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

From a critical standpoint, the point of greatest interest is that our Hermes in no less than three places (§§ 1, 8, 13) quotes certain Sayings of the Good Daimon.

Now the first of these quotations (§ 1) — " Gods are immortal men, and men are mortal Gods " — is one of the most cited Sayings of Heracleitus.1 Hermes, however, does not mean to say that Heracleitus was Agothodaimon, but that Heracleitus was the mouthpiece of the Good Mind when he uttered this " word " (logos).

Nor was this the opinion of Hermes only ; it was the belief apparently of Heracleitus himself when he declared :

" Not because you hear me say so, but because you hear the Eeason (Logos) so declare, is it wise to confess that All are One."2

At any rate the term Logos, as used by Heracleitus, in connection with such a declaration, is taken by Hippolytus3 to mean the All-pervading Eeason, and not the normal reason of man.

What, then, is our surprise to find the second of

1 Diels, 62 ; Bywater, 67 ; Fairbanks, 67 (p. 40), which see for references to ancient authors who quote it.

2 Diels, 50 ; Bywater, 1 ; Fairbanks, 1 (p. 24).

3 PMlos., ix. 9.

Hermes' quotations of a Saying of the Good Daimon qualified by the words (§ 8) : " And had He set it down in written words " or " in writing," when that quotation begins with the words : " All are One " 1 — the rootformula of Heracleitus.

Such Sayings of Heracleitus must have been the common property of all the philosophers of the time and of their pupils. But the quotation of Hermes does not end with the formula of Heracleitus ; it continues, how far exactly it is difficult to determine. Eeitzenstein (p. 127) would apparently make it end with the word " ^Eon, " but I am inclined to think it goes to the end of § 8. In either case it includes the term " ^Eon."

If, now, we turn to the third quotation from the Sayings of the Good Daimon (§ 13), we are at once struck with its remarkable resemblance to the form of teaching in C. H.} xi. (xii.) 4. Though there is no precise verbal agreement, there is a striking identity of style of formula.

In our treatise, however, the Saying is used in authoritative illustration of the meaning of the Eeason (Logos), whereas in the " Mind to Hermes," — that is, in the Sermon of the Good Daimon Himself to Hermes — Eeason is omitted, Mind and Eeason being there transcended by ^Eon and Mind.

Moreover, the whole style of what follows this quotation in our treatise is exactly the same as the style of instruction in C. H., xi. (xii.) — short categorical formulae; and, further, the previous quotation (§ 8) contains the key-word ^Eon, which characterizes the teaching of the " Mind to Hermes."

I therefore conclude that our Hermes is using a more

1 Cf. C. H., x. (xi.) 25, and xvi. ("Definitions of Asclepius") 3 ;
for references to the Magical and Alchemical literature, see R.
39, 1 ; 106, 5 ; 127, 3.

intimate instruction, known only to the Hermes-grade, and not published* for the Tat-degree; and that this is the meaning of his saying that it has not been written down. He means simply that it has not yet been allowed to be published for those in the Tat-stage.

There were, then, other treatises now lost of the same type as that of the " Mind to Hermes " ; in them there were quotations from the Sayings of Heracleitus ; the " Obscure Philosopher " being regarded as one who had come into direct contact with the Logos or Mind, and as one, therefore, who spoke with the authority of direct revelation.

HERMES AND BASILIDES

The next point of critical interest is the sentence in §7:

" I meant not that, but that the Mind-led man, my son, though not a fornicator, will suffer just as though he had committed fornication, and though he be no murderer, as though he had committed murder."

If we now turn to the quotation which Clement of
Alexandria l gives us from Book XXIII. of the Exegetica,
of Basilides, we read :