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.
(Cyril then quotes, with four slight verbal variants,
the first four paragraphs of the passage excerpted by
Stobseus, Ex. ii., and then proceeds without a break :)
FKAGMENT XL
If, then, there be an incorporeal eye,1 let it go forth from body unto the Vision of the Beautiful ; let it fly up and soar aloft, seeking to see not form, nor body, nor [even] types2 [of things], but rather That which is the Maker of [all] these, — the Quiet and Serene, the Stable and the Changeless One, the Self, the All, the One, the Self of self, the Self in self, the Like to Self [alone], That which is neither like to other, nor [yet] unlike to self, and [yet] again Himself.3
Though Cyril runs this passage on to the four paragraphs which in the Stobaean Extract are continued by three other paragraphs, I am quite persuaded that the Archbishop of Alexandria took the above from the same " Sermon to Tat " 4 as the Anthologist.5 iii. Ibid., i. 33 ; Migne, col. 552 D.
1 Sc. the soul. 2 Sc. ideas.
3 Masc., not neut., as are all the preceding "self's." There is also throughout a play on "self" and "same" which is unreproducible in English.
4 That is, presumably, the "First Sermon of the Expository [Sermons] to Tat " (see Comment to the Stobaean Excerpt).
6 See also Fragg. xii., xiii., xv., xx., xxii., xxiii., xxiv. (?).
THE HEAVENLY WORD PROCEEDING FORTH
And Thrice-greatest Hermes thus delivers himself concerning God:
FRAGMENT XII.
For that His Word (Logos) proceeding forth,1 — all-perfect as he was, and fecund, and creative — in fecund Nature, falling on fecund2 Water, made Water pregnant.3
THE PYRAMID
And the same again [declares] :
FRAGMENT XIII.
The Pyramid, then, is below [both] Nature and the Intellectual World.4 For that it 5 hath above it ruling it the Creator- Word6 of the Lord of all, — who, being the First Power after
1 R. (p. 43) glosses this with " out of the month of God," but I see no necessity for introducing this symbolism.
2 The adjective ytvinos ("fecund") is applied to both Logos and Physis (Nature) ; it might thus be varied as seedful and fruitful, or spermal and productive. Of. Frag. xiii. Text reproduced R. 43.
3 Compare 0. H., i. 8, 14, 15. This Fragment is also quoted, but plainly reproduced from Cyril, by Suidas (q.v.).
4 That is, the Logos.
5 Sc. the Pyramid, in physics the symbol of fire. See Frag, xxii.
6 ov. Compare Lact., D. /., iv. 6, 9.
Him, [both] increate [and] infinite, leaned forth l from Him, and has his seat above, and rule o'er all that have been made through him. He is the First-born of the All-perfection, His perfect, fecund and true Son.2
THE NATURE OF GOD'S INTELLECTUAL WORD
And again the same [Hermes], when one of the
Temple-folk 3 in Egypt questions him and says :
FKAGMENT XIV.
But why, 0 most mighty Good Daimon, was he 4 called by this name 5 by the Lord of all ? — replies :
Yea, have I told thee in what has gone before, but thou hast not perceived it.
The nature of His Intellectual Word (Logos) is a productive and creative Nature. This is as though it were His Power-of-giving-birth,6 or [His] Nature, or [His] Mode of being, or call it is, projected, presumably with the idea of emanation. Compare the hymn : " 0 Heavenly Word proceeding forth, Yet leaving not the Father's side." Compare the irapeKvtytv of C. H., i. 14, and note.
2 Compare 0. H., i. 6, 9, 10 ; xiii. (xiv.) 3 ; xiv. (xv.) 3. For slightly revised text, see R. 243, n. 3. Reitzenstein thinks that the image which the writer had in his mind was the pyramid, or obelisk, with the sun-disk on the top.
3 TffAfviTwv. The questioner was undoubtedly Osiris (see Frag. xix. below). Cyril then knows that " Osiris " was understood to stand for a grade of Egyptian priests. Of. R. 131.
4 Presumably the Logos. 6 Presumably " Soul" (Psyche).
what you will, — only remembering this : that He is Perfect in the Perfect, and from the Perfect makes, and creates, and makes to live, perfect good things.
Since, then, He hath this nature, rightly is
He thus named.1
THE WORD OF THE CREATOR
And the same [Hermes], in the First Sermon of the
" Expository [Sermons] to Tat," 2 speaks thus about God :
FRAGMENT XV.
The Word (Logos) of the Creator, 0 [my] son, transcends all sight ; He [is] self-moved ; He cannot be increased, nor [yet] diminished ; Alone is He, and like unto Himself [Alone], equal, identical, perfect in His stability, perfect in order; for that He is the One, after the God alone beyond all knowing.