Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
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Thoth.1 His name, Ysdnw, was derived by the Egyptians themselves from a verb meaning ' to distinguish/ and he was a patron of intellectual perception. As time went on, he gained in importance. Under the Ptolemies he was often represented upon the Temple walls (I.e.). In Pliny he appears as an early writer upon medicine.2 Some of the prescriptions quoted as from him are quite in the Egyptian style.3 Philo Byblius, on whom, to be sure, not much reliance can be placed,4 mentions a book of Ostanes — the Octateuch.5 It is tempting to identify this with some such collection as the six medical books which occupy the last place in Clement's list.6 Now Pliny, as appears from his list of authorities, does not quote Ostanes directly. If we note that Democritus is mentioned by Pliny in the same context, and that Ostanes is the legendary teacher of Democritus upon his journey to Egypt, we shall consider it at least probable that Pliny depends upon Democritus for his mention of Ostanes. The Philosopher, whose visit to Egypt may be regarded as a historical fact, would in that case be dealing with a medical collection which passes under the name of Ostanes. Asclepius, who appears in the Pamander, will be the Greek equivalent of Ostanes. Thus the collocation of Hermes and Asclepius is analogous to the kinship of the Egyptian deities, Thoth and Ysdnw."
FKOM THE HEKMAIC WRITINGS
That these Bitys-books contained the same doctrines as our Trismegistic writings is evident from the whole treatise of Jamblichus. Jamblichus throughout bases himself upon the doctrines of Hermes,1 and clearly suggests that he does not owe his information to translations only, as was the case with Porphyry, but to records in Egyptian ; but whether to the demotic treatises of the Bitys-school or to the heiroglyphic records themselves he does not say. That these doctrines were identical with the teachings in our Trismegistic literature requires no proof to any one who has read our treatises and the exposition of Jamblichus ; for the benefit, however, of those who have not read Jamblichus,2 we append a passage to show the striking similarity of ideas. Treating of the question of freewill and necessity raised by Porphyry, and replying to the objection that the Egyptians taught an astrological fatalism, Jamblichus writes :
1 Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., xx. 142.
2 Nat. Hist., xxviii. 6. 3 P. S. B. A., ibid., 256, 261.
4 He, however, was very well placed to have accurate knowledge on such a point. — [G. E. S. M.]
6 Eus., Prcep. Ev., I. x. 52. 6 Strom., VI. iv. 37.
" We must explain to you how the question stands by some further conceptions drawn from the Hermaic writings. Man has two souls, as these writings say. The one is from the First Mind, and partakes also of the Power of the Creator,3 while the other, the soul under constraint, comes from the revolution of the celestial [Spheres] 4 ; into the latter the former, the soul that is the Seer of God, insinuates itself at a later period. This then being so, the soul that descends into us from the worlds5 keeps time with the circuits of these worlds, while the soul from the Mind, existing in us in a spiritual fashion, is free from the whirl of
1 Especially in Book VIII., which is entirely devoted to an exposition of Hermaic doctrine, and ought perhaps to be here translated in full. I have, however, preferred to select the passages definitely characterized by Jamblichus as Hermaic.
a Who must be read in the original and not in the inelegant and puzzling version of Taylor, the only English translation. The Second Mind according to " The Shepherd."
4 The Seven Spheres of the Harmony. 6 The Seven Spheres.
Generation ; by this the bonds of Destiny are burst asunder ; by this the Path up to the spiritual Gods is brought to birth ; by such a life as this is that Great Art Divine, which leads us up to That beyond the Spheres of Genesis,1 brought to its consummation."2
THE COSMIC SPHEKES