Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
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1 Or the Intelligible — voijroC.
2 els-ofifvuv rb ov — a play on iff-tl-ov — fut. of VF'8 (vid) from which comes also rf5rj<ns above. This may also mean " seeing " as well as " knowing," and thus may refer to the Epopteia or Mystery of Sight, and not the preliminary Mystery of Hearing (Muesis).
3 dffioas — another play on TO-JJ ; cf. Ix. 3.
4 SiKaioffvfTft^ or Justice (Maat), that is, the " power of the Judge," Hermes being Judge of the Scales. The Nine are the Paut of Hermes, he being the tenth, the mystery being here read differently from the Ogdoad point of view — that is to say, macrocosmically instead of cosmically.
wise,1 as has been said,2 and shows3 the mysteries of the Gods to those who are with truth and justice called the Carriers of the holy [symbols] and Wearers of the holy robes.*
3. And these are they who carry the holy reason (logos) about the Gods, purged of all superstition and superfluity, in their soul, as in a chest, and cast robes round it6 — in secret disclosing such [things] of the opinion 6 about the Gods as are black and shadowy, and such as are clear and bright, just as they are suggested by the [sacred] dress.
4. Wherefore when the initiates of Isis at their "death" are adorned in these [robes], it is a symbol that this Keason (Logos) is with them ; and with Him and naught else they go there.7
5. For it is not the growing beard and wearing cloak that makes philosophers, 0 Klea, nor clothing in linen and shaving oneself that makes initiates of Isis ; but a true Isiac is one who, when he by law 8 receives them, searches out by reason (logos) the [mysteries] shown and
1 Or, perhaps, the reading should be "Wisdom."
2 Of. ii. 1.
3 SeiKvvovffav — probably a play on SiKatoff^vriv.
4 Upo<ti4pois Kal ifpoffr6\otf. Plutarch by his "with truth and justice" warns the reader against taking these words to mean simply the carriers of the sacred vessels and instruments in the public processions, and the sacristans or keepers of the sacred vestments.
6 Trepi(TTf\\ovTts, which also means componere — that is, to lay out a corpse and so to bury.
6 ol-fiffe<fs = SJfrjy, appearance, seeming — that is, the public myth ; as opposed to \4yos— enurr-finti, knowledge or reality.
7 Or "walk there" — that is, in "Hades." Or, again, the " death " is the death unto sin when they become Alive and walk among the " dead " or ordinary men.
8 That is, when the initiation is a lawful one, or really takes effect ; when a man's karma permits it, that is, after passing the proper tests.
done concerning these Gods, and meditates upon the truth in them.
WHY THE PRIESTS ARE SHAVEN AND WEAR LINEN
IV. 1. Now, as far as the " many " are concerned, even this commonest and smallest [secret] is hid from them, — namely, why the priests cut off their hair, and wear linen robes ; for some do not at all care to know about these things, while others say that they abstain from [the use of] the sheep's wool, as they do from its flesh, because they hold it sacred, and that they shave their heads through being in mourning, and wear linen things on account of the colour which the flax in flower sends forth, resembling the setherial radiance l that surrounds the cosmos.
2. But the true cause, [the] one of all, is, as Plato says,
[because] : " It is not lawful for pure to touch not pure." 2
Now, superfluity8 of nourishment and excretion is nothing chaste or pure ; and it is from superfluities that wool and fur and hair and nails spring up and grow.
3. It would, thus, be laughable for them to cut off their own hair in the purifications, shaving themselves, and making smooth their whole body evenly, and [then] put on and wear the [hair] of animals.4
4. For indeed we should think that Hesiod, when he says:
Nor from five-branched at fire-blooming of Gods Cut dry from green with flashing blade 6 —
1 xptav — also meaning surface, skin, and tone in melody.
2 Phced., 67 B.
3 Tttpiffffw/jia — also probably here a play on that which is" round the body " (iftpl <r«/tia) — namely, the hair.
4 ep(fj./j.drt>y — lit., " things nourished " (from rpf<pu), presumably a play on the " nourishment " (rpo<pi\) above.