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

The first two Fragments (xi. and xii.) seem to be taken from the same sermon, the contents of which resembled the first part of the " Shepherd of Men " treatise; it has all the appearance of a discourse addressed to Tat, and probably came in " The Expository Sermons."

1 This passage seems to refer to the identity of Soul and Logos.
For revised text see R. 131, and the reference there to Plato,
Cra^ylust 400 B, where ^wx^, soul, is explained by the word-play
0v<re'x77, that is, that which has physis, or nature, or the power of
production.

2 TUV irpbs rbv Tctr

The third Fragment (xiii.) belongs to the more frankly Egyptian type, the Agathodaimon literature, in which Hermes, as the Good Spirit, figures as the teacher of the Mystery-god Osiris.1

The last Fragment (xv.) is so similar in its phrasing to Fragment xi., already given by Cyril (i. 31), that I am strongly inclined to think the Archbishop took both from the same source. If so, we can reconstruct part of " The First Sermon of the Expository [Sermons] to Tat," the beginning of which (see Lact., Ep., 4) is also given by Stobaeus, Ex. ii., with the heading from " The [Book] to Tat," while he heads other extracts "From the[pl.] to Tat."2 v. Ibid., ii. 35 ; Migne, col. 556 A. MIND OF MIND

And Hermes also says in the Third Sermon of those to Asclepius :

FRAGMENT XVI.

It is not possible such mysteries [as these] should be declared to those who are without initiation in the sacred rites. But ye, lend [me] your ears, [ears] of your mind !

There was One Intellectual Light alone, — nay, Light transcending Intellectual Light. He is for ever Mind of mind3 who makes [that] Light to shine.

1 See Frag. xix. below, where Cyril (ii. 56) says that this type was found in the " Sermon to Asclepius," that is, was put with the Asclepius-books in the collection which lay before him.

2 See also Fragg. xi., xii., xiii., xx., xxii., xxiii., xxiv. (?).

3 Gf. K. K., 16.

There was no other ; [naught] save the Oneness of Himself [alone]. For ever in Himself [alone], for ever doth He compass all in His own Mind,— His Light and Spirit.1

HE is ALL
And after some other things he says :

FRAGMENT XVII.

Without Him 2 [is] neither god, nor angel, nor daimon, nor any other being. For He is Lord of all, [their] Father, and [their] God, and Source, and Life, and Power, and Light, and Mind, and Spirit. For all things are in Him and for His sake.3

CONCERNING SPIRIT

And again, in the same Third Sermon of those to Asclepius, in reply to one who questions [him] concerning the Divine Spirit, the same [Hermes] says as follows :

FKAGMENT XVIII.

Had there not been some Purpose4 of the
Lord of all, so that I should disclose this word

1 That is, Light and Life. See G. H., i. 9: "God, the Mind, . . . being Life and Light."

2 Lit. outside of Him.

3 For a fuller statement of the idea in this paragraph, see C. H.y ii. (iii.) 14. Cyril thinks that the above two Fragments refer to the Father, Son (Mind of mind and Light of light) and Holy Ghost (the Divine supremacy and power), and is thus the source of the statement in Suidas (s.v. "Hermes") that Trismegistus spoke concerning the Trinity.

4 Or Providence, irp6voia. R (203, n. 2) refers this to a belief that only when some internal prompting gave permission to the

(logos), ye would not have been filled with so great love * to question me about it. Now give ye ear unto the rest of the discourse (logos).

Of this same Spirit, of which I have already spoken many times, all things have need ; for that it raises up all things, each in its own degree, and makes them live, and gives them nourishment, and [finally] removes them from its holy source,2 aiding the spirit,3 and for ever giving life to all, the [one] productive One."

THE " To ASCLEPIUS " OF CYRIL'S CORPUS

From the above statements of Cyril we learn that in addition to " The Expository Sermons to Tat," he had also before him a collection of " Sermons to Asclepius " ; of these there were at least three. Was " The Perfect Sermon " one of this collection ? It may have been ; for the style of it is cast in the same mould as that of these Fragments in Cyril.

Hermes, in the Third Sermon of Cyril's collection, is addressing several hearers, for he uses the plural; so also in P. S. A., i. 2. Hermes addresses Asclepius, Tat, and Ammon.