Ereori|] [xwp@ 8 éy@ Kal giow mévrov] ((crorxelov |
Tipiwrépay Tov adAwv Thy yiv [wer |éroincac’)) ait} ydp, ds
od mpocéragas, kal pépw mévra kai [rd povevOévra] Séxopuat. \
60 dripodpar dé H8n* [6 emt mévrov] [[d emtxOdvids cov Kbcpos 35

2 duaprhoe Patrit.: éxaprice FP: éyxaeqoe Meineke 4 poBnOncovra

codd, : fortasse poBeiabacav 5 ciptyny xapiodpevos scripsi: elpivy" xapico
véuous FP 6 éAnidwy secludendum ? 7 wavra F: navra corr, ex
mavrov P 8 ianperody éyX scripsi: banperiaw codd. 9 drpois F :
EXC. XXIII (Kore Kosmv). ISIS TO HORUS 489

put an end to the savagery of human life. Let men be taught

to fear the penal justice of the gods, and then no man will sin.
Bestow peace on mankind, and thereby fill the world with goodly
hopes ; and let them learn to give thanks to thee for thy benefits,
that so I, the Fire, may render service at their sacrifices, and
send up fragrant-vapours to thee from the altar-hearth.’
Then spoke Air, and said, ‘I too, Master, am made turbid 57
by the reek which rises from the corpses, so that I breed sickness,
and have ceased to be wholesome ; and when I look down from
above, I see such things as ought never to be seen’.
Next, my magnanimous son, Water was given leave to speak, 58
and spoke thus: ‘O Father, self-begotten, and Maker of Nature,
that power which generates all things to give thee pleasure, it is
high time for thee to give command that my streams be kept
pure ; for the rivers and seas are ever washing off the defilement
of the slayers, and receiving the corpses of the slain.’
Next Earth stood forth, in bitter grief; and. ..,' my glorious 59
son, she thus began; ‘O King and Father, President of the over-
arching spheres of heaven, and Governor of us, the Elements,
that stand before thee, us out of whom all things get their
beginning, and into whom they are resolved again when they
cease to be, and reach their end, paying a debt that must be
paid ;? thou didst make Earth more highly honoured than the
other Elements ; for it is I that, as thou hast commanded, both
bring forth all things and receive them back into me. But now, 60

1 Perhaps, ‘when she in turn was given leave to plead’.

2 Perhaps, (omitting the words ‘and reach . . . be paid’) out of which
all things (i.e, all organized bodies) are formed by composition when they
begin to be, and into which they are resolved again when they cease to be’.

avtap P 15 ris éx addidi (ris dwd add, Usener) 16 ofa scripsi: ica
codd, 17 pi) Heeren: pe FP?: od P? marg. 20 airéyove Meineke:
abréyeve FP}: abroyevés P? | Sazpov om, Patrit. wat tiv da FP"
| da oe secludendum? 25-26 Fortasse dfioupévyn (vel dfiwOeica) kal
Trav
abr) Adyou (‘num dgtovpévy THs dmodoyias?’ Wachsm.): tdéglopa
éAww (‘desiderium omnium elementorum *) coni. Usener 28 juav ayyeudv
codd. : fortasse ju@y déonora 30 xaradnyovra codd.: fortasse diadvdpeva
?)
|dvayxaiws codd.: fortasse dvayxy (an secludendum dvayxaiws dpeAdpevor
31-82 dm’ dvOpumov . . . éneor hinc ad § 60 transposui 32 nal piow
névrav codd,: fortasse 74 toe (yryvdpeva) mavra 32-33 croixelov
.. . émoincas huc a § 61 transposui 33 érolyaas scripsi (an scribendum
zur ewoingas?): perenoincay codd. 84 Fortasse od ((6 én mdvtoav))
mpogéragas | ra povevdévra seclusi (an scribendum [rd] dadvbévra?)
35-1 infra: 5 émxOdnids . . .ov* Exe hine ad § 61 transposui
 490 STOBAEI HERMETICA

ab hs Oedv ovK eel] ((... am avOpdmev én’ ene

"yopos! énéatH)). mara yap, t) poBn aow ovK €xorTes,
mapavopodor" kal kar’ éuav, & Kipte, ‘revovtwv' (rediov)
mwdon mwovnpa téxvn (povevdpevot) KataminTovol, KaTa-
Bpéxopae d& maca Stapbetpopévw(v) cwpdtrwy xvdois. 5
G1 évredOev, Kipie, (énel) [kal] rods ovK agious avaykd(opat
xopeiv, xophoat Dero pel’ dv pépw mdvrov Kai Oedv. (mEéxpt
more) Noe émix Obvids cou Kéopos, (OvnTav) mewn papévos,
Oedv ovk exer i)) nities Th yh, Kav [od] (ui) veavrév, ov
yap ot xwpeiv dropévo, (4Ad2) gavrod (yé) Tia lepdy 10
améppoay. [[oToxelov Timer épay Tav aAwv Thy viv
perero(noay.]] [n6vn yap abyely trav ard cod mpére Ta
wavrTa mapexovon.|”
62 § rocaira piv Ta orotxeia elwev: 6 dé Oeds, lepas (& TO
déyew) govijs Ta ovpTavra mAnpdoas, ae Tlopeteobe,” elirev, 15
“fepd Kal peyddov marpis dfia téxva, kal Kara pydéva
tpbmov vewrepife emixetpeire, pnd apydy ris e€ Ymav
imnpectas tov otpmravTd pov Kbopov Karadelmere. €Tépa
yap év dpiv tis HOn (KaTothoer) THS Enns awippua dicews,
ds 8} Kai dovos Eorar Tov MpaTropéver éndarns, Kai (dvTwY 20
pev Kpiris dpeb6devros, ppixros S(%) [od pévoy adda kal
Tipw@pos| Tv bro yiv TUpavvos" feat éxdot@ d& Tov av Opé-
63 Tov adxodovdioe "did yévous' pucbds émdgios.” Kai
obrws ématoato Tis évtuxias Ta aoTotxeia [[Tod Seomdrov
Kedevoavros]| Kal éxeuvOiav edyev Kai ((rod deomérou 25
kededoavrtos)) Exactoy avray ris idlas eLovolas éxpdre [Kai
€déamo¢e},—§
64 Kal ék« rovrou elmev *Apos: "2 texodca, was ody Tiy Tod
Geo améppoav éxav edtixnoey i yh ;—Kai dre “Tots
Tlaparodpat {[yéveow ioropeiv]| [fod yap Oepirdv]] offs 30
omopas Katahéyew dpxiv, & peyadroobevis “Ape ((od yap
Oepirdv)) [ds pimore Uorepoy els avOpemovs dbavdtwr
(S)€XOn yéveois] Oe@y ((yéveow foropeiv)) mAiy dre ye 6
povapxos Oc6s, 6 Tv cvprdvtey [Kooporoinris Kal] Texvirns,
TH (yf) Tov péytorév cov mpds ddAlyov éxapicato maTépa 35

1-2 dn’ dvOpumav. . . éméorn hue a § 59 transposui 2 xopds codd,: fortasse

O6puBos | éréorn Meineke :éveort FP 2-3 Fortasse d yap poBybaaw
ovKeEXovTES, mavtTa mapavopovar 5 d:apberpopévav Usener: SeapBerpopéry codd.
| cwparew codd. : fortasse mrapdrav | xoAois P 7 ped’ dv pépw mavrwv
EXC, XXIII (Kore Kosmu). ISIS TO HORUS 491

I am dishonoured; . . .1 has risen up against me from mankind.

Having naught to fear, they commit all manner of crimes;
slaughtered by every sort of cruel device, men fall dead on my
plains, O Lord, and I am soaked through and through with the
juices of rotting corpses. Henceforward, Lord, since I am forced 61
to contain beings unworthy of me,’ I wish to contain, together
with all the things which I bring forth, God also. How long
shall thy terrestrial world, peopled with mortals, have no God?
Bestow upon Earth, if not thy very self,—that I ask not, for
I could not endure to contain thee,—yet at least some holy efflux
from thee.’
Thus spoke the Elements; and God filled the universe with 62
the sound of his holy voice, and said, ‘Go your ways, my holy
children, that are worthy of your great Father; make no attempt
to violate my laws, and leave not my universe bereft of your
services, Another® shall now come down to dwell among you,
an efflux of my being, who shall keep holy watch on men’s deeds.
He shall be judge of the living,—a judge that none can deceive,—
and a terrible king of the dead ;and every man shall meet with
such retribution as his deeds deserve.’ Thereon the Elements 63
ceased from their entreating, and kept silence; and at their
Master’s bidding, each of them continued to wield the power
committed to him.—
Thereupon Horus said: Tell me then, mother, how did Earth 64
attain to the happy lot of receiving the efflux of God?—And Isis
answered: Mighty Horus, do not ask me to describe to you
the origin of the stock whence you are sprung;* for it is not
permitted to inquire into the birth of gods. This only I may
tell you, that God who rules alone, the Fabricator of the universe,
bestowed on the earth for a little time your great. father Osiris

1 Perhaps, ‘trouble’ or something of the sort.

? Tie, men. ® Viz. Osiris.
4 T.e. to explain to you how your father and mother came into being.

secludendum? | ¢épow P 10 cavrod F: ravrod P| yé add. Meineke

| iepdy secludendum? 11-12 croxeov .. . peremoincay hinc ad § 59
transposui 12 7a (ante mévra) codd. : fortasse 7) 15 mopevecdarP
16 peyddou secludendum? 17 dpydv codd, : fortasse dporpov | dpa
scripsi: a’t@v FP (atréy Wachsm.) 18 watadelante F: xartadinnre
Meineke | érépa codd.: fortasse érepos 25 dyer scripsi: «xo
codd. 33 5:éA6y scripsi: €A@p codd, 35 7h yi scripsi (yp Usener) :
mi codd,
 STOBAEI HERMETICA :
492
mavtov Seopev
“Oorpt kat tiv peylotny bear Lot, iva tov
(76) kdop@ Bonboi yévovrat.
] To rhs
65 ob rot, (rod Oyetov tov Biov [elwAnpdcar(res), [obror
&dAnrogorias Eraveav ayptov.
ovpradety Tos
((obrot [map’ “Eppod pabévres ds Ta KaT@
oS]

[ras] pods Kdber on ("podo-

dvw brd rod Snuiovpyod Sierdyn|
fepor oilas avégTnoav
yotoas) Tois év odpav@ pvornplos
év Yi-))
((obrot)) Tewevn (rots) mpoyédvors Oeois [[avrol]] Kai Ovoias
okémny 10
xabiépwoar' (vdpovs] obra Kal tpopas Ovnrois Kal
éxapioavro.
ovrat ypappatroy
66 oSror ra x mTd”, Gnow ‘Epps, “ trav epav émyvao
aowl, & 8 Kat mpds
mavra Kat Siaxpiwoict, Kal Tid peV Tatrot xaracx
xapagovow.”
evepyeoias Ovnrav Fhddverl, (ev) orndats Kat dBerioxos
67 [obrot mparor SelEavres Sixacripta] [[evvoplas 7a ovpravTa 15
kal Stxaoovyyns émdijpocay.||
Tov
obrot, deftas Kal miorews apynyéTHN [yevdpevot Kal]
els tov Blov, ((ebvo pias
péytoroy Bed “Opxov eloayaybvre(s)
7a ovpravra Kat Sixatootyns érdijpooar.))
ofro, ((rd POdpipov tdv capdrov émvyvovres,)) TOs 20
y
mavoapévous rod Civ as d€éov éari[r] {[ediSagav]| meporéAder
((edidagav)).
((els ra
otro, rd Tov Gavdrov (yrnoavres aitiny, Zyvoaav ds tod ewbev
atpépo v tuy-
tev avOparer m\dopara)) (etvedddvros)) nvebpatos didvro
on nore, dvaxrnow 75
xdvovros [[els ra rev avOparrav mAdoparal| Téav borepi
otk fxoveav épydcerat Afe}roPupias,"
s, {cde
obrot, Td meptexov Gre Saypedvev ém\ypobn mapa ‘Eppod pabdvre
kpunrais arndas éxdpagay.
68 oro [udvoi], Tas KpuTTas vopobecias Tod Oeod [mapa
‘Eppod] pabévres, [rexv@v kal emornpav Kal émirndevpdtov
w
oO

dmrdvrov elonyntail trois dvOpérois éyévovTo [kal] vopobérat.

| Seopévy Canter : deopevov FP 8 Tov
1 roy révTov secludendum¢
@ciov scripsi: Blov codd. _|Fortasse rév (avOpmmvov) Biov | tAnpdcavtes
scripsi: émAfpwoay codd. 5-8 obra... & 7h huc a § 68 transposui
® rois addidi
6-7 mpds KdBerov Spodoyovas scripsi : mpookadérous FP
(an secludendum mpoydvois ?) | abroi (post Gots) codd. : otro: Meineke
| «at Ovoias secludendum? 10-11 obra Kat tpopds . . . ¢xapicavro seclu-
dendum? 18 xardoxwotv F: xaraxdoovow Usener; num avrot katacxéCvres
tvvohaov)ow 4 14 pOaver codd. : fortasse Telver 17 dpxnyérny scripsi :
18 cloayayévres scripsi : elonyayovro codd. 20 7d
dpxnyéra: ~codd. 4 postea
pOdpipov Tav cwparov envyvévres huc a § 68 transposui: sed hic quoque
 ISIS TO HORUS 493
EXC. XXIII (KorE KosMv).
might give the world the
and the great goddess Isis, that they
help it so much needed.
that which is divine,' and 65
It was they that filled human life with
of mutual slaughter.
thereby put a stop to the savagery h
rites of worship whic
It was they that established upon earth
rs in heaven.
correspond exactly to the holy Powe
and instituted sacrifices
It was they that consecrated temples
and gave to mortal men
to the gods that were their ancestors,
the boons of food and shelter. gs,* 66
knowledge of all my hidden writin
‘They ’,? said Hermes, ‘will get keep
some of those writings they will
and discern their meaning;* and t of morta l men, they will
as tend to the benefi
to themselves, but such of them
inscribe on slabs and obelisks.’ 67 god,
s life that mighty
It was they that introduced into men’ ;
of pledges and good faith
the Oath-god, to be the founder
law- abidingness and justice.
whereby they filled the world with the
es decay, taught men
It was they that, noting how corps ceased
those who have
fitting way to swathe the bodies of
to live. out that the
the cause of death; and they found
They sought to discover is apt
without 6 into men’s bodily frames,
life-breath,® which has entered from
came, and. .."
to return to the place from which it been
Hermes that the atmosphere had
It was they that, having learnt from
.* on hidden slabs of stone.
filled with daemons,* inscribed . .
secret lawgivings, became 68
It was they that, having learnt God’s
lawgivers for mankind.

1 Or ‘ with religion’. it may possibly have been intended

2 § 66 is certainly out of place here;Hermes in § 8. In that case, ‘ they’
speec h of
to stand at the end of the who were destined to find and read
the
would mean the men of after times
books of Hermes. writings’.
8 Or ‘all the secret lore taught in my into two parts’.
4 Or perhaps, ‘and will divide them J.e. from the atmosphere.
5 Or ‘vital spirit’. 6 it
of it, he swoons; (but if he loses
7 Perhaps, ‘and if a man runs short
entirely,) he cannot get it back, (and so he dies)’.
ns’.
8 Possibly altered from ‘is full of daemo
the daemons’ (or ‘ forms of words
for
9 Perhaps, ‘inscribed the names of
invoking the daemo ns’).

25-26 Fortasse
additum videtur 23 airy scripsi: dypiov codd. ((Acmobupia)), (éav Be
b 6 dvOpa mos, waréx erat)
tay (pev) borephon nore (avTo aliquid
ovK zxov (arobvioner) vel eiusmodi27 émAn-
mavrinacw dmoorepney,) dvacrnat scrips i : Aemod upias codd,
36 éxoucay FP: éxov P | Arro@ upias ém-
27-28 Fortasse (ra dvdyara (vel Tas
pwn codd.: fortasse memAnpwrat
KAnoes) aay év) Kk. éxapa gay
 494 STOBAEI HERMETICA

[[odro:, wap’ ‘Eppob pabdvres os ra Kdétw ovuprabeiv trois

dvw brs Tod Snpiovpyod Suerdyn, Tas mpookabérovs Tois év
ovpav® pvornpios leporroiias avéotnoay €v y7.\]
ovrot [[7d POdpipor Tov cwpdrov emtyvéytes|| Th! ev Aract
TéXeLov' Tav mpopyntay érexvdoavTo, [as pHmore 6 péddov 5
Oeois mpoodyev yxeipas mpopitns ayvoj tt Ta&v (de)évTov,]
iva pirocodia perv [kai payela] (riv) puxiv tpédn, cdfn &
[[Srav rt maéoyn)| fatpixh (7d) o@pa ((drav tt wadoyn)).
69 Taira mdvra momoavtes, @ Téxvov, “Ooipis Te Kayo,
Tov Kbopov mAnpéorarov idévres (ayabav yevopevov) [[amrp- - °
Tovpeba dordv)| bd tev Tov obpaviv KarTotkotvTor,
((dmprovpeOa ormdr)) (...). GAN ovK Hv avedOciv mpiv
(bpr@) emixarécacbat rov povapxor, iva 8% ‘kai rhs Oewpias
ravrns' mAnpes TO meptexov yévnrat, avroi re evmapddextor
[edruxjowper] (moinodpeba) tiv dvdBacw. [yxalpa yap 5
bpvos 6 Oeds.|—
70 "QQ réxovoa, elev “Qpos, kapol xdpioa tiv Tod buvov
éentyvoow [as pi dpab}s trdpxo|—Kai dre *Iats,
IIpécexe, mai.

