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

1. [Her.~\ There is, then, That which transcends being,1 — beyond all things existent, and all that really are.

For That-transcending-being is [that mystery] because of which exists that being-ness 2 which is called universal, common unto intelligibles that really are, and to those beings which are thought of according to the law of sameness.

Those which are contrary to these, according to the law of otherness, are again themselves according to themselves.3

1 Or the pre-existent ; rb irpb ovt or rb irpoAv.

2 ovffitrTis ; or essentiality.

3 This seems to refer to the seven spheres of difference or otherness (vara ri> eVepov) moving symbolically against, or " cross-wise with," the all-embracing sphere of sameness (*a0* eavrrf) ; or it may mean that they have a sameness in the fact that their motions enter into themselves " again."

And Nature is an essence which the senses can perceive, containing in itself all sensibles.

2. Between these 1 are the intelligible 2 and the sensible gods.

Things that pertain to the intelligence, share in [the nature of] the Gods that are intelligible only ; while things pertaining to opinion, have their part with those that are the sensible.

These latter are the images of the intelligences3;
the Sun, for instance, is the image of the
Demiurgic God above the Heaven.

For just as He hath made the universe, so doth Sun make the animals, and generate the plants, and regulate the breaths.4

COMMENT

I have supplied the title for the sake of uniformity. If we compare our extract with Ex. vii, and especially the last sentence of the former with the first sentence of § 2 of the latter, and note that in Stobaeus the one excerpt follows almost immediately on the other, we shall be fairly well persuaded that they both come from the same collection — namely, the Sermons to Tat.

1 Presumably God and Nature.

2 vo-finariKoi, — a very rare form, and may possibly mean perceptible.

3 votifiaruv.

4 Or spirits. The last clause, "and regulates," etc., is absent from some MSS., and is, therefore, considered spurious by some editors; but its unexpectedness is a strong guarantee of its genuineness. The "spirits" are the prands of Hindu physiological psychology ; cf. G. H.> x. (xi.) 13, Comment., and Exs. xv. 2, xix. 3.

EXCERPT V

[OF MATTER]

(I have added the title, it being the same as that of the main section of Stobaeus, Patrizzi (p. 51) giving only the simple heading " From the [Sermons] to Tat."

Text: Stobseus, Phys., xi. 2, under the heading: "Of
Hermes from the [Sermons] to Tat"; G. p. 121 ; M. i. 84,
85; W. i. 131.

Menard, Livre IV., No. viii. of " Fragments from the
Books of Hermes to his son Tat," p. 250.)

Her. Matter both has been born, 0 son, and it has been [before it came into existence] ; for Matter is the vase of genesis,1 and genesis, the mode of energy of God, who's free from all necessity of genesis, and pre-exists.

[Matter], accordingly, by its reception of the seed of genesis, did come [herself] to birth, and [so] became subject to change, and, being shaped,

1 Or receptacle or field of genesis, or birth (ayyeiov The idea of a vessel or vase of birth was a familiar symbol with the Pythagoreans ; ptrayyiff^s (from the simile of pouring water out of one vessel into another) being one of their synonyms for n letempsy chosis.

took forms ; for she, contriving the forms of her [own] changing, presided over her own changing self.

The unborn state 1 of Matter, then, was formlessness 2 ; its genesis is its being brought into activity.

2 a/j.op<j>ia. Compare this with the Christian Gnostic commentator of the Naassene Document, quoted by Hippolytus (Philos. v. 7), and the comment of Hippolytus on him : " Their first and Blessed Formless Essence (curxr/^Tto-Tos ou<rfo), the cause of all forms " (" Myth of Man," § 7).

EXCEKPT VI.

OF TIME

(Title from Patrizzi (p. 38b) ; followed by : "To the
Same Tat."

Text: Stob., Phys., viii. 41, under heading: "Of Hermes from the [Sermons] to Tat " ; G. p. 93 ; M. i. 64.

Menard, Livre IV., No. v. of " Fragments from the Books of Hermes to his Son Tat," p. 241.)

1. Now to find out concerning the three times ; for they are neither by themselves, nor [yet] are they at-oned ; and [yet] again they are at-oned, and by themselves [as well].

For should' st thou think the present is without the past, it can't be present unless it has become already past.1