Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. II (the Corpus Hermeticum) — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

1 P. = Parthey (G. ), Hermetis Trismegisti Poemander (Berlin ;
1854). Pat. = Patrizzi ( F.), Nova de Universis Philosophia (Venice ;
1593).

2 TTfpl TWV &VTUV. 3 masterhood l ; I know what thou desirest and I'm with thee everywhere.

3. [And] I reply : I long to learn the things that are, and comprehend their nature, and know God. This is, I said, what I desire to hear.

He answered back to me : Hold in thy mind all thou wouldst know, and I will teach thee.

4. E'en with these words His aspect changed,2 and straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, all things were opened to me, and I see a Vision limitless, all things turned into Light, — sweet, joyous [Light]. And I became transported as I gazed.

But in a little while Darkness came settling down on part [of it], awesome and gloomy, coiling in sinuous folds,3 so that methought it like unto a snake.4

And then the Darkness changed into some sort of a Moist Nature, tossed about beyond all power of words, belching out smoke as from a

1 6 TT)S avQevrias vovs. The avQfvria was the summa potestas of
all things ; see R. 8, n. 1 ; and § 30 below. Cf. also C. H., xiii.
(xiv.) 15.

2 i]\\dyTi rrj ttef.

3 crKo\ius effirfipa/j.fvov. The sense is by no means certain. Menard translates " de forme sinueuse " ; Everard, " coming down obliquely " ; Chambers, " sinuously terminated." But c/. in the Sethiaii system "the sinuous Water" — that is, Darkness (see Hipp., Philos., v. 19).

fire, and groaning forth a wailing sound that beggars all description.

4 Of. Hipp., Pkilos., v. 9 (S. 170, 71) : "They say the Serpent is the Moist Essence."

[And] after that an outcry inarticulate came forth from it, as though it were a Voice of Fire.

5. [Thereon] out of the Light . . . l a Holy Word (Logos) 2 descended on that Nature. And upwards to the height from the Moist Nature leaped forth pure Fire ; light was it, swift and active too.

The Air, too, being light, followed after the Fire ; from out the Earth-and- Water rising up to Fire so that it seemed to hang therefrom.

But Earth-and- Water stayed so mingled each with other, that Earth from Water no one could discern.3 Yet were they moved to hear by reason of the Spirit- Word (Logos) pervading them.

6. Then saith to me Man-Shepherd : Didst understand this Vision what it means ?

Nay ; that shall I know, I said.

That Light, He said, am I, thy God, Mind, prior to Moist Nature which appeared from Darkness ; the Light- Word (Logos) [that appeared] from Mind is Son of God.

1 A lacuna of six letters in the text.

2 The idea of the Logos was the central concept of Hellenistic theology ; it was thus a word of many meanings, signifying chiefly Reason and Word, but also much else. I have accordingly throughout added the term Logos after the English equivalent most suitable to the context.

3 Of. II., vii. 99, as quoted by Apion in the chapter " Concerning the Mou " as Comment, on C. H., xi. (xii.).

What then ?— say I.

Know that what sees in thee * and hears is the
Lord's Word (Logos) ; but Mind is Father-God.
Not separate are they the one from other ; just
in their union [rather] is it Life consists.

Thanks be to Thee, I said.

So, understand the Light [He answered], and make friends with it.

7. And speaking thus He gazed for long into my eyes,2 so that I trembled at the look of Him.

But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos 3 grown beyond all bounds, and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.

And when I saw these things I understood by reason of Man- Shepherd's Word (Logos).

8. But as I was in great astonishment, He saith to me again : Thou didst behold in Mind the Archetypal Form whose being is before beginning without end. Thus spake to me Man-Shepherd.

And I say: Whence then have Nature's elements their being?

To this He answer gives : From Will of God.

1 That is, in vision. 2 ^ £ H^ xi> (xii ) 6

3 it6fffjLov. The word kosmos (world-order) means either " order "

or " world " ; and in the original there is frequently a play upon the two meanings, as in the case of logos.

[Nature *] received the Word (Logos), and gazing on the Cosmos Beautiful2 did copy it, making herself into a cosmos, by means of her own elements and by the births of souls.