EXCERPTUM XXIV

Stobaeus 1. 49. 45, vol. i, p. 407 Wachsmuth (Zc/. I. 980

Heeren).
Ep TAUTO. aa
Xd dé, & wai peyadowuye, ef te Oéders Erepov érepdra.—
kai eimev “Qposs "2 moduripnre parep, eidfca Oéd\o Tas
ylyvovrat Baoiixal Woyal.—xai dev "lows: “H yryvopévn,
téxvov ‘Qpe, mepi tas Baoidtxas Wuyxas Siapopa roravrny ris
éortv. [émel yap] rémot técoapés eloww ev TS wavti, oirwes i) u

dnapaBdto vouw Kai (Baoihixf) mpoocracia broninrrovew,

& re ovpavds Kal (6) alOijp Kal 6 adhp Kal [iepwrdrn] yi.
kai dvw pév, @ Téxvov, év ovpav@ Oeol Katotxotow, dy dpxet
1-3 obra... év yp hinc ad § 65 transposui 4-5 1d éy dram réAciov
codd, : fortasse 7d év dracw wpédrpov ¢€vos) 6 dedvrwy scripsi: dvrav
codd. 13-14 kai rijs Cewpias ravrns codd,: fortasse [mal] rhs edpwvrias
(vel ebAoyias) [ravrys] 14 ebmapddexro: scripsi: ebmapadexrov codd, (an
scribendum [edrapadexrov] edruxnowper tiv avaBaow ?)
26 drapaBary vou «at secludendum ? 27 6 add. Heeren
 EXC. XXIII (KoRE KosMu). ISIS TO HORUS 495
It was they that devised the .. .' of the prophet-priests, to the
end that these might nurture men’s souls with philosophy, and
save their bodies by healing art when they are sick.
When we had done all this, my son, Osiris and I, perceiving 69
that the world had been filled with blessings by the gods who
dwell in heaven, asked leave to return to our home above. But
we were not permitted to return until we had invoked the Sole
Ruler with a hymn, so that the atmosphere might be filled
with ...,? and we ourselves might be well received above when
we ascended.—

Mother, said Horus, grant to me that I too may learn that 70

hymn.—And Isis said, Hearken, my son.°

EXCERPT XXIV

In the same book.*

Isis. ‘But if you wish to ask any further question, my

magnanimous son, ask on.’—‘ My honoured mother,’ said Horus,
‘I wish to know what is the origin of kingly souls.’—And Isis
said, ‘My son Horus, the distinction by which kingly souls are
marked out is as follows. There are in the universe four regions,
which are subject to law that cannot be transgressed, and to
kingly presidency; namely, heaven, the aether, the air, and the
earth, Above, my son, in heaven, dwell gods, over whom, as

1 Perhaps, ‘ the order of the prophet-priests, which is helpful to men in all

things’. Or possibly, ‘ the initiation’ or ‘the training of the prophet-priests’.
(The word ‘ prophets’ probably here means Egyptian priests.)
? Perhaps, ‘ with the music of our voices’, or ‘ with the sound of our song
of praise’.
® Here followed the hymn,
‘ Ie.‘ This piece occurs in the same book from which Zxc. XXIII was
taken’.
 496 STOBAEI HERMETICA

petr& kai tev ddd\ov mdvrov 6 tev drwy Snprovpyds: ev d

7@ aldépt darépes, dv dpxe 6 péyas pworip ijruos: ev de To
Xj J ; ee be =~ ~
aépe wuxai [de povat], dy adpxer ceAnvyn®
”
emt Oe THS yIS
37 ‘ >’ la ny

dvOpwrot [kai T& Nowra (Ga), bv dpxet 6 (del) [[kaTa Katpov]]

Bactrets: yervaor yap ((kaT& Kaipév)), @ Téxvov, [BaciXeis] 5
2 (dvOpwrov) of Oeot émdgion tis emcyeiov (H)yy(ep)ovias. Kai
claw of (ddAot) dpxovres Tod (év ovpar@) Bacthéws drropporar
dy 6 paddov éxeivp mAnolov, obros Kai Tav dAdwr Bacidikd-
repos. 6 pev yap frwws, abd eyyiby éott Tod Oeod, THs
cedfvns écti pelfov kai duvapixdreposs [w Sevrepever H Qo
4 > s Z s 4 ze A

ceAjvn Kal kara rééw Kal kata dbvapiv’) (} d cedrvn....)

gal & [piv] (éni ys) Baoieds tov pev [dAdov Dear]
(8 dpxévrwv) éoriv exxatos, mp@ros Se dvOpdrav. kal
péxpis brov emt yhs éort, THs pev aGAnBobs Oe[i)6rnTos
dmnAdaxrar, exe be é€alperdv tt mapa ods ddXovs) 5
avOpémoys, 5 dpodv éott TO Oc 4 yap eis attiv Kara-
meurropevn ux [eg éxelvov] éori(v éx) [Tod] xwplov 6
brepdva Keirat éxeivov ad’ dv eis rods dAdous KaTanépmovTat
avOporous.
4 karaméprovra de éxeider eis Td Bactrevew did dbo Tadra 20
ai wuyal, & réxvovr ai (ev) [yap] Kadds Kal duéurros
Spapotca tov idtov arava, kat péAdovea arobeodcbat, iva
kav 7@ Bacirever (els) Thy Tov Oedv mpoyupvacbaow é£ov-
aiav: ai (dé), Ocial tives 8n ovoat, Kail EN piKp@ TL
‘4 £ - ¢ 3 HE a

mrapabepiorevoaca Tov [ev] Oe(7)ov yvepova, iva [w)| KoAaow 5

pev ev 7@ (év\oecwparicbar wropévwor [d adogiav Kai
gia), pnbev (2) dporov tais dddats mdoxwow [évowpatt- 2
abeicai|, dd’ dSwep (mpo)etxov NeAvpEvat, TodTO Kai deOeioat
(mpo)éx@our.
5 ai pévra mepi ra On tTav Bacthevovtov yryvopevat 3°
Stahopal ovk ev TH THs WuxAs byoet Kpivovtat, maoar yap
Ociat, add’ év TH Tav Sopupopnodvray adtis tiv KaTrdBaow

3 52 povae F: povac P: Sacudviar Meineke 6 dvOpwov of Beot énafiov

scripsi: BaatAcis of Oeot énafious codd. | *yeuovias scripsi (uov®s Usener):
youns codd. 7 rob év ovpaye Bactréws scripsi (Geo0 BactAéws Usener): rod
Baoiréws codd. 8 obros P: éxetvos F | kat 6 Trav GAA P 10 éori peifov
scripsi: émt pei(ov FP?: émpeiCov P} | Suvapuxwrepov P 11 Fortasse
{4 8% cednvn Tob KaTw dpxovTos) 14 @edrnros scripsi: @edrnTos codd.
15-16 mapa rods dAAous dvOpwrous scripsi (wap’ dvOp@mous Meineke) : wap’ dvOpdi-
mos FP 21 pév Usener: yap codd. 22 dyava Meineke: alava codd.
24 5 add. Heeren | év scripsi: ém codd. (An éwi jpuxpdv 7?)
 EXCERPT XXIV. ISIS TO HORUS — 497
over all else likewise, rules the Maker of the universe; in the
aether dwell stars, over whom rules that great luminary, the Sun ;
in the air dwell souls, over whom rules the Moon; and upon
earth dwell men, over whom rules he who is king for the time
being ; for the gods, my son, cause to be born at the right time
a man that is worthy to govern upon earth. The other rulers‘ 2
are effluxes of Him who is king in heaven; and among them,
he who is nearer to Him is more kingly than the others. The
Sun, inasmuch as he is nearer to God, is greater and mightier
than the Moon; (and the Moon is mightier than the earthly
king.) He who is king on earth is the last of the four rulers, g
but the first of men. As long as he is on earth, he has no part
in true deity ;? but as compared with other men, he has in him
something exceptional, which is like to God; for the soul which
is sent down to dwell in him comes from a place which is situated
above the places whence souls are sent down to dwell in
other men.
Now souls are sent down thence to reign as kings, my son, 4
for these two reasons. Souls that have well and blamelessly
run their appointed race, and are about to be transmuted into
gods, are sent down to earth in order that, by reigning here
as kings, they may be trained to use the powers which are given
to gods; and souls that are already godlike, and have in some
little thing transgressed God’s ordinances, are sent down to be
kings on earth in order that they may undergo some punishment
in being incarnated, and yet may not suffer in like measure with
the rest, but in their bondage may still retain the same pre-
eminence which they enjoyed while they were free.
The differences in the characters of kings are not determined 5
by the nature of their souls (for all kingly souls are godlike),
but by that of the angels and daemons that have escorted the

1 T.e. the Sun, the Moon, and the earthly king.

2 Le, he is not a god.
5 I,e. comes from a higher stratum of the atmosphere.

25 @eiov scripsi: évOeov codd. | #7) seclusit Wachsm. 26 évoecmpa-

ric@a scripsi: ceowparicOa codd, 27 6¢ add. Heeren | rats dAAas
scripsi: Tofs dAAos codd. | macxwow Heeren: macxovow FP 28 mpo-
ecxov scripsi: «xov codd. | AcAvpéva P? | rodro wal Octo P'
29 mpoéxwow scripsi : €xwow codd. 30 Ta Hdn Tov F 31 dice
scripsi: «pice: codd, 32 & rH 7G PY | karéBaow scripsi: Kardoracw
FP
2206 Kk
 498 STOBAEI HERMETICA

ayyéhov kal Satpéver. ai yap towairat Kai éni Tolabra

Karepxopevat Slya mporoumns Kai Sopupopias od KarێpxovTat:
olde yap 4 dvw dixn tiv afiav éxdoro vépwev, Kav ex Tis
6 ednpepotons xdpas dmwmbdvrat. Srav odv of Kardyovres
aitiv dyyedo Kal dalpoves, réxvov “pe, modreuKol dot, ue
(rére kal adri modepet) [rovrwy (yap) mepiKparei[y] THs
yrouns h woyyh [exet f] emAabopévn trav éavris Epyov,
ponwv 6 peuvnpévn [rodrov péxpt] Ta@v (amd) Tis [€] icpas
suvodias mpooyeyovétwv'| drav dé eipnyikoi, tore Kai avri
[rov troy Spdpov] eipnvoroeirar: brav dt dtxacrixol, rére
Kai abt) Suxdfer drav b€ povorkol, tore kai adr) ade
bray d& giradrjOes, tore kal adri) pirocopel. as yap ef
dvdykns ai Wouyxal abrat Ths Tov KatayévTwy TeEpikpaTodat
yvépuns: mintovor yap els tiv avOpwritnra tis piv idias
pvocws emAaOdpevat [kal mapboov paxpav abris anéctncar], - 5
pepvn(wénac bt THs Tay KaTaKdeLcdvTwy abtas diabécews.—
7. Kadés, clrev "pos, [dnavra] (ratrd) po Acéimdooas),
® Texovoa mas dé evyeveis ylyvovrat Wuyal, ovdérm pot
dinyjow.—{ as ylyvovrat evyevets yruyai.| “Ov tpdmov emi
yiis, ® réxvov "Ape, eat ties modireiat Stapépovoa
adAjArwv, obTws Kai éni Tov Wuyav Ett. Kal adrat yap
Témovs Exovow bbev dpyaot, Kai % amd rod évdoorépov
Témov coppnkvia eyeveotépa éaoti THs pi) ob'rws éyovens.
évmep yap tpbmov én avOpdémas 6 ededOepos evyevéctepos
dvat Soxe? Sobdov,—rd yap [[év tais Wuyxais]| vrepéxov kal tb ur

Baowrtxdv dSovdrorotei(rat) 7d brepexdpevov e& avdyxns,—

obra 61, @ Téxvov, Kal ((év Tals Wuxais)) (Exet).—
8 (IIés, ® TeKxodoa), dppevixai cai Ondvxal ylyvovrat
Wuxal;—[ITas dppevixai Kai Ondvkai ylyvovra woyai.]
Ai wWoyxai, & réxvov “Npe, spopvets elow éavtais, kabdrep 30
ef évds odoa xwpiov, ev @ adras SteTémmcen 6 Snptovpyds,
kai otre elciv dppeves ovre OnrELat. yap To.atry
[didBeors] ((Stapopa)) emi cwpdrov ylyverat, Kai ovk emi
2 mporopmms wal (vel wai Sopypopias) secludendum? 3-4 An Kay é
. .. draevra transponendum, ut legatur post ob marépyovra ? 4 dmw-
Oavra: Wachsm.: dmo@@vrac FP 6 wepixparet scripsi : mepixpareiv
codd. 7 éxa 4 seclusi (‘4 deleverim’ Wachsm.): an scribendum
éxerat, deleto meptxparet? | émAadopévn F: émAabopévous P épyov
codd. : fortasse évepyecav 8 pévew scripsi: wadAovcodd. — | pepynpérvn
F: pepyvnpiva P | (awO) ris iepa@s Usener: ris érépas codd.
2 pradrjdas P: piradnons F 15 émAa@opeva Patrit.: émAaddépevor FP
| éxéornoav P 16 pepynuéva scripsi : pépvyra FP 17 éfnmAwoas
 EXCERPT XXIV. ISIS TO HORUS 499
soul on its way down to earth. For souls that are of this quality,'
and come down to earth for this purpose,? do not come down
without escort and attendance ; for the Justice that rules on high
knows how to assign to each his due, even though they be
exiled from the Happy Land. And so, my son Horus, when6
the angels and daemons who bring the kingly soul down from
above are warlike, then that soul wages war; when they are
peaceful, then it maintains peace; when they are disposed for
judicial work, then it sits in judgement; when they are given
to music, then it sings; when they are truth-lovers, then it
pursues philosophy. For these souls, as of necessity, cling to
the temper of the angels and daemons who bring them down
to earth ; for when they sink into the condition of man, they
forget their own nature, and bethink them only of the disposition
of those who have shut them up in the body,’--
‘Mother,’ said Horus, ‘you have full well explained these 7
things to me; but you have not yet told me what is the origin
of noble souls.’—Zsis. ‘ Just as on earth, my son, there are certain
grades of social standing which differ one from another, even so
it is with the souls. For the souls also have certain places
whence they come; and the soul which has come from a more
glorious place is nobler than one that is not thus exalted. For
just as among men the free man is held to be nobler than
the slave, because that which is of superior and kingly nature
necessarily enslaves that which is inferior, even so it is, my son,
in the case of the souls.—
Horus. ‘Tell me, mother, what is the origin of male and female 8
souls.’—Jsts. ‘The souls, my son Horus, are all of one nature,
inasmuch as they all come from one place, that place where
the Maker fashioned them ;* and they are neither male nor
female ; for the difference of sex arises in bodies, and not in

! T.e. that are godlike. 2 T.e. to reign as kings there.

8 Viz. the atmosphere.

addidi (€57Awoas add. Heeren) 19 Titulum Tas. . . ~uxai habent FP

20 rodireia P 21 dAAnAwv codd, : fortasse Trav GAAwy 23 dpynxvia
scripsi: 6pynxvia codd. 24 év (post rpémov) scripsi : én’ codd. 25 For-
tasse 70 yap [[ J] (7p poe) brepexor 25-26 Kai BaotAcxdv secluden-
dum? 26 dSovdomroeirar Usener: dovAonoet codd, 27 wal &y tais
yuxais Exe scripsi (wai (radr’ Exer) Heeren: kat (émi trav yuxdv éorw)
Wachsm. 28 mas, & Texovoa addidi (wHs 5 @ Texodca add. Wachsm. )
29 Titulum Mas . . . yiyvovra Yuyxat (yuxai om. F) habent FP 30 &
om. FP? 31 dterinwoev P? : Statvrotca P!; darvnodra F
Kka2
 500 STOBAEI HERMETICA

Qdowpdrov. % S€ [[diadopa]] (airia) rod tas pey (roy

appévov) (0)Bpipolserlrépas elvar, tas d& (rav Ondedr)
evageis,
’ o
(. . .)'6 dnp éort,
F227 2
Téxvov
Z nA
“Dpe, ev3 @ka mavra
4
yiyverat
‘Z

ap b& Wuyis éotw' (...) adrd 76 copa 6 TwepBEBAnTaL,

drep ororxelwy éori pvpapa, ys Kai bdatos Kal dépos Kal;
mupos. émel odv TO pey Tov OndrEL@y otyKpipa TrEovdget
4 a et “ . ~ A , . a: A
hey TO byp@ kai (ro) Wuyp@, Aefwerar dé 7G Enp@ xal
(7@) Oepp@, mapa Toto % els ToLodTOv WAGpa GUYKELOMEVH
ux?) Sivypos ylyverat kai tTpupepd, Gorep eri rev appévov
To évavtiov éotw edpeiv: EN yap TovTos mAEovdger pev 1d 10
Enpov Kal 7d Geppov, relwerat 8& Td yuyxpdv Kai (7d) bypor,
(cal) dia rodro ai é€v rowobros cdpaot Wuyxal tpaxeiat Kal
épyartkorepal eiot.—
10 Ilé@s ylyvovral [al] uyxal ovverai, ® TeKodoa ;—xKai
drexptOn “Iois: (Ilas ylyvovra ai wvyxal] Td dparixér, - 5
® Téxvov, mepiBEBAnrar xiTaow. srav oro of yITOvES
mukvol oot Kal maxes, AMBAU@TE! 6 dpOadrpds: Edy SE dpatol
kai Aertol, Tore dfvwréctata Brémel. ov'rws Kai én Tis
‘ 7 , > , La s | ee -

Wuxiiss Exerc yap kal abrn ida wepiBbrata, dodpara, Kad

kai abr} domparés éort. Ta dé meptBddrata raira a(é)pos 20
4 |Je. , 4 > \ = ’

(xir@vés) lor tof év ipiv. drav obra dot dAemrol Kai

dpatoi kal diavyeis, tore cuver) ) Wuxyn éoriw: Grav Se
tobvavriov mukvol Kal maxeis Kai TeBowpévor, {[rére]] os
€v xetpavt, ((rére)) emi paxpoy od Brére, dAAA T(oc)adra
doa mapa tool Keirat.— 25
us kal elev “Apos: Ata tiva obv airiav, ® rexodca, ol ew
Tis lepwrdrns hav xopas avOpwra [rais diavoiats| ovy
o¥tws elo auverol ds of Apérepor;—xal elrev "Iows: ‘H yij
A s Ss. 4 Pe \ t c fod

Bécov tod mavrds trria Keirat, dorep avOpwros, (pos)

1-4 Fortasse 4 5 alria. . . Cobx) 5 dap tor, réevov “Ope, & g [ ]

(otnw tvowpatodeioa gxe (1) Yuyxy, GAAA) abrd 7d cHpa b wepBEBAnTar
2 dfpipwrépas scripsi: Apipwheorépas codd. 5 arotxeiow Patrit. :
atoxetov FP 10 & scripsi: ém codd. 12 Fortasse rpaytrepar
14 yiyverar P 15 Titulum Mes yiyvovrat (yiyverar P) ai yuyai oe

(deest avverai) habent FP 16 Fortasse (xal) ray (pév) 17 duBdvo-

wet Canter; dfvwrel FP : ob dfvmmet P? 18 «ai Brerroi Pt | BAéwe
Meineke : BAémovaw FP 19 éxe ydp Exar yap P} 19-20 dowpara
.« « dowpards éort secludendum} 20-21 dépos xiravés scripsi : dépes P* War.
apes FP! 21 cict row év jyiy scripsi : eat of év Hiv codd. | Fortasse _
(nat) drav (per) 23-24 Fortasse ws (6 dip) év xenon 24 rosadra
scripsi: Tavra codd, 25 mapa mooi Patrit.: napa rar FP 27-28 otx ‘
obras Heeren: ob évrws codd, 29 xeirar P: Keira wal keira F
 EXCERPT XXIV. ISIS TO HORUS 5o1

incorporeal beings. And the reason why the souls of males 9

are more robust, and those of females delicate, ... the body
itself, in which the soul is enwrapped.’ The body is a mixture
of the elements, that is, of earth, water, air, and fire; and so,
since the body of the female has in its composition an excess
of the fluid element and the cold element,’ and a deficiency
of the dry element and the hot element,’ the result is that the
soul which is enclosed in a bodily frame of this nature is melting*
and voluptuous, just as in males one finds the reverse; for in
males there is an excess of the dry element and the hot element,
and a deficiency of the cold element and the fluid element, and
hence it is that the souls in male bodies are rougher and more
energetic,’—
Horus. ‘Tell me, mother, what is the origin of inéedligent 10
souls?’*—Isis replied, ‘The organ of sight, my son, is wrapped
in membranes ; and when these membranes are dense and thick,
the eye sees but dimly, but if they are rare and thin, it sees with
the greatest keenness. And even so it is in the case of the soul.
For the soul also has certain wrappings of its own, which are
incorporeal, inasmuch as the soul itself is incorporeal. These
wrappings are coats made of the air that is within us.© When
these coats are thin and rare and transparent, then the soul
is intelligent ;but when on the other hand they are dense and
thick and muddied, as the outer air is in stormy weather,
then the soul cannot see far, but sees only what is close at
hand.’—
And Horus said, ‘Why is it then, mother, that the men who II
dwell beyond the borders of our most holy land’? are not so
intelligent as our people are?’—‘The Earth’, said Isis, ‘lies in
the middle of the universe, stretched on her back, as a human

1 Perhaps, ‘the cause of the fact that the souls of males are more robust,
and those of females delicate, is (not) the air, my son, in which (the soul
dwelt before it was embodied, but) simply the body in which the soul is
enwrapped’ (that is to say, this difference in incarnate souls results, not from
any difference in the air in which the souls resided before their incarnation,
but from @ difference in the bodies in which they are incarnated).
2 T.e. of water and air.
* T.e. of earth and fire.
* Or ‘soft’; more literally, ‘ diluted’.
5 Or ‘how do souls become intelligent ?’
® Or ‘ layers of the air that is within us’.
7 Le. Egypt.
 502 STOBAEI HERMETICA

obpavov Brérovea. pepépiotai 6é Kad boa pépy 6 dvOpwros

pepiferar [(éu)Bdrémer 8 [ev] odpav@ xabdnep warpi idiq,
brs tais éxeivov petaBorais Kai atri) [rad ida] cvppera-
Badd‘) Kal mpds pev 7 vér@ Too mavTos Kemeny Exe THY
kepadry, mpos d¢ 7G dmndidrp (Tov) de~idv Spor, (mpos de on

7@ Bi rdv eddvupov,) bd (Se) THN Apxron Tods wddas, [Tov

8 eddvepov brs tiv Kepadijy THs apxrov,\ rods dé pnpovs €év
12 trois pera tiv dpxtov [ra Se péoa ey Tois péoos). Kal
robrov onpeibv éort 7d Tods piv vorialovs TOv dvOpdérev Kai
émt rij xopuph (ris yijs) olkobvras evxopigous ((elvat)) Kai “°

KadXitpixas, Tods dé amniwrikods mpds paxny mpoxelpous

[[elvac]] kal togifalkovs,—{airla] (xpelrtwv) yap rovroic 4
defid xelp eori,—rods 8 év 7G MBi ‘dopadeis' clvac Kal os
éml 7d mAciorov dpioTEepopdyous [Kal (év) dooic dAA TO
Se£iG péper evepyodowr, abtods 7 edoviem ‘rpoorepévous"|, ~ on

rods 8% bd tiv dpxrov [mpos twa] (...) Tods médas, Kai

ddAws edxvipovs. [rods] (of) d& per& rovrovs Kal pikp@
méppw [td viv ’Iradikdy KAlya Kai 7d ‘EAdadixév\, waves
6 obrot Kaddiunpol eiot Kal edmyylov\érepor [Sore TH TOD
Kd\Xovs Tav pepav Tovrwv tmepBodfi Kai tods evtaiba 20

dvOpérovs kataBalve mpds tiv tav dppévov dpuiriay.|

13 mdvra 8 radra Td pépn (TAs yis), mpds (Twa pev evepya
dvra, mpos de) ra dAda apyd [dvra], dpyorépous (riv vinow)
iveyxe kai tods dn’ avtdv avOpérovs. ered) S& Ev TO
péow THs yas Keirar ) Tav Tpoysver judy iepwrdry xépa, ) ai]

7d) d& péoov tod avOpwmivov céparos [ubvns] Tis Kapdias

éort onkds, THs dt uxis dppntipiby éori(y }) Kapdia, mapa
ratrny tiv airlay, & Téxvov, (ol) évrav0a dvOpwmo 7a pev
dda txovow obx Arrov boa Kal mdvres, eEaiperov Se radv
mdvrwv voepdrepot clot [kal oddpoves], as av emi xapdias 30

(vis) yevopevot kal rpagpévres.

