Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
xvii. The Only Way to Worship God . . . .243 xviii. The Worthiest Sacrifice to God xix. Man made in the Image of God 244 xx. Contemplation 245 xxi. The Dual Nature of Man
Wonder the Beginning of Philosophy . . . 246 xxii. The Cosmic Restoration xxiii. Of Hermes and his Doctrine Concerning God . . 247 xxiv. A Repetition 248 xxv. Plato as Prophet follows Trismegistus . . . 248
VIII. AUGUSTINE i.-iii. Three Quotations from the Old Latin Version of the
" Perfect Sermon " . 249
IX. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA i. Cyril's Corpus of XV. Books 251 ii. The Incorporeal Eye iii. The Heavenly Word Proceeding Forth
The Pyramid
X CONTENTS
PAGE
The Nature of God's Intellectual Word
The Word of the Creator
iv. Mind of Mind
He is All
Concerning Spirit
The " To Asclepius " of Cyril's Corpus . . . 259 v. From "The Mind'3 260 vi. Osiris and Thrice-greatest Agathodaimon
" Let there be Earth ! "
The Generation of the Sun
"Let the Sun be!"
vii. The Firmament viii. From the " To Asclepius " 264 ix. The Sole Protection 265 x. The Supreme Artist xi. An Unreferenced Quotation
X. SUIDAS
Hermes speaks of the Trinity 268
An Orphic Hymn 269
CONTENTS xi
///. REFERENCES AND FRAGMENTS IN THE PHILOSOPHERS
I. ZOSIMUS
PAGE
On the Anthropos-Doctrine 273
The Processions of Fate 273
" The Inner Door " 274
Against Magic
Thoth the First Man 276
The Libraries of the Ptolemies 277
Nikotheos 278
From the Books of the Chaldaeans .... 279
Man the Mind
The Counterfeit Daimon ...... 281
His Advice to Theosebeia . . . 283
II. JAMBLICHUS
Abammon the Teacher 285
Hermes the Inspirer ....... 286
Those of the Hermaic Nature 288
The Books of Hermes 289
The Monad from the One 291
The Tradition of the Trismegistic Literature . . 291
Bitys 294
Ostanes-Asclepius 296
From the Hermaic Workings 297
The Cosmic Spheres 299
III. JULIAN THE EMPEROR
The Disciples of Wisdom 303
IV. FULGENTIUS THE MYTHOGRAPHER
Xll CONTENTS
IV. CONCLUSION
PAGE
An Attempt at Classifying the Extant Literature . 306
Of Hermes 306
To Tat 308
To Asclepius 310
To Ammon 311
Of Asclepius 312
Oflsis 312
From the Agathodaimon Literature . . . .313
Of Judgments of Value 314
The Sons of God 316
Concerning Dates . . . . . . .319
The Blend of Traditions 321
Of Initiation 323
A Last Word 325
V. INDEX
Excerpts by Stobaeus
VOL. III.
EXCERPT I.
OF PIETY AND [TRUE]
PHILOSOPHY
(Title from Patrizzi (p. 4) ; preceded by " Of Thricegreatest Hermes."
Text: Stobaeus, P%s., xxxv. 1, under heading: "Of
Hermes — from the [Book] to Tat " ; G. pp. 273-278 ; M. i.
190-194; W. i. 273-278.1
Menard, Livre IV., No. i. of " Fragments from the Books of Hermes to his Son Tat," pp. 225-230.)
I.2 Her. Both for the sake of love to man, and piety3 to God, I [now], my son, for the first time take pen in hand.4
1 G. = Gaisford (T.), Joannis Stobasi Florikgium (Oxford, 1822), 4 vols. ; lo. Stob. EC. Phys. et Ethic. Libri Duo (Oxford, 1850), 2 vols.
M. = Meineke (A.), Joh. Stob. Flor. (Leipzig, 1855, 1856), 3 vols. ; Joh. Stob. EC. Phys. et Ethic. Lib. Duo (Leipzig, 1860), 2 vols.
W. = Wachsmuth (C.), Jo. Stob. Anthologii Lib. Duo Priores . . . EC. Phys. et Ethic. (Berlin, 1884), 2 vols.
H. = Hense (0.), /. Stob. Anth. Lib. Tert. (Berlin, 1894), 1 vol., incomplete.
2 I have numbered the paragraphs in all the excerpts for convenience of reference.
3 etxrejScfos, — it might also be rendered by worship.
For there can be no piety more righteous than to know the things that are, and to give thanks for these to Him who made them, — which I will never cease to do.
2. Tat. By doing what, 0 father, then, if naught be true down here, may one live wisely ?
Her. Be pious,1 son ! Who pious is, doth reach the height of [all] philosophy 2 ; without philosophy the height of piety cannot be scaled.
But he who learns what are existent things, and how they have been ordered, and by whom, and for whose sake, — he will give thanks for all unto the Demiurge, as unto a good sire, a nurse [most] excellent, a steward who doth never break his trust.3
3. Who giveth thanks, he will be pious ; and he who pious is, will [get to] know both where is Truth, and what it is.
And as he learns, he will more and more pious grow.
For never, son, can an embodied soul that has once leaped aloft, so as to get a hold upon the truly Good and True, slip back again into the contrary.
For when the soul [once] knows the Author of its Peace,4 'tis filled with wondrous love,5 and