Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

sister of Martha. The tradition of the Gnosis from James, the Brother of the Lord, is asserted by Clement of Alexandria in Book VI. of his lost work, The Iiistitutions, where he writes : " The Lord imparted the Gnosis to James the Just, to John and Peter, after His resurrection ; these delivered it to the rest of the Apostles, and they to the Seventy " (Euseb., Hist. Eccks., ii. 1 ; cf. D. J. L., 226).

1 From here onwards we use the revised critical text of Reitzenstein (pp. 83-98), who appends what we may call an apparatus criticus of the emendations and conjectures of the various editions of our solitary MS. R., as usual, however, gives no translation.

2 Is. liii. 8 — same reading as LXX. Cf. also § 25 J.

3 A remark of the writer of S., which, as we shall see at the end, is divided into Texts and Commentary.

4 The " he says " may be ascribed to any subsequent hand ; I have marked them all H. to avoid further complication.

it was the Idsean Kuretes, race divine, or the Phrygian Korybantes, whom Helios saw first sprouting forth tree-like; or whether Arkadia brought forth Pelasgos [first], older than the Moon ; or Eleusis Diaulos, dweller in Karia; or Lemnos Kabeiros, fair child of ineffable orgies;1 or whether Pallene Phlegraean Alkyoneus, eldest of Giants.

" The Libyans say that Garamas,2 rising from parched plains, first picked sweet date of Zeus ; while Neilos, making fat the mud of Egypt to this day (H. he says), breeds living things, and renders from damp heat things clothed in flesh."3

The Assyrians say it was with them Oannes, the
Fish-eater; while the Chaldseans [say that it was]
Adam.

(2) J. And this Adam they [the Chaldseans] say was the man that Earth produced — a body only, and that he lay breathless, motionless, immovable, like a statue, being an image of that Man Above —

1 " Burstings forth," inspirations, revealings, or mysteries.

2 In Greek transformation, son of Apollo and the daughter of Minos, born in Libya. This points to a very ancient mythconnection with the old Cretan civilisation. Garamas was also called Amphithemis (q.v. in Roscher's Lex.) ; he appears also, according to one tradition, to have been the father of Ammoii. (See " Garamantis Nympha," ibid.)

3 This passage is doubly interesting, for it is not only a source, but a source within a source. Already a number of scholars have recognised it as an Ode ; and not only so, but conjectured with much probability that it is by no less a master than Pindar himself. Nay, further, it is part of a Hymn to Jupiter Ammon — an additionally interesting point for us as showing strong Egyptian influence. It is true that in our text of Hippolytus the order of the words has been frequently changed to bring it into prose form ; but the reconstruction of most of it is not difficult, and quite convincing. I translate from the text of Bergk's final revision, as given S. 134, 135 ; C. 142. R., for some reason or other, does not refer to this interesting side-light.

H. — of whom they sing, and brought into existence by the many Powers,1 concerning which there is much detailed teaching.

J. In order, then, that the Great Man from Above —

C. From whom, as is said, every fatherhood has its name on earth or in the heavens.2

J. — might be completely brought low, there was given unto him 3 Soul also, in order that through the Soul the enclosed plasm of the Great, Most-fair, and Perfect Man might suffer and be chastened.

H. For thus they call Him. They seek to discover then further what is the Soul, and whence, and of what nature, that by entering into man and moving him, it should enslave and chasten the plasm of the Perfect Man ; but they seek this also not from the Scriptures, but from the Mysteries.

(3) S. And they4 say that Soul is very difficult to discover, and hard to understand ; for it never remains of the same appearance, or form, or in the same state, so that one can describe it by a general type,5 or comprehend it by an essential quality.

H. These variegated metamorphoses they 6 have laid down in the Gospel, superscribed " According to the Egyptians." 7

S. They are accordingly in doubt —
H. — like all the rest of the Gentiles —

J. — whether it [sc. the Soul] is from the Pre-existing [One], or from the Self-begotten, or from the Streaming Chaos.8

1 Sc. of the Fate-Sphere.

2 This looks back, though with variants, to Ephes. iii. 15.

3 Sc. the image-man, or Adam of " red " earth.

4 Sc. the Chaldaeans.

5 rvircp,

6 Sc. the Naassenes.