14 dddws re, 6 piv voros, & mai, Sexrixds ay Tov eK TOD
meptéxovros ouricrapévey vedav, (...). adrixa yoov kal

1 pepépiorar scripsi: penepiopévn FP?: pepepropevr P | *a6" boa pépy

Wachsm, : «al Soa péAn FP |6 (ante dv@pumnos) om. P 2 pepicera
scripsi: peAl{era: codd. | €uBAénee 8 Heeren: Bdéma 8 & FP
8-4 cupperabddrAa P 5 tov (ante defidv) add. Heeren 5-6 mpds
5e. . . ebwvupov add, Heeren 6 riv dpxrov scripsi (ris dpxrou Heeren) :
Tas dpxrovs FP 10 «at wat F 12 rofixovs P?; tofiavovs FP!:
fortasse rofed(ev Se )vovs | rovros scripsi: rodrwy codd. 13 dopa-
 ISIS TO HORUS 503
EXCERPT XXIV.
en. She is parted out into
being might lie, facing toward heav
man ; and her head lies toward
as many different members as a
right shoulder toward the East
the South of the universe, her the
the West; her feet lie beneath
and her left shoulder toward regio ns whic h
are situated in the
Great Bear,! and her thighs of this may be 1?
Bear. Evidence
follow next to the South of the who dwel l wher e
of the South,
seen in the fact that the men
head lies, have the tops of their heads well
the top of Earth’s
hair; the men of the East are
developed, and have handsome
en, because in them the right
apt for battle, and are good bowm the
of the West are..., and for
hand is the stronger; the men beneath
; and those who live
most part fight with the left hand
sturdy legs as well. And those
the Bear have strong * feet, and the
and dwell a little farther from
who come next after them, ocks .
thighs and well-shaped butt
North,’ all these have comely respe cts, 13
are active in some
Now all these parts of the earth uce are
the men whom they prod
but sluggish in all else, and of
ce. But the right holy land
somewhat sluggish in intelligen the midd le
le of the earth; and
our ancestors lies in the midd heart
sanc tuary of the heart, and the
of the human body is the my son, is the reas on
; and that,
is the head-quarters of the soul
land, while they have in equal measure
why the men of this e
rest possess, have this advantag
all other things that all the ligen t. It coul d not
are more intel
over all other men, that they Earth’s
ng that they are born and bred upon
be otherwise, seei
heart. son, being 14
on also, ‘The South, my
And there is another reas ion from
ch are formed by condensat
receptive of the clouds whi ce
, it is said to be in consequen
the atmosphere, (. «- )- Indeed
1 J,e, in the far North.
2 Or possibly ‘ swift’. ude of Italy and Greece.
% That is, in or about the latit
SE
14 & Soo scripsi:
tvaytins diaxerpévous
reis va codd.: exspectes ribepévous codd. ; fortasse [pds nm] Cxpoue-
joov codd. 15 mpoa codd.
17 dddws Patrit. : GAAous de
s
vous 16 Fortasse (raxeis) Tods wida | KAjjua F 19 8) Wachsm. : FP
mopp atép w FP
18 méppw codd.: fortasse yovdrepot FP 20 pepov Canter: pnpay
| ebmuydrepot Barth: evma 24 xai seclu-
P | pépn Hee ren : pédAy FP vis
22 7a (post Taira) om. 25
v Heeren) ; dn’ abrijs FP 27 éorw Ff
dendum? | aa’ abr scripsi (én’ ab7a it. : hyiv FP
| xeirar om, P | qpav Patr
om, P 30 Kal adppoves seclusi
28 of add. Heeren r P2; yerdpevor FP?
scripsi: éo7 codd. B1 yerd pevo
ipdrrepot ?)
(an scribendum wat ppov
33 Lacunam signavit Meineke
 504 STOBAEI HERMETICA
Od Thy obrws abrav yevopéver éxei(ce) [k] dnaxopidiy éxeibev
peiv Aéyovow Kal rov Apérepov wo(rapov), Avopévns éxel TAS
‘adxvns'. drov 8 dv éuméon vedérn, Tov Ymoxe(pevor
axAvoev dépa, kal tpbmov Twa Kamvod Katén\nce: Kamvds
6 1} dxAds ob pdvor dmudrav early éumddtov, dAXk Kal vod, 5
6 8 dwndidrns, & peyadddoge “Ape, rh ovverryc Tob HAlou
dvatorf OopvBodpevos Kai ex Oeppaivopuevos, duoiws St Kai 6
avrikeipevos Todt Alyy Hetéxov tdv attrav Kara dvopds,
(ok) [ovdeular] eidixpirh (rv) [€mt] oYNeow mowoic: tov
map avrois yevvopévoy avOpdérav 6 d& Bopéas TH cup-10
Pte Wuxpia dmomfoca perd tdv copdrwy Kal roy vody
15 trav on’ airov avOpémwv. 1d 8 pécov rotor, [ecAckpives
bv Kal] drdpaxov (dv), kat (adrd Kal’) éavrd mpofAléyer, Kal
Tots €v avt@ (yevvwpévois) [maoi} Th yap ovvexet (ed)H-
Heplinv|ia (cvverods) yeryg. Kal (dddogbdovs de) Koopd
15
kal maidever- Kai (yap) povov (d)cos ((épife)), rocobroys
[lepéger]] Kal ux@, cal [[émordpevov thy idiav]] uKi(ca)v,
domep carpdmyn dyabdn rois vevixnpévors [kal] ((émorHpny
[ov] riv (Slav) émidid@or.—
1] Kat rodré pou, kupta prep, éxOov: mapa trolav airiay
ett.
(ovrov dvOpdémav ev rais paxpais vocos Kal é [Aéyos kal
airos 6) Noyiopds Kai adr} 7 Wux?) E00 bre Brdrrerar ;—:
kal daexpi6n "Ios Tév (ofvrlov, & réxvov, ra pev @xelwrat
mpos 7d wip, ta 52 mpds 7d Udwp, rd 8 mpos dépa, Ta de
mpos yiv, ra S¢ rpds tovrwy dvo i) tpla [rd 8? Kai mpds
ra a5
bra): (kal) médw ad re pov amyXorpiwra: Tob mupés, Ta dE
tod bdaros, ra dé rhs yas, ra d8 Tob dépos, ra 5 Sto rovTwr,
18 7a 32 rpidy [ra d& ray ddrwr]. olov dxpis pév, ® Téxvov, Kal
maoa pria getye rd mip, derds Kal kipxos Kal boa
byrt-
mer(éor)epd éore ray dpvéwv pebye Td bdwp, lxOves dépa
Kal 30
viv, Odus tov dépa tov eidxpivh dmoorpédherar: dirodor
Se
1 éxeice dvaxopdiy scripsi: éxel kataxomudiy codd.
Meineke (norapdv moAvopévys Patrit.): moAvopévns 2 morapdv Avopévns
Avopévys (eis éuBpov 1) tee? tis cvardacews (rav FP 2-3 Fortasse
vepav)? 3 wayvns F:
Téxrns P | dwoxeipevoy scripsi : émeipevoy codd,
karexduce codd, 4 Karémdnoe scripsi :
4-5 xamvos 3 f axdds codd.: fortasse adyAbs 52
5 éuparow edd. : dvopdray FP @ avveyyus scripsi: ouvey@ F : avveye? P
8 ob« scripsi: obSeyiay codd. (an o88' éxeivor ?) | tiv atveow oodcn
scripsi: émloracw nowivra codd. | ray (ante wap’ abrois) om. P
10 yevopévow P 10-11 cuppiry Usener :cuppdeve codd. :
tov tn’ F 11-12 voiy
13 drdpayov ov scripsi: eiAipues
aird Kad" éavrd scripsi (abrd Wachsm.) : éavrg FP bv Kai drdpaxov codd.
| mpoéxes Wachsm. :
 EXCERPT XXIV. ISIS TO HORUS 505
of the conveyance of the clouds to the southern region when
they have thus been formed, that our river’ flows from that
quarter, the . . . being there broken up.2_ Now wherever a cloud
arrives, it makes the air below it misty, and fills it with smoke,
so to speak; and smoke or mist is an obstruction not only to
the eyes, but also to the mind. And the East, my glorious son,
is troubled and overheated by the rising of the sun in close
proximity to it; and likewise its opposite, the West, is affected
in the same way at the sun’s setting; and thus both the East
and the West cause the intelligence of the men born in those
regions to be wanting in clearness. And the North, with the
cold that belongs to it by nature, freezes the minds as well as
the bodies of the men who live beneath the northern sky, But 15
the country which lies in the middle* is undisturbed, and is
consequentiy superior both in itself and in the men born in it;
for in virtue of the continual serenity of its climate, it produces
men of high intelligence. And it disciplines and educates men
of other races also; for it is the only land that is victorious
over all competitors, and having won the victory, it bestows
on its defeated rivals the gift of its own knowledge, as a king
might send a good satrap to govern a conquered province.’—
Horus. ‘Explain to me this also, my lady mother; why is it 17
that in long‘ diseases, though the man is still alive, the reason
and the soul itself is sometimes disabled ?’—Isis replied, ‘ Among
animals, my son, there are some that have an affinity to fire,
some to water, some to air, some to earth, and some to two
or three of these elements; and again, some of them are alien
to fire, some to water, some to earth, some to air, some to two
of the elements, and some to three. For instance, the locust, my 18
son, shuns fire, and so does every kind of fly; the eagle, the
falcon, and all high-flying birds shun water; fishes shun air and
earth; and snakes avoid pure air. And on the other hand,
! T.e. the Nile. -
2 Perhaps, ‘the clouds being there (sc. in the South) dissolved in rain’.
3 Te. Egypt. 4 Perhaps, ‘great’ or ‘ grievous’.
mporéyer FP 14-15 etnpepig scripsi: duepipvia codd. 15 cuverots
addidi (an avverwrépuvs 1) 16-17 dcors épifer, rocovrous nat viKG scripsi:
Tois togovTas épiter kat ving codd, 17 vi«ijeay scripsi; vienv codd.
18 carparny dyabdv scripsi: catpamns dyabds codd, | émornuny
scripsi: émordyevoy FP 21-22 Adyos wal airos 6 seclusi (wal abrés 6b
Aoyopnos om. Heeren) 23 (gov Meineke: (évrav F: (Gv trav P
29-30 inunerécrepa Gaisford: iyinérepa FP
 506 STOBAEI HERMETICA

Thv pev ynv of dpes Kai doa Epret, 76 dé bdwp Ta [Kt]

yn(k)ta& mavra, Tov O& dépa Ta mTNVE [Ev | kai ToALTEvETAaL|,
A , 4 4 +7 ‘ 4 2 e ‘ tA

7 S& mip doa wreprerh Eott Kai eyyds (HAlov exer) Ti

\ +¥ - a « ~ > ‘ , A / 4 a

Slarrav, [ov piv dddA& Kai tTiva tdv (dddov) (dor Piret 7d
mip, olov ai cadapdvdpar ev yap TO trupi Kai Pwodevovor.| 5
19(. . .) ‘&eaorov yap trav orotxelwy mepiBory éort Tar
copdrav.' maoa obv Wuyh, vy 7TH odpaTt ovoa, Bapeirat
kai OdiBerat Tois Térrapot Tovras. [Kal yap eikés éort Kal
tavtny Tol pev Tobrwy tépmecbat, Tiai b% dyOerOai.| did
Todro ody> ovK> exe
”
(évT)abea
2 ~
Thy
‘\
akpordrny
3 a
evdatpoviar,
? 4
~°

GAN’ ads dv gion bela oboa Kav Tovros ovoa ‘pdxerar’

kal voei, ddd’ obx baa av) évinoey dovvderos doa cdpuari.
éay pévto [kal] todro oddov AdBp Kai Tapaxiy iro awd
véoou % ‘pébBouv', rére Kal adr) domep ev BvOG (recdr)
dvOpwros émixupaiverat, Kai ovdey (avOcTapévn pépert(at). = 5

EXCERPTUM XXV

Stobaeus 1. 49. 68, vol. i, p. 458 Wachsmuth (Z¢/. I. 1070 i

Heeren).
‘Eppod Adyos "laos mpos “Qpov.
1 Oavpaoras, dev “Apos, Exaord por dinyjow, @ péya
duvapévn texotoa "Iau, iréip rijs Oavpacris Wuxoroiias rob
Ge00, Kai Oavpdgor Siatede’ odr@ Sé por arjyyetdas Tod
TOv copdrwy admodvbeicat ywpodow ai wuyxai, Bovdropat 20
ody Kai THS Oewpias tatrns pvotns yevipevos ebyaptaoTicat 7
2col povy, dOdvare pirep.—kal emev “Iois: Ipéceye, wait: a
dvayxaordtn yap (Arnos arn: (([udorns] (eyo) dé, [omep]
ths aavdrov picews Kadri) [rvyxdvovea) (ueréxovea), Kai

2 vnera P?: Keyra F PI |@ Heeren : ofs codd. | &v.. « modtreverat

seclusit Meineke 3 Alou €xer: addidi: @yee add. post diacray Heeren, post
éyyis Wachsm. 5-6 Fortasse [kat] pwreiovow (atta) 6 Fortasse
éxaotou yap ray croxeiav (aanddorpiwrat 4 Yvx7 .. -) 8 Fortasse [(od
piv ois Gos") Kat yap «TA.) 10 évraiéa scripsi: airis FP
11 rovrous codd.: fortasse dAdorpios vel dvoimelos paxera codd.:
fortasse tapdoaerat 12 Fortasse voet (rpémp tivi) vel (uéxpt tivds)
| adv Heeren: & FP (an delendum &?) cwpart Usener: cwparov FP
13 rodro scripsi: «al radra codd. | wai rapaxiw secludendum? An
 EXCERPT XXIV. ISIS TO HORUS 507
snakes and all creeping things love earth ; all animals that swim
love water; the birds love the air; and fire is loved by all
creatures that fly high and spend their lives near the sun.’. . .*
Every soul therefore, as long as it is in the body, is weighed 19
down and oppressed by these four elements. For this reason
then the soul does not enjoy perfect happiness here on earth,
but is perturbed, inasmuch as it is divine by nature and is
hemmed in by the elements ; and it is intelligent to some extent,
but not so intelligent as it would have been if it were not bound
up* with the body. But if the body is storm-tossed and perturbed
by disease or ..., then the soul too is tossed upon the waves,
like a man that has fallen into the deep sea, and is swept along
unresisting. ’

EXCERPT XXV

Written by Hermes: a discourse of Isis to Horus.

‘Wondrously’, said Horus, ‘have you, my mighty mother Isis, 1
described to me in all details the wondrous making of souls by
God, and my wonder ceases not; but you have not yet told me
where the souls go when they are released from their bodies.
I desire therefore to be initiated in this doctrine also, and to
give thanks for that to you alone, my immortal mother.’—And 2
Isis said, ‘Give heed, my son; for this inquiry is most needful ;
and I, who am myself participant in the being of the Immortals,

1 Eg. by eagles.
2 Here must have stood a sentence in which it was said that the human soul
is in like manner alien, not to one or more of the elements only, but to all the
four elements.
$ Or perhaps, ‘as it was when it was not bound up’.

legendum [xai] rapax6ev? 14 @éBov codd.: fortasse dAdov tivds

14-15 daneped Bv0H dvOépixos Meineke et Wachsm, 15 dv@orapévn péperar
scripsi: éorapévoy pépe codd,
16 dpov mpds tow P 19 mod codd,: wot Meineke 22 d@davaros P
23-2 infra: piorns. . ms 5) huc a § 4 transposui 23 wonep seclusi
(an scribendum as [wep] ?)
 -

508 STOBAEI HERMETICA

addevkvia dia tod wediov ris dAnbelas, duefeAeboopal oor tov
dvrev Td Kad’ ExaoTov, éxeivd cor djoaca mparov, os 6%))
'rd ovveoros Kai pi) dgpavigduevoy xapov yet! (. . .).
3 GAN’ dde yap Epet (ris, ds 8) [Adyos Ends] [Hod rap
gopdrav dmovbcion SiarpiBovow al puyai] [od yap, & uu
Oavpactt kal peyddov matpis *Ocipews péya Téxvov]
[[axplrws]] [kai dpynddv] av copdrwr mpoedOoica eis dépa
dvaxtvovras [re] ((dxpitws)) kal dtacxeddvvevrar pera Tod
dddov dzeipou mvedparos: elra ovxért Stvacba wédw Tas
auras ovoas eis ((ddAa)) odpata radwédpopioat, [[@AAa]] ~ °
ode els Exeivoy er rv x@pov [elvat], SOev HAOov 7d mpérepor,
dvacrpégev, xabdrep obdé 7d "apBavépevoy éx trav Kétw
dyyeiwy' tdwp els rods abrods rémous SOev EdijpOn ewéxeww"
éort duvarév, [dAX’ ob8’ 'avrd mapavrixa KapBavopyevov Kal
xedpevor tiv idiav AapBdver ydpav"), mrIv dvaplyvyrat 7@ a.
e
5
mavti Tod bdaros xvpart.
4 add’ ovk exer obras, & peyadddpav “Ape [[utorns 8
domep Tis dbavdrov picews Kadri) Tvyxdvovea, kai ddevKvia
did rod wediov rijs adnbelas, SuegeXedcopal oor tov dvTov
70 Ka’ Exactov, éxeivd oor Picasa mparor, ds 5)]] 7d (uey 20
yap) tdwp capud éotw ddroyov, éx moddGv ouy(Ke)Kpipénoy 4
mapateOdppevov els xvow, 4 St Wuxi) mpadypa ldiogvés,
réxvov, [kai Baoidixéy,| kal épyov rev Tod beod xeipav Te Kal
vod, ‘ait@ 6 éavt@" eis voov dSyyotpevov. 1d rolvur é
évds kal odk ex (m)oAA@n adbvaroy érépw dvapeyfva bOev 25
dei kai tiv mpds 7d cGpa adbris otvodov [dppoviay Oeod) bd
dvdykns yevouéevny elvat.
5 Sre J ovre els va Kal rov adtiv rémov (waaat) xvdalws,
ore eixj} Kai ds ervyev [[ddAd]] éxdorn, ((dAAL)) emt thy
iSiav dvawéumerat xdpav, gavepdy Kal é& dv er ev T@ 30
cépart ovea [kal 76 mhéopari] mdoxet (kal) [yap] mapa ri
6 diay pdow ‘wemaxuppérn’, [dddA Kal] mpoa(a)xes (yap),
eo
& mepird0nre Ape, 7B deyouévo spowpar. hépe yap eis ey
kal 7d abrd avoyeripiov éyKexdeiabar dvOpdrovs te, Kat
derovs Kal mepiatepas Kai Kékvous Kal lépaxas Kal xedcdovas 35

3 Fortasse 7d (yév) avveords Kai (diadvera, 7d peldad{avverrés), agpav(b-

Hevov, x@pov éxe: (eis dv amépyera. .. .) 4 ddyos Euds codd.: fortasse
[Ad-yos méuaros | 4-5 Titulum Mod... yvyai habent FP 5 ov yap
codd. : fortasse ab ydp 6 Gavyacreé xai secludendum? 9 dra FP:
Gore P* marg. 11 ob82 scripsi :pyde codd. | elvas seclusit Heeren
 EXCERPT XXV. ISIS TO HORUS 509

and have journeyed through the Plain of Truth, will describe to you
in all particulars the things that are. I begin by saying that. . .?
But perhaps some one will say that when the souls go forth 3
from their bodies, they are indistinguishably diffused in the air,
and are dispersed throughout the boundless atmosphere, and that
they cannot thereafter retain their identity and come back again
to dwell in other bodies, nor yet return to the place from which
they came before; just as it is impossible that the water. . .?
should return to the same place from which it was taken, but it is
mingled with all the mass of flowing water.
But in the case of the soul, high-minded Horus, it is not so. 4
Water is a body, an irrational thing, composed of many in-
gredients crushed into fluidity; but the soul, my son, is a thing
of peculiar nature, a thing that has been made by the hands
and mind of God, and is guided...* on the way that leads
to Mind. And that which consists of one thing only and not
of many‘ cannot be mingled with anything else. Hence it
follows that the union of the soul with the body must have
been effected by compulsion.
Souls, when they quit the body, are not all sent promiscuously 5
to one and the same place; nor is each of them sent to some
place at random and by chance ; but each soul is sent to its own
proper place. This you may clearly see from what befalls the
soul even when it is still in the body, and is...° against its
proper nature. Give heed, well-beloved Horus, to the similitude 6
which I am about to set forth. Suppose that in one and the
same enclosure there are shut up men, and eagles and doves
1 Perhaps, ‘that which is composite is broken up and destroyed, but that
which is not composite (is not destroyed, but) has a place to which it goes
when it disappears from our sight’. (The body is composite ; the soul is not
composite. )
2 Perhaps, ‘which is poured out from a vessel’.
3 Perhaps, ‘ by God himself’. * Viz. the soul.
5 Perhaps, ‘ weighed down’, or ‘ fast bound’.

