Trismegistic literature c. 1st-3rd c. CE; this study and translation 1906 · G. R. S. Mead, Thrice-Greatest Hermes: Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis, Vol. I — Prolegomena (London and Benares: The Theosophical Publishing Society, 1906) · Public domain (US; published 1906) · uncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan
Chapter I: The Remains of the Trismegistic Literature
some of the Trismegistic tractates, that the undertaking
would finally grow into these volumes. My sole object
then was to render the more important of these beautiful
theosophic treatises into an English that might, perhaps,
be thought in some small way worthy of the Greek
originals. I was then more attracted by the sermons
themselves than by the manifold problems to which they
gave rise; I found greater pleasure in the spiritual
atmosphere they created, than in the critical considera-
tions which insistently imposed themselves upon my
mind, as I strove to realise their importance for the
history of the development of religious ideas in the
Western world.
And now, too, when I take pen in hand to grapple
with the difficulties of "introduction" for those who
will be good enough to follow my all-insufficient labours,
it is to the tractates themselves that I turn again and
again for refreshment in the task; and every time I
turn to them I am persuaded that the best of them are
worthy of all the labour a man can bestow upon them.
VOL. I. I
2 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Though it is true that the form of these volumes,
with their Prolegomena and Commentaries and numer-
ous notes, is that of a technical treatise, it has never-
theless been my aim to make them throughout accessible
to the general reader, even to the man of one language
who, though no scholar himself, may yet be deeply
interested in such studies. These volumes must, there-
fore, naturally fall short of the precision enjoyed by
the works of technical specialists which are filled with
direct quotations from a number of ancient and modern
tongues ; on the other hand, they have the advantage
of appealing to a larger public, while at the same time
the specialist is given every indication for controlling
the statements and translations.
Nor should the general reader be deterred by an
introductory volume under the imposing sub-title of
Prolegomena, imagining that these chapters are neces-
sarily of a dull, critical nature, for the subjects dealt
with are of immense interest in themselves (at least
they seem so to me), and are supplementary to the
Trismegistic sermons, frequently adding material of a
like nature to that in our tractates.
Some of these Prolegomena have grown out of the
Commentaries, for I found that occasionally subjects
lent themselves to such lengthy digressions that they
could be removed to the Prolegomena to the great
advantage of the Commentary. The arrangement of
the material thus accumulated, however, has proved a
very difficult task, and I have been able to preserve
but little logical sequence in the chapters ; but this is
owing mainly to the fact that the extant Trismegistic
literature itself is preserved to us in a most chaotic
fashion, and I as yet see no means of inducing any sure
order into this chaos,
REMAINS OF THE TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE
THE EXTANT TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE
To distinguish our writings both from the Egyptian
"Books of Thoth" and the Hermes Prayers of the
popular Egyptian cult, as found in the Greek Magic
Papyri, and also from the later Hermetic Alchemical
literature, I have adopted the term Trismegistic litera-
ture in place of the usual designation Hermetic.
Of this Greek Trismegistic literature proper, much is
lost; that which remains to us, of which I have en-
deavoured to gather together every fragment and scrap,
falls under five heads :
A. The Corpus Hermeticum.
B. The Perfect Sermon, or the Asclepius.
C. Excerpts by Stobseus.
D. Eeferences and Fragments in the Fathers.
E. Eeferences and Fragments in the Philosophers.
A. The Corpus Hermeticum includes what has, pre-
vious to Reitzenstein,1 been known as the "Poimandres" *
collection of fourteen Sermons and the " Definitions of
Asclepius."
B. The Perfect Sermon, or the Asclepius, is no longer
extant in Greek, but only in an Old Latin version.
C. There are twenty-seven Excerpts, from otherwise
lost Sermons, by John Stobseus, a Pagan scholar of the
1 Reitzenstein (R.), Poimandres: Studien «ur grieckisch-
agyptischen und friihchristlichen Liter atur (Leipzig ; 1904).
2 Variously translated, or metamorphosed, as Pcemandres,
Pcemander, Pcemandre, Pymandar, Pimander, Pimandre, Piman-
dro. Already Patrizzi, in 1591, pointed out that only one treatise
could be called by this title ; but, in spite of this, the bad habit
inaugurated by the editio princeps (in Latin translation) of
Marsiglio Ficino has persisted to the last edition of the text by
Parthey (1854) and the last translation by Chambers (1882).
4 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century, who
was an immense reader and made a most valuable
collection of extracts from Greek authors, though
studiously avoiding every Christian writer. Some of
these Excerpts are of great length, especially those
from the Sermon entitled " The Virgin of the World " ;
these twenty-seven Excerpts are exclusive of extracts
from Sermons still preserved in our Corpus.
D. From the Church Fathers we obtain many refer-
ences and twenty-five short Fragments, otherwise
unknown to us, and considerably widening our ac-
quaintance with the scope of the literature.
E. From Zosimus and Fulgentius we obtain three
Fragments, and from the former and lamblichus, and
Julian the Emperor-Philosopher, we obtain a number
of valuable references.
Such are what at first sight may appear to be the
comparatively scanty remains of what was once an
exceedingly abundant literature. But when we re-
member that this literature was largely reserved and
kept secret, we cannot but congratulate ourselves that
so much has been preserved ; indeed, as we shall see
later on, but for the lucky chance of a Hermetic apolo-
gist selecting some of the sermons to exemplify the
loyal nature of the Trismegistic teaching with respect
to kings and rulers, we should be without any Hermetic
Corpus at all, and dependent solely on our extracts and
fragments.
But even with our Hermetic Corpus before us we
should never forget that we have only a fraction of the
Trismegistic literature — the flotsam and jetsam, so to
say, of a once most noble vessel that sailed the seas of
human endeavour, and was an ark of refuge to many a
pious and cultured soul.
References to lost writings of the School will meet
REMAINS OF THE TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 5
us abundantly in the course of our studies, and some
attempt will be made later on to form a notion of the
main types of the literature.
As for the rest of the so-called Hermetic works,
medico-mathematical, astrological and medico-astro-
logical, and alchemical, and for a list of the many
inventions attributed to the Thrice-greatest — inven-
tions as numerous as, and almost identical with, those
attributed to Orpheus by fond posterity along the
line of "pure" Hellenic tradition — I would refer the
student to the Bibliotheca Grceca of Joannes Albertus
Fabricius.1
For the Alchemical and Mediaeval literature the two
magnificent works of Berthelot (M. P. E.) are indispens-
able— namely, Collection des anciens Alchimistes grecs
(Paris, 1888), and La Chimie au Moyen Age (Paris,
1893).
In close connection with the development of this
form of " Hermetic " tradition must be taken the
Hermes writings and traditions among the Arabs. See
Beausobre's Histoire Critique de ManicMe et du Mani-
cMisme (Amsterdam, 1734), i. 326 ; also Fleischer (H.
L.), Hermes Trismegislus an die menschliche Seele, Ara-
bisch und DeutscJi (Leipzig, 1870); Bardenhewer (0.),
Hermetis Trismegisti gui apud Arabes fertur de Casti-
gatione Animce Liber (Bonn, 1873) ; and especially R
Pietschmann, the pupil of Georg Ebers, who devotes
the fourth part of his treatise, entitled Hermes Trisme-
gistus nach dgyptischen und orientalischen Uberlieferungen
(Leipzig, 1875), to a consideration of the Hermes
tradition, " Bei Syrern und Araben."
1 Vol. i., lib. i., cap. vii. See the fourth and last edition
(Leipzig, 1790), with up to that time unedited supplements by
Fabricius and G. C. Heumann, and very numerous and im-
portant additions by Q. C. Harles.
6 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES*
Reitzenstein treats very briefly of the development of
this later Hermetic literature on pp. 188-200 of his
Poimandres.1
THE ORIGINAL MS. OF OUR CORPUS
From the fragmentary nature of the remains of the
Trismegistic literature that have come down to us, it
will be at once seen that a critical text of them is a
complicated undertaking; for, apart from the Corpus,
the texts have to be collected from the works of many
authors. This, however, has never yet been done in
any critical fashion ; so that a translator has first of all
to find the best existing critical texts of these authors
from which to make his version. This, I hope, I have
succeeded in doing ; but even so, numerous obscurities
still remain in the texts of the excerpts, fragments, and
quotations, and it is highly desirable that some scholar
specially acquainted with our literature should collect
all these together in one volume, and work over the
labours of specialists on the texts of Stobseus and the
Fathers, with the added equipment of his own special
knowledge.
Even the text of our Corpus is still without a
thoroughly critical edition ; for though Reitzenstein has
done this work most admirably for G. H., i., xiii. (xiv.),
and (xvi.)-(xviii.), basing himself on five MSS. and
the printed texts of the earlier editions, he has not
thought fit to give us a complete text.
A list of the then known MSS. is given in Harles'
edition of Fabricius' Bibliotheca Grceca (pp. 51, 52);
while Parthey gives notes on the only two MSS. he
used in his edition of fourteen of the Sermons of
1 For the Hermetic writing in Pitra, Anakcta Sacra et Classica,
pt. ii., see K., pp. 16, n. 4, and 259, n. 1 ; and for reference to the
Arabic literature, pp. 23, n. 5, and 172, n. 3.
REMAINS OP THE TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 7
our Corpus. It is, however, generally believed that
there may be other MSS. hidden away in Continental
libraries.
All prior work on the MSS., however, is entirely
superseded by Eeitzenstein in his illuminating " History
of the Text" (pp. 319-327), in which we have the
whole matter set forth with the thoroughness that
characterises the best German scholarship.
From him we learn that we owe the preservation of
our Hermetic Corpus to a single MS. that was found
in the eleventh century in a sad condition. Whole
quires and single leaves were missing, both at the
beginning (after ch. i.) and the end (after ch. xvi.) ;
even in the remaining pages, especially in the last
third, the writing was in a number of places no longer
legible.
In this condition the MS. came into the hands of
Michael Psellus, the great reviver of Platonic studies at
Byzantium, probably at the time when his orthodoxy
was being called into question. Psellus thought he
would put these writings into circulation again, but at
the same time guard himself against the suspicion that
their contents corresponded with his own conclusions.
This accounts for the peculiar scholion to C. H., i. 18,
which seems at first pure monkish denunciation of
Pcemandres as the Devil in disguise to lead men from
the truth, while the conclusion of it betrays so deep
an interest in the contents that it must have been
more than purely philological.
And that such an interest was aroused in the
following centuries at Byzantium, may be concluded
from the fact that the last three chapters, which directly
justify polytheism or rather Heathendom, were omitted
in a portion of the MSS., and only that part of the
Corpus received a wider circulation which corresponded
8 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
with what might be regarded at first sight as a
Neoplatonism assimilated to Christianity. The text
was reproduced with thoughtless exactitude, so that
though its tradition is extraordinarily bad, it is uniform,
and we can recover with certainty the copy of Psellus
from the texts of the fourteenth century.
These Trismegistic Sermons obtained a larger field of
operation with the growth of Humanism in the West.
Georgius Gemistus Pletho, in the latter part of the
fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century,
brought Neoplatonism from Byzantium into Italy as a
kind of religion and made a deep impression on Cosimo
Medici ; and Marsiglio Ficino, who was early selected by
the latter as the head of the future Academy, must have
made his Latin translation of our Corpus, which
appeared in 1463, to serve as the first groundwork of
this undertaking. Cosimo had the Greek text brought
from Bulgaria (Macedonia) by a monk, Fra Lionardo
of Pistoja, and it is still in the Medicean Library.
It was not, however, till the middle of the sixteenth
century that the Greek text was printed; and meantime,
with the great interest taken in these writings by the
Humanists, a large number of MSS. arose which sought
to make the text more understandable or more elegant ;
such MSS. are of no value for the tradition of the
text.
TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
We will now proceed to give some account of the
texts and translations of the Trismegistic writings, a
bibliographical labour which the general reader will
most probably skip, but which the real student will
appreciate at its proper value.1
1 This study was published in the Theosopfvical Review, May
1899, and is independent of Reitzenstein's work.
REMAINS OF THE TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 9
The best account of the texts and translations up to
1790 is that of Harles, who has entirely rewritten
the account of Fabricius (op. dt., pp. 52 ff.).1
The editio princeps was not a text but a Latin trans-
lation by Marsiglio Ficino (Marsilius Ficinus), published
in quarto in 147 1.2 Both the name of the publisher
and place of publication are lacking, but the British
Museum catalogue inserts them in parenthesis as " G.
de Lisa, Treviso," presumably on the authority of
Harles. This translation consisted of the so-called
" Pcemandres," in fourteen chapters, that is to say
fourteen treatises, under the general title, Mercurii
Trismegisti Liber de Potestaie et Sapientia Dei (or The
Book of Mercury Trismegist coiwerning theJPower and
Wisdom of God). The enormous popularity of this
work is seen by the fact of the very numerous editions
(for a book of that time) through which it ran. No
less than twenty-two editions have appeared, the first
eight of them in the short space of a quarter of a
century.3
In 1548 there appeared an Italian translation of
Ficinus' Latin version of the " Pcemandres " collection,
entitled H Pimandro di Met -curio Trismegisto, done into
Florentine by Tommaso Benci, printed at Florence in
12mo. A second edition was printed at Florence in
1549 in 8vo, with numerous improvements by Paitoni.
1 S. F. W. Hoffmann's Bibliographisches Lexicon der gesammten
Litteratur der Griechen (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1839) simply copies
Harles, while his appendix of " Erlauterungsschriften " is of no
value.
2 K. (p. 320), as we have seen, gives the date as 1463, but I
have found no trace of this edition.
8 The dates of these editions are as follows, though doubtless
there were other editions of which we have lost record : 1471, '72,
'81, '83, '91, '93, '94, '97 ; 1503, '05, '16, '22, '32, '49, '52, '54, '61,
'70, '76, '77; 1611, '41. They were printed at Venice, Paris,
Basle, Lyons, and London.
10 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
The first Greek text was printed at Paris, in 1554,
by Adr. Turnebus ; it included the " Poemandres " and
"The Definitions of Asclepius," to which the Latin
version of Ficino was appended. The title is, Mercurii
Trismegisti Pcemander seu de Potestate ac Sapientia
Divina: Aesculapii Definitions ad Ammonem Regem\
the Greek was edited by P. Angelo da Barga (Angelus
Vergecius).
In 1557 appeared the first French translation by
Gabriel du Preau, at Paris, with a lengthy title,
Deux Livres de Mercure Trismegiste Hermes tres ancien
Theologien, et excellant PhUozophe. L'un de la puissance
et sapience de Dieu. L'autre de la volonte de Dieu.
Auecq'un Dialogue de Loys Lazarel, poete Chrestien,
intitule" le Bassin d' Hermes.
This seems to be simply a translation of an edition
of Ficinus" Latin version published at Paris by Henr.
Stephanus in 1505, to which a certain worthy, Loys
Lazarel, who further rejoiced in the agnomen of
Septempedanus, appended a lucubration of his own of
absolutely no value,1 for the title of Estienne's edition
runs : Pimander Mercurii Liber de Sapientia et Potestate
Dei. Asclepius, ejusdem Mercurii Liber de Voluntate
Divina. Item Crater Hermetis a Lazarelo Septempedano.
In 1574 Franciscus Flussas Candalle reprinted at
Bourdeaux, in 4to, Turnebus' Greek text, which he
emended, with the help of the younger Scaliger and
other Humanists, together with a Latin translation,
under the title, Mercurii Trismegisti Pimander sive
Pcsmander. This text is still of critical service to-day.
This he followed with a French translation, printed
in 1579, also at Bourdeaux in folio, and bearing the
title, Le Pimandre de Mercure Trismegiste de la Philo-
1 The writer has painfully perused it, for, more fortunate than
the British Museum, he possesses a copy of this rare work.
