Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
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It may then have been that our Hermetic writers reasserted the use of the term in its simpler philosophic meaning as a check to over-enthusiastic speculation.
But even if it were a reaction against a too great luxury of speculation, it must have been contemporaneous with the development of seonology ; so that in any case C. H. xi. (xii.) must be dated from this point of view.
When seonology arose we cannot say precisely ; but seonology in the Gnostic sense of the term was, as we have seen, to some extent at least existing as early as the earliest Christian documents.
THE JSoN THE LOGOS
Now though the Trismegistic tractate C. H., xi. (xii.) is evidently in literary contact with the Timceus,1 it nevertheless purports to give more " esoteric," or at any rate more precise, instruction than is to be found in Plato's famous cosmogonical treatise. It does not follow Plato, but hands on an instruction that has already been formulated in a precise and categorical fashion. The ladder of existence is God, Mon, Cosmos, Time, Genesis ; — each following one from the other.
JEon is the Power of God (§ 3), whereas Cosmos is God's creation and work (§§ 3, 4). The ^Eon, standing between God and Cosmos, is the Paradigm, and so also the Son of God (§15), and the final end of man is that he should become Mou (§ 20) — that is, Son of God. Mon is thus evidently the Logos of God, or the Intelligible Cosmos, as distinguished from the Sensible Cosmos. This
p. 407
is the Fullness in which all things move, and chiefly the Seven Cosmoi (§ 7).
1 Gf. § 1 : "As many men say many things, and these diverse about the All and Good " ; and Tim., 29 c : " If then, 0 Socrates, since many men say many things about the Gods and the genesis of the All."
THE ROMAN S^ICULUM-CULT DERIVED FROM EGYPT
Now, Eeitzenstein (pp. 274 ff.) shows very clearly that the Cult of the Saeculum or Mon was strongly developed in Koman theology in at least the first century B.C. This is too early a date for us to assign this development to the influence of the Mithras- cult. Can it then be that Eome was influenced by Egypt ? Such at anyrate is Reitzenstein's opinion (p. 277), who points to the fact that Messala, who is fully imbued with the ^Eon-idea, was a contemporary of Nigidius, the most learned of the Romans after Varro, and a Pythagorean philosopher of high attainments. Now it is remarkable that in his work, De Sphcera Barbarica, Nigidius treats of the Egyptian Sphere.
THE vEoNic IMMENSITIES OF EGYPT
Egypt, as we have already remarked, at a very early date arrived at the idea of eternal or at anyrate of enormously long periods of time, and had symbolised this conception in a primordial syzygy or pair of Gods. Indeed, the names of the primordial Time-pair, Hhw (IJehu) and 5ht (IJehut), are immediately derived from " Hh," generally translated "Million," but byBrugsch and others as JEon.1 All the Egyptian Gods were Lords of the Eternity or of the Eternities. But not only so, the term " eternity " was used in connection with definite time-periods ; for instance, " in a million (or eternity) of thirty year periods." And again : " Thy kingdom will have the lastingness of eternity and of infinitely many hundred-and- twenty-year periods ; ten millions of thy years, millions of thy months, hundred- thousands of thy days, ten-thousands of thine hours." x
1 Budge (op. cit., i. 285) writes : " According to the late Dr Brugsch (Religion, p. 132), the name Heh is connected with the word which indicates an undefined and unlimited number, i.e. heh ; when applied to time the idea suggested is ' millions of years,' and Heh is equivalent to the Greek a'uav."
Here we must remark the numbers 120 (that is 12 x 10) and 30 ; all essential numbers of the Gnostic Pleroma of ^Eons.
It is also of interest in connection with the Time-pair, to note that Horapollo, the Alexandrian grammarian, tells us that the Egyptians when they desire to express the idea of ^Eon write " sun and moon " 2 (i. 1), and when they want to write " year " they draw " Isis," that is " woman " (i. 3).
We thus see that in Egypt there were jEons of Periods or Years, and Years of vEons. Above all these ruled the God of the ^Eons, the highest God of many a mystic community.
A SONG OF PRAISE TO THE ^EON
And so we read the following song of praise to the Mon, inscribed on a " secret tablet " by some unknown Brother of a forgotten Order :