12-13 AapBavdpevoy tx tev Kara dyyeiov codd, : fortasse éxxedpevov ef dryyelou

13 énéxew codd,: fortasse ére (dvarp)éxew 14-15 xai yedpevov om. P
15 (dva)AapBave: Meineke 17-20 porns. . .c&s 5) hinc ad § 2 transposui
21-22 ovyKexpipévov mapareOAtwpevow scripsi: avyxpipdtow maparebArp-
pévov (mapadArppévoy P) codd. 23 re om. P 24 air@ 0 éavTd
codd, : fortasse abdis Te bn’ abrod 25 é« woAd@y scripsi: éf GAAov codd,
26 def Heeren: 3) FP 27 yevonévny eva codd.: fortasse ‘yeyovévar
30 én FP?: éorw Pt 31 dp seclusit Heeren 32 wenaxupery F :
fortasse BeBapuppévn vel werednpévn | mpécoxes scripsi: mpéaxes codd.
33 Fortasse (rovrw) 7@ [Aeyoutve] 34 ovyxernpiov P?
 510 STOBAEI HERMETICA

kai atpovOods Kai putas, [[kal desl], Kai A€ovras Kai

mapdddrers Kat AdKous Kal Kivas Kai Awywods Kai Boas Kai
mroipvia, ((Kai dpers,)) Kal Tiva TOY "ris kowwornTos Exouevav"
(oor, oiovel pdxas Kai évddpes Kai xeddvas Kal rods
| Huetepous KpoxodeidAous: Ereita Tovrous, @ Téxvoy, (mdvTas) mn
~ bd plav pomiy dwodvbjvat Tod cvaxeTnpiov. (ov) mdvTws
| Tpamjoovra of pev dvOpwmo els [re] dyopas Kai oréyas,
6 dé ders eis Tov albépa, drov Kal piow exer Siataobat, ai
dt meptorepal eis tov wAnoloy dépa, of dé iépaxes UmEepdvm
rovrwv; ai dé xediddves odxi brov dv olkdow dvOpwrrot, to
oi & orpovOoi wept ra Kaprogpipa tar Sévdpwr, of dé KiKvor
drov e~eorw adrois dew, ai S& pviat mepi adriy tiv yay,
Tocodrov aitijs améxovea boov avaBnvat dvvaly\rat avOpe-
mov [th] doh ;—dvOpwrordxvorv yap iSiws, & Tréxvov, éariv
4 pia, kal yaparmerés'—oi 8 éovres Kai mapdadeis ovK ~ 5
emi ra bpn, of dé AvKor éwi ras Epnulas, of SE Kives Kar
ixvos avOpdrwv, Aaywol dé (els) Spupots, Kai Boes (eis)
atMorhpia (redial, kai els Tas vopas Ta Trofuvia ; of de dpets
els Ta pbyia THs yas; P@kar de Kai xedAavat peta Tov
épotwr eis BdOn Kal vépata, os pi mediddos yijs o7épowTo 20
pnd Tod avyyevois adroderpbeciey Udatos, éxdaorou eis Ti
" oikelay xdpay imd tod evdov Kpitnpiov dvarperopévov;
8 obrws Exdotn Wuyy, Kal dvOpwmevopévn Kal dddws ércyei-
) fovea, oldev Srov mopevréov avrf éort mAiy ef pH Tis TOY
| Tupaviov, & réxvov, mapeOay A€you bre Suvardy radpov 25
pev év BvO@, ev (S82) dépt yeddvnv Stay. ef di} Tobiro
tf mdoxovet capki Kai aipatt BeBanriopéva, os pndty mapa
} Tdgw mpdocew Kav Kod\d{wvrat,—xédracis yap avrais 1
evowmpdtwots,—moow mréov [Bamticpob Kai] (rijs) kodkdoews
t! (atrodvOeiaat), kai edevbepias (ris) dias peracxodcat; 30
J 9 (...) eee dt H (rev) ((dv@)) Sidragis (1) lepwrdrn] obras.
[475 moré [[dve]], (@) peyadopvécrare mai, Bdére] [Wuyxav
Swardg~es.] 7d an’ ovpavod Kopupas péxpt cedrnvns Oéois

3 Fortasse yijs (re wat vdaros) et) éyopnévaw 6 od add. Meineke

9-12 of 52 igpawes. . . ai Be xeArdoves. . . of BE orpovOoi. . . of BE UHV. . .
adrots ddev (et supra xai xdnvous wai lépaxas wal xedtddvas xal arpovOods) seclu-
denda? 10 ézov om, F 13-14 Svvara dvOpwnew dopy scripsi : dévavras
dvOpmiraw rH dopn codd, (‘an ai dapat?’ Wachsm. ) 17-18 Aaywot B...
media (et supra eal Aaywuds kat Bdas) secludenda? 17 eis dis add. Meineke
18 media FP': wai media P? 21 éxacrov P 22 dvarpendpera P?
23 yx} 7 Kat P 24 dro Meineke | éore adrp P 26 év &
 EXCERPT XXV. ISIS TO HORUS HIE
and swans and hawks and swallows and sparrows and flies, and
lions and leopards and wolves and dogs and hares and cows
and sheep, and snakes, and some of the amphibious animals,
such as seals and otters and tortoises and the crocodiles of our
own country; and suppose, my son, that all these creatures are
released from the enclosure at one moment. Will not the men 7
be sure to betake themselves to market-places and houses, and
the eagle to the upper air, which is its natural abode, and
the doves to the lower air not far from earth, and the hawks
to a higher region than the doves? Will not the swallows make
their way to the dwellings of men, and the sparrows to the
neighbourhood of fruit-trees, and the swans to places where they
are free to sing? Will not the flies seek places close to the
ground, only so far above it as the scent of men can rise? For
the fly, my son, is peculiarly greedy for human flesh, and is
a grovelling creature. Will not the lions and leopards betake
themselves to the mountains, and the wolves to uninhabited
places? And will not the dogs follow at men’s heels, and hares
go to coverts, and cows to farmsteads, and the sheep to the
pastures? Will not the snakes creep into holes in the earth?
And will not seals and tortoisés and the like seek hollows and
flowing waters, that they may neither be deprived of dry land
nor suffer want of the water that is congenial to them? For
each of the creatures is sent back to its own place by that thing
within it by which its action is determined. And even so does 8
every soul, whether incarnated as a man or dwelling on earth
in some other shape, know whither it must go; unless indeed,
my son, some follower of Typhon® were to step forth and tell
us that it is possible for a bull to live in the deep sea, and
a tortoise in the air. If then it is so with the souls when
they are immersed in flesh and blood, and if they do nothing
against God’s ordering even when they are undergoing punish-
ment,—for incarnation is a punishment inflicted on them,—
will they not much more act thus when they are released from
this punishment, and have obtained the liberty which belongs
to them by nature?
... And the arrangement of the things above the earth is as 9
follows. The space from the topmost height of heaven down
1 T.e, by its own instinct. ® I. e. some perverse opponent.
P?; éy Pl: wat vy F 29 néoq scripsi : mécou codd, 30 dmodvdcioa
coni, Wachsm.
 512 STOBAEI HERMETICA

kai dorpois Kai th dAAN mpovota cxoddfer- 7d Se amd

cedHvns, @ Téxvov, ep Huds Wuxev eat oiknTyHptov.
IO éyer_pévror ev Eavt@ [dddv] (xivnow) 6 [rocodros| anp, dv dvepov
kareiv os éoriv hpiv, [itor] [peyebos ev b] (iv) xeweirae mpds avayruéw
trav emyetov’ 6 di) Kai Borepov épd. Kar’ vddeva pévroe tpdrov mpos 5
éavrév xivotpevos eprddiov yiyverar Wuxais’ Kwoupévou yap Tovrou
tect: uxais dvaiccew xal xataicoew, &s av rixn, advaxodiros.
péovot yap dC abrod dpryds Kal dxoddAnti, ds dC eAaiov Bop. |
7d 8 Sidornua TodTo, & réxvov “pe, poipav pév éote *
yevixav Tecodpav, (c)idixav d& xopav EE(fxovra. Kal Tav to
powp)av 4} piv amd ys dvw ywpav éort Tecodpwr, os Tv
yiv kard twas Nbgous Kai adxpwpelas [dvareivas Kal] POdvew
dypt tocotrov: drép yap tavrus abriy avaBivat (els) [70]
Brypos odk exer Giow. 7 8 dd tabrns devtépa eos xwpav
éxro év als ylyvovra dvépov kwyoes. [mpdcexe, mal 15
dppireov yap éraxovers pvornpiov yas te Kai odpavod Kai
mavros Tob pécou [lepod] mvevparos.] dmou (dé) 4) Tod avépou
kivnois, (éxet) kai 4 Tav dpvéwy mriots: imép yap Tavrns
obre [[dhp]] Kwetrar (6) ((aip)) obre (Gov Baordge. exet
pévro mapa THs pioews rattnv Thy éfovolav 6 aijp obros, 20
dare kai év rais idSias dxtd xdpats Kai év tais THs yis
rérrapot mepirondeiv) pel dv Exar fwowr, Ths yas els ras
12 [elavrod éravaBivat (ui) Svvapévns. 1% 8¢ rpirn xopav eorw
éxxaldexa, dépos AenToo Kai kaOapod wAjpns. % Se rerdpry
éori dto Kai tpidxovra, év als éort Aewréraros Kai eiAtKpive- 25
aratos dip Kai diaurhs. (...,) Stopi{ov ‘ep’ éavrod' rods
13 [dvw] odpavods, exmtpous dvras thy piow. Kai torw
Sidragis arn cat’ edOvrerh ypapphv dvobev xdtw [aKod-
Anti] [rv piow), ads vat polpas [yerxas] pév téooapas,
[Stacrnparixas d¢ dddexa,) xdpas dt éEjxovra. év dE Tais 30
xopais ravrais, éE(jkovra) odoas tov apiOpdy, oixotow
1 «at dorpos xat tH GAAM mpovoig secludendum? 8 éavtod P
| Cxivnow) scripsi: fortasse (xivnow iiav) (vide [tov] ante pé-yeos)
5 6 8) codd.: fortasse (wept) ot 57 7 éfeor scripsi: éfov codd.
| wat xarafacew om. P 10 eldixav Meineke : liiwav FP éfqxovra
Canter: é¢ FP 10-11 Kai ray popav scripsi: dy codd. 12 dxpornpias
Pp 13 ravrys scripsi : tavras codd. 15 éxrw Canter: 4 K (debebat
scribi 7’, quo significatur d«rw): om. P 16 Fortasse émaxovces 21 bere
Heeren : 7 (pro 7’) FP 22 wepmrodciv Patrit.: meprmoke? FP | ped’...
(gay secludendum? 23 abrov Heeren: éavrod FP | #3) add. Canter
26 davyjs Usener: 5° abrijs FP | nat Scavyys secludendum? _|Fortasse
(. ..d ededos rijs cedHvys,) dopiCar |4’ éavrod codd.: fortasse dm’ abrod
 EXCERPT XXV. ISIS TO HORUS 513

to the moon is reserved for gods and stars, and for Providence!
in general; but the space from the moon down to us on earth,
my son, is the dwelling-place of souls,
Howbeit,? the air has a movement of its own, which we are wont to call 10
wind, a movement which serves for the refreshment of things on earth; about
that I will speak later on. But the air in no way impedes the souls by its own
movements ; for while the air is in motion, souls are free to dart through
it upward and downward, as it may chance, without any hindrance; they
flow through it without mixing with it or adhering to it, just as water flows
through oil.
And this space,* my son, consists of four main regions, and ir
sixty subdivisions. Of the four regions, the first extends upward
from the earth, and contains four subdivisions; and so far up
does the earth reach in some hilly and mountainous places ; for
such is the nature of the earth, that it cannot rise above the first
region. The second region contains eight subdivisions ; and in
these eight subdivisions take place movements of winds. And
where there is movement of wind, there birds can fly ;but above
this region, the air is not in motion, and does not bear the weight
of any living creature. Howbeit, such is the power given by
nature to the air of this second region,* that it goes to and fro,
together with the living creatures contained in it,® not only in the
eight subdivisions which properly belong to it, but also in the four
which are adjacent to the earth; but the earth cannot rise into
the eight subdivisions which belong to that windy air. The third 12
region contains sixteen subdivisions, and is full of fine pure air.
The fourth region contains thirty-two subdivisions ;and in them
is air which is fine and pure in the highest degree, and perfectly
translucent. (... the sphere of the moon,) the boundary between
the air and the heavens, which are fiery by nature,
This arrangement extends in a straight line from the top 13
to the bottom® of the atmosphere; there are four regions, and
sixty subdivisions. And in these subdivisions, which are sixty
in number, dwell the souls, each in that subdivision for which
1 T. e. the divine powers by which the world is governed.
? § 10 appears to be an extract from another document.
5 Viz, the space between the lunar sphere and the earth,
* Te. the windy air, or the wind.
* Tle, the birds,
® Or rather, ‘from the bottom to the top’.

(se. dnd 70d dépos) 28 Fortasse xdrwbev dvw 81 &pxovra Canter :

ef FP
2806 5a
 5I4 STOBAEI HERMETICA

ai Woxai, exdorn mpds iv exer pvouv, plas pev Kal THs abris
avotdcews ovoat, overs dé Tihs: bo@ yap éxdorn Toy
| Xepav ard ys drepBEBnxely) [Tis} érépas, Tooodr@ Kal (ai)
év abrais uxal ()) érépa tiv érépav Kab? brepoxiy Xel-
meily], @ Téexvoy. [xépa kal yuyx7.] 5
144 Thves pev 4
ovv
>
elsA éxdcTHN
ia
TovT@y
4
avadvovat
3 4
yuxai,a
y evred0éy cor wad, & peyadrddofe “Ape, kararéyev &p£opan,
dvobev éni Ta mpboyea Thy TaéEw Trovovpérn.

EXCERPTUM XXVI

Stobaeus 1. 49. 69, vol. i, p. 463 Wachsmuth (Z¢/. I. 1082

Heeren).

Tlept euypvydoeas Kai pereppvxadcews.

| 1 Tod perafd ys Kai ovpavod Kexwplota, téxvov *Qpe, 10
mpos pérpov kal dppovlay. af d& x@pat adrar bwd Tadv
i mpoysvear Kadodvra dp dy pev (Ova, ip dv de orepedpara,
\i ims St érépwv mrvxal. & 8 ratras gporrdow ai te
| drohedupévat Tov coudrov Wuyai al te pndérw évowparti-
obcioa. éxdorn St Tobrwv, & réxvov, Kata Tiv agéiav Kai
x@pav exet, @ote Tas pev Oelas Kal Bacidixas & TH
bmepdvw mdvtov Katokelv, Tas b¢ edXaxloTas Kara Tiptiv,
kai [ras dAdas] boar elol yapatrereis, ev tH broxdTw
mdévrov, Tas dt pécas (ev) TH peop.
2 ai pev ody eis 7d dpyew Karamepmipevat, & Téxvov “Qpe, 20
1} ex Tav UrEepdve (wvdv Karaméumovrat at Kat rAvOcioat els
Tas abras 7) Kal Eri brepdvm dvépxovrat, mrjy ef ph Tiwés
[e]re elev (rapa) tiv diay rijs éavtdv picews Kai Thy Tod
Ociov vépov mapayyeAlav mempaxviay (ravr)as rAp h dave
mpovo.a mpos pétpoy Tay dpaptnpdroy eis Tas dTOKaT@ a5

83 ai add. Heeren 4 An Yuxat érépa [ri] évépay? 4-5 Acime

Heeren: Acirev FP 5 xwpa wat Yuyn delevit Heeren 6 éxdorny
scripsi: éxarepa codd,
13 re Meineke: ye FP 14 te P?: ye FP! 16 xwpav Meineke:
x@pov FP_—_| dare Meineke: ts ye FP 17 «ard tipi Canter: xatate-
peiv FP 19 év add. Meineke 21 ai (ante «al AvOefoar) secluden-
 EXCERPT XXV. ISIS TO HORUS 515
it is suited by its nature. The souls are all constituted alike,
but they are not equal in rank; in proportion as one subdivision
stands above another in distance from the earth, in the same
proportion does a soul that is in the one subdivision surpass
in eminence, my son, a soul that is in the other,
I will now begin afresh, most glorious Horus, and tell you 14
in succession what souls go to each one of the subdivisions when
they depart from life on earth. I will speak of the subdivisions
in order, beginning with the highest, and ending with places close
to earth,’

EXCERPT XXVI

Concerning the incarnation of souls, and thetr

reincarnation in other bodies.
Zsis. ‘The space between earth and heaven is parted out into 1
divisions, my son Horus, according to a system of measured
arrangement. These divisions are variously named by our
ancestors, some of whom call them ‘zones’, others ‘ firmaments’,
and others ‘layers’, They are the haunts of the souls that have
been released from their bodies, and likewise of the souls that
have not yet been embodied. And each of the souls, my son,
resides in one division or another according to its worth. Godlike
and kingly souls dwell in the highest division of all; the souls
that are of lowest rank, and all that are wont to grovel, dwell
in the lowest division ; and the souls of middle quality dwell in
the middle division.
Those souls then, my son Horus, which are sent down to earth 2
to bear rule there, are sent down from the highest zones; and
when they are released from the body, they return to the same
zones, or even to a place yet higher, excepting those of them
that have done things unworthy of their own nature, and trans-
gressed the commandments of God’s law. ‘These souls the
Providence which rules above banishes to the lower divisions
! There is nothing about reincarnation in this Excerpt.

dum? 22 «al émt P! 22-23 mivés 1 Meineke : tives rs FP 23 mapa

add. Heeren 24 ravras ydp scripsi: dowep F : Gmep P
Lla
 516 STOBAEI HERMETICA

xépas efopife, domep kal ras todceorépas Suvdue re Kal

ndorépas
dgia (.. .) & [yap] xarwrépwr emt [pelfovas kai] dw
dvdyel.
* * * * *

3 (..) eot yap “dvaber of' (, . .), Sopupépor dvres rips

kabbdou mpovoias, Gv 6 pev Wuxorauias, 6 dé Wuxomoprés- ur

kal 6 piv wuxorapias (. . .) Wuxay, 6 d& ~uxoropms

dmocronets Te kal Siatdkryns Tov évowparoypévev [yuyaor]
kal 6 pev rnpei, 6 d& mpoinor Kata yvdpnv Tod Beod.
4 ‘7 odv Aby@ TobTe, & Tal, Kai Ti} dyw tev Tpaypdrov
éaddayfi cai! él ys éorin 7 vous, [[wAdorptal] ((oKnVo- eal°

mowds)) [yap] odoa, Kal [[oxnvorotds]] ((wAdorpia)) (rar)

dyyelov els (& ép)Bdddovra ai Wuxal. mapeoraor dé dbo
évépyerat kal abrf, pripn Kal eumepla, Kal } pev myripy
epyov exet Todro, dras 4 pvars [Typf Kal] mepixparf Tob [re
éxdotov| Témov (rod) e€ dpxis KaraBeBAnpévov, Kal Tod
nrapa(dely)uaros Tod dvw (eixdv) ylyvutae (. . .) H 8
éumeipla, bras mpds dvddoyov éxdorns Tov KaTaBa.wovcdy
puxay els 7d (ér)owpalk|ricOfvar Kal 7d mAdopa [evepyi
kal] yévnrat, kal tais pev dgéor tov Wuxav dféa yévnrat
kal ra odpara, tats dt Bpadéor Bpadéa, rais dé evepyéow
‘ ta ~ s , - ‘4 2 Z

