Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
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Name mysterious among the Gods, and up to now revered by all mankind, how long hast Thou,
0 Daimon, judged it right to leave the life of mortals without God ?
" Show now Thyself unto Thy World consulting1 Thee; initiate the savagery of life with peace ; give laws to life ; to right give oracles ; fill with fair hopes all things ; and let men fear the vengeance of the Gods, and none will sin.
" Should they receive due retribution for their sins, they will refrain henceforth from doing wrong ; they will respect their oaths, and no one any more will ponder sacrilege.
" Let them be taught to render thanks for benefits received, that I, the Fire, may joyfully do service in the sacrificial rites, that they may from the altar send sweet-smelling vapours forth.
" For up to now I am polluted, Lord ; and by the godless daring of these men I am compelled to burn up flesh. They will not let me be for what
1 was brought forth ; but they adulterate with all indecency my undecaying state."
33. And Air too said :
"I also, Master, am made turbid by the vapours which the bodies of the dead exhale, and I am pestilential, and, no longer filled with health, I gaze down from above on things I ought not to behold."
1 Sc. ae supplicants consulting an oracle.
Next Water, 0 my son of mighty soul, received authority to speak, and spake and said :
" 0 Father, 0 wonderful Creator of all things, Daimon self-born, and Nature's Maker, who through Thee doth conceive all things, now at this last, command the rivers' streams for ever to be pure, for that the rivers and the seas or wash the murderers' hands or else receive the murdered."
34. After came Earth in bitter grief, and taking up the tale, 0 son of high renown, thus she began to speak :
" 0 sovereign Lord, Chief of the Heavenly Ones, and Master of the Wheels,1 Thou Ruler of us Elements, 0 Sire of them who stand beside Thee, from whom all things have the beginning of their increase and of their decrease, and into whom they cease again and have the end that is their due according to Necessity's decree, 0 greatly honoured One, the godless rout of men doth dance upon my bosom.
" I hold in my embrace as well the nature of all things ; for I, as Thou didst give command, not only bear them all, but I receive them also when they're killed. But now am I dishonoured. The world upon the Earth though filled with all things [else] hath not a God.
1 Or disks, presumably the world-wheels.
" For having naught to fear they sin in everything, and from my heights, 0 Lord, down [dead] they fall by every evil art. And soaking with the juices of their carcases I'm all corrupt. Hence am I, Lord, compelled to hold in me those of no worth. With all I bear I would hold God as well.
" Bestow on Earth, if not Thyself, for I could not contain Thee, yet some holy Emanation l of Thyself. Make Thou the Earth more honoured than the rest of Elements ; for it is right that she should boast of gifts from Thee, in that she giveth all."
35. Thus spake the Elements ; and God, fullfilling all things with the sound of His [most] holy Voice, spake thus :
"Depart, ye Holy Ones, ye Children worthy of a mighty Sire, nor yet in any way attempt to innovate, nor leave the whole of [this] My World without your active service.
" For now another Efflux of My Nature is among you, and he shall be a pious supervisor of all deeds — judge incorruptible of living men and monarch absolute of those beneath the earth, not only striking terror [into them] but taking vengeance on them. And by his class of birth the fate he hath deserved shall follow every man."
And so the Elements did cease from their com-
1 nvb. if pav a.ir6ppoiav.
plaint, upon the Master's order, and they held their peace ; and each of them continued in the exercise of his authority and in his rule.
36. And Horus thereon said :
How was it, mother, then, that Earth received
God's Efflux ?
And Isis said :