REMAINS OF THE TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 11
sophie Chrestienne, Cognoissance du Verb Divin, et de
I'JExcellence des (Euvres de Dieu. This we are assured
is translated " de I'exemplaire Grec, avec collation de
tres-amples commentaires," l all of which is followed by
the full name and titles of Flussas, to wit, " FranQois
Monsieur de Foix, de la famille de Candalle, Captal
de Buchs, etc., Evesque d'Ayre, etc.," the whole being
dedicated to " Marguerite de France, Eoine de Navarre."
Twelve years later Franciscus Patricius (Cardinal
Francesco Patrizzi) printed an edition of the text of
the Sermons of the Corpus, of "The Asclepius," and
also of most of the Extracts and of some of the Frag-
ments ; he, however, has arranged them all in a quite
arbitrary fashion, and has as arbitrarily altered the
text, which generally followed that of Turnebus and
Candalle, in innumerable places. To this he appended
a Latin translation, in which he emended the versions
of Ficino and de Foix, as he tells us, in no less than
1040 places. These were included in his Nova de
Universis Philosophia, printed at Ferrara, in folio,
1591, and again at Venice by R Meiettus, in 1593, as
an appendix to his Nov. de Un. PML, now increased to
fifty books.
This Latin translation of Patrizzi was printed apart,
together with the Chaldcean Oracles, at Hamburg in
12mo, also, in 1593, under the title Magia Philosophica.
The latter edition bears the subscription on the title-
page, "jam mmc primum ex Biblioteca Ranzoviana b
tenebris eruta" which Harles explains as a reprint
by plain Henr. Eanzou, who is, however, described in
the volume itself as " prodiix." It seems to have
been again reprinted at Hamburg in 1594 in 8vo.
Meantime the Carmelite, Hannibal Eossellus,2 had
1 These on perusal prove of little value.
2 R. 322 calls him a Minorite.
12 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
been laboriously engaged for many years on an edition
of the " Poemandres " with most elaborate commen-
taries. This was printed at Cracow by Lazarus, in six
volumes in folio, from 1585 to 1590. Eossel treats
of philosophy, theology, the Pope, the scriptures, and
all disciplines in his immanibus commentariis, inepte as
some say, while others bestow on him great praise.
His title is Pymander Mercurii Trismegisti. This was
reprinted with the text and translation of de Foix in
folio at Cologne in 1630, under the title Divinus
Pimander Hermetis Mercurii Trismegisti.
Hitherto nothing had been done in England, but in
1611 an edition of Ficinus' translation was printed in
London. This was followed by what purports to be
a translation of the " Poemandres " from Arabic,1 " by
that learned Divine, Doctor Everard," as the title-page
sets forth. It was printed in London in 1650 in 8vo,
with a preface by "J. F.," and bears the title The
Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, in
xvii. Books. Translated formerly out of the Ar abide into
Greek [!] and thence into Latin, and Dutch, and now
out of the Original into English. There was a second
edition of Everard's version printed at London in 1657,
in 12mo. There are also reprints of the 1650 edition
by Fryar of Bath, with an introduction by Hargrave
Jennings, in 1884 ; 2 by P. B. Randolph, Toledo, Ohio,
1889 ; and by the Theosophical Publishing Society, in
the Collectanea Hermetica, edited by "W. Wynn Westcott,
in 1893.
To what Dutch translation Everard refers I cannot
discover, for the only one known to me is that printed
1 It is clear, however, that Everard translated from Ficinus'
Latin version, and that the " Arabick " is a myth.
2 Of which only 200 copies were issued to subscribers, as though,
forsooth, they were to come into great " occult " secrets thereby.
REMAINS OF THE TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 13
at Amsterdam in 1652 in 12mo. It is a translation of
Patrizzi's text, and bears the title, Sestien Boecken van
den Hermes Trismegistus. . . . uyt het G-riecx ghebracht
. . . met eene . . . Voorede uyt het Latijn von F.
PatriciiLs in de welcke Tiij bewijst dat desen . . .
Philosoph heeft geUeoyt voor Moyses, etc. Harles says
nothing of this edition, but speaks of one printed at
Amsterdam in 1643 in4to, by Nicholas van Eauenstein,
but I can find no other trace of it.
The first German translation was by a certain Aletho-
philus, and was printed at Hamburg in 1706 (8vo) under
the title Hermetis Trismegisti Erkdntnuss der Natur,
etc., containing seventeen pieces ; this was reprinted at
Stuttgart in 1855, in a curious collection by J. Schieble,
entitled Kleiner Wunder-Schauplatz}- The title reads
Hermetis Trismegisti Einleitung in's hochste Wissen von
JErkentniss der Natur und der darin sich offeribarenden
grossen Grottes, with an appendix concerning the person
of Hermes, etc.
But why Schieble should have reprinted Aletho-
philus' translation is not clear, when in 1781 a new
translation into German, with critical notes and
valuable suggestions for emending the text, had
appeared by Dieterich Tiedemann (Berlin and Stettin,
in 8vo), entitled Hermes Trismegists Pcemander, oder
von der gottlichen Macht und Weisheit, a rare book
which, already in 1827, Baumgarten-Crusius 2 laments
1 Part of the full title runs: K. W.-S. d. Wissenschaften,
Mysterien, Theosophie, gottlichen und morgenlandischen Magie,
Naturkrafte, hermet. u. inagnet. Phil., Kabbala, u. and. hohern
Kentnissen, and much more in the same strain, but I have no
doubt the reader has already had enough of it. From 1855 to
1857 fourteen parts appeared, mostly taken up with German
translations of Hermes, of Agrippa's Philosophia Occulta from the
Latin, and of The Telescope of Zoroaster from the French.
2 Op. inf. cit., p. 10.
14 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
as almost unfindable in the republic of letters, and
of which the British Museum possesses no copy.1
It is remarkable that of a work which exhausted
so many editions in translation and was evidently
received with such great enthusiasm, there have been
so few editions of the text, and that for two centuries
and a quarter2 no attempt was made to collate the
different MSS. and editions, until in 1854 Gustav
Parthey printed a critical text of the fourteen pieces
of " Poemandres," at Berlin, under the title Sermetis
Trismegisti Posmander, to which he appended a Latin
translation based on the original version of Ficino
successively revised by de Foix and Patrizzi. Parthey's
promise to edit reliqua Hermetis scripta has not been
fulfilled, and no one else has so far attempted this
most necessary task.
Reitzenstein's (p. 322) opinion of Parthey's text,
however, is very unfavourable. In the first place,
Parthey took Patrizzi's arbitrary alterations as a
true tradition of the text ; in the second, he himself
saw neither of the MSS. on which he says he relies.
The first of these was very carelessly copied for him
and carelessly used by him; while the second, which
was copied by D. Hamm, is very corrupt owing to very
numerous "corrections" and interpolations by a later
hand — all of which Parthey has adopted as ancient
readings. His text, therefore, concludes Eeitzenstein,
is doubly falsified — a very discouraging judgment for
lovers of accuracy.
In 1866 there appeared at Paris, in 8vo, a complete
translation in French of the Trismegistic treatises and
1 I have, therefore, not been able to avail myself of Tiede-
mann's labours. R. 322 speaks highly of them.
2 The last edition prior to Parthey's was the reprint of Flusaas"
text, at Cologne in 1630, appended to Rossel's lucubrations.
REMAINS OP THE TRISMEQISTIC LITERATURE 15
fragments by Louis Me*nard, entitled Hermh Trisme'giste,
preceded by an interesting study on the origin of the
Hermetic books, of which a second edition was printed
in 1867. This is beyond question the most sympathetic
version that we at present possess.
Everard's version of the " Poemandres " being re-
printed in 1884 by Fryar of Bath, the rest of the
treatises were retranslated by Anna Kingsford and
Edward Maitland from Mdnard's French version
(including his notes), and appeared in 1885 (in 4to),
published by Fryar, but bearing a publisher's name
in India, under the general title The Hermetic Works :
The Virgin of the World of Hermes Mercurius Trisme-
gistus. Meantime, in 1882, J. D. Chambers had pub
lished (at Edinburgh, in 8vo) a crabbed and slavishly
literal translation of the "Poemandres," together with
the Excerpts from Stobeeus and the Notices of Hermes
in the Fathers, with an introductory Preface, under
the title, The Theological and Philosophical Works of
Hermes Trismegistus, Christian Neoplatonist. Indeed,
the loose and erroneous version of Everard is far more
comprehensible than this fantastically literal translation.
For the last six years I have myself been publishing,
in the pages of The Theosophical Review, translations of
the Trisiuegistic Sermons and also a few of the studies
now included in these Prolegomena ; all of the
former, however, have been now carefully revised,
and the latter have for the most part been greatly
enlarged and improved.
Finally, in 1904, E. Eeitzenstein of Strassburg
published at Leipzig his illuminating study, Poimandres,
in which he gives the critical text of 0. JS., i., xiii. (xiv.),
(xvi.)-(xviii.), based on five MSS. and the best early
printed editions, with all that minute care, knowledge
of palaeography, and enthusiasm for philology which
16 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
characterises the best textual-critical work of modern
scholarship. Why, however, Eeitzenstein has not done
the same good service for the whole of the Corpus as he
has done for the selected sermons, is a mystery. He
is the very man for the task, and the service he could
render would be highly appreciated by many.
So much, then, for the existing partial texts and
translations of the extant Trismegistic literature. Of
the translations with which I am acquainted,1 Everard's
(1650), the favourite in England, because of its
dignified English, is full of errors, mistranslations, and
obscurities ; it is hopeless to try to understand " Hermes "
from this version. Chambers's translation (1882,
from the text of Par they) is so slavishly literal that
it ceases to be English in many places, in others goes
wide of the sense, and, in general, is exasperating.
Menard's French translation (1866, also from Parthey's
text) is elegant and sympathetic, but very free in many
places ; in fact, not infrequently quite emancipated from
the text. The most literally accurate translation is
Parthey's Latin version (based on the Latin translation
of Ficino, as emended by Candalle and Patrizzi) ; but
even in such literal rendering he is at fault at times,
while in general no one can fully understand the Latin
without the Greek. To translate " Hermes " requires
not only a good knowledge of Greek, but also a know-
ledge of that Gnosis which he has not infrequently so
admirably handed on to us.
1 As already remarked, I have not been able to see a copy of
the German of Tiedemann.
II
THE HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF
OPINION
THE CHIEF POINTS OF INTERROGATION
Chapter II: The History of the Evolution of Opinion
points :
The early Church Fathers in general accepted the
Trismegistic writings as exceedingly ancient and autho-
ritative, and in their apologetic writings quote them in
support of the main general positions of Christianity.
In the revival of learning, for upwards of a century
and a half, all the Humanists welcomed them with
open arms as a most valuable adjunct to Christianity,
and as being in accord with its doctrines ; so much so
that they laboured to substitute Trismegistus for
Aristotle in the schools.
During the last two centuries and a half, however,
a body of opinion was gradually evolved, infinitesimal
in its beginnings but finally well-nigh shutting out
every other view, that these writings were Neoplatonic
forgeries and plagiarisms of Christianity.
Finally, with the dawn of the twentieth century, the
subject has been rescued from the hands of opinion,
and has begun to be established on the firm ground of
historical and critical research, opening up problems
of the greatest interest and importance for the history
of Christian origins and their connection with Hellen-
VOL. I. 17 2
18 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
istic theology and theosophy, and throwing a brilliant
light on the development of Gnosticism.
The first point will be brought out in detail in the
volume in which a translation of all the passages and
references to Thrice-greatest Hermes in the writings
of the Church Fathers will be given; while the last
will be made abundantly apparent, we hope, in the
general course of our studies. The second and third
points will now demand our immediate attention,
especially the third, for we have endeavoured with
great labour to become acquainted with all the
"arguments" which have tended to build up this
opinion ; and unless we have to change all our ideas
as to the time-frame of so-called Neoplatonism, we are
entirely unconvinced ; for we find that it has been
evolved from unsupported assertions, and that not one
single work exists which ventures in any satisfactory
fashion to argue the question (most writers merely
reasserting or echoing prior opinions), or in which the
statements made may not as easily prove the priority
of the Trismegistic school to the Neoplatonic as the
reverse.
We will then proceed to give some account of this
chaos of contradictory opinions, picking out the most
salient points.
THE OPINIONS OF THE HUMANISTS
That the early scholars of the revival of learning
were all unanimously delighted with the Trismegistic
writings, is manifest from the bibliography we have
already given, and that they should follow the judgment
of the ancient Fathers in the matter is but natural to
expect; for them not only were the books prior to
Christianity, but they were ever assured that Hermes
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 19
had been a really existent personality, like any of the
Biblical worthies, such as Enoch and Noah (as was
unquestionably believed in those days), and further,
that he was prior to, or a contemporary of, Moses.1
Thus in the editio princeps of Ficino we read : " Who-
ever thou art who readest these things, whether
grammarian, or rhetorician, or philosopher, or theo-
logian, know thou that I am Hermes the Thrice-greatest,
at whom wondered first the Egyptians and the other
nations, and subsequently the ancient Christian theo-
logians, in utter stupefaction at my doctrine rare of
things divine."
The opinion of Ficino, that the "writer" of the
" Poemandres " tractates was one who had a knowledge
both of Egyptian and Greek, is of interest as being
that of a man uncontaminated by the infinite doubts
with which the atmosphere of modern criticism is filled,
and thus able to get a clean contact with his subject.
Of the same mind were Loys Lazarel and du Preau,
the first French translator ; while the Italian Cardinal
Patrizzi appends to his labours the following beautiful
words (attributed by some to Chalcidius 2), which he
puts in the mouth of Hermes :
" Till now, my son, I, banished from my home, have
lived expatriate in exile. Now safe and sound I seek
my home once more. And when but yet a little while
I shall have left thee, freed from these bonds of body,
see that thou dost not mourn me as one dead. For I
return to that supreme and happy state to which the
universe's citizens will come when in the after-state.
1 For a list of those who thought Hermes was prior to Moses,
and even identical with Joseph, or even Adam, see Harles, p. 49
ff. and notes.
2 A Platonic philosopher who lived probably in the 4th
century A.D.
20 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
For there the Only God is supreme lord, and He will
fill His citizens with wondrous joy, compared to which
the state down here which is regarded by the multitude
as life, should rather be called death." l
Patrizzi believed that Hermes was contemporary
with Moses, basing himself upon the opinion of Eusebius
in his Chronicum,2 and thought that it would be to the
greatest advantage of the Christian world, if such
admirable and pious philosophy as was contained in
the Trismegistic writings were substituted in the public
schools for Aristotle, whom he regarded as overflowing
with impiety.
THE FIRST DOUBT
And that such opinions were the only ones as late as
1630, is evident from the favour still shown to the
voluminous commentaries of de Foix and Eossel. Never-
theless some fifty years previously, a hardy pioneer of
scepticism had sturdily attacked the validity of the
then universal Hermes tradition on one point at least
— and that a fundamental one. For Patrizzi (p. la)
declares that a certain Jo. Goropius Becanus was the
first after so many centuries to dare to say that Hermes
(as a single individual) never existed ! But the worthy
Goropius, who appears to have flourished about 1580,
judging by an antiquarian treatise of his on the race
and language of the " Cimbri or Germani " published at
Amsterdam, had no followers as yet in a belief that
is now universally accepted by all critical scholarship.
But this has to do with the Hermes-saga and not
directly with the question of the Trismegistic works,
1 Op. tit., p. 3a.
2 In which Patrizzi did but echo the opinion of his pre-
decessors, such as Vergecius, the editor of the first edition of the
Greek text, Candalle and many more.