évepyf, Kai tals vwOpais vwbpd, Kai tats duvarais duvard,

Kal rais Sodrtas S6Ata, kai dmagamdas éxdorais Kata 7d
eikés.
5 (.«.) ob yap doxéras mryva pev érrirooey 1) gvats),
[[Aoyend 8& mepicoais Kal axpiBeorépas aicbijccow exéd-
ounoe,|] Terpamddav vc Ta pev Képact, ra Se ddodar, Ta SE
dé Kal dmdali)s éxaprépoce, Ta Ot épmerd ‘edxalros"
2 Lacunam post dfiqsignavit Wachsm. 4 Fortasse dvw @eol (dvo
ohare 5 yWuxorapias Patrit.: Yuxoropias FP 6 Lacunam post
Yuxay statuit Heeren: yuxdy (oduért tvcecmparwpéver rnpyths éorw) coni.
Meineke : fortasse (pvAag éorl ry dvw Karowovady) Yuxav 7 dotodeds
Pp} |évowparoupever scripsi: évowpatapivay FP: évoccwparwpévor
Meineke et Wachsmuth: fortasse (del) évomparovpévav 8 mpoina
Meineke : mpdeiot FP 9-10 Fortasse dpddoyos 5 rovros, @ nai, wat rH
dvw Trav mpaypdray (otkovopia Kat’) éraddayhy Cavriatpopos) emt yijs EoTw 7H)
dos 10 éorw 4 P*: €or pt) FP? 12 eis& €uBadAovra scripsi:
elaBdddovra (év ols B&AAovTat P* marg.) codd. | tapaorao P bu’ P
13 prjun (post piv) Patrit. : ywapn FP 14 rnpp P: type F TEpt~
kpara F 16 mapadelyyaros scripsi: gupaparos codd. | elecy
yieyrnra scripsi (yey ely Meineke): yiyvera: FP | Fortasse (70
mAagabpevov) post yiyrnrat 17 mpds dvddoyov codd,: fortasse mpds
dvadoyiavy vel [mpds] dvd Adyov 18 évowparicOjva scripsi (copa-
ricOjva: Patrit.): cOpa krioPjvar FP | &vepye? P, 18-19 évepyh Kal
 EXCERPT XXVI. ISIS TO HORUS 517
according to the measure of their sins, even as it raises up from
lower to higher divisions souls that are inferior in power and
dignity,...
% % x * %
... For there are...,? who are attendants of the Providence 3
that governs all. One of them is Keeper of souls; the other is
Conductor of souls. The Keeper is he that has in his charge
the unembodied souls; the Conductor is he that sends down
to earth the souls that are from time to time embodied, and
assigns to them their several places. And both he that keeps
watch over the souls, and he that sends them forth, act in
accordance with God’s will.
.. upon earth is Nature,® who is the maker of the mortal4
frames, and fashioner of the vessels into which the souls are put.
And Nature also‘ has at her side two Powers at work, namely,
Memory and Skill. The task of Memory is to take care that
Nature adheres to the type that has been established from the
first,° and that the body which she fashions on earth is a copy
of the pattern on high ; and the task of Skill is to see that in each
case the frame that is fashioned is conformable to the soul that
comes down to be embodied in it,—to see that lively souls
have lively bodies, and slow-moving souls slow-moving bodies ;
that energetic souls have energetic bodies, and sluggish souls
sluggish bodies ;that powerful souls have powerful bodies, and
crafty souls crafty bodies; and in general, that every soul gets
such a body as is suitable for it.
... For it is not without purpose that Nature has provided 5
birds with plumage, and has given force to quadrupeds by arming
some with horns, and some with teeth, and some with claws
or hoofs. And to the reptiles she has given soft bodies, flexible
! Perhaps, AS they have lived good lives on earth)’.
2 Perhaps, ‘ there are, in the world above, two gods’.
3 Perhaps, ‘And in agreement with these, my son, and working in recipro-
cation as a counterpart to the administration of things in the world above,
is Nature upon eaith’.
4 T.e. as well as Providence. The two assistants of Nature on earth
correspond to the two attendants of Providence on high.
5 J.e. the race-type, the generic form of this or that kind of animal.

seclusit Wachsm. 19-23 xat rats pev dtéor .. . kard rd eluds secludendum?
21 évepyh P?: évapyn FP! 24 doxédnws FP?: doxénrws Pt 26 &
(post retparddav) P?: pev FP! 27 dwaais P?; dwAa@s F: omdas Pt
| éxarépace P | preva Heeren: éprovra FP | ebxatrous codd, : ebeap-
nros Meineke: ‘ fort. doxérois’ Wachsm, : fortasse éArcrots vel elurixots
 —

518 STOBAEI HERMETICA

gapact Kai [ev|imoywpnr(tx)ois Euaddkuve, Kal dros pi 7H

4 ‘ dre - 3 , Sa A -

To céparos bypérnt(t) TéAcov doberh ‘Stapévy', Sv pev ra

orépata [kal rots] ddofcw éxapdkwoer, Gv dt Tods dyKous
ayéHcao(a) dvvapyw mepiéOnker. [otrws Ta péev TH Tod
Oavdrov eddaBela (. . .) loxupérepa tev dddov.] 7a 8 5
vyxtd,cA Sead, dvra, évoikeiv
2 -
Ewxe ororxeimrg év7 @n® Tdx [Pas]
-~

(wip) ovderépay dy exer Suvduewy evepyeiv loyver: (év) yap

- > cA eA tA 3 - > 4 2

bdart 7d wip ore paiver ore kale Exacrov dé avray [i

A 4 - cA ” ca a > +7 A

poriow i) axdvOats] év Udart vnxdpevoy pevye Srp av Op,

tiv idiav mepiBeBAnpévoy Seidiav, kal cxeracTiHptoy Exov els 10
7d pt) dpadcOat rd Hdwp. ((AoytKa St mepiooais Kai axpl-
Beorépas aicOjoeowv éxdopnoe,\) (. . .)-
6 els yap Exacrov tév cwopdrwv totrev Kad’ dpodrnta
éykAclovrar ai wuyal, dore els piv avOpmrovs xwpeiv tas
kpitixds’ eis 8 mrnva ras ‘dravOpémous' els dt terpdmoda 15
(ras) "dxpirous', vouos yap éxelvors early } loxds: els 88
épmera tas Sodias, ovdéy yap abray ef évaytiov éme£épxerat
Tois dvOparois, Aoxjoavta St kaTraBdddrAe els SE [Ta] vnKTa
Tas deirtds, Kal bca() tav doiwav oToLxeloy drodatew
avdg.a(t) ruyxdv(ov)ct. 20
7 ylyvera pev oby Kal ev éxdor@ (yéve) edpelv (Gov TH
idia pice ‘ph Karaxpépcvov'—IIds [rddw), & rexodoa;
elev “Qpos.—kai dmexpiOn "Lois: “Note dvOpwrov pév, &
TExvov, TO Kpitixoy bmepBivat, (aTnvov Oe .. .,) TeTpdmouy Se
THY avdyKny mapaddAdéat, épweron St 7d Sédov darodécat, a5
kal vnxrov ris Setrias Katappovfoat [kal mrnvov Ths dmay-
Opwmrias éxreceiv], -
[[kai r& pev mepl ris diabécews trav dvw Kal THs KaTa-
Bdoews adrav Kai rhs cwparoupylas Toraira.]]
8 ovpPaive
,
dé,
,
&= Téxvov,
,
ev
5)
éxdot@
,
elder (dvOpdrwv)
3 ,
30
edploxerOa [kal yéver rv mpoxeipévor] Bacidikds Tivas
Wuyds. [[karaBatvew 8 cal dddas adXolovs, Tas wey dta-
mUpou ras dé wruxpas ras dt drepnpdvovs Tas & mpacias Tas SE
Bavatoous ras dt éumefpous ras St drelpous Tas dt dpyas Tas
de évepyeis ras 8¢ dAdo Tt AAs ovoas. cvpBaiver dt TodTO 35

1 broxwpnrimois scripsi : ebumoxwphras FP? : évutoxwphtos P2 | ea 7h

scripsi (4?) 7 Wachsm.): pare FP 2 bypérnr scripsi: bypérns codd.
| Siapévy codd. : fortasse -yivnrat 8 «at rots seclusi (an scribendum «apre-
pots ?) 4 aifjoaca scripsi; dfvvas codd, 4-5 otras...
seclusi (‘ haec aut manca aut interpolata’ Wachsm.) 5 Fortasse evAaBeig
 EXCERPT XXVI. ISIS TO HORUS 519

and yielding ; and that their pliancy may not make them utterly
helpless, she has placed in the mouths of some of them a palisade
of teeth, and has given strength to others by increasing their
bulk, And the fishes, which are timid creatures, she has made
to live in that element in which fire cannot put in action either
of its two powers; for in water fire neither shines nor burns;
and every fish, swimming in water, flees whither it will, protected
by its own timidity, and having the water for a shelter to hide
it from sight. But rational animals' Nature has equipped with
senses more perfect and more accurate than those which she has
given to other creatures, . ..
For the souls are shut up in bodies of this kind or that, each 6
soul in a body that is like it; so that those souls which possess
the faculty of discernment enter human bodies; those which are
flighty enter bird-bodies ;those which are. . .* enter quadruped
bodies, for quadrupeds obey no law but that of force; those
which are crafty enter reptile bodies, for reptiles never attack
men face to face, but lie in ambush, and so strike them down;
and those which are timid, and all souls that are unworthy to
enjoy the other elements,’ enter fish-bodies.
But in each kind of living creatures may be found some that 7
do not act according to their natural dispositions.’—‘Tell me,
mother,’ said Horus, ‘what do you mean by that ?’—Isis replied,
“A man, my son, may transgress the law laid down by his power
of discernment ; (a bird may... ;) a quadruped may avoid com-
pulsion ; a reptile may lose its craftiness ; and a fish may rise
above its timidity.
And it comes to pass, my son, that in every class of men there 8

Ie, men. 2 Perhaps, ‘ violent’.

I.e. to live in any other element than water.

(aopary, 7a 8 7 byKy) ioxupérepa 5-6 Fortasse rots 5& ynerois, SeAois

odow, evorreiv Ebane(y éxeivo Td) oTotxelov 7 loxve* ey ydp Patrit.:
laxvew yap FP: icxters wat yap v P? 9 pevyn F 10-11 «is 7d pi)
dpacda secludendum? 15 dravOpdmous codd. :avedpdorous Usener (vide
§ 15) 16 rds (post terpdroda) add. Heeren |dxpirous codd.: fortasse
dxparels 18 7a (ante vyerd) del, Wachsm. 19 deAlas P* | Soa
scripsi: doa codd. |dnoAata F 20 dvdgiar Tvyxdvouer scripsi:
dvafia tuyxaver codd, 21 yéve addidi (ele add, Wachsm.) 22 pi
karaxpwpevoy codd.: pi) karapkotpevov Meineke: fortasse pyiért Xpmpevov
25 épwerdv Wachsm.: éprerd FP 28-29 wat 7a... Togaitra hinc ad
§ 13 init, transposui 830 éxdaorw eda P} 32-3 infra: nataBaivev
. . » Wis hinc ad § Io transposui
 520 STOBAEI HERMETICA

Tapa Thy tev Torey Oécw Oey eis Td EvowparicOjvat Kal

OddXovrat ai Woyal. al piv yap ard BacirALKob diagéparos
9 karamndador THs dporordbovs Bacirevotans uyxijs.|| woAdat
yép ciot Bacireiar al pev yap lol) "oyxav ai dt cwpdror,'
ai dé réyvns (x)at [62] erioripyns, al dé ad rev ((Kal [éavjrav)). 5
—IT@s wédw ; elev “pos [[xat éavrav)]|.—Olor, @ Téxvov
*Aple), Aroyeyovirar [dn Wuyav] pev (Baorreds) “Ooipis 6
} maThp cou, |owpdrer] ({ovrwr) dt 6 éExdotou eOvous iyyenav:
[BovAjs S& 6 marhip mdvtwv'| Kat Kabnyntitk)ps 6 rptc-
péytoros ‘Epis, larpixis 8& [6] AoxAnmos 6 ‘Hpatorov. = °
| [icxdos d& Kai pouns wédwv “Oorpis, ped’ bv, & Téxvov, avros
. av: dirocogias St ‘ApveBecyjuvis mointixis St mddu [4]
AokrAnmos (6 kai) ‘IpovOns.| Kabddrov yap, & réxvor,
| edpioes, eay e£erdcns, modAods [Kal] ToAAGY Apxovtas Kal
10 7oAdods TOAA@Y Bacihedovtas. GAN’ 6 pev wdvTwY KpaTar, 15
| TEKVOV, &K THS Umepdvw yopas éoriv, o(!) d& tdv KaTa& pépos
t (ee) Texelvny rye riv dd’ ob rérov éoriv Baoidixorépav'.
i! ((cymBaiver[y] dé (edpioxerOat) Kai dddas aAdXolas, Tas pev
Stamvpou(s) tas d& wuxpds, tas St drepnpdvous tas de
mpacias [ras d¢ Bavatcous], ras be éumelpous tas dé daetpous, 20
[[ras 8& dpyads]] ras dt évepyets ((ras dt apyds)), ras 8
(kat’) dAdo Tt addoias ovcas: cvpBalver dé (kai) rodTo map&
tiv Tov tomev Oéow dOev cis Td EvowparicOjvat Kalt}Odd-
Aovrat ai wuyai. of piv yap awd Baoitkod Siagéparos
karamndiia(a)ntes ‘dpoomdbovs' Baciretovoin [uyis]))* 25
II [[dtageparos rerevxdres mupds épydrat ylyvovrat Kat Tpop7s||
[od d& amd bypod ev vypois Siagdpaciv) of d& dmd émorn-
hovkod Kal TexvikoD mepl éemioripas Kataylyvovra Kal
Téxvas, (of d& amd évepyods) ((Stagdparos (Ka)reAHAyodres
[wupds] épydrar ylyvovrat Kai rpodeis,)) of dé dd dpyod 3°
dpys Kal émippeuBds Siafor. mdvroy yap trav ént ys,

4 clot Patrit. : cis FP | ets Wux@v al 5& cwpdrey codd. : fortasse eow
loxvos Kai pons 5 xai (post réxvns) scripsi: af 6 codd. |al 88 ad ray
nai rv Usener: af Stadray FP 6 xai éauréy (post “AQpos) FP: del. Usener
7 “Ope Meineke: as FP | droyeyovéray Meineke : émvyeyovdrwy FP
| £6 om. P’ Wachsm, (sed utrum 6 ante marjp an 6 ante éxdorov, non liquet)
9 Kabnynri«is scripsi: kadnynris codd. 13 6 «ai (ante 'InovOns) addidi (4 add.
Patrit.) 14 éferdons Canter: éferatns codd. 14-15 dpyovras cal roAAods
noAAGy secludendum? 16 irepdve {ndvrov)? —_|of Be scripsi : 6 88 codd,
| Tov Karw pépos F 17 Fortasse (é témaw xarwrépav) post pé
18-25 ovpBalve,.. Baordevovaw puyjs huc a § 8 transposui 18 cupBaive
 EXCERPT XXVI. ISIS TO HORUS 521

are found some souls that are kingly. For there are many kinds 9
of kingship; there are kingships of ...,' and kingships of art
and science, and of divers other things also.’—‘ Again I ask,’
said Horus, ‘what you mean?’—ZJsis. ‘For instance, my son,
your father Osiris is king of men that have passed away, and the
ruler of each nation is a king of living men; and thrice-greatest
Hermes is king of the art of teaching ;and Asclepius the son of
Hephaestus is king of the art of medicine? For, to speak
generally, you will find, my son, if you look into the matter,
that there are many who rule as kings, and many departments
over which they rule. But he who has mastery over all,* my son, 10
comes from the highest division of the atmosphere, and those
who have mastery over this or that department...‘ And it
comes to pass that other souls also" are found to differ in quality ;
some are fiery and some cold, some haughty and some meek,
some skilful and some unskilful, some active and some inactive,
and others differ in other ways. And these differences also result
from the positions of the places whence the souls plunge down
to be embodied. For those who have leapt down from a kingly
zone reign upon earth as kings; those who have come from 11
a zone of science and art are occupied with sciences and arts ;
those who have come from a zone of industry become workers,
and provide food by their labour; and those who have come
from a zone of inactivity live idle and desultory lives. For the

1 Perhaps, ‘ of political power’,

2 [* And Osiris again is king of might and strength, and after him you
yourself, my son; and Har-neb-eschenis is king of philosophy; and Asclepius
again, he who is also called Imuthes, is king of the art of poetry.’]
3 T.e. the supreme political ruler (e. g. the Roman emperor).
4 Perhaps, ‘(come from places high up, but below the highest of all)’.
5 J.e. others besides the kingly souls.

scripsi: saraBaivew codd, | GAAolas scripsi : dAdolous codd. 19 da-

mipovs P? ; d&kanvpov FP! | d:candpous rds 8 Yuyxpds rds 52 secludendum?
20 rds && Bavavoous seclusi: (rds 5& eAevBepious) Tas 5% Bavatcovs Meineke
22 dddoias scripsi: dAAws codd, 23-24 xaddddAovrat Heeren: mat O4dAdov-
ta F: nat Baddovra P!: xataBdddovra P? 24 of pey scripsi: ai pév
codd. | dmoBarixot F 25 watarningavres scripsi: xatanndiot ris
codd. | Bactdevovow scripsi: BaciAevotcns F: Bact et lac, § litt. P}:
Bactdrnfs P* 27 &aldpacy FP ; daf@ow Canter 28 «ai (ante rexu-
xod) om, P | rexvxod scripsi (rexvirixod Meineke) : texvirov FP
|karayivovra F: yiyvovra P 29 xateAndvOdres scripsi: rerevxdtes
codd. 30 rpopets Heeren : tpopis FP; fortasse (dvOpmnwv) vel (réAewv)
Tpopets
 522 STOBAEI HERMETICA

& réxvov, [did Abyou Kal Epyou mpatromenor] dv eisly al

mnyai, perp Kat orabue émixtvovoa jp Tas ‘ovoias’
kal obk tori 8 ph dvobev kataBeBnke.
kal médw dvépyerau (mdvta éxeioe bev) [iva] xaréBn.
—Ilés [rd] dAéyets ToGo, & Texodca; mapddergov.—Kall 5
dmexplOn "lows [wddv}: Tis madwdpopias évapyés Todro
onpeiov trois Coos éveOnkey 1) lepwrdrn pvats: toiro yap 6
ondpev dvaber e€ dépos mvedpa, TOTO mdAW dvw TépmToper,
(6)ev edd Boner, kal civiv, & réxvov, Tobrov Tod evepyy-
paros texvirides ev Hyiv gioa al émeiddv pyowot TH yo
dexrixd [€avtav] Tod mrevparos orbpara, Tore (avrol) jpmeis
ovkért OE Eopev, GAN avaBeBjKaper.

