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.
It is, by comparison, very free and often rhetorical ; inserting phrases and even changing the original, as, for instance, when in the last clause it says : " He fell in love with him as being part of His Divinity."
It is, however, possible that the translator may have had a different text before him, for there is reason to believe that there were several recensions of the P. S. A* x. Ibid., iv. 6, 9; Brandt, p. 291 ; Fritzsche, i. 179. THE DEMIURGE OF GOD
(Speaking of the Son of God and identifying Him with the pre-existent Wisdom spoken of in Proverbs viii. 22, Lactantius adds :)
1 Sc. the Logos as Cosmos. 2 Gf. Frag. x.
3 For last clause, see (7, H., i. 12. Gf. also Ps. Augustin., 0.
Quinque Hcereses, vol. viii., Append, p. 3 E, Maur.
4 Lactantius himself also gives a partial translation of this passage in his Epitome, 42 (Fritz., ii. 140).
Wherefore also Trisinegistus has called Him the
"Demiurge of God."1
xi. Ibid., iv. 7, 3; Brandt, p. 292; Fritzsche, i. 179. THE NAME OF GOD
Even then [when the world shall be consummated],2 it [God's Name] will not be able to be uttered by the mouth of man, as Hermes teaches, saying :
FRAGMENT VI.
But the Cause of this Cause is the Divine and the Ingenerable Good's Good- will, which3 first brought forth the God whose Name cannot be spoken by the mouth of man.4 xii. Ibid., iv. 7, 3 ; Brandt, p. 293 ; Fritzsche, i. 179, 180.
THE HOLY WORD ABOUT THE LORD OF ALL.
And a little after [he says] to his son :
FKAGMENT VII.
For that there is, [my] son, a Word [Logos] of wisdom, that no tongue can tell, — a Holy 5
1 5-nmiovpybv TOV 0eou. The exact words do not occur in our extant texts, but the idea is a commonplace of the Trismegistic doctrine ; see especially P. S. A., xxvi. : " The Demiurgus of the first and the one God," and Lact., ibid., vii. 18, 4 : " God of first might, and Guider of the one God." See also G. H., i. 10, 11, xvi. 18 ; Cyril, C. Jul, i. 33 (Frag, xiii.), and vi. 6 (Frag. xxi.) ; and Exx. iii. 6, iv. 2. Of. also Ep. 14 below.
2 Cf. vii. 18 below.
3 Sc. will (j8oj5A.ij<m). Gf. especially P. S. A., Commentary.
4 This is plainly from the same source as the following
Fragment.
6 Gf. G. H., i. 5 ; and Lact. and Cyril, passim (e.g. Fragg. xxi., xxii.).
[Word] about the only Lord of all, the God before all thought, — whom to declare transcends all human power.1 xiii. Ibid., iv. 8, 5; Brandt, p. 296; Fritzsche, i. 181.
His OWN FATHER AND OWN MOTHER
But Hermes also was of the same opinion when he says :
" His own father and His own mother." 2 xiv. Ibid., iv. 9, 3; Brandt, p. 300; Fritzsche, i. 182, 183.
THE POWER AND GREATNESS OF THE WORD
Trismegistus, who has tracked out, I know not how, almost all truth, has often described the power and greatness of the Word (Logos), as the above quotation 3 from him shows, in which he confesses the Word to be Ineffable and Holy, and in that its telling forth transcends the power of man.
xv. Ibid., iv. 13, 2; Brandt, p. 316; Fritzsche, i. 190. THE FATHERLESS AND MOTHERLESS
For God, the Father, and the Source, and Principle of things, in that He hath no parents, is very truly called by Trismegistus " father-less " and " motherless"4 in that He is brought forth from none.6 xvi. Ibid., v. 14, 11 ; Brandt, p. 446 ; Fritzsche, i. 256. PIETY THE GNOSIS OF GOD
1 This passage and the preceding, then, are evidently taken from "The Sermons to Tat." Lactantius quotes in Greek, and again refers to the passage in iv. 9.
2 avToirdropa Kal auro/t^Topa — not found in the extant texts ; but for the idea see G. H.t i. 9. See also iv. 13, and Ep. 4 below.
3 JWd.,iv.7.
4 iirrfrwp et fydjrwp. Of. Lact., D. /., i. 7, 2 (Brandt).
5 Terms not found in our extant texts ; probably taken from the same source as the terms in iv. 8 above.
But " piety is nothing else than Gnosis of God," l as Trismegistus has most truly laid down, as we have said in another place.2 xvii. Ibid., vi. 25, 10 ; Brandt, p. 579 ; Fritzsche, ii. 60. THE ONLY WAY TO WORSHIP GOD
Concerning justice, he [Trismegistus, who in this (namely concerning sacrifice) " agrees substantially and verbally with the prophets "] has thus spoken :
" Unto this Word (Logos), my son, thy adoration and thy homage pay. There is one way alone to worship God,— [it is] not to be bad/'