Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

1 T&f wapa 8fov &yyc\TiK4v. Compare Plutarch, De Is. et Os., xxvi. 6.

" Now to the Father of all no name can be given ; seeing that He is ingenerable ; for by whatsoever name one may be called, he has as his elder the one who gives the name. But ' Father,' and ' God,' and ' Creator,' and 'Lord,' and 'Master' are not names, but terms of address [derived] from His blessings and His works."

It is quite true that this passage might be taken verbally from a Hermetic tractate, but I can find no authority in the text of Justin for claiming it as a quotation. For the same idea in Hermes compare 0. H., v. (vi.) 10, and Lact., D. /., i. 6.

II.
ATHENAGOBAS

Libellus pro Christianis,1 xxviii. ; Schwartz (E.), p. 57, 24
(Leipzig, 1891).2

ATHENAGORAS was acquainted with a Greek literature circulated under the name of Hermes Trismegistus, to whom he refers as authority for his euhemeristic contention that the gods were once simply men.3

1 Written probably about 176-177 A.D.

2 In Texte u. Untersuchungen (von Gebhardt and Harnack),
Bd. iv.

3 Cf. R, pp. 2 and 160.

III.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA1

i. Protrepticus, ii. 29 ; Dindorf (G.), i. 29, (Oxford, 1869) —(24 P., 8 S.).

MANY HERMESES AND ASCLEPIUSES

(AFTER referring to the three Zeuses, five Athenas,
and numberless Apollos of complex popular tradition,
Clement continues :)

But what were I to mention the many Asclepiuses, or the Hermeses that are reckoned up, or the Hephsestuses of mythology ?

Clement lived in the very centre of Hellenistic theology, and his grouping together of the names of Asclepius, Hermes and Hephaestus, the demiurgic Ptah, whose tradition was incorporated into the Poemandres doctrine, is therefore not fortuitous, but shows that these three names were closely associated in his mind, and that, therefore, he was acquainted with the Trismegistic literature. This deduction is confirmed by the following passage.

1 Fl., 175-200 A.D.

ii. Stromateis, I. xxi. 134; Dindorf, ii. 108 (399 P., 144 S.).

THE APOTHEOSIS OF HERMES AND ASCLEPIUS

Of those, too, who once lived as men among the Egyptians, but who have been made gods by human opinion, [are] Hermes of Thebes and Asclepius of Memphis.

(To this we may appropriately append what Clement has to tell us about the " Books of Hermes," when, writing in the last quarter of the second century, he describes one of the sacred processions of the Egyptians as follows :)

iii. Ibid., VI. iv. 35 ; Dind., iii. 156, 157. THE BOOKS OF HERMES

First comes the "Singer" bearing some one of the symbols of music. This [priest], they tell us, has to make himself master of two of the " Books of Hermes," one of which contains (1) Hymns [in honour] of the Gods,1 and the other (2) Keflections2 on the Kingly Life.

After the "Singer" comes the "Time-watcher" bearing the symbols of the star-science, a dial after a hand and phoenix. He must have the division of the " Books of Hermes " which treats of the stars ever at the tip of his tongue — there being four of such books. The first of these deals with (3) the Ordering of the

1 I have numbered the books and used capitals for greater clearness.

2 tK\oyt<rn6v ; I do not know what this term means in this connection. The usual translation of " Regulations " seems to me unsatisfactory. Some word such as "Praise" (? read ev\oyi<r[jL6v) seems to be required, as may be seen from the title of C. H.t (xviii.), "The Encomium of Kings."

apparently Fixed Stars,1 the next [two] (4 and 5) with the conjunctions and variations of Light of the Sun and Moon, and the last (6) with the Eisings [of the Stars].

Next comes the " Scribe of the Mysteries," with wings on his head, having in either hand a book and a ruler2 in which is the ink and reed pen with which they write. He has to know what they call the sacred characters, and the books about (7) Cosmography, and (8) Geography, (9) the Constitution of the Sun and Moon, and (10) of the Five Planets, (11) the Survey of Egypt, and (12) the Chart of the Nile, (13) the List of the Appurtenances of the Temples and (14) of the Lands consecrated to them, (15) the Measures, and (16) Things used in the Sacred Eites.