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 21
and so we may omit for the present any reference to
the host of contradictory opinions on " Hermes " which
are found in all the writers to whom we are referring,
and none of which, prior to the decipherment of the
hieroglyphics, are of any particular value.
It was about the middle of the seventeenth century
that the theory of plagiarism and forgery was started.
Ursin ( Joh. Henr. Ursinus), a pastor of the Evangelical
Church at Ratisbon, published at Niirnberg in 1661, a
work, in the second part of which he treated of " Hermes
Trismegistus and his Writings,"1 and endeavoured to
show that they were wholesale plagiarisms from
Christianity, but his arguments were subjected to a
severe criticism by Brucker some hundred years later.2
This extreme view of Ursin was subsequently modified
into the subsidiary opinions that the Trismegistic works
were composed by a half-Christian (semi-christiano) or
interpolated by Christian overworking.
The most distinguished name among the early holders
of the former opinion is that of Isaac Casaubon,3 who
dates these writings at the beginning of the second
1 De Zoroastre Badriano Hermete Trismegisto Sanchoniathone
Phcenicio eorumque Scriptis, et Aliis contra Mosaicce Scriptural Anti-
quitatem ; Exercitationes Familiar es, pp. 73-180 — a book now very
scarce.
2 Jacob! Bruckeri, Historia Critica Philosophies (2nd ed., Leipzig,
1767), i. 252 ff. Lib. ii., cap. vii., " De Philosophia JSgyptiorum."
See also Meiners' Versuch iiber die Religionsgeschichte der altesten
Volker besonders der Egyptier (Gottingen, 1775).
3 De Rebus Sacris . . . Exercitationes ad Card. Baronii Prole-
gomena, i., n. 10 (London, 1614). Casaubon concludes that the
whole book, i.e. the " Pcemandres," is a pseudepigraph, the pure
invention of some Christian or other, or perhaps better, of some
semi-Christian (p. 56).
22 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
century ; Casaubon's opinions, however, were promptly
refuted by Cudworth in his famous work The True
Intellectual System of the Universe, the first edition of
which was printed at London, in folio, 1678.1 Cud-
worth would have it, however, that Casaubon was right
as far as the treatises entitled " The Shepherd of Men "
and " The Secret Sermon on the Mountain " are con-
cerned, and that these treatises were counterfeited by
Christians since the time of lamblichus — a very curious
position to assume, since a number of the treatises
themselves look back to this very " Shepherd " as the
original document of the whole " Pcemandres " cycle.
But, indeed, so far we have no arguments, no really
critical investigation,2 so that we need not detain the
reader among these warring opinions, on which the cap
was set by the violent outburst of Colberg in defence of
orthodoxy against the Alchemists, Rosicrucians, Quakers,
Anabaptists, Quietists, etc., of which fanatici, as he
calls them, Hermes, he declares, was the Patriarch.3
THE ONLY ARGUMENT ADDUCED
One might almost believe that Colberg was an incarna-
tion of a Church Father continuing his ancient polemic
against heresy ; in any case the whole question of heresy
1 See his dissertation on Hermes and the Hermetic writings
in the edition of 1820, vol. ii., pp. 128-155.
2 Though Reitzenstein (p. 1) speaks of the " schneidende
Kritik" of Casaubon.
3 Vol. i., p. 89, of the following amply entitled work, Das
Platonisch-Hermetisches [st'c] Christenthum, begriffend die historische
Erzehlung vom Ursprung und vielerley Secten der heutigen Fanatischen
Theologie, unterm Namen der Paracelsisten, Weigelianer, Rosen-
creutzer, Quaker, Bohmisten, Wiedertauffer, Bourignisten, Labadisten
und Quietisten, by M. Ehre Gott Daniel Colberg, 2 vols. (Frank-
furt and Leipzig, 1690, 1691).
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 23
was now revived, and the eighteenth and nineteenth
century criticism of the Trismegistic works almost invari-
ably starts with this prejudice in mind and seeks (almost
without exception) to father the Trismegistic writings
on Neoplatonism, which it regards as the most powerful
opponent of orthodoxy from the third century onwards.
Harles (1790) gives the references to all the main factors
in the evolution of this opinion during the eighteenth
century ; 1 but the only argument that the century
produced — indeed, the only argument that has ever been
adduced — is that the doctrines of the Trismegistic
writings are clearly Platonic, and that too of that type
of mystical Platonism which was especially the
characteristic of the teaching of lamblichus at the end
of the third century A.D., and which is generally called
Neoplatonism ; therefore, these writings were forged by
the Neoplatonists to prop up dying Paganism against
the ever more and more vigorous Christianity. We
admit the premisses, but we absolutely deny the
conclusion. But before pointing out the weakness of
this conclusion of apologetic scholarship, we must deal
with the literature on the subject in the last century.
The eighteenth century produced no arguments in
support of this conclusion beyond the main premisses
which we have admitted.2 Has the nineteenth century
1 Op. supr. rit. ; the most " advanced " writer on the subject
being Tiedemann, to whose work we have already referred ; but
unfortunately we have not been able to procure a copy, and the
British Museum is without it. Tiedemann thinks that none of
the Trismegistic writings existed before the fourth century, while
Fabricius himself, whose summary of prior opinion is overworked
by Harles, assigns them to the time of Porphyry and lamblichus,
though Harles dates the earliest of them from the end of the first
to the middle of the second century (p. 48, n.).
2 It may be worth while here to record the opinion of Gibbon,
who would ascribe a Christian origin to some of the Trismegistic
24 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
produced any others so as to justify the position taken
up by the echoes of opinion in all the popular encyclo-
paedias with regard to these most valuable and beautiful
treatises ? l
If our encyclopaedias deign to rest their assertions
on authority, they refer us to Fabricius (Harles) and
Baumgarten-Crusius. We have already seen that Harles
will not help us much ; will the latter authority throw
any more light on the subject ? We are afraid not ;
for, instead of a bulky volume, we have before us a thin
academical exercise of only 19 pp.,2 in which the author
puts forward the bare opinion that these books were
invented by Porphyry and his school, and this mainly
because he thinks that Orelli3 had proved the year
before that the Cosmogony of Sanchoniathon was
invented by the "Platonici." Moreover, was not
Porphyry an enemy of Christ, for did he not write XV.
Books against the Christians? All of which can
scarcely be dignified with the name of argument, far
less with that of proof.
writings, and impatiently dismisses the subject by classing
Hermes with Orpheus and the Sibyls as a cloak for Christian
forgery (vol. ii. p. 69, Bury's ed.).
1 How the public is catered for may be seen from any popular
" knowledge "-digest. The following will serve as a specimen,
taken from the article " Hermes Trismegistus," in The American
Encyclopedia : a Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, edited
by Eipley and Dana (New York, 1874) : " In the conflict
between Neoplatonism and Christianity, the former sought to
give a profounder and more spiritual meaning to the pagan
philosophy, by combining the wisdom of the Egyptians and
the Greeks, and representing it as a very ancient, divine
revelation."
2 Delivered before the University of Jena at Pentecost, 1827, by
Lud. Frid. Otto Baumgarten-Crusius.
3 Orelli (J. C.), Sanchoniathonis Fragmenta de Cosmogonia et
Theologia Phcenicorum (Leipzig, 1826).
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 25
THE THEORY OF HILGERS
The same may be said of the short academical thesis
of Hilgers,1 who first shows the weakness of Mohler's
strange opinion 2 that the author was a Christian who
pretended to be a Pagan and inserted "errors" on
purpose. Hilgers finally ends up with the lame con-
clusion that Christian doctrine was known to the
author of the " Pcemandres " cycle, especially the Gospel
of " John " and Letters of Paul ; but how it is possible to
conjecture anything besides, he does not know. Of
the possibility of the priority of the " Pcemandres " to
the writings of "John" and Paul, Hilgers does not
seem to dream ; nevertheless this is as logical a de-
duction as the one he draws from the points of contact
between the two groups of literature. But Hilgers has
got an axe of his own to grind, and a very blunt one at
that; he thinks that "The Shepherd of Men" was
written at the same time as " The Shepherd of Hermas,"
that simple product of what is called the sub-apostolic
age — a document held in great respect by the early
outer communities of General Christianity, and used
for purposes of edification. Our " Shepherd," Hilgers
thinks, was written in opposition to the Hermas
document, but he can do nothing but point to the
similarity of name as a proof of his hypothesis. This
topsyturvy opinion we shall seek to reverse in a
subsequent chapter on " ' Hermes ' and ' Hermas.' "
As to the author of our " Shepherd," Hilgers thinks
he has shown that "he was not a follower of the
1 Hilgers (B. J.), De Hermetis Trismegisti Poimandro Commen-
tatio (Bonn, 1855), suggested by the appearance of Parthey's text
in 1854.
2 Mobler (J. A.), Patrologie, pp. 950-951 — a brief note on
Hermes. Ed. by F. X. Reithmayr (Regensberg, 1840).
26 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
doctrines of the Christ, but of the so-called Neoplaton-
ists, and among these especially of Philo Judaeus " ; in
fact he seems, says Hilgers, to have been a Therapeut.1
THE GERMAN THEORY OF NEOPLATONIC " SYNCRETISMUS "
Here we have the first appearance of another ten-
dency ; the more attention is bestowed upon the
Trismegistic writings, the more it is apparent that
they cannot be ascribed to Neoplatonism, if, as generally
held, Neoplatonism begins with Ammonius Saccas,
Plotinus, and Porphyry in the third century. There-
fore, in this subject, and in this subject alone, we find a
tendency in later writers to push back the Neoplatonists
so as to include Philo Judacus, who flourished in the
first half of the first century ! On these lines we
should soon get JVgo-platonism back to Plato and
Pythagoras, and so be forced to drop the " Neo " and
return to the old honoured name of simple " Platonici."
But already by this time in Germany the theory of
Neoplatonic Syncretismus to prop up sinking Heathen-
dom against rising Christianity had become crystallised,
as may be seen from the article on "Hermes,
Hermetische Schriften" in Pauly's famous Real En-
cyclopddie der classischen Alterthumswissenshaft (Stutt-
gart, 1844), where this position is assumed from the
start.
Parthey, however, in 1854, in his preface, ventures
on no such opinion, but expresses a belief that we may
even yet discover in Egypt a demotic text of the
" Pcemandres," which shows that he considered the
original to have been written in Egyptian, and there-
fore not by a Neoplatonist.
1 Op. tit., pp. 16-17.
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 27
THE FRENCH THEORY OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN
In France, moreover, the Egyptian paternity of the
Trismegistic writings, and that too on very sensible
lines, was asserted about the same time, namely, in
1858, by Artaud in his article on "Hermes Trisme'-
giste," in Hoeffer's Nouvelle Biographic Gfdndrale,
published at Paris by Messrs Firmin Didot. Artaud
writes :
" In the mystic sense Thoth or the Egyptian Hermes
was the symbol of the Divine Mind ; he was the incar-
nated Thought, the living Word — the primitive type of
the Logos of Plato and the Word of the Christians. . . .
" We have heard Champollion, the younger, giving ex-
pression to the formal opinion that the books of Hermes
Trismegistus really contained the ancient Egyptian
doctrine of which traces can be discovered from the
hieroglyphics which cover the monuments of Egypt.
Moreover, if these fragments themselves are examined,
we find in them a theology sufficiently in accord with the
doctrines set forth by Plato in his Timceus — doctrines
which are entirely apart from those of the other schools
of Greece, and which were therefore held to have been
derived by Plato from the temples of Egypt, when he
went thither to hold converse with its priests." l
Artaud is also of the opinion that these Trismegistic
treatises are translations from the Egyptian.
THE VIEWS OF M^NARD
Nowadays, with our improved knowledge of Egypt-
ology, this hypothesis has to be stated in far more
1 The whole of this article has been lifted, without acknowledg-
ment, by M'Clintock and Strong in their Cyclopcedia of Biblical,
Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literaiwre (New York, 1872).
28 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
careful terms before it can find acceptance among the
learned ; nevertheless it was evidently the conviction
of Deveria, who in a work of which he only succeeded
in writing the first two pages, proposed to comment on
the entire text of the Trismegistic Books from the point
of view of an Egyptologist. For these Books, he
declared, offered an almost complete exposition of the
esoteric philosophy of ancient Egypt.1
But by far the most sympathetic and really intelligent
account of the subject is that of Menard,2 who gives us
a pleasant respite from the chorus of the German
Neoplatonic syncretism theory. And though we do
not by any means agree with all that he writes, it will
be a relief to let in a breath of fresh air upon the
general stuffiness of our present summary of opinions.
The fragments of the Trismegistic literature which
have reached us are the sole surviving remains of that
" Egyptian philosophy " which arose from the congress
of the religious doctrines of Egypt with the philo-
sophical doctrines of Greece. In other words, what
the works of Philo were to the sacred literature of the
Jews, the Hermaica were to the Egyptian sacred
writings. Legend and myth were allegorised and
philosophised and replaced by vision and instruction.
But who were the authors of this theosophic method ?
This question is of the greatest interest to us, for it is
one of the factors in the solution of the problem of the
literary evolution of Christianity, seeing that there are
intimate points of contact of ideas between several
of the Hermetic documents and certain Jewish and
Christian writings, especially the opening verses of
Genesis, the treatises of Philo, the fourth Gospel
1 Pierret, Melanges cCArcheologie egyptienne et assyrienne, i. (1873),
p. 112; R 1, n. 1.
2 Op. sup. cit., 1866.
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 29
(especially the Prologue), and beyond all the writings
of the great Gnostic doctors Basilides and Valentinus.
Such and similar considerations lead Mdnard to
glance at the environment of infant Christianity and
the various phenomena connected with its growth, and
this he does from the point of view of an enlightened
independent historical scholar.
" Christianity," he writes, " did not fall like a thunder-
bolt into the midst of a surprised and startled world.
It had its period of incubation, and while it was en-
gaged in evolving the positive form of its dogmas, the
problems of which it was seeking the solution were the
subject of thought in Greece, Asia, and Egypt. Similar
ideas were in the air and shaped themselves into all
sorts of propositions.
" The multiplicity of sects which have arisen in our
own times under the name of socialism, can give but
a faint idea of the marvellous intellectual chemistry
which had established its principal laboratory at Alex-
andria. Humanity had set in the arena mighty philo-
sophical and moral problems : the origin of evil, the
destiny of the soul, its fall and redemption ; the prize
to be given was the government of the conscience.
The Christian solution l won, and caused the rest to be
forgotten, sunk for the most part in the shipwreck of
the past. Let us then, when we come across a scrap
of the flotsam and jetsam, recognise in it the work of
a beaten competitor and not of a plagiarist. Indeed,
the triumph of Christianity was prepared by those
very men who thought themselves its rivals, but who
were only its forerunners. The title suits them, though
many were contemporaries of the Christian era, while
others were a little later ; for the succession of a religion
only dates from the day when it is accepted by the
1 The popular Christian solution, M^nard should have said.
30 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
nations, just as the reign of a claimant to the throne
dates from his victory " (pp. ix., x.).
Me"nard distinguishes three principal groups in the
Trismegistic treatises, which he assigns to Jewish, Greek,
and Egyptian influences. In them also he finds a link
between Philo and the Gnostics.
"Between the first Gnostic sects and the Hellenic
Jews represented by Philo, a link is missing ; this can
be found in several of the Hermetic works, especially
'The Shepherd of Men' and 'The Sermon on the
Mountain.' In them also will perhaps be found the
reason of the differences, so often remarked upon,
between the first three Gospels and the fourth"
(p. xliv.).
Next, the direction in which that " link " is to be looked
for is more clearly shown, though here Me"nard is, I
think, too precise when writing:
"It seems certain that 'The Shepherd' came from
that school of Therapeuts of Egypt, who have been
often erroneously confounded with the Essenians of
Syria and Palestine " (p. Ivi).