(kal 7a pev mept ris Sdiabécews tov dvw kal Tijs

kataBdoews abtav [kal THs ow@parovpylas| tocaira.))
mpocemeylyverat O€, @ mai peyaddboge, kal erepd tia iyiv 15
éx ris tod gupdparos svaeraOplas.—Ti 8€ éoriv, “Qpos ele,
7d ppapa Toto, & Texodoa ;—Zvvodds tort kal kpaous Tov
tecodpov aroxelwv, e€ Hs [kpdoews Kal ovvddov) ava-
Oupidrat tis drpos, ds meprerdetrar piv TH Wuyxs, Siarpexer
d& év (7G) cdpatt, auporépos peradidods [rovTéoTt TP 20
cépare Kai th Wuxfi| ris las moibrntoss Kai obrws al
Stagopal trav wWvyikav Kal cwparixdv ‘évaddo1doewv!
14 ylvovra. ef pev yap Kurd thy coparixiy ‘didangw"
mreovdoete TO Op, TO THVIKaDTA Wu?) Oepyrh Thy pvow
imdpxovea Kai Erepov Oeppdv mpochaBoica [éxmupwdeatépa 25
yevonévn] moet 7d (Gov enepydrepov Kai Ovyixdy [7d de
1 capa of) Kal edivyrov|. ef d& mAcovdoeev 6 arp, TO
Thvikadra [kal] Kodpoy Kal mndnrtixdv kal dvédpacrov yiverat

1 mparropévaw scripsi: mpayparor codd. 2 jpav F | obvaias codd.:

fortasse dmoppolas 4 waréBn scripsi: xaraBj codd. 5 rapadefov
secludendum ? 6 tvepyes F 7 evébaxev F 7-8 } on@pev
Wachsm. (8 avéopev Heeren: @ (@pev Meineke): ds 7d pev P: ds 7d ph F
8 rovro codd.: 7d atvd Usener 9 bGev édaBopey scripsi: iva AdBopev
codd. 10 rexirides P? | piowm Canter: prodor FP 11 dexrnea
by 13-14 wai ra. . . Tocadra huc a § 7 /in. transposui 14 airay
codd, : fortasse ray yuyav 16 é« tis scripsi (éx7ds (7qs) Wachsm.):
éxrds codd. 17 rodto ® P: rodr’ ovv F 19-23 Fortasse ds wepecAcira
[uev] rH Yuxn, [Siarpéxer 5& ev (7H) ohpart, dporépois] peradiSods (airH)
[rovréont 7 ahpart wal 7H Wux7] Tis idlas modryTos* Kal ovTws al Frapopal Tay
Yux[ee]@v [Kal cwparindy évaddAowaoewv] yivovtat 19 ds mepredctrar P?;
dowepe’ ciAciras VF; womepa cidetrae PI 20 7@ add. Wachsm.
 EXCERPT XXVI. ISIS TO HORUS 523
sources of all earthly things, my son, are on high ; those sources
pour forth .. .' upon us by fixed measure and weight ; and there
is nothing that has not come down from above.
And all things go back again to the place whence they have 12
come down,’—AHorus. ‘What do you mean by that, mother?
Give me an example.’ Isis answered, ‘A manifest sign of this
return of things to their source has been placed in living beings
by most holy Nature. Our life-breath, which we draw from
above out of the air, we send up again to the place whence
we received it. We have in us bellows-like organs, my son, by
which this work is done ; and when these organs have closed the
apertures through which the life-breath is taken in, then we
ourselves abide no longer here below, but have gone up on high.’

Of the arrangement of the things above, and of their descent *13

to earth, I have now said enough. But there are added to us,
my glorious son, other qualities also, which result from the
proportions in which things are combined in the mingled mass
of the body.’ ‘—‘ But tell me, mother) said Horus, ‘what is this
mingled mass” ?’—Jsis. ‘It is a combination and mixture of
the four elements ; and from it there is exhaled a vapour, which
envelops the soul, and is diffused in the body, imparting to both
something of its own quality; and thus are produced both the
differences between one soul and another, and the differences
between one body and another.’ If there is an excess of 14
fire in the composition of the body, in that case the soul,
being hot by nature and having more heat added to it, makes
the living creature more active® and spirited. If there is an 15
excess of air, in that case the creature comes to be light and
1 Perhaps, ‘ their influences’.
2 T.e, we are dead, and our souls have returned to their places in the
atmosphere.
3 Perhaps, ‘of the descent of the souls’.
4 I.e, the proportions of the several elements of which the body is composed.
® Perhaps, ‘a vapour, which envelops the soul, and imparts to it something
of its own quality ; and thus are produced the differences between one soul
and another’.
6 Perhaps, ‘in that case [ ] the living creature is made more active’.

20-21 rovréor:... pext seclusit Meineke 22 Kai (post puxixdv) Fs wat

Tov P | évaAAowwoewy codd.: fortasse mooTHTow 23 ai pev yap Pl
| Sidrngw codd. : potius esset avyxpacw vel ovcraow 24-26 1d rymKaira
. + « yevouévn secludendum, et legendum moei{ rar) 7d (Govt 25 mpoodap-
Bovdoa P 26 -yevopévn Patrit. : yevapévyn FP | évepydrepov P?: éwep-
yorepoy FP! | wat @vpuxdy om, P
 524 STOBAEI HERMETICA

16 7d (Gov Kai Wuxi Kal odpart. «i dé 7d Hdwp mEovaoele, TO

ryvixadra [kal] rd (Gov TH pev Wuxi ylyverat ex Jpour [kat
edpues] Kal edmeplxutov, ikavas Te Tois Gros Erureceiy
Kal KoAAnOAvVaL Suvdpevov, did 7d mpds Ta dAda [Eve@riKoy
kal] kowevikdy Tob Udaros: [epucdver] (Evoirat) yap waot, kai
mond pv dv ((Kal mepidaBbn)) es eavrd[y] dvadver [[Kal
mepthapBdvel], ddtyor 8 bmdpxov Kai Kxatadd{cay éxeivo
ylyverat @ épiyn.. TH pévTot odpara bro Ths mwAadapérnros
kai xavvérnros eis teplaprygw ob (ov)vdyerat, GAG piKpa
rive [vdcou] apoppy Averar [Kai tod idiov auvdéopov Kat’ 10
17 bdyov exile]. ei Se Td yeddes TrEovdoete, TO THVIKADTA ~
duPr«eCa [pev| Tod Kwov 1) Wuxi) yiverat, ovK Exovoa Ti
[oopartxhy] (iStar) dpadrnra e@dvtov, [ovde rod Ov ob!
(éx)rndjioat (Otva)rat, meraxv(o)pévov Tov alc Onrikav
pepav, ddr Evdov péver map’ éavtf,| (AAA) bd (Bdpous Kal] 15
(ris) muxvérntos (rod...) mednOcioa: 7d d& o@pa oTepedv
pév, adda dpydv Kal Bapt, cal pera Blas bad Tis mpoatpé-
18 gews peraxivotpevov. el d& otpperpos yévotTo 1).wdvTov
(ab)oraots, tére Td KGov Oeppdv (uev) els mpaguv, Kodpov é
els kivnow, 'edxparov! d eis “agqv', "yevvaiov’ dé eic THEW 20
27 kataoxevdgerat. (([adlrd piv yap [7d] ye@des eorw 1 TOD
cdparos mhgis, Td de vypov % év TovT@ EaTiv Eis "oupraylav'
meplyvors, Td [yap] (de) depadés Ears 7d Ev Hpiv KWnTtKov,
Kal Tovrov mavrey Steyeptixoy TO Tip.)
19 daa ody [rHde TH Ady~] KeKowadvyKe TAciovos per mMupds kal mrvev= 25
paros, (odiyou Sé wdaros Kat yiis,) Taira drwpvéwrat, Kat tive map
20 ekelvors modereverat Tois orotxelous e& dv Kai eyévero. baa bE mAeiovos
pév mupds, odtyou be mvevparos, Vdatos dé (nerptov) kai ys tons, Tatra

2 piv (vel 7H wey YvyxH) secludendum? | ebpouy Meineke: etxpovy FP

|wat (ante ebpvés) P: re wal F 8-4 émmeceiy wal secludendum? 5 ral
kowvevixov om, P 6 éavrd P?: éavrdv FP? 7 inapxew PI | xaradiy
scripsi (‘num «araSv9tv?’ Wachsm.): xaradtoay FP!; xatadicov P?
8 mAadapéryros P? 9 ob cuvéyerat scripsi: oby dyera FP}; tows ode
yer: P? marg. 10 auvdéo Pt 10-11 kal rod ldlov . . . éeninre
seclusi (an secludendum 7a pévror odpara. . . eemimrer?) 13 rov &’ ob
codd. : fortasse rod idiov (rézou ?) 14 derndqoa Sivara scripsi: mdq-
sera codd. | Post mpdnoerar add } od éxovea tiv cwparuchy dpaudrnta t
e nenaxvppevey Wachsm.: menaxupévov FP 15 pepoy Usener:
perdv IP: fortasse (700 owpartos) pepe 16 Fortasse muevérnros (rot
drpod vel rod pupaparos) 16-18 70 8 cpa... peraxtvodpevoy secluden-
dum ? 19 avoracs Meineke: ordous FP 20 evipator be els dpny
codd. : fortasse ebmeplyvrov (vel etiputov) 5% cis ouvadiy | yervator codd. :
fortasse oTepedy | Ge els mpgev P?: dradjew FP? 21-24 § 27 (7d pev
 EXCERPT XXVI. ISIS TO HORUS 525

flighty and unsteady in soul and body alike. If there is an excess 16

\
of water, the result is that the creature’s soul flows freely and
diffuses itself readily, and is highly capable of flinging itself
on things and cleaving to them, because water has the power
of associating with things. For water unites with all things;
ps a thing,’ then
and when there is much water, and it envelo {
is only a little
it dissolves that thing into itself ; but when there
it is transmuted into
water, and it sinks into the thing,? then
* being flaccid
that with which it is mingled. And such bodies,
togeth er; a little thing is
and spongy, are not tightly knitted
If there is an excess of the 17
enough to cause their dissolution.
result is that the creatur e’s soul
earthy element, in that case the
soul itself is a thing of rare con-
is dull, because, though the
but is hampe red by the densit y
sistency, it cannot easily get free,"
solid, but inert and heavy, and cannot
of ...;° and the body is
effort. But if all 18
be put in motion by the will without a strong
proportions, then
the four elements are combined together in fit
as to be ardent in action, light of
the creature is so made
the earthy 27
movement,...in...,° and solid in structure. For
watery element
element is that which makes the body solid ;the
as to unite with
is that in it which makes it diffuse itself so
causes movement ;
things ; the airy element is that in us which
in us.
and all these are roused to action by the fire
to them large portions of fire 19
All creatures then? that have had assigned
s of water and earth, have become birds; and they
and air, and small portion
those elements of which they are
live their lives on high, in the region of
that have had put into them much fire, a little air, 20
chiefly made. All those
have become men, And in
and a moderate portion of water and of earth,

into a large tank of water.

1 For instance, when a lump of earth is thrown on a large mass of earth,
2 For instanc e, when a drop of water falls
human or animal bodies in which there is an excess of water.
3 Ie. ly an appended note to this
4 The Greek which I have here cut out is probab
‘the soul cannot leap forth from its seat within the body, because the
effect: an embodied soul can go out to
bodily sense-organs (through which alone and dense; (and so) it remains
thick
communicate with the external world) are
within and stays by itself.’ ‘the density (of the vapour
5 Perhaps, ‘the density (of the body)’, or .
exhaled from the mingled mass of the body)’with things’.
6 Perhaps, ‘apt to flow forth so as to unite with what precedes, and must
7 ‘This paragraph (§§ 19-23) is inconsistent
have been written by another person.

yap ...70 mop) huc transposui | 70 pév yap scripsi : adrd pev yap rd codd.
23 8 (ante depadés) Meineke :
22 ovunayiay codd.: fortasse ovvapiy Fortas se (7d mdéov) byévero
yap FP 24 dievep yntusd y P 27
 526 STOBAEI HERMETICA

dnnvOpamara Kal Td (eq 7d meprocdy Tod Oeppod cis civeow erpdmny.

olde, Siadiver
5 yap ev jpiv voos Oeppdy te xphpd eorw, & Kalew pev obk
ax be [xara] (da) mévrov [Kad éniorara|. doa be mAclovos pev vdaros,
8é)) mvebpar os Kat [[dAtyou 8e]]
mrelovos 8& yas, [merpiou Be] ((adiyou
beppod map[tjov olia dAKipar epa 5
mupos, Taira (daro)reOnpiorar’ ri dé rod
22 yéyove trav Mdwv. daa be yis (per) Kat daros [tray] (mAeiovos)
kexowoynxe, (mveiparos S€ perpiov, mupos dé oddevds,) Tatra aptp-
r(érjwra’ Kal TH (uév) rod mupds orephoet drohpa yéyove Kal amappn-
clara, ri d¢ rod Bdaros [[Kowevial] (meptovaia) [W] trpa eyevero, rp de
a et 10
rijs yas Bapéa kai vobpd, ri S€ rod TrVEvLATOS ((xowavia)) Vetkivnr
23 mpoaperes 7d viru’. boa 8€ wAelovos pév typod, ddiyou d€ Enpod,
pev Tov
(mupds 8€ Kat mvevparos odderds,) Taira dmyOiora* Kal TH
Oeppod Kai dépos orepnoe Setkd eore kal (kar )adur(ix)d, 7H Se Tov
yi kal
Sypod meptovaia kal rH Tod yewdous mapltloucia év Ndupéry
15
Bdare Sid rd cvyyeves KATOLKEL
24 ‘kal mpds pay thy Tod éxdorov orotxelov poipav kal Tis
polpas tiv meptoxiyy Kai ra cépata Hrixidgerat Kal mpds THY
édtyoperplay Ta Nowa (Ga peperpowoinrat mpos évépyetav
rh éxdor@ tev ororxelov ovotoperpias’.
25 kal re (réde), & mat mepimbOnre, Néyw, Sri [ex TabrNS THS 20
obra ovordcews] (i) Kata Thy mporny obvodov yevonevn
kpaows Kal 6 ex Tabrns dvabvpidpevos arps| eg’ Evov (mev
7d pvpapa) tiv idlav typei MobrnTa, dore TO pev [Beppo]
(mip) Erepov pi) daBeiv Oeppdv, [kal] (unde) 70 [[depades|]
mvedpa erepov ((depades)), pydt 7d dypdy érépay Yrpactav,
pndt 7d ye@des érépay muKvérnra, 7d Thvikadra Td (Gov
dyratver: érdv [yap] (88) wi) obras pévy, & Téxvor, 颒 ols
toxev é€ apxiis pmérpois, GAN rot wheovdon TovTw(y TL

83 a Gaisford: «ard codd. 5 tadr’ dworeOnpiwrat Meineke: ravra

reOnpiwra FP?: radre Onplarar P* | mapovotq scripsi: mepiovoia codd.
6 wdaros tcov P 7-8 dgnpnérwrar Wachsm. (dpypmerwOn Meineke): epetp-
nwon FP 9 bypad.scripsi: Yuxpd codd. 10-11 «i (év) mpompéocn
Meineke (an «f (more) mpoapetra mveio@at?) 13 xaradvried scripsi +
GSura FP: adra Usener: ddvvara Meineke 14 mapovoig fpase
yehsbous) Wachsm, : weprovaia codd, 14-15 &y Acdvpévp yp wat vdare
codd.: fortasse éy dar: diadeAvpévyy exovTs yy vel simile quid
16-19 Fortasse huiusmodi aliquid: «al mpds pev Thy [Tod] éxdorou arotxelov
poipay Kat ris polpas tiv (d)mep[tloxiy Cal’ re puxat) Kat Ta chpara Tprumd-
Ceratl (jAAolwrac?) (rev dvOpdmar), Ka mpds THY dAvyouoipiay” (an hinc trans-
ponenda verba xal mpds pe ddvyopowpiay et post THs polpas Thy bmepoxiy
collocanda 37a(Bt) Aoa (Ga Tuenerpol (dodpperpa?) mocerrar mpds [evépyerav)
(avaroylay %)ri¢s ev Exdory (sc. (ow vel (gow yever) tav (avapepav t) arot-
xelav dM popolpias 19 obcioperpias F ; obcroperptay P 20-21 For-
 XXVI. ISIS TO HORUS 527
EXCERPT
been turned into intelligence. For
man, the excess of the hot element has
hot thing; it has no power to burn, but it penetrates
the mind in us is a 21
their composition much water, much
all things, All creatures that have in s ; and the presen ce
e four-footed beast
earth, anda little air and fire, have becom
more pugnacious than the other
of the hot element in them? makes them earth and water, 22
had put into them much
animals.? All those that have
have become reptiles. The absence
a moderate portion of air, and no fire, water
g in boldness and openness; the excess of
of fire causes them to be lackin
of earth makes them heavy and
makes them soft and supple;* the excess
air in them makes them. . .*
sluggish ;and the fact that they have some
of the fluid element, a little of the dry 23
All those that have in them much
e fishes. The absence of fire and air
element, no fire, and no air, have becom
depths;° and the excess of the
makes them timid, and apt to dive into the
of some earth cause them to live
fluid element and the presence in them
dissol ved in it, by reason of their affinity to
in water that has some earth
these two elements.
% x * 6 24
* * *

that as long as 25
‘And this also I tell you, my well-beloved son,
its own qualit y unchanged,—
the mingled mass of the body keeps Sa g
d
ae
a
no access of heat, the air no
as long as the fire in it receives
, the water no access of fluid,
access of anything of airy nature
access of densi ty —so long the
and the earthy element no
when it does not keep uncha nged
creature is in health; but
but one of them
the original proportions of its several elements,
is either increased or diminished,—I do not mean an increase

though only a little.

1 Te. the fact that they have in them some fire, of, viz. the reptiles and the
:Le. than those that still remain to be spoken
fishes. e’. (The MSS. give
3 More literally, ‘fluid’ or ‘yielding to pressur
cold’.) (or quickly) if at any time
4 Perhaps, ‘makes them capable of moving easily
they choose to move’, composition no portion
5 They tend downward, because they have in their s.
ng’ element
of either of the two light and ‘ upward-tendi men vary according to the
6 § 24: possibly, ‘ And the souls and bodies of
apportionment of each element, and accordiare ng as the portion assigned is in
so made that they are unevenly
excess or is deficient ;but the lower animals the deficiency of the upward-
adjusted, and more or less so in proport ion to
air) in the compos ition of each kind of animal ’.
tending elements (fire and g, § 24 may have been intended
If this, or something like it, was the meanin
to stand next after §§ 18 and 27.
a

(an ris otra Cyevouerns) ovora-

tasse éx« [ravrns] THs (ryotray) cvardcens (vide § 28 init.) 23 rnpet
oews ?) 21-22 # kara... drpds seclusi
24 pndt Meineke: «at FP
modTnra scripsi: Typovaw ididrnta codd. P?: ydp FP! |otros seclu-
25 bypaciay PP: € yyaciay FP? 27 bt
dendum ? 28 goxev om, F | Tovrwy 7 4 *AarrwOp scripsi: Taira codd.
 528 STOBAEI HERMETICA

}) @darrabh), odk “evepyela [A] A€yo rihy mepioxiy', ovde TH

kar abfénow ywopévy petaBodp [rod yévous Kal] tay
copdroy, ddA& Th [os mpoépnper] cvoTarixy Tov oToxelov
kpdos, dote 7d pev Oeppov emt mréov abénOjvat 7 [emi
mov] eAarr@bjvat, Ta de GAa dpotws, (rd) THvikadra5
[obras] vo(ayet 7d (Gov.
26 [érav yap obrws diateOf 76 Te Oeppov kal Td dep@des,
& 5) otoxnvé éori THE Wuxiis, Tére &v TadAnyopias' Kal
éxordocot ylyverat Td (Gov.]
[wenvxvorat yap Ta oToLxeia b¢ by Stapbefperat Td 10
oopara.|
27 [[adrd pey yap 7d yeddés eorw 7 TOU odparos mhgts, TO de
bypav } ev robr@ éorly els ovpmaylay mepixvats, To yap
depadés éort Td ev Hpiv Kwytikéy, Kal Tovroy mévTev
Steyeptixoy 7 Tip.]| 15
28 damep obv 5 ex THs mpdrns ovvidov Kal Kpdoews Tay :
aroxelov yryvopevos arpés [kal doavel tEayis Kai dvabv-
piaots|, drotos [elav 9, mapapeyels TH wouxh, dyer [eladriy
cis éavror, [ds dv txn ptoews, elre orovdaiws elre pf), (obr@
29 kal...) TH (uev) yap e€ dpxiis ( - -) [mpos adrov olket6-20
rytt Kal ovvtpopla] émipévovea %) yux?) riv taéw Starnpel
brav St émimpooyevntar tro TO bp ovyKpdpart } Kal
[mépeow 4] péper (rw) abrod twbéy rs mreie(v) poipa Tob
mpoxataBeBAnpévou, (76)re ((ueraddotodpevos)) [[xai]] 6
avredOev [[ueraddorobpevos]] (yeyvdpevos) atpHos peraddotot25
((xai)) [rot] thy THs Wuxijs didbeow [} Ty ToD odparos).
30 [rd (uev) yap wip Kai rd mrefpa, dvadeph dvra, él Thy
ux, dplor|dxopov adrots imdpxovoay, avarpéxet, 7d de
dypov Kal 7d ye@des, Karapeph dvTa, TE dpa, bpo0€dpm
dv7t, Epifavet}. 30
P? marg.
1 vepyeia A€yw Canter: evepyd GAN eye FP; olya ob Aéyw 7H [ ]
|Fortasse ob TH ToU mepiéxovTos evepyela Abyo 3 Fortasse adda
avorace Kat ({xpdce)) trav oroixeiaw | mpoépnuey FP: mpoépaper.
5 ro add. Meineke 6 ofrws seclusit Meineke | vor
Patrit.
P*: voet FP* 10-11 Fortd8se nemiuvwrar yap {. « +) TA Cnaraxpepi)
aroxeia (. .. vor?) & dy RapOciperae Ta cwpara 12-15 § 27
. . . mop) hinc transposu i: vide post § 18 18 dv Heeren:
(ai7d :
édy FP |drofos dy cyseclusit Wachsm. |adriv Meineke
 EXCERPT XXVI. ISIS TO HORUS 529

or diminution caused by the operation of the environment,’

nor by that change in bodies which takes place in the course
of growth,’ but an increase or diminution that results from an
alteration in the mixing of the elements of which the body is
composed,—when, I say, the hot element, or one of the other
elements, is increased or diminished, then the creature is
diseased.
Now just as the vapour that is produced by the first coming 28
together and mixing of the elements in the body, whatever the
quality of that vapour may be, mingles with the soul and assimi-
lates it to itself, even so...* As long as the soul continues 29
to be in its original condition, it maintains its good order
unimpaired; but when either the mixed mass as a whole, or
some one part of it, receives, by subsequent addition from
without, a portion of one of the elements larger than that which
was originally assigned to it, then there is an alteration in
the vapour thence produced, and the altered vapour alters the
condition Of the soul.’®
man
1 E. g. such an increase in the heat of the body as takes place when a
warms himself before a fire.
which
2 When the body grows, the quantity of each of the elements of several
it is composed increases: but in healthy growth, the proportions of the
elements to one another remain unaltered. causes
® Perhaps, ‘even so every alteration in the quality of the vapour
a corresponding alteration in the quality of the soul)’, or organ
4 There may, for instance, be an increase of fire in some one limb
of the body; there would then be inflammation of that limb or anorgan. extract from
5 § 30, which here follows in the MSS., appears to be of that
another document ; and it is possible that § 26 is another fragment
. The two together might be translate d thus :
same document are lodged
§ 26: ‘For when the hot element and the airy element, which the living
the same habitatio n as the soul, are put into this condition , then
in § 30: ‘For
being falls into (distraction ?), and comes to be beside itself. up ...’ to the soul, the
the fire and the air, being upward-tending elements, run
place; but the fluid
place of which is the same as (or ‘is similar to’) their settle down
element and the earthy element, being downward-tending elements, to’) their
on the body, the abode of which is the same as (or ‘is similar
abode’.

