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

And then they, in a band,4 go to the Father home ; of their own selves they make surrender of themselves to Powers, and [thus] becoming Powers they are in God. This the good end for those who have gained Gnosis — to be made one with God.

1 luvvtrrnrov. * Cf. G. H., xiii. (xiv.) 7.

3 Cf. G. #., xiii. (xiv.) 15.

4 T«££ei, order, group, sc. of the Nine ; — the Father being the Ten, or consummation.

Why shouldst thou then delay? Must it not be, since thou hast all received, that thou shouldst to the worthy point the way, in order that through thee the race of mortal kind may by [thy] God be saved ?

27. This when He'd said, Man -Shepherd mingled with the Powers.1

But I, with thanks and blessings unto the Father of the universal [Powers], was freed, full of the power He had poured into me, and full of what He'd taught me of the nature of the All and of the loftiest Vision.

And I began to preach to men the Beauty of
Devotion and of Gnosis :

0 ye people, earth-born folk, ye who have given yourselves to drunkenness and sleep and ignorance of God, be sober now, cease from your surfeit, cease to be glamoured by irrational sleep 2 !

28. And when they heard, they came with one accord. Whereon I say :

1 Cf. K. K., 25 : " Thus speaking God became Imperishable Mind."

2 Cf. the logos, " Jesus saith, I stood in the midst of the world, and in the flesh was I seen of them, and I found all men drunken, and none found I athirst among them, and my soul grieveth over the sons of men, because they are blind in heart." Sayings of Our Lord from an Early Greek Papyrus, Qrenfell & Hunt (London ; 1897).

Ye earth-born folk, why have ye given up yourselves to Death, while yet ye have the power of sharing Deathlessness ? Repent, 0 ye, who walk with Error arm in arm and make of Ignorance the sharer of your board ; get ye from out the light of Darkness, and take your part in Deathlessness, forsake Destruction !

29. And some of them with jests upon their lips l departed [from me], abandoning themselves unto the Way of Death ; others entreated to be taught, casting themselves before my feet.

But I made them arise, and I became a leader of the Race 2 towards home, teaching the words (logoi), how and in what way they shall be saved. I sowed in them the words (logoi) of wisdom 8 ; of Deathless Water were they given to drink.*

And when even was come and all sun's beams began to set, I bade them all give thanks to God. And when they had brought to an end the giving of their thanks, each man returned to his own resting place.

30. But I recorded in my heart Man -Shepherd's benefaction, and with my every hope fulfilled more than rejoiced. For body's sleep became

1 Of. P .s. A., xii. 2.

2 The Race of the Logos, of all who were conscious of the Logos in their hearts, who had repented and were thus logoi.

3 Cf. Mark iv. 4 : "He who soweth soweth the Word (Logos)"

4 Cf. K. K.y 1— the drink given by Isis to Horus.

the soul's awakening,1 and closing of the eyes — true vision, pregnant with Good my silence, and the utterance of my word (logos) begetting of good things.

All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man- Shepherd, Word (Logos) of all masterhood,2 by whom being God-inspired I came unto the Plain of Truth.3 Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving4 give I unto Father-God.

31. Holy art Thou, 0 God, the universals'
Father.

Holy art Thou, 0 God, whose Will perfects itself by means of its own Powers.

Holy art Thou, 0 God, who willeth to be known and art known by Thine own.

Holy art Thou, who didst by Word (Logos) make to consist the things that are.

Holy art Thou, of whom All-nature hath been made an Image.

Holy art Thou, whose Form Nature hath never made.

Holy art Thou, more powerful than all power.

Holy art Thou, transcending all pre-eminence.

Holy Thou art, Thou better than all praise.

1 vrjtyis, lit. soberness, watchfulness, lucidity.

2 See § 2 above.

3 Of. K. K. (Stob., EC., i. 49 ; p. 459, 20, W.), and Damascius, in Phot., Bibl, p. 337b, 23.

4 eii\oy(av, — a play on \6yos.

Accept my reason's l offerings pure, from soul and heart for aye stretched up to Thee, 0 Thou unutterable, unspeakable, Whose Name naught but the Silence can express.