But "instead of the physical discipline of the
Essenians, who, according to Philo, practised manual
labour, put the product of their toil into the common
fund, and reduced philosophy to ethics, and ethics to
charity, the 'monasteries' of the Therapeuts contri-
buted to Christian propaganda a far more Hellenised
population, trained in abstract speculations and mystic
allegories. From these tendencies, combined with the
dogma of the incarnation, arose the Gnostic sects.
' The Shepherd ' should be earlier than these schools "
(p. Iviii.).
As to "The Sermon on the Mountain," "it can be
placed, in order of ideas and date, between 'The
Shepherd ' and the first Gnostic schools ; it should be
HISTORY OP THE EVOLUTION OP OPINION 31
a little earlier than the founders of Gnosticism,
Basilides, and Valentinus " (p. Ixv.).
If Gnosticism be taken with Me"nard to mean the
Christianised theosophy of Basilides and Valentinus
from the first quarter of the second century onwards,
the oldest Trismegistic treatises are demonstrably earlier,
for their Gnosticism is plainly a far simpler form ; in
fact, so much more simple that, if we could proceed
on so crude an hypothesis as that of a straight-lined
evolution, we should be forced to find room for inter-
mediate forms of Gnosticism between them and the
Basilidian and the Valentinian Gnosis. And of this
Me"nard seems to be partly conscious when writing:
" We can follow in the Hermetic books the destiny of
this Judseo-Egyptian Gnosis, which, during the first
century, existed side by side with Christianity without
allowing itself to be absorbed by it, passing insensibly
from the Jewish school of Philo to the Greek school
of Plotinus" (p. Ixvii.).
Me'nard here used the term Christianity for that
tendency which afterwards was called Catholic or
General Christianity, the body to which these very
same Gnostics gave the principal dogmas of its sub-
sequent theology.
But if the Gnostics were Therapeuts, and the Tris-
megistic writers Therapeuts, why should Me'uard call
them Jews, as he appears to do in his interesting
question, "Where are the Jewish Therapeuts at the
end of the second century ? " Certainly Philo laboured
to give his readers the impression that the Therapeuts
were principally Jews, perhaps to win respect for his
compatriots in his apology for his nation ; but the Thera-
peuts were, evidently, on his own showing, drawn from
all the nations and scattered abroad in very numerous
communities, though many Jews were doubtless in
32 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
their ranks — indeed, Philo probably knew little about
their communities other than the Mareotic. If, then,
the term "Therapeut" will explain some of the
phenomena presented by these writings, the combination
"Jewish Therapeuts" will certainly not do so. The
very answer of Me'nard himself to his question shows
that even these Mareotic Therapeuts could not have
been orthodox Jews, for the French scholar proceeds to
surmise not only that, " some, converted to Christianity,
became monks or Gnostics of the Basilidian or Valen-
tinian school," but that " others more and more assimi-
lated themselves to Paganism."
And by "Paganism" our author says he does not
mean "polytheism," for "at this period all admitted
into the divine order of things a well-defined hierarchy
with a supreme God at the head ; only for some this
supreme Deity was in the world, for others outside it "
(p. Ixxiv.).
Menard's introduction meets with the general
approval of Reitzenstein (p. 1), who characterises it as
feinsinnige, and agrees that he has rightly appreciated
many of the factors, especially from the theological
side; he, however (p. 116, n. 2), dissents, and rightly
dissents, from Me'nard as to any direct Jewish influence
on the Trismegistic literature, and refuses to admit that
the " Poamandres " can in any way be characterised as a
Jewish-Gnostic writing.
But the sensible views of Me'nard were impotent to
check the crystallisation of the German theory, which
was practically repeated by Zeller,1 and once more by
1 Qesch. d. griech. Philos., III., ii., 225 S. Zeller, while recognising
the Gnostic nature of C. H. i. and C. H. xiii. (xiv.), treats the rest
of our Corpus as an expression of declining Paganism. So also
Erdmann (Hist. Philos., i. 113, 2, Tr.), who deals with our Corpus
only, and assigns its sermons to different authors and times.
HISTORY OP THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 33
Pietschmann in his learned essay,1 based in part on A.
G. Hoffmann's article " Hermes " in Ersch and Gruber's
Allgemeine Encyclopiidie der Wissenschaften und Kunste?
An exception to this tendency, however, is to be
found in the opinion of Aall ; 3 who, though he adduces
no proof, would on general grounds place the composition
of the Hermetic literature (though whether or not by
this he means our extant Trismegistic sermons is not
clear) as far back as the second century B.C., and
would see in it an offshoot from the same stem which
later on supplied the ground - conceptions of the
Johannine theology.4
ENGLISH ENCYCLOP^DISM
In England, as we have seen, the subject, like BO many
others of a similar nature, has been almost entirely
neglected, but with the encyclopaedic activity of the
past generation we find it touched upon, and in the
usual encyclopaedic fashion. The German position is
assumed, without one word of proof or reference to any,
as an " acquired fact of science " ! The " last effort of
expiring Heathendom " theory is trotted out with
complacency and with that impressive air of official
knowledge which makes the pronouncements of the
family physician a law unto all its members, from
baby to father — until the specialist is called in. And
He contends that G. H. xiii. (xiv.) shows a Neo-pythagorean
tendency, — a term far vaguer than Neo-platonic even.
1 Hermes Trismegistos n. agyp., griech. u. oriental. Uberlieferungen
(Leipzig, 1875).
2 A laborious article replete with references, but dealing solely
with the Hermes-saga and not with our writings.
3 Aall (A.), Geschichte der Logosidee in der Philosophic (Leipzig,
vol. i. 1896, vol. ii. 1899), ii. 78, n. 4.
4 Cf. Reitzenstein, Zwei religionsgeschichtliche Fragen (Strassburg,
1901), p. 93, n. 3.
VOL. I. 3
34 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
unfortunately these ex cathedrd encyclopaedic pronounce-
ments are all the general reader will ever hear. This
is the case with all those three indifferent articles in our
current dictionaries of reference.1 We are assured that,
"as all are generally agreed," the writings are Neo-
platonic, and this without any qualification or definition
of the term, and that too in dictionaries where the
term " Neoplatonic," in articles on the subject, is
applied solely to the " Chain " from Ammonius Saccas
and Plotinus onwards. The presumption is plain that
by Neoplatonic forgeries we are to understand a date of
at earliest from the middle of the third century
onwards.
CHAMBERS'S OPINION
And this although Justin Martyr (dr. 150 A.D.)
bestows emphatic praise on these very same writings
and classes their writer, "Hermes," among the "most
ancient philosophers," a point which the German
theorists and their English copiers have all discreetly
shirked, but which, together with other considerations,
has forced Chambers, in the preface to his translation
(London, 1882), to give quite a new meaning to the
term Neoplatonist, which he uses of Hermes in his
title,2 and to declare that our Hermes is entitled " to
1 Art. " Hermes and Hermes Trismegistus," by L. Schmitz, in
Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
(London, 1870), a work which is now entirely out of date ; Jowett's
art., " Hermes Trismegistus," in the Encyclopedia Britannica
(9th ed., London, 1880), repeated in the recent reprint without
alteration ; and Mozley's art., " Hermes Trismegistus," in Smith
and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography (London, 1882) ;
to both of which articles, if not to the works themselves, the above
remark also applies.
2 The Theological and Philosophical Works of Hermes Trismegistus,
Christian Neoplatonist.
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OP OPINION 35
be considered the real founder of Neoplatonism." *
Chambers would still, in spite of Justin's clear testi-
mony, wedge in the earliest deposit of Trismegistic
literature immediately between the time of composition
of the new canonical books and Justin, and devotes
nearly all his notes to fishing out every verse of the
New Testament he can which bears the slightest
resemblance to the Trismegistic text.2 But if we
closely compare these so-called parallels, we are
compelled to acknowledge that if there be any
plagiarism it is not on the side of Hermes ; nay,
more, it is as plain as it can be that there is no
verbal plagiarism at all, and that the similarity of
ideas therefore pertains to quite another problem,
for the distinctive dogmas of Common Christianity
are entirely wanting ; there is not a single word
breathed of the historical Jesus, not a syllable concern-
ing the nativity, the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension
or coming of Christ to judgment, as Chambers admits.
GERMAN ENCYCLOP^EDISM
Let us now turn to the pronouncements of German
encyclopsedism on the subject. F. A. Brockhaus'
Conversations-Lexikon (Leipzig, 1884) does but repeat
the old hypothesis. The Trismegistic writings are
"the last monuments of Heathendom"; the writer,
however, grudgingly takes in the date of Justin Martyr
in the sentence, "presumably the majority of these
writings belong to the second century," but not a
word is breathed of how this conclusion is arrived at.
A most valuable article, in fact far and away the
1 Op. cit., p. xii.
1 In this repeating de Foix, who attempted the same task more
than three hundred years before.
36 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
very best that has yet been done, containing innumerable
references to all the articles in the most recent trans-
actions of learned societies and to the papers in scien-
tific periodicals, is that of Chr. Scherer on " Hermes,"
in W. H. Koscher's Aufuhrliches Lexikon der griechischen
u. romischen Mythologie (Leipzig, 1884, etc.). Un-
fortunately this article deals solely with the Hermes
of the Greeks, while for " Hermes Trismegistos " we
are referred to " Thoth," an article which has not yet
appeared. This brings our summary of opinions down
to the close of the last century; we have probably
omitted reference to some minor opinions, for no up-
to-date bibliography exists on the subject, but we
doubt that any work of importance has escaped our
notice.
The most recent work done in England on the
subject, in the present century, is an article by Frank
Granger,1 who, in spite of some useful criticisms and
suggestions on some points, is nevertheless in the main
reactionary, and contends for a Christian origin of our
most important tractates. The scope of his enquiry
may be seen from his preliminary statement when he
writes:
" We shall have little difficulty in showing, as against
Zeller, that the book [? our Corpus, or the first Sermon
only] is in the main homogeneous and of Christian
origin. Not only so, our discussion will bring us into
contact with the later Greek culture as it developed
amid Egyptian surroundings, and will raise several
problems of considerable importance. Among other
1 " The Poemandres of Hermes Trismegistus," in The Journal
of Theological Studies, vol. v. No. 19, April 1904 (London).
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OP OPINION 37
things we shall have to trace the way in which Hermes
passes over into Christian tradition, and how the
Greek representations of Hermes furnished Christian
art with one of its earliest motives.1 We shall further
find in it a bridge by which we may pass over from
Greek philosophy and science to modes of thought
which are properly Christian. And yet the writer
retains so much of the antique spirit that he can
hardly be mistaken for an apologist of Paganism."
When, however, Granger attempts to prove his case,
he breaks down utterly, being able to point to little
besides the popular phrase "increase and multiply."
Towards the end of his enquiry, however, he sees that
the traditional values of many factors will have to be
altered by a study of our literature, as, for instance,
when he writes :
"The traditional estimate of Gnosticism, then, re-
quires to be reconsidered, in the light of the Poemandres.
It belongs to a time when religious definitions were
still in the making — a time, therefore, when the
limits of free discussion were not yet straitly drawn.
Hence the various permutations of religious belief
which we find in Irenseus, Hippolytus, Tertullian,
would not be admitted by their exponents to be in
conflict with the Christian faith, but would rather be
regarded as exhibiting new and fruitful applications of
principles common to all. Ecclesiastical opinion ulti-
mately settled down in one direction rather than
another. But until this process was complete, each
living system of belief might count upon a possible
victory,2 and so, among others, the system which may
be traced in the Poemandres. And the Poemandres is
so far from being a merely heretical production, that
1 Namely, that of the Good Shepherd.
a This is a reflection of Me'nard's sensible view.
38 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
its relation to orthodox belief may fairly be indicated
by saying that it answers to the earlier intellectual
position of Clement of Alexandria." l
We should say rather that the difficulties in which
our essayist is evidently involved by his hypothesis of
Christian origin, would be considerably lessened by
accepting the evidence on all hands which a more
extended study of the Trismegistic and allied literatures
affords, and by treating what he refers to as Gnosticism
without qualification as the Christianised Gnosis, and
not as Gnosticised Christianity.
We thus find Granger compelled, in keeping with the
above, to guess the date of the "Poemandres" as
towards the end of the second century ; but even so,
he feels dissatisfied with himself, for he has to add:
" Nor does this date preclude us from finding occasional
traces of even earlier material."
However we may dissent from Granger's conclusions
as to the " Pcemandres," we agree with him in the
importance he ascribes to the Gospel according to the
•Egyptians, in connection with which he writes 2 :-
" It is instructive to note that Salome, who plays so
prominent a part in the Gospel according to the Egyp-
tians, is the mother of St John,3 and that the same
Gnostic circles in which this gospel is current were
also those in which we hear for the first time of the
Fourth Gospel. That is to say, the Fourth Gospel
comes to us from the hands of the Alexandrine Gnostics.
The system of Valentinus is really a somewhat fanci-
1 Ibid., p. 406.
2 Ibid., p. 411.
3 I have never come across this statement before, and so regret
that G. has not given his authority. If such were the tradition,
it would be exceedingly instructive. Salome, however, in the
fragments of this Gospel preserved to us, says categorically that
she has never " brought forth."
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 39
f ul commentary upon the opening chapters of St John's
Gospel1 Heracleon, the first great commentator 2 upon
St John, was both a Gnostic and at the same time was
really the master of Origen, and through him helped to
determine the development of the orthodox theology.
Now, the key to the interpretation of the Fourth
Gospel is to be found in the Gnostic ideas which
underlie the Poemandres, ideas to which Heracleon
furnishes the clue. But the commentators have refused
the help which the Gnostics could give, and the Fourth
Gospel has been consistently misunderstood owing to
the exaggerated stress which has been laid upon the
doctrine of the Xo'yo?."
I am not quite clear what the last sentence is
intended to mean. Too great stress cannot be laid
upon the doctrine of the Logos, for it is, as we shall
show, the fundamental concept of Hellenistic theology ;
but too great stress can and has been laid upon the
illegitimate claim that the Proem of the Fourth Gospel
embodies a peculiarly Christian doctrine.
Moreover, if the Fourth Gospel emerges in Alexan-
drine circles and is so essentially Gnostic, how can it
be ascribed, as Granger appears to ascribe it, to "St
John " ? A very different conclusion seems to follow
from Granger's premisses.
The conclusion of the most recent study by English
scholarship on our " Poemandres " is as follows :
" The Poemandres, then, is a very striking exponent
of the religious and philosophical ideas amid which
1 It is not, even if the " opening chapters " be reduced to the
Proem. Heracleon, one of the disciples of Valentinus, comments
directly on this Proem, but from the point of view of a quite
independent tradition.
2 The first commentator of any kind of which we have any
knowledge, rather.
40 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Alexandrine theology arose. On the one hand it is
in touch with Greek mythology and science; on the
other, with Jewish and Christian literature. The
author is more sober than most of Ms Gnostic con-
temporaries; he is a more consistent reasoner than
Clement." 1
But if, as we shall show, the date of the " Poemandres "
must be pushed back demonstrably at least a hundred
years, and if, as is exceedingly probable, it must go
back still further, the whole problem is changed, and the
relationship of all the factors alters proportionately.
KBITZENSTEIN AND THE DAWN OF RIGHT VIEWS
But in the present century, by the publication
of Reitzenstein's Poimandres, the whole subject has
been placed on a different footing and brought into a
clearer light. Reitzenstein attacks the problem of the
Trismegistic writings from an entirely objective, his-
torical, philological, and literary standpoint. Being
entirely emancipated from any theological preconcep-
tions, he is always careful to point out that his
conclusions are based solely on critical research in the
domain of philology proper ; he cannot, however,
refrain at times from adding (somewhat slily) that
these results are of the deepest interest to the theo-
logian— indeed, we might say highly embarrassing if
the theologian happens to be a traditionalist.