19 ocrovdalws Usener: orovdatos FP 20 Fortasse éf

éavtiv FP 21 ragw codd.:
dpxiis (diabéoe) 20-21 mpds abrdv tbiéryr: F
23 wAclow Patrit. : mAelw FP 24 rére Meineke:
fortasse edrafiay 29-30 dpoddpy
7? FP 28 dpudxwpoy scripsi: dpoidxapoy codd.
dvre scripsi : Sporddpy ovte P?: En@edpdoyre FP}

2806 Mm
530 STOBAEI HERMETICA

EXCERPTUM XXVII

e).
p- 467 Hense (13. 5° Meinek
Stobaeus 3. 13- 65, Vol. ili,
ov.
‘Eppod €x rod “lovdos apos “Qp
LoTe Bacired, els ‘emiOu-
édeyxos yap émryvacbeis, & péey
mporepov ovK HOEt.
pilav’ péper Tov adeyySévra dv

EXCERPTUM XXVIII

Wachsmuth.
Stobaeus 1. 1. 29a, vol. i, Pp. 34
rav dvtwv, amexpivaro:
Oarjis, pwrnbels ri mpecBirarov 5
Océbs, dyévyntov yap. abdv atov kal
cme Td
Soxpdrns, epwornbels ri Oebs,
aidiov.
Trav Sdov Snprovpyos,
‘Epis, _pwrnbels ri beds, lev: ‘O
copdratos vods kal aidios.

EXCERPTUM XXIX

hsmuth (Zc/. I. 174 Heeren).*

Stobaeus 1. 5. 14, VOl. i, Pp. 77 Wac
10
|Tlepi cipappevns’ | [‘Eppod. |
pes ovdov
tnt modumrdavées Kar’ ’ONUpmov doré :
ayoera aldv
cidedvrat, pera Toiow del rrepivi(
s 400s,
vuxtipavis Myvn, otvyvos Kpévos, “Hu
emTepos ‘Eppis,
Traatopopos' Ilapin, Opacds “Apns,
npny
2 emivyvwbe’s A 9-3 émOuylay codd, : fortasse émor s Ti tore 70 Belov,
Alex. Strom . 5. 97? Epurrn dels yé Tor o @daAr
4-5 Cf. Clem. EXoV””-
“Td phre dpxiy” én “ pare Tédos
ud.
auctoris in Anthologia Graeca (Plan
1 Tteratur hoc carmen sine nomine
p. 494) Append. nr. 40 Jacob s. nomine :
olan.) 5. F 100, nullo auctoris
Catal. coda. astrol. Graec. U1 (Medi Suvdpers kat wa0n* “Era moduTAavees . «+
Els rods émra mAarA Tas Kal Tas ev july F 19V.
7. cod. 21. F 106 r., et cod. 24.
xéopos dmelpwv. Quae iterantur 7). cod. 28 F 57 (tit. tod abrov
i adscr ibunt ur versu s eidem 4.
Empedocl a ev Hporxois per pois) et cod, 30. F
(sc. 7EpmedoxA€ous) mAayapévey opaip
 ISIS TO HORUS 53!
EXCERPT XXVII.

EXCERPT XXVIII

t from the Discourse

Written by Hermes: an extrac us:
of Isis to Hor
n it has been recognized,
For a refutation, great king, whe
into... \ of things which he
brings him who has been refuted
did not know before.

EXCERPT XXVII1

e
him what God is, said: ‘Th
Hermes, when some one asked
most wise, and everlasting ’.
Maker of the universe, Mind

EXCERPT XXIX

[Written by Hermes.|
d
s which circle at the threshol
There are seven wandering star ng Tim e.
them ever revolves unendi
of Olympus, and among n, and sull en Kronos,’
ining Moo
The seven are these ; night-sh Ares,°
Lady of Paphos,* and bold
and glad Sun, and the. ..* all birt hs,
and Zeus,’ first author of
and swift-winged Hermes,"

1 Perhaps, ‘knowledge’. 3 Perhaps, ‘all-productive %

8 The Planecane 6 The planet Mars.
4 The planet Venus. 1 The planet Jupiter.
6 The planet Mercury.
Bae, a
del, Wachsm. 12 pera rotow de 8 tmvqjoer
10 rept cipappévys FP: mepwiocerar Jaco
erat Anth.; pera rota 8 det
FP: «al rotow det Ka vovit atuyvds Kpévos Anth., P? marg. + vuKros
13 vuxripavets P* | edmrepos PY, Anth,: evomepos
FP
14 Fortasse mayTopdpos
Mm 2
532 STOBAEI HERMETICA
kal Zeds dpxtyévebdos, ad ob giots EBAdotnoer.
of & adbrot pepbrav thaxor yévos, tort & ev ipiv
Min, Zeds, “Apns, Tadtn, Kpévos, “Hus, ‘Eppijs.
robver’ am’ aldeplov 'pepepiopeba' mvedparos Edxew
ddxpv, yédora, xdrov, yéveow, Aéyov, Umvov, dpe.
Sdxpu pév éort Kpévos, Zeds 'd}' yéveots, Noyos ‘Eppis,
Oupis “Apns, Mivn & ap imvos, Kuépea 8 dpegis,
’"Héduos 8 yédws: rote yap daca ‘dixaiws'
kal Ovnry didévora yarg kal sii dretpor.

1 dpxvyéveBdos P2: dpxiyeOdos ‘ath 2 ésaxov FP: éAdovor Anth,

; Fortasse Zevs, “Apns, Tain, 4 pepophpeda Meineke
SpdxpyP —| xédovF's xoAdy re
rng 6 Bpaxpu P a Anth. :
;FP: ‘94 Mice Fortasse ‘yéveats be Zebs 7 KvOaipea F;
«vbépia P 8 Anth.: te codd. Stcb. | Fortasse rovrov yap daca
Bi’ ai-yds
 EXCERPT XXIX 533
from whom Nature has sprung. To those same stars is assigned
the race of men; and we have in us Moon, Zeus, Ares, the Lady
of Paphos, Kronos, Sun, and Hermes. Wherefore it is our lot
to draw in from the aetherial life-breath’ tears, laughter, wrath,
birth, speech, sleep, desire. Tears are Kronos; birth is Zeus;
speech is Hermes; anger is Ares; the Moon is sleep ; Aphrodite
is desire; and the Sun is laughter, for by him...* laugh all
mortal minds, and the boundless universe.

1 Te, from the aether, which is the life-breath of the universe.

2 Perhaps, ‘ for by reason of his radiance’.
 FRAGMENTA
t. Tertullianus De anima 33.
(Mercurius Aegyptius dicit) animam digressam a corpore
refundi in animam universi, sed manere determinatam, uti rati
patri reddat eorum quae in corpore gesserit.

2. Cyprianus (?) Quod idola dit non sint 6,

Hermes quoque Trismegistus unum deum loquitur, eumque in.
comprehensibilem adque inaestimabilem confitetur, :
3. Lactantius Div. inst. 1. 6. 4. Lact. Zpit. 4. 4.
(Mercurius Trismegistus deum (Hermes deum) dominum «
appellat) dominum et patrem.. . . patrem nuncupat, eumque €
Ipsius haec verba sunt: 6 dé siné nomine, quod proprio
Geds els. 6 dE els dvdparos ob cabulo non indigeat, quia s
mpoodéerar® ‘Erte yap 6 dv sit.!
dvévupos'.!
4. Lact. Div. inst. 1.7. 2. Div. inst. 4. 13. 2.
(Mercurius Termaximus) non Ipse enim pater deus, quo
modo déuyropa, ...sed dmrdéropa parentibus caret, drdér@p at
quoque appellat deum, quod dpAtop a Trismegisto ve
origo illi non sit aliunde. Nec nominatur, quod ex nullo
enim potest ab ullo esse generatus procreatus,
qui ipse universa generavit. Lpit. 4. 4.
Nec habere (deum) ullos pa-
rentes, quia ex se et per se si
5. Lact. Div. inst. 1. 11. 61. Epit. 14. 3.
(Trismegistus), cum diceret ad- Trismegistus, paucos
modum paucos extitisse in quibus dum fuisse cum diceret pe
esset perfecta doctrina, in his doctrinae viros, in iis co
Uranum Saturnum Mercurium suos enumerayit Uranum §
nominavit, cognatos suos, turnum Mercurium.
* Fortasse 6 62 Geds els. 5 88 els ((év dvivupds)) (éorw) dvdparos (Cydp))
mpoodeira
, (émei pdvos) éori ([ J].
 FRAGMENTS'
the body, does not flow back
1. The soul, when it has quitted may
but remains separate,’ that it
into? the soul of the universe, s whic h it has done
er for the deed
be called to account by the Fath
in the body.

ond comprehension *and beyond

2. There is one God; he is bey
appraisement.

he that
Father.—God is one. And
3. God is called Master and e he is alone.
does not need a name; sinc
is one is nameless ; for he

he has been
and without mother ; for
4. God is without father
f.
generated by none but himsel

perfect know-
y few men that have had
5. There have been ver nos , Kronos, and
few are my kinsmen Ura
ledge.’ Among those ,
Hermes.®
notes on Testimonia in vol, iv.
will be found among the pio
1 Notes on the Fragments 3 dpw nevn.
2 Je, is not rea bso rbe d into . of God must be meant.
5 aos! Knowledge gis the teacher speak of
4 dxarddnmros t es Hermes Trisme tus
6 The Hermet ic writ er here mak
e been the teacher's grandfather,
he perhaps assumes to hav
another Hermes, whom
as in Ascl, Lat. IIL. 37+
 536 FRAGMENTA
6. Lact. Div, inst. 2, 8, 48,
(Trismegistus praedicat) divina providen
tia effectum esse mundum,
7- Lact. Div. inst. 2. 8. 68.
Ut Hermes ait, mortale inmortali, temp
orale perpetuo, corruptibile
incorrupto propinquare non potest.!

8, Lact. Div. inst. 2. 10, 14.

_ _(Hermes) non tantum hominem ad
imaginem dei factum esse_
dixit a deo, sed etiam
illut explanare temptavit, quam subti
singula quaeque in corpore hominis li ratione |
membra formaverit, cum eorum
nihil sit quod non tantundem ad
usus necessitatem quantum ad_
pulchritudinem valeat2

9. Lact, Div. inst. 2. 14. 6.

(Diabolum) Trismegistus daemoniarche
n vocat.®
to, Lact. Div. inst. 2. 15. 6.
4 yap eboéBea yvaots éorw rob beod.
11, Lact. Div. inst. 4. 7. a
Lit. 37. 8.
airvov 8 robrov [rob airiov] Hermes ait non posse nomen
4 Tob [Oc] dyenirov [ayaOo] eius (sc, dei filii) mortali ore
BovaAnois, of 7d dvoua od
proferri,
Sbvarat avOporive ardbpart
AadnOFvat.
12. Lact. Div. inst. 4. 7. 3:
Lb. 4. 9. 3.
tcorw ydp ts, & réxvor, esse ineffabilem quendam
améppnros byos, vopias dotoY
sanctumque sermonem, cuius
(Meoréc, mepi rod pévou kupiov enarratio
mévrev Kal mpoevvooupévov —modum hominis -
excedat.
Geod, dv elmeiv imip av0pwrév
€or.
13. Lact. Div. inst. 4. 8. 5.
(Hermes dicit deum) avtomdropa et
abrouhropa.
14. Lact. Div, inst. 7. 9. 11.
(Spectationem dei) Trismegistus Beom
(r)éan rectissime nominavit,
1 Vide Herm. af. Stob. Exc. I.
? Vide Corp, V. 6,
8 Vide Asc?, Lat, Ill, 28,
 FRAGMENTS 537
6. The world has been made by God’s providence.

7. That which is mortal cannot draw near to that which is

immortal, nor that which is for a time to that which is everlasting,
nor that which is corruptible to that which is incorruptible.

8. Man has been made by God in the image of God. God has
fashioned with consummate skill each member of man’s body;
every one of the members is perfectly adapted both for use and
for beauty.

9. The ruler of the daemons.

10. For piety is knowledge of God.

11. And the cause of this is the will of Him who is without
beginning, whose name cannot be spoken by human lips.

t2, For there is, my son, a secret doctrine, full of holy wisdom,
concerning Him who alone is lord of all and. . .,! whom to declare
is beyond the power of man.

13. God is his own father and his own mother.

14. Seeing God.

1 ‘and preconceived (?) God’, Cf. Fr. 17,

538 FRAGMENTA
15. Lact. Div. inst. 7. 13. 3
Hermes naturam hominis describens, ut doceret quemadmodum
esset a deo factus, haec intulit: "kal 7d adrd! €€ éxarépov hicewy,
ris te aOavdrov Kal rhs Ovyris, plav Eroie piow Ti Tod
avOpdrov, tov abrov mh pev dbdvaroy, m7 d& Ovnriv mromoas,
kal robrov pépwv év péow ris Oelas Kai aBavdrov picews Kai
ris Ovnris Kal peraBdAnTAs pce, iva “wdvra' pev dpov
“rdvra' Oavpdgy.'

16. Abdammonis ad Porphyrium responsum® 8. 6a.

7d dt mas Exet, Sef bia mrctbvav awd tev ‘Eppatk@y oot
(bro)mnnpdrov Steppnveica. dvo yap Exee woyxds, ds Taira
gno ra ypdppata, 6 dvOpwmos: Kal i péev éorw amd Too
mpdrov vonrod, peréxovoa kal ris Tod Snpioupyod Suvdpyews,
4 8% évdidopévn x Tis rav odpaviov mepipopas, els iv éreto-
Eprret 7) Ocomrixy uy?

17. Jb. 10. 7.

‘abrd 8&' rayabdr 7d pry Oeiov hyodvrat! Tov mpoevvootpevoy
Ocdv, rd S& dvOpdmwvov tiv mpods adrov Evwoww, dep Birus éx
tav ‘“Eppaixav BiBdwv peOnppivevoer.

18, Iamblichus afud Proclum in Zim. 117 D (Diehl).

"TdpBrxos torépnoev bri Kai ‘Eppijs éx ris ovorérnros Thy
brbrynTa mapdyerOa Bovdrerar.®

19. Zosimus Panopolitanus i. 4.

rods rovovrous 8¢ dvOpérmovs 6 ‘Eppis év 7G epi piocoy
éxdder dvoas, ris eluappévns povon dvtas mopmds, pndev TOV
dowpdrov pavragopévous,® pndt adtiy THY eivappéevnvy THN
abrods dyovcay Sixalws (drodapBdvovras), dAd& [rods] Suegn-
podvras abriis Ta copatika madevThpia, Kal TOY evdatpovov
abris exros (under) dddo havrafopévovs."

2 Le. ‘Iamblichus De mysterits’.

5 els dv... Yuxy secludendum? 4 Se. of Abyurriot.
5 Vide Abammonis resp. 8. 3 g ( Testim.).
® Fortasse évvootvras.
1 Vide Corp. IV. 4 et 7.
 FRAGMENTS | 539
the mortal,
15. ... Out of those two things, the immortal and
him in one respect mortal
God made this one thing, man, making
took and placed
and in another respect immortal. And him God
immort al and that which is mortal
between that which is divine and
behold the things of heaven with
and mutable, that he might
tend the things of earth).
wondering reverence,’ (and

has two souls. One of them comes from the first

16. Man
partakes of the power of the Demiu rgus; the
Intelligible,? and
other soul is put into the man by the revolution of the heavenly
uently the soul which
bodies, and into this latter soul enters subseq
is able to see God.°

is... God;* the good of man is union

17. The divine Good
with God.

substantiality.°
18. Materiality is brought into existence out of

are merely led along

19, Those men who are devoid of mind
conce ption of anything
in the train of Destiny. They have no
stand the meaning of
incorporeal, and they do not rightly under
are led; they complain
Destiny, that very power by which they
impos es, and they do not
of the bodily discipline which she s.
that which she confer
recognize any other kind of happiness than

admire all things’.

1 MSS., ‘that, beholding all things, he might oreal world.
2 J, e, from the first or highest part of the incorp
® Le, the first-mentioned of the two souls. Cf, Fr. 12.
4 MSS., ‘the God who is preconceived (?) *. independent entity, but is derived
5 This probably means that matter ig not an
words, issues from God,
from the immaterial world,—or in other
540 FRAGMENTA
20. Zosimus i. 5.
6 8 ‘Epps cal 6 Zwpodorpns 7d prroospov yévos avdrepov
ris eluappevns elrov,! TO pare TH eddaipovia attis xalpeev—
jdovav yap Kparoio.—, pire ois kakois avis BdéddeoOa',?
mdvrore ev aidla dyovTas.

21. Zosimus i. 7.
6 pévror ‘Epps ev 7 mepi aidlas diaBddde [kai] Thy
payelav, N€yov Sri ov det [rdv mveupatikoy dvOpwrov| Tov
emiyvovra éavrov [ovre] Si& payelas xaropboby 7, éav Kab
kakov voul(nrat, pnde BidgecOar tiv avdyKny, adr’ dv os
exer gtoews [kal Kploews] mopeverOat. $e did povov rod!
(nreiv® éavriv Kal Oedy ervyvovta Kpareiv (. « .)* [Thy dkatove-
pacrov rpiddal, kai cav thy cipappéevny d Oérelv] mroveiv TO
€avriis 1nd, TovTéott TE cHpatt. Kal ores, pyol, vojoas
kal modtrevodpevos (. « «).

22, Ephraim Syrus.

23. Didymus De Trinitate 757 8: Cyrillus ¢. /udianum 556 a."

ob yap egixrov éorw ‘els apufrovs' toaira puoript
TrapéxeOa.® ddd (. . .)' 7B vol dxotoare. ey pévov 7
[pas voepdv] [mpd gwrds voepod] Kai Eorw del, vods ty
gorevs'® Kal obdev repo Hv 7) %) Tovrou évérns. (odTOS), de
év (avr dy, del 7 éavrod [vot Kal] gorl kal mvedpare mdvra
mepréxel. —— —° éxrds rovrov od Oeés, odk dyyedos, ov
1 Fortasse 7d 58 pudoadday yévos 6 “Eppis [kal 6 Zwpodarpys] dvwrepoy rijs eluap-
pévns elev.
2 Brdnrecbart 3 Fortasse de(?) Se pdvon [rod] (yreiv.
4 Fortasse (rv maév) vel (rob dddyou).
5 avbls re (‘Epyfjs). . . dmopOéyyerat roid Didymus : Aéyer .. « “Eppijs ev Ady
tpity Tav mpos Aokdknmév Cyril. ’
: 2ortasse fees mh Tos Sentres F-p. mapadéxecOat,
ortasse ETAPLEVY)s ‘ortasse vods, voepod wrds n vel
® wat peragd GrAAwY it a Didymus; «al ped? érepa py cart(arch vel
sre
 FRAGMENTS 541
20. Philosophers are above Destiny ; for they find no joy in the
happiness she gives, since they hold pleasures in subjection; and
they are not harmed by the ills she inflicts, because they dwell
at all times in the immaterial world.

