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

" For just as the babe, who, although it hath done no wrong previously, or actively committed any sin, yet hath the capacity of sin in it, — whenever it is subjected to suffering, is advantaged and reaps many benefits, which otherwise are difficult to gain ; in just the selfsame way is it, that although a perfect man may not have sinned in act, and yet doth suffer pains, he suffereth them in just the selfsame fashion as a babe; having within himself the tendency to sin, but refusing to embrace the opportunity to sin, he doth not

., IV. xii., § 82 (P. 600 ; S. 217) : Dindorf., ii. 363.

sin. So that even for such a man as this we ought not to suppose the incapacity for sin.

" For just as it is the will to commit fornication that constitutes the fornicator, even though he does not find the opportunity of actually committing fornication, and the will to commit murder that constitutes the murderer, although he may not be actually able to effect his purpose ; so also in the case of the ' sinless ' man I mean, if I see him suffering, even if he has actually done no sin, I shall say he is evil by his will to sin. For I will say anything rather than that Providence is evil." 1

Providence, as in our treatise, is here the instrument of the Good (§ 14), of the Will of God ; it is the will of man that is the source of evil, as we learn from C. H., iv. (v.) 8 : " For 'tis not God, 'tis we who are the cause of evil things, preferring them to good."

In our treatise, then, the very same problem is treated as in the Exegetica of Basilides. Hermes speaks of the " Mind-led man," the " man who has the Logos in him " ; Basilides speaks of the " perfect man." So also in C. H., iv. (v.) 4, the "perfect man" is he who has " received the Mind."

The ideas of Hermes and of Basilides are practically identical ; the words of both are strikingly similar when they cite fornication and murder as typical sins, and these and no others.

Compare again with this idea of the babe in Basilides the words of Hermes in G. H., x. >(xi.) 15 :

<{ Behold an infant's soul, my son, that is not yet cut off, because its body is still small and not as yet come unto its full bulk. ... A thing of beauty altogether is such a soul to see, not yet befouled with body's passions, still all but hanging from the Cosmic Soul."

1 See F. F. F., 274, 275.

And with this compare what Hippolytus l tells us of
Valentinus :

" Valentinus says that he once saw a babe that had only just been born, and that he proceeded to question it to find out who it was. And the babe replied and said it was the Logos."

And also the Psalm of Valentinus quoted by the same heresiologist 2 :

All things depending from Spirit I see ;

All things supported by Spirit I view ;

Flesh from Soul depending ;

Soul by Air supported ;

Air from ^Ether hanging ;

Fruits borne of the Deep ;

Babe borne of the Womb.

Here, then, as in other instances, we have intimate points of contact between the Hermetic and Christian Gnosis. Is there, however, any question of direct plagiarism ? I think not ; but that the Christian doctors and the Hermetic philosophers were both in contact with the same body of inner teaching.

4. With the action of the Mind on the soul in incarnation (§ 4) compare C. JET., x. (XL), 18, 19, where the office of the Mind in respect to the soul out of incarnation is graphically described.

THE SERMONS ON FATE

6. In § 6 Hermes tells us that he has already spoken about Fate in others of his Sermons; while in §§14 and 21 he three times refers to Necessity and Providence.

In this connection it is to be noticed that Lactantius (D. /., vi. 25), in quoting the last two sentences of our

1 Philos., vi. 42 (D. and S., 302) ; F. F. F., p. 306.

2 Philos., vi. 37 (D. and S., 290) ; see emended text in Hilgenfeld
(A.), Die Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums (Leipzig, 1884),
p. 304 ; F. F. F., p. 307.

treatise, says that he takes them from a Sermon by Hermes " On Justice."

Now, Stobseus has preserved for us an Extract (xi.) from a Sermon dealing with Justice, Providence, Necessity and Fate; also an Extract (x.) from a Sermon of Hermes to Tat dealing with Fate, and ending with the words : " Such is the Sermon on the rule of Providence, Necessity and Fate." We have also an Extract (xiii.) " Of Hermes from the Books to Ammon," entitled " Of the General Economy," which deals with Providence, Necessity and Fate.