The general scope of Reitzenstein's essay may be
gathered from his sub-title, " Studies in Greek-Egyptian
and Early Christian Literature." Our Trismegistic
writings form part of a large number of Greek written
texts, the remains of a once exceedingly extensive
Hellenistic theological literature; and by Hellenistic
1 Ibid., p. 412.
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 41
theology is meant the blending of Greek and Oriental
religious thought and experience. This Hellenistic
theology was most strongly influenced by Egyptian
conceptions and traditions. The Egyptian religion is
known to have spread itself over the Hellenistic world,
and every scholar will at once recall to mind how
many Greek writers have treated expressly of the
Egyptian religion, and how many passages in Greek
literature refer to Egyptian beliefs, as compared with
the very few which treat of Babylonian, Persian, or
even Syrian.
Nevertheless, the remains of this Hellenistic theo-
logical literature have never been treated as a whole
from the point of view of philology ; the cause of this
has been the entire disregard of the subject by Chris-
tian theologians, coupled with the grotesque grounds
on which the consideration of the Hellenistic-Egyptian
religion is usually set aside — one famous theologian
lately going so far as to assert that the Egyptian
worship was despised on all sides, both by Jews and
Greeks, as the lowest depth of human superstition.
As then Egypt had a provably dominant position
in Hellenistic literature, so also must she have had
in some sort a correspondingly strong influence on
Hellenistic culture, and consequently on the develop-
ment of Hellenistic religious experience. The evidence
of this is afforded by the Early Christian literature.
We have, therefore, here in these Greek-Egyptian
and Early Christian documents the possibility of
methodical work, seeing that it is a question of the
comparative study of two contemporaneous literatures ;
moreover, the language and typology of the Christian
literature is bound to betray traces of the general
Hellenistic theology of the time (pp. v., vi.).
The study of Eeitzenstein is thus a consideration of
42 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
our Trismegistic literature as a whole, and the analysis
and comparison of two of the most typical sermons with
other Hellenistic documents and with Early Christian
writings.
This he does with praiseworthy and painstaking
industry, with great acumen and admirable scholarly
equipment; but his work is of no service to any but
scholars, and that, too, to scholars who are specialists.
It is a work bristling with technicalities of every
description, and crammed with untranslated texts. In-
deed, Reitzenstein belongs to that school of philological
purists who think it a loss of dignity to translate
anything ; this is a very convenient convention, and I
myself have often wished that I could have availed
myself of it when face to face with innumerable diffi-
culties of translation.
Eeitzenstein, then, translates nothing, but busies
himself with texts and the higher criticism of the
subject. He, however, does not give us the text of
our literature as a whole, or even of the Corpus
Hermeticum, but only of four chapters and the frag-
ments of a fifth. Moreover, the results of bis in-
vestigations are very difficult to summarise ; indeed,
he nowhere summarises them himself in any certain
fashion, his chapters being on the whole of the nature
of studies in the Trismegistic literature rather than a
complete exposition.
Nevertheless these studies are, beyond comparison, the
most important and suggestive work that has yet been
done on the subject ; and as I shall avail myself of his
labours on so many occasions in the sequel, I cannot
refrain from acknowledging here the special debt of
gratitude which all lovers of our sermons must feel to
him, for compelling the attention of scholars to the
first importance of the Trismegistic literature in the
HISTORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 43
domain of the history of the development of religious
thought in the first centuries.
The general scope of his studies will be seen from
the titles of the main chapters : — I. Age of the " Poi-
mandres " ; by " Poimandres " R means G. H., i. only.
II. Analysis of the "Poimandres"; III. Fundamental
Conception of the " Poimandres " ; IV. " Poimandres '
and the Egyptian Apocalyptic Literature ; V. Expansion
of the Hermetic Literature ; VI. The Hermetic Corpus ;
VII. The Later " Poimandres" Document (The Prophet-
Initiation).
The theory of plagiarism from Christianity must for
ever be abandoned. The whole literature is based on
the "Po3mandres" as its original gospel, and the
original form of this scripture must be placed at least
prior to the second century A.D. How much earlier it
goes back we cannot at present say with any exactitude ;
before the beginning of the second century is the
terminus ad quern — that is to say it cannot possibly
be later than this; to seek, therefore, for traditional
Christian thoughts in this document is henceforth
deprived of any prospect of success (p. 36).
Reitzenstein tells us (p. 2) that these writings in the
first place interested him solely through their literary
form, but that this interest became deepened as he
gradually learned to value them as important records of
that powerful religious movement which, like a flood,
overflowed the West from the East, and, after preparing
the way for Christianity, subsequently bore it along
with it ; the best and surest evidence of this religious
revival is to be found in the literary form of Hellenistic
theology.
This in itself is of interest enough and to spare ; and
at a time when every scrap of contemporary literature
is being so eagerly scanned for the smallest side-light it
44 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
can throw on the environment and development of
Christian origins, it is amazing that the Trismegistic
writings should have been hitherto so studiously
neglected.
A KEY TO EGYPT'S WISDOM
But there is another and still more profoundly
interesting side of the subject which we cannot expect
to find treated in a purely philological, technical, and
critical treatise. The more one studies the best of
these mystical sermons, casting aside all prejudice,
and trying to feel and think with the writers, the nearer
one is conscious of approaching the threshold of what
may well be believed to have been the true Adytum of
the best in the mystery-traditions of antiquity. In-
numerable are the hints of the greatnesses and
immensities lying beyond that threshold — among other
precious things the vision of the key to Egypt's wisdom,
the interpretation of apocalypsis by the light of the
sun-clear epopteia of the intelligible cosmos.
Such greatnesses and such mysteries have a power
and beauty which the most disreputable tradition of
the texts through unknowing hands cannot wholly
disguise, and they are still recognisable, even though
thus clad in the rags of their once fair garments, by
those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
But to return to the points we raised in the opening
of this chapter.
If we now re-state the problems we are considering
in the interrogative form, we shall have to find answers
to the following questions :
Why did the early Church Fathers accept the Tris-
HISTORY OP THE EVOLUTION OF OPINION 45
megistic writings as exceedingly ancient and authorita-
tive, and in their apologetic writings quote them in
support of the main impersonal dogmas of Christianity ?
Why, in the revival of learning, for upwards of a
century and a half did all the Humanists welcome them
with open arms as a most valuable adjunct to Chris-
tianity, and as being in accord with its main doctrines,
so much so that they laboured to substitute Trismegistus
for Aristotle in the schools ?
Finally, why during the last two centuries and a
half has a body of opinion been gradually evolved,
infinitesimal in its beginnings, but well-nigh shutting
out every other view, that these writings are Neo-
platonic forgeries?
The answers to these questions are simple: — The
Church Fathers appealed to the authority of antiquity
and to a tradition that had never been called in question,
in order to show that they taught nothing funda-
mentally new — that, in brief, they taught on main points
what Hermes had taught. They lived in days too
proximate to that tradition to have ventured on bring-
ing any charge of plagiarism and forgery against it
without exposing themselves to a crushing rejoinder
from men who were still the hearers of its "living
voice" and possessors of its "written word."
The scholars of the Kenaissance naturally followed
the unvarying tradition of antiquity, confirmed by the
Fathers of the Church.
Gradually, however, it was perceived that, if the old
tradition were accepted, the fundamental originality
of general Christian doctrines — that is to say, the
philosophical basis of the Faith, as apart from the
historical dogmas peculiar to it — could no longer be
maintained. It, therefore, became imperatively neces-
sary to discredit the ancient tradition by every possible
46 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
means. With what success this policy has been
attended we have already seen ; we have also reviewed
this growth of opinion, and shown its baseless character
and the straits to which its defenders have been put.
From the clouds of this obscurantism the sun of
Thrice-greatest Hermes and the radiance of his Gnosis
have once more shone forth in the skies of humanistic
enquiry and unprejudiced research. He is no longer to
be called bastard, and plagiarist, and thief of other
people's property, but must be regarded as a genuine
teacher of men, handing on his own, and giving freely
of his substance to all who will receive the gift.
Ill
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM
THOTH (TEHUTI)
Chapter III: Thoth the Master of Wisdom
tion of the nature, powers, and attributes of the divine
personification Thoth (Tehuti), the Master of Wisdom
and Truth, on the ground of pure Egyptian tradition.
As I have unfortunately no sufficient knowledge of
Egyptian, I am not in a position to control by the texts
the information which will be set before the reader ;
it will, however, be derived from the works of specialists,
and mainly from the most recent study on the subject,
the two sumptuous volumes of Dr E. A. Wallis Budge,
the keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities in
the British Museum.
First of all, however, let us see what the German
scholar Pietschmann has had to say on Thoth in his
monograph specially devoted to Thrice-greatest Hermes
according to Egyptian, Greek, and Oriental traditions.1
The first part of Pietschmann's treatise, in which he
seems to be content, as far as his own taste and feeling
are concerned, to trace the original of the grandiose
concept of the Thrice-greatest to the naive conception
of an "ibis-headed moon-god," is devoted to the con-
sideration of what he calls the god Te^-Tehuti among
1 Hermes Trismegistos, nach agyptischen, griechischen und oriental-
ischen Uberlieferungen (Leipzig, 1875).
47
48 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the Egyptians. Why Pietschmann should have chosen
this double form of the name for his sub-title is not
very clear. The variants appear to be Tefr, Teb,u, Tefrut,
and Teb^uti — of which it would seem that the Greek
form Thoth is an attempt to transliterate Tehut. There
are, however, it may be remarked, no less than eighteen
variants of the name found in Greek and Latin. I
should thus myself be inclined to use the form Tefcut
if it were permissible ; but of this I am not quite sure,
as the weak-sounding though undoubtedly more common
form Tehuti, is usually employed by scholars. As,
however, Tehuti, to my ears at any rate, is not a very
dignified sounding cognomen, I shall use the Greek
form Thoth as being the more familiar to English
readers.
THOTH ACCORDING TO PIETSCHMANN
Horapollo tells us that the ibis was the symbol of
Thoth as the "master of the heart and reason in all
men,"1 though why this was so must remain hidden
in the mystery of the " sacred animals," which has not
"N yet to my knowledge been in any way explained.
And as Thoth, the Logos, was in the hearts of all,
[ so was he the heart of the world whose life directed
^nd permeated all things.2
Thus the temple, as the dwelling of the God, was
regarded as a model of the world, and its building as
a copy of the world-building. And just as Thoth had
ordained measure, number, and order in the universe,
so was he the master-architect of temple-building
and of all the mystic monuments. Thus, as the or-
dering world-mind, a text addresses Thoth as follows :
1 irdffris KapSias Kal \oytffftov SeerirJTTjj, p. 40, ed. Leemans.
2 Der Gott, "der in pantheistischer Anschauungsweise die game
Welt belehrend durchdrang," writes Pietschmann, p. 14.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 49
" Thou art the great, the only God, the Soul of the
Becoming." l
To aid him in the world Thoth has a spouse, or
syzygy, Nehe-maut. She is, among the Gnostics, the
Sophia-aspect of the Logos. She is presumably the
Nature of our Trismegistic treatises. Together Thoth
and Nehe-maut are the initiators of all order, rule, and
law in the universe.
Thus Thoth is especially the representative of the
Spirit, the Inner Reason of all things ; he is the
Protector of all earthly laws, and every regulation of
human society.2 Says a text :
" His law is firmly established, like that of Thoth." s
As representative of the Season immanent in the
world, Thoth is the mediator through whom the world
is brought into manifestation. He is the Tongue of
Ra, the Herald of the Will of Ra,4 and the Lord of
Sacred Speech.6
"What emanates from the opening of his mouth,
that cometh to pass ; he speaks, and it is his command ;
he is the Source of Speech, the Vehicle of Knowledge,
the Revealer of the Hidden." 6
1 Pleyte, Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde,
1 867, 10. The text is taken from a papyrus in the Leyden Museum.
2 See Pietschmann, p. 15.
3 From an ostrakon in the Louvre, De Horrack, Zeitschrift fwr
a S. u. A., 1868, 2. And again at Denderah, the King is said
to "establish the laws like Thoth the twice-great one." See
Diimichen, ibid., 1867, 74.
4 Lepsius, Erster Gotterkreis, Taf. 1, 2. Text S. 181.
6 Brugsch, Worterbuch, 803, and many other references.
6 For a long list of references, see Pietschmann in loco. I have
so far cited some of these references to show that the statements
of Pietschmann are based upon very ample authority. In what
follows, however, these references may be omitted as they are not
owing to my own industry, and the scholar can obtain them from
Pietschmann's book for himself.
VOL. I. 4
50 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Thoth is thus the God of writing and all the arts and
sciences. On a monument of Seti I. he is called " Scribe
of the nine Gods." He writes " the truth of the nine Gods,"
and is called " Scribe of the King of Gods and men."
Hence he is naturally inventor of the hieroglyphics,
and patron and protector of all temple-archives and
libraries, and of all scribes. At the entrance of one
of the halls of the Memnonium at Thebes, the famous
" Library of Osymandias," called " The great House of
Life," we find Thoth as " Lord in the Hall of Books." l
In the Ebers papyrus we read : " His guide is Thoth,
who bestows on him the gifts of his speech, who makes
the books, and illumines those who are learned therein,
and the physicians who follow him, that they may
work cures."
We shall see that one of the classes of priests was
devoted to the healing of the body, just as another
was devoted to the healing of the soul.
These books are also called " The Great Gnoses of
Thoth." 2 Thoth was thus God of medicine, but not so
much by drugs as by means of mesmeric methods and
certain " magic formulae." Thus he is addressed as
" Thoth, Lord of Heaven, who givest all life, all health." 3
THE THREE GRADES OF THE EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES
Moreover, Thoth was also Lord of Rebirth : 4 " Thou
hast given life in the Land of the Living ; Thou hast
1 Op. dt., p. 16.
2 Compare this title, die grossen Erkentnisse des Tehuti* with
the Coptic Codex Brucianus — Void le livre des gnoses de V Invis-
ible divin." Amelineau, Notice sur le Papyrus gnostique Bruce, p.
83 (Paris, 1891). See also Carl Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften
in koptischer Sprache aus dem Codex Brucianus (Leipzig, 1892).
3 Op. cit., p. 20.
* Herr der Metempsychose (Lord of Palingenesis), says
Pietschmann, p. 23.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 51
made them live in the Region of Flames; Thou hast
given respect of thy counsels in the breasts and in
the hearts of men — mortals, intelligences, creatures
of light."
The Land of the Living was the Invisible World, a
glorious Land of Light and Life for the seers of ancient
Egypt. Mortals, Intelligences, Creatures of Light,
were, says Pietschmann, the " three grades of the
Egyptian mysteries."1 These grades were, one may
assume from our treatises: (1) Mortals — probationary
pupils who were instructed in the doctrine, but who
had not yet realised the inner vision ; (2) Intelligences
— those who had done so and had become " men," that
is to say who had received the " Mind " ; (3) Beings (or
Sons) of Light — those who had become one with the
Light, that is to say those who had reached the nirvdnic
consciousness.
So much for what Pietschmann can be made to tell
us of Thoth as Wisdom-God among the Egyptians.
THOTH ACCORDING TO REITZENSTKIN
To the information in Pietschmann may be added that
which is given by Reitzenstein in the second of his two
important studies, Zwei religionsgeschichtliche Fragen
nach ungedruckten Texten der Strassburger Bibliothek
(Strassburg, 1901). This second study deals with
" Creation-myths and the Logos-doctrine," the special
Creation-myths treated of being found in a hitherto
unpublished Greek text, which hands on purely
Egyptian ideas in Greek dress and with Greek god-
names, and which is of great interest and importance
for the general subject of which our present studies
form part.
