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

" For that they have in them something of fire, something of air, something of water, and something of earth, — and yet they are not fire [in itself], nor air, nor water, nor earth."

All this about the elements is, of course, a commonplace of ancient physics, and we may, therefore, dismiss the naive speculation of Lactantius, who evidently thought he had the very words of the first inventor of the theory before him ; for he renders into Latin word for word the same text which Stobseus has preserved to us in an excerpt from "The [Sermons] to Tat"— Ex. iii. I.3 vii. Ibid., ii. 14, 5 ; Brandt, p. 163 ; Fritzsche, i. 105. THE DAIMON-CHIEF

Thus there are two classes of daimons, — the one celestial, and the other terrestrial. The latter are impure spirits, the authors of the evils that are done,4 of whom the same Diabolus is chief. Whence Trismegistus calls him the " Daimon-chief." 1 viii. Ibid., ii. 15, 6; Brandt, p. 166; Fritzsche, i. 106.

1 Cf. also Hermes-Prayer, iii. 11. R. 21, n. 11.

2 Date c. 494-434 B.C.

3 See also Ex. vii. 3 ; 0. H., ii. (iii.) 11.

4 Cf. G. H., ix. (x.) 3 ; 0. H., xvi. 10.

DEVOTION is GOD-GNOSIS

In fine, Hermes asserts that those who have known God, not only are safe from the attacks of evil daimons, but also that they are not held even by Fate.2 He says:

FKAGMENT IV.

The one means of protection is piety. For neither doth an evil daimon nor doth Fate rule o'er the pious man.3 For God doth save the pious [man] from every ill. The one and only good found in mankind is piety.

And what piety means, he witnesses in another place, saying :

" Devotion is God-Gnosis. " 4

Asclepius, his Hearer, has also explained the same idea at greater length in that " Perfect Sermon " which he wrote to the King.

Both, then, assert that the daimons are the enemies and harriers of men, and for this cause Trismegistus

This term is not found in the extant texts ;
" Diabolus " is, of course, not to be referred to Hermes, but to the
disquisition of Lactantius at the beginning of § 14.

2 Cf. Cyril, C. /., iv. (vol. vi. 130 E, Aub.).

3 For the same idea, see C. H.t xii. (xiii.) 9.

4 f) yap evffffeia yvwvis tffrt rov 0eov, — which Lactantius in another passage (v. 14) renders into Latin as " Pietas autem nihil aliud est quam dei notio,—is given in G. H., ix. (x.) 4 as : euo-ffleia Sf ten Oeov yvwffis (where Parthey notes no various readings in MSS.).

calls them " evil ' angels '," l — so far was he from being ignorant that from celestial beings they had become corrupted, and so earthly.

This passage is given in Greek, and is quoted, but with numerous glosses, also by Cyril (Contra Julianum, iv. 130) ; it is also practically the same as the sentence in P. S. A., xxix. : " The righteous man finds his defence in serving God and deepest piety. For God doth guard such men from every ill."

Now we know that Lactantius had the Greek of this " Perfect Sermon " before him, and we know that our Latin translation is highly rhetorical and paraphrastic.

The only difficulty is that Lactantius' quotation ends with the sentence : " The one and only good found in mankind is piety " ; and this does not appear in the Latin translation of P. S. A. On the other hand, Firmianus immediately refers by name to a Perfect Sermon, which, however, he says was written by Asclepius, and addressed to the King. Our Fragment is, therefore, probably from the lost ending of 0. ff.t xvi. (see Commentary on the title).

ix. Ibid., iv. 6, 4; Brandt, p. 286; Fritzsche, i. 178. THE COSMIC SON OF GOD

Hermes, in that book which is entitled the " Perfect
Sermon," uses these words :

FEAGMENT V.

The Lord and Master of all things (whom 'tis our custom to call God), when He had made the

1 ayyf\ovs irovnpovs, — these words do not occur in our extant Greek texts ; but the Lat. trans, of P. S. A., xxv. 4, preserves *' nocentes angeli."

second God, the Visible and Sensible,1 — I call Him sensible, not that He hath sensation in Himself (for as to this, whether or no He hath Himself sensation, we will some other time enquire), but that He is object of senses and of mind, — when, then, He'd made Him First, and One and Only,2 He seemed to Him most fair, and filled quite full of all things good. At Him he marvelled, and loved Him altogether as His Son.3

Lactantius here quotes from the lost Greek original of " The Perfect Sermon," viii. 1. We have thus a means of controlling the old Latin translation which has come down to us.