21. He who has learnt to know himself ought not to set right
by means of magic anything that is thought to be amiss, nor
to use force to overcome necessity,! but rather to let necessity
go its own way according to its nature. A man ought to seek to
know himself and God and hold his passions in subjection, and
to let Destiny deal as she wills with the clay which belongs to her,
that is, with his body. And if a man thinks thus and behaves
thus,...

22. Ephraim Syrus, Refuctations of Mani, Marcion, and Bardaisan,

edited and translated by C. W. Mitchell, A. A. Bevan, and F. C.
Burkitt, vol, ii, p. xcix.
‘Hermes taught that there was a Bowl, filled with whatever it was
filled with, and that there are Souls excited by desire, and they
it
come down beside it, and, when they have come close to it, in
and by reason of it they forget their own place. .. - Hermes teaches
that the souls desired the Bowl.’

23. From the third of the Discourses of Hermes to Asclepius.

For it is not possible for the uninitiated to have such holy secrets
was
told to them. But hearken ye with attentive mind. There
ual
and ever is one thing alone, even Mind, the source of intellect
of this one thing, there was nothing
light ;and beside the unity
else in being. This Mind, ever existing in itself, ever encompasses
all things with its own light and spirit. —— — There is no god, nor

employ magic is
1 «Necessity ’ is the working of Destiny or natural law ; and to :
“to use force to overcome necessity ’.
 542 FRAGMENTA
Saipov, ovK obota tis dAXn: mévrov
ydp éort Kbpios Kad ;
[kat Beds] "kat any? Kal (o?) Kai Stvapis
Kat as Kal
mvebpa", kal mévra ev abd Kal bn’ adbrov
ear,
24. Didym. 7%. 756 B: Cyril. 7, 556 Bt
ef pi) mpbvord tis Fv Too wévrey kupiou
dare He 73
Todrov arrokaddwat, obdt buds ToLodros épws
kareixey (,
mepi robrou ¢nrhonte: viv dt Gee Ge) rh
Aéyou dkovere. rovrov rod mvetparos, ob
mohAdxis
wdvra xpycer Ta mdvra yap ©Baord{ov kar’
défay
(womoet Kal rpépe, Kal ded ris dyias mnyi
s
‘emixovpov mvetpact’ (. . .)? Kai fas dracw de}
yovipov ev bv,

25. Cyril. 7%, 9

(cat érépwOt (sc. gyolv ‘Epyijs)) Et Tw obv
pbadpds, eLepyécdw To cdparos emi Tiv Oéav Tod
Kar
dvan7iT® Kal alwpnOjre, [kal] (ni) oxfjpa, ph
xpapc
idéas] (ntav bedoarbat, ddrr exeivo HG@Nov 76 rove
r Tro
7d ijovxov Kal yadnviv, rd édpaiov, 7d drper
rov,
mavra Kal pévov',® rd év,4 7d abrd eg éavTod, rd abrd
ey
7 €avT@ dpotov® [5 pire dAd@ Spuordy éort Hire €aure |

26, Cyril. 2. 549 c, D. 2

kai médw 6 adros (sc, ‘Eppijs) Mnéev oby, rep)
[wérrore]® rod évds Kad povov dyabod évvootpevos,
cimys: } maca yap Sivamis adbrdy? éorw. pnd? & 7
StavonOAs elvar, pnd? méduv [kar] éxrés twos:
anépavros dv mévray ori mépas, kal vad pndevds &
Hevos mdvra éumepiéxet. (- +) erel ris Stagopd
coudrov mpds Td) dodparov, Kal Tov yernrov mpos 7d
[kal trav dvdyky dtoKerpevov mpds 7d abretovatov] [

2 ‘Eppod Tpopeyiarou ex (rd mpds *AckAnmbdy Ad-yor tpravl> Epo

dyads Saipoval pe Tov rpicayiou mvevparos, éxpnoev ows cod,
Didym,
&y 78 air rv mpds Aokdrnmdy, ds epouévov twos nepi rod Oelov mvedpa
obras Cyril.
* Fortasse (alriov pads).
3 qd.abdrd mavra Kal pdvoy secludendum?
* Fortasse 7d év (ndvra bv). ® Fortasse 7d éavr@
® Fortasse Mydty oby (undémore), wept éxelvou [ ] rod évds war.A.
1 abr@ scripsi: abrds Aub.

en cee
 FRAGMENTS 543
of Him;
angel, nor daemon, nor any other being, that is outside
of all.. .,) and all things are in Him
for He is Lord and Father
and subject to Him.

us.
24. From the third of the Discourses of Hermes to Asclepi
been ordaine d by the provid ence of Him who is
If it had not
not have
Lord of all that I should reveal this doctrine, ye would
the truth con-
been possessed by such passionate desire to seek
which I have
cerning this ; but as it is, (. . - ),—Hearken ye to that
many times
yet to tell. Of this spirit, concerning which I have
it gives life and
spoken before, all things have need; for...
holy source, . . .
sustenance to all things. It is dependent on? the
things, inasmu ch
being ever (the cause of light (?)) and life to all
as it is the one thing that is fecund.

25. If any man then has an incorporeal eye, let him go forth from
aloft,
the body to behold the Beautiful, let him fly up and float
colour, but rather that by which these
not seeking to see shape or
is quiet and calm, stable and change-
things® are made, that which
a.
and is
less,... that which is one,‘ that which issues from itself
contained in itself, that which is like nothing but itself.

who alone
26. Say not then, in your thought concerning Him
belong s all power.
is good, that anything is impossible ; for to Him
that He is outside
And think not that He is in anything, nor again
is the limit of all
of anything ; for He is limitless himself, and
encomp asses all things.
things ;He is encompassed by nothing, and
is incorporeal,
... For in what do bodies differ from that which
from that which is without
and things which have come into being

1 Perhaps, ‘ and source of life and light and spirit’.

2 Perhaps, ‘ It flows forth from’.
8 Sc, shaped and coloured (i.e. bodily) things. ’.
4 Perhaps, ‘that which, being one, Cis yet all things)
544 FRAGMENTA
éertyelov mpos Ta éroupdvia, Kal Trav POaprav mpds Ta aidia}; -
ovx
>
dre
Lif
Td pev
s
adrefotoroy
> 4
éort, TA‘ deSt avdyKn
P ete 4 3 a
voKetpeva;
¢ 4 me

(..-) Ta 82 Kdrw, aredq dvta, pOaprd Eorw.?

27. Cyril. 2, 552 D.

6 8 rpicpéyioros ‘Epps obrwm pbéyyerat mepi Oeod- ‘O yap
Abyos adbrod mpoedAOdy, mavTédre1os dy Kal yévipos Kal dnpuoup-
yiix)os, ev yovinw gioe meody [emi yovium tbédart], eyxvov 7d
bdwp éroinee.*

28, Cyril. 7. 552 p. ‘

kat 6 avros (sc. ‘Eppijs) atOis ‘H ody ‘rupapls', pyotv,
"Sroxepevn 7h pioet Kal TB voep@ baum" exer yap dpxovta
émixe(uevov (Tov) Snpiovpydv Aéyov Tod mavrav Seomérov, ds*
per’ éxeivoy mpérn dtvapis, ayévnros, amépavros, ef €éxeivou
mpoxv aca, kai émikerrar kal dpxer tov St adrod Snproupyy-—
bévrer.

29. Cyril. 7. 553 A.

kal mdédw 6 adrés (sc. ‘“Eppijs), @s épopévov tivds Tov ev
Alyimre@ repevitay, Kal déyovros “ did rh 8é, & peyote Ayabds
Aaipov,® rotr@ 7@ dvépate exrjOn dd tod mévrwy Kupiov ;"*
gyot “Kal év trois eumpoober elroy: od dt od cvvijKas; (i)
gvais TOD voepod adtod Adéyou [Pvors] e€ori yevyyntiKy.’ [rodro
aorep adrod y yévynats i) pivots 7 eos 7] (ad de) d OérEs
avTo(v) Karey Kédet, ToOTO pévoy vowy, drt TédELbS ory ev
Terel@] Kal amd Tedelov, (kal) Tee ayabd Epyd¢erat, Kal
Snpuoupyet® Kai <worore’. med?) odv ToLadrns exerat picews,
Kaas TolTo mpoonydpevTat.”

1 ra... dmoxeipeva scripsi: Td... droxeipevoy Aub.

2 Fortasse (rd piv ydp dvw, rédea dvra, didid éori,) Ta BE K.7.A.
3 Fortasse 6 yap Adyos abrod mpoedOuv, . . , (wal) év (vel emt) yovinm pice (sc. 7H
Tov vdaros) reaay [ ], éyvov 7d USwp émoinae.
4 Fortasse rdv [Snuioupydv] rod mavrwv deandrou Ad-yov, ds K.7.A.
5 Fortasse ’Ayadodatpor.
® Fortasse éAnOn (5) [ad] rod wavrow Kuplov (Adyos).
7 Fortasse % pvots Tov . . . Ad-you [picts] Early (d-yabav) yervnt.Kh.
* Fortasse «al (navra) dyproupye,
 FRAGMENTS 545
beginning? Is not the difference this, that the one! is self-
determining, and those other things* are subject to necessity ?
..., but® the things below, being imperfect, are perishable.

27. For God’s Word, who is all-accomplishing and fecund and

creative, went forth, and flinging himself upon the water,‘ which
was a thing of fecund nature, made the water pregnant.

28. ... 3° for it® has over it as ruler the creative Word of the
Master of all. That Word is, next after Him, the supreme Power,
a Power ungenerated, boundless, that has stooped forth from
Him;7 and the Word presides over and governs the things that
have been made through him.*

29. But tell me, great Agathodaimon, why was he® called by
this name ” by the Lord of all? "—I have already told you; did you
not understand? The nature of His intellectual Word is generative.”
You may call him what you will, provided that you understand
this, that he is perfect and issues from one that is perfect, and that
he works perfect goods, and makes and vivifies all things. Since
then he is of * such a nature, he is rightly called by this name.

1 Sc, that which is incorporeal and without beginning.

2 Sc. bodies, things which have come into being.
8 Perhaps, ‘(For the things above, being perfect, are everlasting,) but’.
* I.e, the primal chaos of water out of which the world was evolved.
5 The sense of this corrupt clause was probably something like ‘The material
world is subject to intelligent government ’.
6 Sc, the material world. -
7 T.e, has issued from the supreme God and looked down on things below.
8 T.e. the world which the supreme God has made by the agency of his Word.
® Sc. God’s Word.
10 The ‘name’ spoken of must have been a name which signified something like
‘ He who is perfect, and whose works are perfectly good’.
- 11 Perhaps, ‘ why was the Word of the Lord of all called by this name?’
12 Perhaps, ‘generative (of goods)’.
18 Sc, God’s Word.
14 Literally, ‘holds on to’ or ‘ pertains to’.
2806 a Nn
546 FRAGMENTA
30. Cyril. 2. 553 A, B.
kai 6 avrés (sc. ‘Eppijs) év Abyo mpdét@ Tov mpds Tar
SteEodixGv orm Aéyer twepi Oeod- ‘O roti Snptoupyot Aédyos,
® réxvov, aidios, avroxivnros, avavéns, duciwros, dueTdBAnTOs,
apOapros,'povos™ det éavt@ pods éoriv, ioos dé Kai duards,?
evotabys, edraxtos, els dv [6] pera Tov mpoeyvmopévor® Bedr.

31. Cyril. 2%. 588 a.

eon yap obros (sc. ‘Eppijs) év 'rd" mpos ‘AckAnmév:* Kal
cdme, pyolv, “Ooipis: “ira, @ peyote Ayabds Aatpov,> was
dn 4 yh epdvn;” Kal dev 6 péyas ‘Ayabis Aaipov: “ Kara
'rdéw' kal dvafjpavow, ws dmov. Kal (yap) tev Todd@y —
iddtwov Kedevebévrwy amd Tob (...)% els EavTa dvaxwpieat,
epdvn [6An] } yf, Eumndros™ Kai rpépovca: Hdrlov Se rowdy
dvahdpwavtos, kai ddiadelrrws Staxalovros Kai Enpaivovros,
) yi €ornplfero év trois bdacw, eureptexopéevyn bd Tod Udaros.”
— — —5 588 p, HAlov dé wept madd OSE gynot Kal crev
*“Ooipis “é [7pis] péyrore ‘Ayabds Aaipov,® (ridey Epdvn 6
peyas ovros ijduos 5” kai elev 6 péyas ‘Ayabds Aaipov “@
“Oorpi,) Alou yévvay Bovret Hpuas Karanégat [r6bev he
epdvn mpovoia tod mdévrwy Searérov.”

32. Cyril. 2d. 588 A.

kal pijy Kal érépabe (sé. epn ‘Eppiis) ‘O rdévreov Snpuoupyds
kai Ktpios épdvacer obras, “ éorw yi [kal pavelrw orepéwpa)”
kal ev0éws dpxi) THs Snpwoupylas yi éyévero.

33. Cyril. 22. 588 B.

kal (6) adros (sc. “Eppijs) év 7 mpds rov Tar dregodixG
Aby@ mpdr@ gyoiv: ‘O dé mévtwv Kips ebbéws epdvnce TO
éavtod ayie [kal vont@] Kal Snuroupy:K@ doy “ ~aT@ Adros ”*
kal dua 7@ pdvat, 7d rip," [rijs|!° Pvoews avedepois Ex dpevor,

1 Fortasse Ovi HOS. 2 éorw taos 5 kat Suadds secludendum ?

7 Choé Tpoevvoovmevos beds, Fr. 12, 17, 36.
4 Fortasse év r@ (rpiry (1) t@v) mpds "AoxAnmdr.
5 "Ayabodaiyor ? ® Fortasse (rdvrow xupiov).
7 Fortasse (7d yey mpwrov) éumnros.
®§ Fragmentum 32 hic interponit Cyr illus.
® Fortasse cat apa 7@ (elneiv) bases (6 ipdtos)* 7d (yap) mip «.7,A,
10 Fortasse dre,
 FRAGMENTS 547
30. From the first of the Explanatory Discourses of Hermes to Tat.
without
The Word of the Maker, my son, is everlasting, self-moved,
...;1 he® is ever
increase or diminution, immutable, incorruptible,
like to himself and equal to himself, equable , stable, well-ordered;
after the supreme God * he stands alone.

ius.*
31. From one of the Discourses of Hermes to Asclep
‘Tell me next, most great Agath odaimon, how
And Osiris said,
great Agathodaimon said,
did all the land come forth?’ And the
as I told you. For when
‘It came forth by... and drying up,
of all) to go back into
the many waters were bidden by the (Lord
first it was muddy and
themselves, then the land came forth. At scorched
quivering ; but afterwards, when the sun shone forth, and
firmly fixed amid the waters,
and dried it without cease, the land was
And Osiris said, ‘ Tell me,
being encompassed by the water.— — —
this great sun come forth ?’
most great Agathodaimon, (whence did
‘Osiris ,)’ do you wish me to
And the great Agathodaimon said,
The sun came forth by the
describe the origin of the sun?
is Maste r of all’.
providence of Him who

‘ Let earth pe’ { 3"

32. The Maker and Lord of all spoke thus,
being , and so began the making
and straightway earth came into
of the world.’

of Hermes to Tat.
33. From the first of the Explanatory Discourses
spoke with his own holy and
And straightway the Lord of all
the sun be’; and even as He spoke,
creative speech,’ and said, ‘ Let
breath! the fire, which is of
‘Nature drew to herself with her own
which is unmixed and
upward-tending nature,—that fire, I mean,

1 Perhaps, ‘ abiding’. 2 Se, God’s Word.

4 Cf. Fr. 23 and Fr, 24.
3 MSS., ‘the foreknown God’. water).
5 Perhaps, ‘ by separation’ (sc. of earth from text, but preserved in Oecolam-
6 © Whence... Osiris’: omitted in the Greck
padius’s Latin translation.
7 (‘and let a firmament appear le he took this extract; but its verbal
8 Cyril does not say from what /iel/us
probab le that it was taken from the same document
similarity to 7%. 33 makes it
atory Discou rses of Hermes to Tat.
as that, viz. ¢he first of the Explan ?
9 Or ‘spoke to his own holy and creative Word’
548 FRAGMENTA
Aéyw 5) 7d dxpatov Kal pwretvorarov Kat Spactixdratoy Kal
youimaratov,) érearrdcato 'h pias TO éavTis mvedpati',? Kal
Hyepev eis-txpos amd (rod) Udaros. i

34. Cyril. 2. 588 c.

eloxexdpune yap (Eppis) Tov Oedy Aéyovra Tois KTiopaciw:
Avdykny 6é opiv Trois ym éue mepOiacw Tabryy tiv da Tob
Aéyou pou div évrodjy dedopévnys tobrov yap vopov Exere.2

35. Cyril. #. 920 D.

épn O€ mov... ‘Epps rept Tod mdvrwy apiorotéxvou beod:
Kai yap ds 'rédetos'* Kai cogds rdgw [Kal] dragia éréOnne,
«+ .) Wa Ta pev voepd, os phpe alge Kal xpelrrova, ™po-
eoTHkn Kal Tov mparov Témrov xn Ta d¢ algOnrd, as Sevrepa,
[iva] robrots droorHKy. 7d obv Katr@pepes [rep] dv [rod voepod]
kai Bpibov Abyov ev éavt@ copdv exer [Snproupyixdr]} 6 de
Aéyos [adrob] obros Snmioupyixis Exerae gioews, ybvipos
imdpxov Kal (worrotds.

36. Pseudo-Anthimus§ 15. ‘

obros yap (sc. 6 Tpropéytoros) pera tov mpadrov Oedy mepi
Tod devrépov A€yov obtws Edn: Elospeda Tov (re) ™poevvoot-
Hevoy Oedv (kai tov Setrepor), ds Ta mdvra per ¢éxeivov bpoa
Bovrnbévros exet,® duot St Aelrerar, To elvan ev cépare kal
dparov vrdpxev.

37. Shahrastani.

Keg gicews dvapepois exdpevov [Aéyw 5% 7d dxparov] Kai porevéraroy

év) 4.7.0
® Fortasse émeanacaro [1% pais} (seu 6 navrav Ktipios) 7@ éavrod mvevpari.
3 tere t * Fortasse rexvixds.
© al rov mp@rov ténov éxn secludendum?
6 Fortasse ds rd pty (dA) ndvra éxeivov BovandévrosSpo. exer.
 FRAGMENTS 549

most luminous and most active and most fecund,—and raised it up*
aloft from the water.

you
34. God said to the beings that He had made: ‘And on
ble constrai nt
that are subject to me I will impose as an irresisti
you by my speech ; this
this commandment that has been given
you shall have as your law.’

on
35. For God, as being Tperfect?* and wise, imposed order
being prior and
disorder,...* that so the things of mind, as
the things
mightier, might preside and hold the first place, and
be placed under
perceptible by sense, as being secondary, might
and heavy has in it
them. And so that which is downward-tending
e nature, being fecund
a wise Word; and this Word is of creativ
and life-giving.

(?),* and
36. We shall know both the God who is preconceived
is like him
the second God,’ who, by the will of the first God,
s, namely , in that
in all else, but fall short of him in two respect
he is in a body, and in that he is visible.

37. Shahrastani (Haarbriicker ii, p. 81).

‘Concerning ‘Adsimtin’ (Agathodaimon), the philosophers hand
down the tradition that he said “ that the first principles were five.
that the
namely, the Creator, Reason, Soul, Space, and 'Void',* and
composite things came into being thereafter”.’ But this is not
reported of Hermes’.
For He (i.e, God) drew
1 Perhaps, ‘ and even as Ie spoke, the sun appeared. is of upward-tending
to himself with his own breath (or spirit) the fire, which
most fecund, and raised
nature and is most luminous and most active and
it up’, &c.
2 Perhaps, ‘skilful’.
8 Perhaps, Se is his Word to govern the material world’), or some-
thing to that effect.
denoted by it is the
4 The meaning of this phrase is doubtful; but the God
first or supreme God. Cf. /%, 12, 17, and 30.
5 T.e. the Kosmos.
6 Perhaps rather, ‘and Time’. which the teacher was
7 Probably taken from a Greek Hermeticum in
Agathos Daimon,
 PRINTED IN ENGLAND
AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
 &

EN ee Le eg
T=a= -

From the pavement of Siena Cathedral

See page 32