1 Op. tit., p. 24 n.
52 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
The writer of this cosmogonical fragment was a
priest or prophet of Hermes, and Hermes plays the
most important part in the creation-story. Eeitzenstein
then proceeds to show that in the oldest Egyptian
cosmogony the cosmos is brought into being through the
Divine Word, which Thoth, who seems to have origi-
nally been equated with the Sun-god, speaks forth.
This gives him the opportunity of setting down the
attributes ascribed to Thoth in Egypt in pre-Greek
times.1 As, however, the same ground is covered more
fully by Budge, we will now turn to his Gods of the
Egyptians, or Studies in Egyptian Mythology (London,
1904), vol. i. pp. 400 ff., and lay under contribution the
chapter entitled "Thoth (Tehuti) and Maat, and the
other Goddesses who were associated with him," as the
most recent work on the subject by a specialist in
Egyptological studies, whose opinions, it is true, may
doubtless on many points be called into question by
other specialists, but whose data must be accepted by
the layman as based on prolonged first-hand study of
the original texts. In using the material supplied by
Dr Budge, however, I shall venture on setting it forth
as it appears to me — that is to say, with the ideas
awakened in my own mind by the study of his facts.
THOTH ACCORDING TO BUDGE
In the Hymns to Ea in the Eitual or Book of the Dead,
and in works of a similar nature, we find that Thoth
and Maat stand one on either side of the Great God in
his Boat, and that their existence was believed to be
coeval with his own. Maat is thus seen to be the
feminine counterpart, syzygy or shakti, of Thoth, and
her name is associated with the idea of Truth and
1 Op. tit., pp. 71 ff.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 53
Kighteousness — that which is right, true, real, genuine,
upright, righteous, just, steadfast, unalterable.
His DEIFIC TITLES
From the inscriptions of the later dynastic period,
moreover, we learn that Thoth was called "Lord of
Khemennu (Hermopolis), Self-created, to whom none
hath given birth, God One." He is the great Measurer,
the Logos, " He who reckons in Heaven, the Counter
of the Stars, the Enumerator of the Earth and of what
is therein, and the Measurer of the Earth."
He is the " Heart of Ra which cometh forth in the
form of the God Thoth."
As Lord of Hermopolis, where was his chief shrine,
and of his temples in other cities, he was called " Lord
of Divine Words," " Lord of Maat," " Judge of the two
Combatant Gods " — that is, of Horus and Set. Among
other titles we find him called " Twice-great," and
" Thrice-great." " From this last," says Budge, " were
derived the epithets ' Trismegistus ' and ' Termaximus '
of the classical writers." We, however, doubt if this is
so, and prefer the explanation of Griffith, as we shall
see later on.
In addition to these deific titles, which identify him
with the Logos in the highest meaning of the term, he
was also regarded as the Inventor and God of all arts
and sciences ; he was " Lord of Books," " Scribe of the
Gods," and " Mighty in speech " — that is to say, " his
words took effect," says Budge ; his was the power of
the " Spoken Word," the Word whose language is
action and realisation. He was said to be the author
of many of the so-called " funeral works " by means of
which the " deceased " gained everlasting life. These
books were, however, rather in their origin sermons of
54 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
initiation for living men, setting forth the "death
unto sin and the new birth unto righteousness." Thus
in the Book of the Dead he plays a part to which are
assigned powers greater than those of Osiris or even of
Ea himself.
His SYMBOLS AND NAME
He is usually depicted in human form with the head of
an ibis, or sometimes as an ibis ; but why he is so
symbolised remains a mystery even unto this day. It
is also of little purpose to set down the emblems he
carries, or the various crowns he wears, without some
notion of what these hidden symbols of a lost wisdom
may purport. The meanings of these sacred signs
were clear enough, we may believe, to those who were
initiated into the " Language of the Word " ; to them
they revealed the mystery, while for the profane they
veiled and still veil their true significance.
Tehuti, the Egyptian name of Thoth, it has been
suggested, is to be derived from tehu, the supposed
oldest name of the ibis in Egypt; the termination ti
thus signifying that he who was thus called possessed
the powers and qualities of the ibis.
But if this is the true derivation, seeing that Tehuti
in his highest aspect is a synonym for the Logos of
our system at the very least, I would suggest that we
should rather exalt the " ibis " to the heavens than drag
down the sublime concept of that Logos to considera-
tions connected with a degenerate fowl of earth, and
believe that the Egyptians chose it in wisdom rather
than folly, as being some far-off reflection of a certain
Great Bird of the Cosmic Depths, a member of that
circle of Sacred Animals of which the now conventional
Signs of the Zodiac are but faint sky-glyphs.
But the derivation of the name Tehuti which seems
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 55
to have been favoured by the Egyptians themselves was
from tekh, which usually means a " weight," but is also
found as the name of Thoth himself. Now the determina-
tive for the word tekh is the sign for the "heart";
moreover, Horapollo (i. 36) tells us that when the
Egyptians wish to write "heart" they draw an ibis,
adding, " for this bird was dedicated to Hermes (Thoth)
as Lord of all Knowledge and Understanding." Is it
possible, however, that in this Horapollo was either
mistaken or has said less than he knew ; and that the
Egyptians once wrote simply " heart " for Thoth, who
presided over the " weighing of the heart," but subse-
quently, in their love of mystery, and owing to the
name-play, substituted the bird tekh or teknu, which
we know closely resembled the ibis, for the more
sacred symbol ?
The now commonest name for Thoth, however, is Egy.
hob, Copt, hiboi, Gk. ibis ; and it is the white ibis (AbUL
Hannes) which is the Jbis religiosa, so say Liddell and
Scott. Another of the commonest symbolic forms of
Thoth is the dog-headed ape. Thus among birds he is
glyphed as the ibis, among animals as the cynocephalus.
The main apparent reason for this, as we shall see
later on, is because the ibis was regarded as the wisest
of birds, and the ape of animals.1
In the Judgment Scene of the Book of the Dead the
dog-headed ape (Aan) is seated on the top of the beam
of the Balance in which the heart of the deceased is
weighed ; his duty apparently is to watch the pointer
and tell his master Thoth when the beam is level.
Brugsch has suggested that this ape is a form of Thoth
1 And this is the case with the latter even to-day, where in the
Sudan the natives " believe that its intelligence is of the highest
order, and that its cunning is far superior to that of man." (Op.
at., i. 21.)
56 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
as God of " equilibrium," and that it elsewhere sym-
bolises the equinoxes; but this does not explain the
ape. Thoth is indeed, as we have seen, the Balancer —
" Judge of the two Combatant Gods," l Horus and Set ;
he it is who stands at the meeting of the Two Ways, at
the junction of Order and Chaos; but this by no
means explains the puzzling cynocephalus. It was
in one sense presumably connected with a certain state
of consciousness, a reflection of the true Mind, just as
were the lion and the eagle (or hawk) ; it " mimicked "
that Mind better than the rest of the " animals."
Horapollo (i. 16), basing himself on some Hellenistic
sources, tells us that the Egyptians symbolised the
equinoxes by a sitting cynocephalus. One of the reasons
which he gives for this is delightfully " Physiologic " ;
he tells us that at the equinoxes once every two hours,
or twelve times a day, the cynocephalus micturates.2
From this as from so many of such tales we learn what
the " sacred animal " did in heaven, rather than what
the physical ape performed on earth. (Of. R 265, n. 3.)
THE SHRINE OF THOTH
" The principal seat of the Thoth-cult was Khemennu,
or Hermopolis, a city famous in Egyptian mythology
as the place containing the "high ground on which
Ra rested when he rose for the first time."
Dare I here speculate that in this we have the
mountain of our " Secret Sermon on the Mountain,"
1 This is one of the most interesting of his titles : " Judge of
the Rehehui, the Pacifier of the Gods, who dwelleth in Unnu "
(Hermopolis). (Op. cit., i. 405.)
2 This must have been the mystery folk-tale circulated by the
priests, for Marius Victorinus repeats it (Halm, Ehet. Lai. Min.,
p. 223), and it is preserved in the Physiologos (xlv. p. 275 —
Lauchert).
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 57
and that it was in the Thoth mystery-tradition of
Hermopolis that the candidates for initiation were
taught to ascend the mountain of their own inner
natures, on the top of which the Spiritual Sun would
rise and rest upon their heads " for the first time," as
Isis says in our " Virgin of the World " treatise ?
THOTH AND His COMPANY OF EIGHT
At Khemennu l Thoth was regarded as the head of a
Company of Eight — four pairs of divinities or divine
powers, each a syzygy of male and female powers,
positive and negative, active and passive, the oldest
example of the Gnostic Ogdoad.
This was long ago the view of Brugsch, and it is
now strongly supported by Budge, on the evidence of
the texts, as against the opinion of Maspero, who
would make the Hermopolitan a copy of the Heliopolitan
Paut, or Company, which included Osiris and Isis.
Budge, however, squarely declares that "the four
pairs of gods of Hermopolis belong to a far older
conception of the theogony than that of the company
of gods of Heliopolis."
If this judgment is well founded, we have here a
most interesting parallel in the Osirian type of our
Trismegistic literature, in which Osiris and Isis look to
Hermes (Thoth) as their teacher, as being far older
and wiser than themselves.
The great struggle between Light and Darkness,
of the God of Light and the God of Darkness, goes
back to the earliest Egyptian tradition, and the fights
of Ha and Apep, Heru-Behutet and Set, and Horus,
son of Isis, and Set, are "in reality only different
versions of one and the same story, though belonging
1 Which means " City of the Eight [Gods ]." (Op. tit., i. 113.)
58 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
to different periods." The Horus and Set version is
apparently the most recent. The names of the Light
God and Dark God thus change, but what does not
change is the name of the Arbiter, the Mediator,
" whose duty it was to prevent either God from gaining
a decisive victory, and from destroying one another."
This Balancer was Thoth, who had to keep the opposites
in equilibrium.
THE HOUSE OF THE NET
The name of the Temple of Thoth at Khemennu, or
the City of Eight, was Het Abtit, or "House of the
Net" — a very curious expression. From Ch. cliii. of
the Kitual, however, we learn that there was a mysterious
Net which, as Budge says, " was supposed to exist in
the Under World and that the deceased regarded it
with horror and detestation. Every part of it — its poles,
and ropes, and weights, and small cords, and hooks — had
names which he was obliged to learn if he wished to
escape from it, and make use of it to catch food for
himself, instead of being caught by 'those who laid
snares.' "
Interpreting this from the mystical standpoint of
the doctrine of Eebirth, or the rising from the dead —
that is to say, of the spiritual resurrection of those
who had died to the darkness of their lower natures
and had become alive to the light of the spiritual
life, and this too while alive in the body and not
after the death of this physical frame — I would
venture to suggest that this Net was the symbol of a
certain condition of the inner nature which shut in
the man into the limitations of the conventional life of
the world, and shut him off from the memory of his true
self. The poles, ropes, weights, small cords, and hooks
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 59
were symbols of the anatomy and physiology, so to say,
of the invisible "body" or "carapace" or "egg" or
" envelope " of the soul. The normal man was emeshed
in this engine of Fate; the man who received the
Mind inverted this Net, so to speak, transmuted and
transformed it, so that he could catch food for himself.
" Come ye after me and I will make you fishers of
men." The food with which the " Christ " nourishes his
" body " is supplied by men.
Thus in a prayer in this chapter of the Eitual we
read: "Hail, thou 'God who lookest behind thee,'1
thou 'God who hast gained the mastery over thine
heart,' 2 I go a-fishing with the cordage [? net] of the
' Uniter of the earth,' and of him that maketh a way
through the earth.3 Hail ye Fishers who have given
birth to your own fathers,4 who lay snares with your
nets, and who go round about in the chambers of the
waters, take ye not me in the net wherewith ye ensnare
the helpless fiends, and rope me not in with the rope
wherewith ye roped in the abominable fiends of earth,
which had a frame which reached unto heaven, and
weighted parts that rested upon earth." 5
1 Perhaps suggesting two-faced or Janus-like — before and be-
hind, without and within. With this, however, may be compared
the symbolic headdress or mask worn by the virgin Kore
(Proserpina) in the Eleusinian Mysteries ; she had, Athena-
goras (xx. 292) tells us, " two ordinary eyes, and two in her fore-
head, with her face at the back of her neck."
2 Suggesting Thoth.
3 Suggesting the power of him who can either wrap the Net
round the man or open it in a new direction, so that the man can
"pass right through his body," as Hermes says to Tat in one
of our Sermons.
* Suggesting " Christs " who have given birth to their Father, the
Mind, in their hearts.
5 The fiends of a once mighty frame suggest beings of a dai-
monic nature. Perhaps there is a formal distinction intended
60 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
And in another chapter (cxxxiii.) the little man says
to the Great Man within him : " Lift thyself up, O thou
Ra, who dwellest in this divine shrine ; draw thou unto
thyself the winds, inhale the North wind, and swallow
thou the beqesu of thy net on the day wherein thou
breathest Maat."
" On the day wherein thou breathest Maat " suggests
the inbreathing or inspiration of Truth and Righteous-
ness, the Holy Ghost, or Holy Breath or Life, the
Spouse of the Ordering Mind or Logos. The winds
are presumably the four great cosmic currents of the
Divine Breath, the North wind being the "down-
breath " of the Great Sphere.
The term beqesu has not yet been deciphered (can it
mean knots ?) ; but the swallowing of the Net seems to
suggest the transformation of it, inwardly digesting of
it, in such a fashion that the lower is set free and
becomes one with the higher.
And that this idea of a net is very ancient,
especially in its macrocosmic significance, is evidenced
by the parallel of the Assyrian and Babylonian
versions of the great fight between the Sun-god Mar-
duk and the Chaotic Mother Tiamat and her titanic
and daimonic powers of disordered motion and in-
stability— both Egyptian and Babylonian traditions
probably being derived from some primitive common
source.
"He (Marduk) set lightning in front of him, with
burning fire he filled his body. He made a net to en-
close the inward parts of Tiamat, the Four Winds he set
so that nothing of her might escape ; the South wind
and the North wind, and the East wind and the West
by the epithet " helpless " and " abominable," corresponding
with the rational and irrational aspects of the soul as set forth in
our sermons.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 61
wind, he brought near to the net which his father Ann
had given him." 1
Now in the Hymns of the popular Hermes-cult found
in the Greek Magic Papyri, one of the most favourite
forms of address to Hermes is "0 thou of the four
winds." Moreover, we may compare with the rope with
which the Fishers " rope the abominable fiends of
earth," the passage of Athenagoras to which we have
already referred, and in which he tells us concerning
the Mysteries that the mythos ran that Zeus, after
dismembering his father, and taking the kingdom, pur-
sued his mother Rhea who refused his nuptials. " But
she having assumed a serpent form, he also assumed the
same form, and having bound her with what is called
the 'Noose of Hercules' (TW /taAoi^ei/ft) fH/oa/cAeiamK&>
dp/mart), was joined with her. And the symbol of this
transformation is the Rod of Hermes."
Here again it is the symbolic Caducous that repre-
sents the equilibrium between the opposed forces; it
is the power of Thoth that binds and loosens ; he holds
the keys of heaven and hell, of life and death. It is
further quite evident that Atheuagoras is referring to
a Hellenistic form of the Mysteries, in which the
influence of Egypt is dominant. The " Noose of Her-
cules " is thus presumably the " Noose of Ptah." Now
Ptah is the creator and generator, and his " Noose " or
" Tie " is probably the Ankh-tie or symbol of life, the
familiar crux ansata, of which the older form is
a twisted rope, probably representing the binding
together of male and female life in generation. Ptah
is also the God of Fire, and we should not forget that it
is Hephaistos in Greek myth who catches Aphrodite and
Ares in a Net which he has cunningly contrived — at
which the gods laughed in High Olympus.
