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

Mind. The Good and Beautiful, and Blessedness, and Virtue's all, and

1 That is to say, the term " m-ence " cannot really be applied to God, for He is beyond " fo-ing."

2 Or identity. 3 Or duration.

5 Or is accomplished.

then, ordereth1 [Cosmos], imparting deathlessness and lastingness to matter.

4. For its2 becoming doth depend on Mon, as ^Eon doth on God.

Now Genesis3 and Time, in Heaven and on the Earth, are of two natures.

In Heaven they are unchangeable and indestructible, but on the Earth they're subject unto change and to destruction.

Further, the ^Eon's soul is God ; the Cosmos' soul is JEon ; the Earth's soul, Heaven.

And God's in Mind ; and Mind, in Soul ; and Soul, in Matter ; and all of them through .Eon.

But all this Body,4 in which are all the bodies,
is full of Soul ; and Soul is full of Mind, and
[Mind] of God.

It 5 fills it 6 from within, and from without encircles it, making the All to live.

Without, this vast and perfect Life 7 [encircles] Cosmos ; within, it fills [it with] all lives 8 ; above, in Heaven, continuing in sameness ; below, on Earth, changing becoming.

5. And Mon doth preserve this [Cosmos], or by Necessity, or by Foreknowledge, or by

1 Or adorneth. 2 Sc. Matter's Becoming or Genesis.

3 Or Becoming.

4 Sc. Cosmos. 5 Sc. Soul.

6 Sc. Body, of Universe or Cosmos.

7 Or Animal ; that is, Soul. 8 Or animals.

Nature, or by whatever else a man supposes or shall suppose. And all is this, — God energizing.

The Energy of God is Power that naught can e'er surpass, a Power with which no one can make comparison of any human thing at all, or any thing divine.

Wherefore, 0 Hermes, never think that aught of things above or things below is like to God, for thou wilt fall from truth. For naught is like to That which hath no like, and is Alone and One.

And do not ever think that any other can possibly possess His power ; for what apart from Him is there of life, and deathlessness and change of quality? For what else should He make * ?

God's not inactive,2 since all things [then] would lack activity ; for all are full of God.

But neither in the Cosmos anywhere, nor in aught else, is there inaction. For that "inaction" is a name that cannot be applied to either what doth make or what is made.3

6. But all things must be made ; both ever made, and also in accordance with the influence of every space.1

1 Sc. than those which are Himself.

2 apyts. There is a word-play in the terms Zpyov (work), fvepyuv (working in, energizing), tvepyfis (active, energetic), fvepyeia (in-working, activity), and apyts (not-working, inactive, idle), apyia (inactivity, idleness), which it is impossible to bring out fully in English.

3 Or what becomes.

For He who makes, is in them all ; not stablished in some one of them, nor making one thing only, but making all.

For being Power, He energiseth in the things He makes and is not independent of them,— although the things He makes are subject to Him.

Now gaze through Me2 upon the Cosmos that's now subject to thy sight ; regard its Beauty carefully — Body in pure perfection, though one than which there's no more ancient one, ever in prime of life, and ever-young, nay, rather, in even fuller and yet fuller prime !

7. Behold, again, the seven subject Worlds3; ordered 4 by ^Eon's order,5 and with their varied course full-filling ^Eon !

[See how] all things [are] full of light, and nowhere [is there] fire ; for 'tis the love and blending of the contraries and the dissimilars that doth give birth to light down shining by the energy of God,1 the Father of all good, the Leader of all order, and Ruler of the seven world-orderings !

1 This seems to mean, that all things in the world of gemesis- (making, creating, or becoming) have their root-activity, first from the sameness of becoming of the one sphere or space, and then their differentiated activity from the seven spheres, spaces, or planes, which are the instruments of God in the differentiation of the Cosmos.

2 Mind — i.e. with the mind's eye, or spiritual sight, or by the help of the Master's illuminating power. Of. G. H., i. 7 and xiii. (xiv.) 11.

3 K^a-fjiovs, cosmoi or world-orders.

4 Or adorned, or made beautiful.

5 The order of the ^Eon (Eternity, the Spiritual Space), aeonian or everlasting order.

[Behold] the Moon, forerunner of them all, the instrument of nature, and the transmuter of its lower matter !