1 King (L. W.), Babylonian Religion, p.^71.
62 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
In the list of titles of the numerous works belonging
to the cycle of Orphic literature, one is called The Veil
(IleVXo?) and another The Net (At'/cri/ov).1
In the Panathenaea the famous Peplum, Veil, Web,
or Robe of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, was borne
aloft like the sail of a galley ; but this was the symbol
only of the Mysteries. Mystically it signified the
Veil of the Universe, studded with stars, the many-
coloured Veil of Nature,2 the famous Veil or Robe of
Isis, that no " mortal " or " dead man " has raised, for
that Veil was the spiritual nature of the man himself,
and to raise it he had to transcend the limits of
individuality, break the bonds of death, and so become
consciously immortal.
Eschenbach 3 is thus quite correct when, in another
of its aspects, he refers this Veil to the famous Net of
Vulcan. Moreover Aristotle, quoting the Orphic writ-
ings, speaks of the " living creature born in the webs
of the Net " ; 4 while Photius tells us that the book of
Dionysius ^Egeensis, entitled Netting, or Concerning Nets
(At/cTfa/ca), treated of the generation of mortals.5
And Plato himself likens the intertwining of the nerves,
veins, and arteries to the " network of a basket " or a
bird-cage.6
All of which, I think, shows that Thoth's Temple of
the Net must have had some more profound significance
in its name than that it was a building in which
"the emblem of a net, or perhaps a net itself, was
venerated," as Budge lamely surmises.
1 See my Orpheus (London, 1896), pp. 39 and 44 ff.
2 Of. Philo, De /Som., i. (v. 92— Pfeiff) — rb tt^icoiKiKov Saturn*
rovrovl rbv KOff^ov.
3 Eschenbach (A. C.), Epigenes de Poesi Orphica (Nurnberg,
1702), p. 51.
* De Gen. Anim., II. i. 613c.
s Bibl, clxxxv. 8 Tim., 1079F.
THOTH THE MASTER OP WISDOM 63
TROTH THE LOGOS
But to resume. We have seen that Thoth was con-
sidered to be the " heart " and " tongue " of Ea the
Supreme — that is, not only the reason and mental
powers of the god Ea, and the means whereby they
were translated into speech, but rather the Controller
of the life and Instrument of the utterance of the
Supreme Will ; He was the Logos in the fullest sense
of that mysterious name, the Creative Word. He it is
who utters the " words" whereby the Will of the Supreme
is carried into effect, and his utterance is that of
Necessity and Law ; his " words " are not the words of
feeble human speech, but the compelling orders of
the Creative Will.
" He spoke the words which resulted in the creation
of the heavens and the earth, and he taught Isis the
words which enabled her to revivify the dead body of
Osiris, in suchwise that Osiris could beget a child by
her ; and he gave her the formulae which brought back
her son Horus to life after he had been stung to death
by a scorpion."
All of which, I believe, refers microcosmically to the
mystery of the resurrection from the dead, by the
power of the Logos. " Osiris " must die before he can
be raised, and beget a son, who is himself, by im-
maculate conception within his own spiritual nature.
" Horus " must be poisoned to death by the scorpion of
" Typhon " before he can be raised by the baptism of
the pure waters of Life.
THE WORDS OF THOTH
Thoth's "knowledge and powers of calculation
measured out the heavens and planned the earth, and
64 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
everything which is in them ; his will and power kept
the forces in heaven and earth in equilibrium ; it was his
skill in celestial mathematics which made proper use of
the laws (madt) upon which the foundation and main-
tenance of the universe rested ; it was he who directed
the motions of the heavenly bodies and their times and
seasons ; and without his words the gods, whose exist-
ence depended upon them, could not have kept their
place among the followers of Ra" — but would presum-
ably have disappeared into another universe.
Thoth is the Judge of the dead, the Eecorder and
Balancer of all " words," the Recording Angel ; for the
testing of the soul in the Balance of the Hall of Osiris
is called the " weighing of words " and not of " actions."
But these "words" were not the words a man uttered,
nor even the " reasons " he thought he had for his deeds,
but the innermost intentions of his soul, the ways of the
will of his being.
This doctrine of "words" as expressions of will,
however, had, in addition to its moral significance, a
magical application. "The whole efficacy of prayer
appears to have depended upon the manner and tone of
voice in which the words were spoken."
It was Thoth who taught these words-of-power and
how to utter them; he was the Master of what the
Hindus would call mantra-vidya, or the science of in-
vocation or sacred chanting. These mantrdh were held
in ancient Egypt, as they were and are to-day in India,
and elsewhere among knowers of such matters, of
special efficacy in affecting the "bodies" and con-
ditions of that fluid nature which exists midway
between the comparative solidity of normal physical
nature and the fixed nature of the mind.
These " words " were connected with vital " breath "
and the knowing use of it ; that is to say, they were
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 65
only really efficacious when the spoken words of
physical sound corresponded naturally in their vowels
and consonants, or their fluid and fixed elements, with
the permutations and combinations of the inner
elements of Nature; they then and only then were mad
or true or authentic or real — that is to say, they were
" words-of -power " in that they compelled matter to
shape itself according to true cosmic notions.
Thus in a book called The Book of Breathings, it is
said : " Thoth, the most mighty God, the Lord of
Khemennu, cometh to thee, and he writeth for thee The
Book of Breathings with his own fingers.1 Thus thy
soul shall breathe for ever and ever, and thy form
shall be endowed with life upon earth, and thou shalt
be made a God, along with the souls of the Gods, and
they shall be the heart of Ea [for thee], and thy
members shall be the members of the Great God."
THOTH AND THE OSIRIFIED
In the Ritual we learn of the services which Thoth
performs for " Osiris," that is for the Osirified, for
he repeats them for every man who has been acquitted
in the Judgment. Of three striking passages quoted by
Budge, we will give the following as the most compre-
hensible, and therefore the seemingly most important
for us. It is to be found in Ch. clxxxiii. and runs as
follows, in the words placed in the mouth of the one
who is being resurrected into an Osiris.
" I have come unto thee, 0 son of Nut, Osiris, Prince
of everlastingness ; I am in the following of God Thoth,
and I have rejoiced at everything which he hath done
for thee. He hath brought unto thee sweet air for thy
nose, and life and strength for thy beautiful face, and
1 The symbol of his actualising power.
VOL. I. 5
66 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the North wind which cometh forth from Tern for
thy nostrils. ... He hath made God Shu to shine
upon thy body ; he hath illumined thy path with rays
of splendour ; he hath destroyed for thee [all] the evil
defects which belong to thy members by the magical
power of the words of his utterance. He hath made
the two Horus brethren to be at peace for thee ; l he
hath destroyed the storm wind and the hurricane ; he
hath made the Two Combatants to be gracious unto thee,
and the two lands 2 to be at peace before thee ; he hath
put away the wrath which was in their hearts, and each
hath become reconciled unto his brother."
TROTH THE MEASURER
Budge then proceeds to give the attributes of Thoth
as connected with time-periods and the instruments of
time, the sun and moon. As Aah-Tehuti, he is the
Measurer and Regulator of times and seasons, and is
clearly not the Moon-god simply — though Budge says
that he clearly is — for Thoth as Aah is the " Great Lord,
the Lord of Heaven, the King of the Gods " ; he is the
"Maker of Eternity and Creator of Everlastingness."
He is, therefore, not only the JEon, but its creator;
and that is something vastly different from the Moon-
god.
THE TITLE "THRICE-GREATEST"
On p. 401 our authority has already told us that
one of the titles of Thoth is " Thrice-great, " and that
the Greeks derived the honorific title Trismegistus
from this; but on p. 415 he adds: "The title given
to him in some inscriptions, ' three times great, great '
1 Showing that Set is Horus in his form of darkness.
1 Mystically, the upper and lower kingdoms in man.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 67
[that is, greatest], from which the Greeks derived
their appellation of the god o Tpio-/ue'yto'To?, or 'ter
maximus,' has not yet been satisfactorily explained,
and at present the exact meaning which the Egyptians
assigned to it is unknown."
If this title is found in the texts, it will settle a
point of long controversy, for it has been strenuously
denied that it ever occurs in the hieroglyphics;
unfortunately, however, Dr Budge gives us no
references. To the above sentence our distinguished
Egyptologist appends a note to the effect that a
number of valuable facts on the subject have been
collected by Pietschmann in the book we have already
made known to our readers. We have, however, not
been able to find any valuable facts in Pietschmann
which are in any way an elucidation of the term Thrice-
greatest; but to this point we will return in another
chapter.
THE SUPREMACY OF THOTH
The peculiar supremacy ascribed to Thoth by the
Egyptians, however, has been amply demonstrated, and,
as the great authority to whom we are so deeply indebted,
says in his concluding words : " It is quite clear that
Thoth held in their minds a position which was quite
different from that of any other god, and that the
attributes which they ascribed to him were unlike the
greater number of those of any member of their com-
panies of gods. The character of Thoth is a lofty and
a beautiful conception, and is, perhaps, the highest idea
of deity ever fashioned in the Egyptian mind, which,
as we have already seen, was somewhat prone to dwell
on the material side of divine matters. Thoth, how-
ever, as the personification of the Mind of God, and as
the all-pervading, and governing, and directing power
68 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
of heaven and earth, forms a feature of the Egyptian
religion which is as sublime as the belief in the
resurrection of the dead in a spiritual body, and as the
doctrine of everlasting life."
Thoth is then the Logos of God, who in his relation
to mankind becomes the Supreme Master of Wisdom,1
the Mind of all masterhood.
We will now turn to one whose views are considered
heterodox by conservative and unimaginative critics,2
who confine themselves solely to externals, and to the
lowest and most physical meanings of the hiero-
glyphics— to one who has, I believe, come nearer to
the truth than any of his critics, and whose labours
are most highly appreciated by all lovers of Egyptian
mystic lore.
THE VIEWS OF A SCHOLAR-MYSTIC
The last work of W. Marsham Adams 3 deserves the
closest attention of every theosophical student. Not,
however, that we think the author's views with regard
to a number of points of detail, and especially with
regard to the make-up of the Great Pyramid, are to be
accepted in any but the most provisional manner, for
as yet we in all probability do not know what the full
contents of that pyramid are, only a portion of them
being known to us according to some seers. The chief
merit of the book before us is the intuitional grasp of
1 " Thoth the Wise " of the « Inscription of London " § 4 (R.
64), to which we shall refer later on.
2 See the reviews on the below-mentioned work in The Athenceum
of 31st December 1898, and The Academy of 31st December 1898
and 7th January 1899.
3 The Book of the Master, or The Egyptian Doctrine of the Light
born of the Virgin Mother (London, 1898) — a sequel to his study
entitled The House of the Hidden Places, a Clue to the Creed of
Early Egypt from Egyptian Sources (London, 1895).
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 69
its author on the general nature of the mystery-cultus,
as derived from the texts, and especially those of the
Eitual or the so-called Book of the Dead, as Lepsius
named it, setting a bad fashion which is not yet out of
fashion. The Egyptian priests themselves, according
to our author, called it The Book of the Master of the
Secret House, the Secret House being, according to
Adams, the Great Pyramid, otherwise called the " Light."
THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF THE INNER TRADITION
OF EGYPTIAN WISDOM
In his Preface the author gives us clearly to understand
that he regards the Wisdom of Egypt as forming the
main background of some of the principal teachings
of Early Christianity; and that this view is strongly
confirmed by a careful study of the Trismegistic
literature and its sources, will be made apparent in the
course of our own labours. But before we proceed to
quote from the former Fellow of New College, Oxford,
whose recent death is regretted by all lovers of Egypt's
Wisdom, we must enter a protest.
Mr Adams has severely handicapped his work;
indeed, he has destroyed nine-tenths of its value for
scholars, by neglecting to append the necessary references
to the texts which he cites. Such an omission is
suicidal, and, indeed, it would be impossible for us to
quote Mr Adams were it not that our Trismegistic
literature permits us — we might almost say compels us
— to take his view of the spiritual nature of the inner
tradition of Egyptian Wisdom. Not, however, by any
means that our author has traversed the same ground ;
he has not even mentioned the name of the Thrice-
greatest one, and seems to have been ignorant of our
treatises. Mr Adams claims to have arrived at his
70 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
conclusions solely from the Egyptian texts themselves,
and to have been confirmed in his ideas by personal
inspection of the monuments. In fact, he considers it
a waste of time to pay attention to anything written in
Greek about Egyptian ideas, and speaks of " the distor-
tion and misrepresentation wherein those ideas were
involved, when filtered through the highly imaginative
but singularly unobservant intellect of Greece." l Thus
we have a writer attacking the same problem from a
totally different standpoint — for we ourselves regard the
Greek tradition of the Egyptian Gnosis as a most
valuable adjunct to our means of knowledge of the
Mind of Egypt — and yet reaching very similar con-
clusions.
THE HOLY LAND OF EGYPT AND ITS INITIATES
The Holy Land of those who had gone out from the
body, watered by the Celestial Nile, the Eiver of
Heaven, of which the earthly river was a symbol and
parallel, was divided into three regions, or states:
(1) Eusta, the Territory of Initiation ; (2) Aahlu, the
Territory of Illumination ; and (3) Amenti, the Place
of Union with the Unseen Father.2
" In the religion of Egypt, the deepest and most
fascinating mystery of antiquity, the visible creation,
was conceived as the counterpart of the unseen world.3
And the substance consisted not of a mere vague belief
in the life beyond the grave, but in tracing out the
Path whereby the Just, when the portal of the tomb is
lifted up,4 passes through the successive stages of
1 Op. rit., pref. v.
2 Op. tit., 13. Compare with this the three grades of Initia-
tion given by Pietschmann (p. 24 n.), as cited above, p. 51.
3 The image-doctrine of our treatises.
4 This is an error ; true initiation consisted in the fact that
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 71
Initiation, of Illumination, and of Perfection, necessary
to fit him for an endless union with Light, the Great
Creator." 1
Thus we are told that at a certain point in Aahlu,
the Territory of Illumination, the Osirified, the purified
soul, has achieved the " Passage of the Sun " — that is
to say, has passed beyond the mortal mind-plane ; he
opens the Gates of the Celestial Nile and receives the
Atf -crown of Illumination, " fashioned after the form
of the Zodiacal light, the glory of the supreme heaven."
This is presumably the " crown of lives " referred to in
our sermons, which he receives in the sphere called
"Eight," and with which he goes to the Father.
The Guide and Conductor through all these grades
was Thoth the Eternal Wisdom ; * and we are told
that:
THOTH THE INITIATOR
" Thoth the Divine Wisdom, clothes the spirit of the
Justified 3 a million times in a garment of true linen,4 of
cosmic consciousness was realised in the body, while a man still
lived. This consciousness naturally included the after-death
consciousness as part of its content.
1 Op. cit.t p. 24.
2 Op. cit., pp. 14, 15.
3 That is, he who has the " balanced " nature.
4 In my Did Jesus Live 100 B.C. ? — in treating of the Elxai tradition
and the wild statements of the puzzled and puzzling Epiphanius,
I asked : " May there not have been a mystery-teaching behind the
beautiful historicised story of the sisters Mary and Martha, and of
Lazarus, their brother, who was ' raised from the dead ' after being
' three days ' in the grave ? Was not Lazarus raised as a ' mummy '
swathed in grave-clothes ? " In this connection it is interesting
to find Tertullian (De Corona, viii. ; Oehler, i. 436) referring to
the " linen cloth " with which Jesus girt himself in John xiii. 4, 5,
as the " proper garment of Osiris." The proper garment of Osiris
at one stage consisted most probably of the symbolic linen
wrappings of the " mummy."
72 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
that substance, that is to say, which by its purity and
its brilliancy reminds us of the mantles, woven out of
rays of light, wherewith the sun enwraps the earth
afresh each day as she rotates before him ; just as the
soul of man is invested with new radiance each time
that he turns to tbe presence of his Creator." Again,
"in the harmonious proportion of the universe," the
Egyptians saw " the Eternal Wisdom, Thoth, ' the Mind
and Will of God.'"1
We have seen that Pietschmann considers the original
of Thoth, the God of Wisdom, to be nothing more than
the ibis-headed moon-god, thus intentionally deriving
the origin of the Great Initiator from what he considers
to be the crude beginnings of primitive ideas. But Thoth
was the Great Reckoner, the Eecorder of the Balance
of Justice, the Teller of the Karmic Scales. Now the
mortal time-recorder for the Egyptians was the moon,
" for if we consider the motion of the moon relatively
to the sun, we shall find that the time that it takes
in covering a space equal to its own disc is just an
hour. . . . Now, that measure of the ' Hour ' was
peculiarly sacred in Egypt; each of the twenty-four
which elapse during a single rotation of the earth being
consecrated to its own particular deity, twelve of
light and twelve of darkness. ' Explain the God in
the hour,' is the demand made of the adept in the
Ritual when standing in the Hall of Truth. And that
God in the hour, we learn, was Thoth, the ' Lord of the
Moon and the Reckoner of the Universe.' " 2
Again, with regard to the moon-phases, the first day
of the lunar month was called " the conception of the
moon," the second its ' ' birth," and so on step by step
till it was full. Now the time of all lower initiations
was the full moon. Thus " in the lunar representations
1 Op. tit., p. 23. 2 Op. dt., p. 30.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 73
on the walls of the temple of Denderah we have fourteen
steps leading up to the fifteenth or highest, whereon
was enthroned Thoth, the Lord of the Moon." l
For some such reasons was Thoth called Lord of the
Moon, not that the moon gave birth to the idea of Thoth.
We must not seek for the origin of the Wisdom-tradition
in its lower symbols. For in the inscription on the
coffin of Ankhnes-Ra-Neferab — that is of her "whose
life was the Sacred Heart of Ra " — we read : " Thy name
is the Moon, the Heart of Silence, the Lord of the
Unseen World " 2 — of the space "as far as the moon,"
or the "sublunary region," as the old books say, the
first after-death state, where souls are purified from
earthly stains.
SOME OF THE DOCTRINES OF INITIATION
The end set before the neophyte was illumination,
and the whole cult and discipline and doctrines insisted
on this one way to Wisdom. The religion of Egypt
was essentially the Religion of the Light.
But " most characteristic of all was the omnipotent
and all-dominating sense of the fatherhood of God,
producing the familiar and in some respects even joyous
aspect which the Egyptians imparted to the idea of
death." And " to the sense which the priests at least
possessed, both of the divine personality and of their
own ultimate union with the personal deity [the Logos],
far more probably than to any artificial pretension to a
supposed exclusiveness, may be ascribed the mystery
enshrouding their religion."3
And as Light was the Father of the Religion of
Illumination, so was Life, his consort or syzygy, the
Mother of the Religion of Joy. " Life was the centre,
Op. cit., p. 194. 2 Op. cit., p. 161. 3 Op. cit., pp. 18, 20.
74 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the circumference, the totality of Good. Life was the
sceptre in the hand of Amen ; life was the richest ' gift
of Osiris.' ' Be not ungrateful to thy Creator,' says the
sage Ptah-Hotep, in what is perhaps the oldest document
in existence, 'for he has given thee life.' 'I am the
Fount of Light,' says the Creator in the Eitual. ' I
pierce the Darkness. I make clear the Path for all ;
the Lord of Joy.' " * Or again, as the postulant prays
to the setting sun : " 0 height of Love, thou openest
the double gate of the Horizon." 2
Here we have the full doctrine of the Light and Life
which is the keynote of our treatises. Again, the
doctrine of the endless turning of the spheres, which " end
where they begin," in the words of "The Shepherd,"
is shown in the great fourth year festival of Hep-Tep or
" Completion-Beginning," when " the revolution and the
rotation of our planet were simultaneously completed
and begun afresh." 8
THE TEMPLES OF INITIATION
That the ancient temples of initiation in Egypt were
models of the Sophia Above, or of the " Heavenly
Jerusalem," to use a Jewish Gnostic term, or, in other
words, of the Type of the world-building, we may well
believe. Thus it is with interest that we read the re-
marks of Adams on the temple of Denderah (or Annu),
rebuilt several times according to the ancient plans,
and an important centre of the mystery-cultus. The
temple was dedicated to Hat-Hor, whose ancient title
was the Virgin- Mother.
" In the centre of the temple is the Hall of the Altar,
with entrances opening east and west ; and beyond it
lies the great hall of the temple entitled the Hall of
1 Op. tit., p. 36. a Op. tit., p. 153. 3 Op. cit., p. 37.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 75
the Child in his Cradle, from whence access is obtained
to the secret and sealed shrine entered once a year by
the high priest, on the night of mid-summer." l
There were also various other halls and chambers
each having a distinctive name, " bearing reference, for
the most part, to the Mysteries of the light and of a
divine Birth." We have such names as : Hall of the
Golden Rays, Chamber of Gold, Chamber of Birth,
Dwelling of the Golden One, Chamber of Flames.
Now as the famous planisphere of Denderah — a wall-
painting transferred bodily from the temple to Paris,
early in the last century — " contains the northern and
southern points, we are enabled to correlate the parts
of that picture with the various parts of the temple,
and thereby to discover a striking correspondence
between the different parts of the inscription and the
titles of the chambers and halls occupying relative
positions." 2
Thus we have in the planisphere corresponding to
the halls and chambers such names as : Horus, the
Entrance of the Golden Heavens, the Golden Heaven
of Isis, Horizon of Light, Palace Chamber of Supreme
Light, Heavenly Flame of Burning Gold. "And as
the chief hall of the temple was the Hall of the Child
in his Cradle, so the chief representation on the plani-
sphere is the holy Mother with the divine Child in her
arms. "
THE MYSTERY OF THE BIRTH OF HORUS.
Now the great mystery of Egypt was the second
birth, the " Birth of Horus." In " The Virgin of the
World," a long fragment of the lost Trismegistic
treatise, "The Sacred Book," preserved by Stobaeus,
Isis says to Horus: I will not tell of this birth; I
1 Op. cit., p. 71. 8 Op. tit., p. 75.
76 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
must not, mighty Horus, reveal the origin of thy race,
lest men should in the future know the generation of
the Gods. Of the nature of this rebirth we are familiar
from our treatises. But in spite of such clear indica-
tions the mystery of the Golden Horus has not yet
been revealed.
In another passage from the same book Isis declares
that the sovereignty or kingship of philosophy is in the
hands of Harnebeschenis. This transliterated Egyptian
name is given by Pietschmann1 as originally either
HOT neb en ^ennu (Horus the Lord of Xennu), or as
Hor nub en -^ennu (the Golden Horus of Xennu). His
hieroglyph was the golden hawk, who flies nearest the
sun, and gazes upon it with unwinking eyes, a fit
symbol for the new-born, the " man " illuminate.
Indeed, says Adams, " throughout the sacred writings
of Egypt, there is no doctrine of which more frequent
mention is made than that of a divine birth." z
In what circle of ideas to place the Birth of Horus
the theosophical student may perhaps glean by reversing
the stages given in the following interesting passage of
our author :
" In the Teaching of Egypt, around the radiant being,
which in its regenerate life could assimilate itself to
the glory of the Godhead, was formed the ' khaibit,' or
luminous atmosphere, consisting of a series of ethereal
envelopes, at once shading and diffusing its flaming
lustre, as the earth's atmosphere shades and diffuses
the solar rays. And at each successive transformation
(Eitual, IxxviL-lxxxvii.) it descended nearer to the moral
[? normal] conditions of humanity. From the form of
the golden hawk, the semblance of the absolute divine
substance of the one eternal self-existent being, it
passes to the ' Lord of Time,' the image of the Creator,
1 Op. tit., p. 44. * Op. tit., p. 89.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 77
since with the creation time began. Presently it
assumes the form of a lily, the vignette in the Ritual
representing the head of Osiris enshrined in that flower ;
the Godhead manifested in the flesh coming forth from
immaculate purity. ' I am the pure lily,' we read,
' coming forth from the lily of light. I am the source
of illumination and the channel of the breath of
immortal beauty. I bring the messages; Horus
accomplishes them.' Later the soul passes into the
form of the urceiis, ' the soul of the earth.' . . .
And finally it assumes the semblance of a crocodile ;
becoming subject, that is, to the passions of humanity.
For the human passions, being part of the nature
wherein man was originally created, are not intrinsically
evil but only become evil when insubordinate to the
soul."1
"THE BOOK OF THE MASTER"
And not only was the Deity worshipped as the Source
of Light and Life, but also as the Fount of Love. " I
am the Fount of Joy," says the Creator in the Ritual,
and when the Atf-crown of illumination is set upon the
head of the triumphant candidate after accomplishing
the " Passage of the Sun," as referred to above, the
hynm proclaims that " north and south of that crown
is Love." 2 Into this Love the catechumen was initiated
from the Secret Scroll, whose name is thus given in
one of the copies : " This Book is the Greatest of
Mysteries. Do not let the eye of anyone look upon it
— that were an abomination. ' The Book of the Master
of the Secret House ' is its name." 3
1 Op. cit., pp. 163, 164. 2 Op. cit., p. 95.
3 Op. cit., p. 96. The title seems to be found only in the
latest recension of the twenty-sixth Saite dynasty — the time of
our King Ammon — but certainly no better one can be suggested.
78 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
The whole conception of the doctrine exposed in its
chapters is instruction in Light and Life.
But are we to suppose that the majority were really
instructed in this wisdom ? — for we find it customary to
wrap up some chapters of this Secret Scroll with almost
every mummy. By no means. It seems to me that
there are at least three phases in the use of this scrip-
ture, and in the process of degeneration from knowledge
to superstition which can be so clearly traced in the
history of Egypt. First there was the real instruction,
followed by initiation while living ; secondly, there
was the recitation of the instruction over the uninitiated
dead to aid the soul of the departed in the middle
passage ; and thirdly, there was the burying a chapter
or series of chapters of the Book of the Master as a
talisman to protect the defunct, when in far later
times the true meaning of the words written in the
sacred characters had been lost, though they were
still " superstitiously " regarded as magical "words of
power."
The recitation of some of the chapters over the dead
body of the uninitiated, however, is not to be set down
as a useless " superstition," but was a very efficacious
form of " prayers for the dead." After a man's decease
he was in conscious contact with the unseen world,
even though he may have been sceptical of its existence,
or at any rate unfit to be taught its real nature, prior
to his decease. But after the soul was freed from the
prison of the body, even the uninitiated was in a con-
dition to be instructed on the nature of the path he
then perforce must travel. But as he could not even
then properly pronounce the " words " of the sacred
tongue, the initiated priest recited or chanted the
passages.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 79
THE STEPS OF THE PATH
" For the doctrine contained in those mystic writings
was nothing else than an account of the Path pursued
by the Just when, the bonds of the flesh being loosed,
he passed through stage after stage of spiritual growth
— the Entrance on Light, the Instruction in Wisdom,
the Second Birth of the Soul, the Instruction in the
Well of Life, the Ordeal of Fire, and the Justification
in Judgment ; until, illumined in the secret Truth and
adorned with the jewels of Immortality, he became
indissolubly united with Him whose name, says the
Egyptian Ritual, is Light, Great Creator." l
It should, however, be remembered that this must
not be taken in its absolute sense even for the initiate,
much less for the uninitiated. For even in the mystic
schools themselves, as we may see from our treatises,
there were three modes in which knowledge could be
communicated — " By simple instruction, by distant
vision, or by personal participation." 2 For indeed
there were many phases of being, many steps of the
great ladder, each in ever greater fullness embracing
the stages mentioned, each a reflection or copy of a
higher phase.
Thus, for example, " the solemn address, described in
the Sai-an-Sinsin, of the ' Gods in the House of Osiris,'
followed by the response of the ' Gods in the House of
Glory' — the joyous song of the holy departed who stand
victorious before the judgment-seat, echoed triumph-
antly by the inner chorus of their beloved who have
gone before them into the fullness of life " 3 — must be
taken as indicative of several stages. Such, for instance,
as the normal union of the man's consciousness with that
1 Op. tit., pp. 103, 104.
« Op. cit., p. 148. s Op. tit., p. 120.
80 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
of his higher ego, after exhausting his spiritual aspira-
tions in the intermediate heaven-world — this is the
joining the " those-that-are " of " The Shepherd " treatise,
in other words, the harvest of those past lives of his
that are worthy of immortality; or again the still
higher union of the initiated with the " pure mind " ;
or again the still sublimer union of the Master with the
nirvanic consciousness; and so on perchance to still
greater Glories.
Thus we are told that the new twice-born, on his
initiation, "clothed in power and crowned with light,
traverses the abodes or scenes of his former weakness,
there to discern, by his own enlightened perception,
how it is ' Osiris who satisfies the balance of Him who
rules the heavens'; to exert in its supernal freedom
his creative will, now the lord, not the slave of the
senses; and to rejoice in the just suffering which
wrought his Illumination and Mastery." x
But higher and still higher he has yet to soar beyond
earth and planets and even beyond the sun, " across the
awful chasms of the unfathomable depths to far-off
Sothis, the Land of Eternal Dawn, to the Ante-chamber
of the Infinite Morning." 2
AN ILLUMINATIVE STUDY
Many other passages of great beauty and deep
interest could we quote from the pages of Marsh am
Adams' illuminative study, but enough has been said
for our purpose. The Wisdom of Egypt was the main
source of our treatises without a doubt. Even if only
one-hundredth part of what our author writes were the
truth, our case would be established ; and if Egypt did
not teach this Wisdom, then we must perforce bow
1 Op. tit., p. 185. 2 Op. tit., p. 186.
THOTH THE MASTER OF WISDOM 81
down before Mr Adams as the inventor of one of the
most grandiose religions of the universe. But the
student of inner nature knows that it is not an inven-
tion, and though, if he be a scholar at the same time,
he cannot but regret that Mr Adams has omitted his
references, he must leave the critics to one or other of
the horns of the dilemma; they must either declare
that our author has invented it all and pay homage to
what in that case would be his sublime genius, or admit
that the ancient texts themselves have inspired Mr
Adams with these ideas. And if this be a foretaste of
what Egypt has preserved for us, what may not the
future reveal to continued study and sympathetic
interpretation !
VOL. i.
IV
THE POPULAK THEURGIC HEEMES-CULT IN
THE GEEEK MAGIC PAPYEI
THE "EELIGION OF HERMES"
Chapter IV: The Popular Theurgic Hermes-Cult in the Greek Magic Papyri
only widely spread, but practically supreme, in popular
Hellenistic circles, may be seen from a study of the
texts of the numerous magic papyri which have been
preserved, and made accessible to us by the industry
of such immensely laborious scholars as Leemans,
Dieterich, Wessely, and Kenyon.
The Greek Hermes prayers, as with many others of
a similar nature, are manifestly overworkings of more
ancient types, and, as we might expect, are of a strongly
syncretistic nature. In them we can distinguish in
popular forms, based on the ancient traditions of
Egyptian magic, most interesting shadows of the philo-
sophic and theosophic ideas which our Trismegistic
literature has set forth for us in the clear light of
dignified simplicity.
But just as we now know that the once so-called
" Gnostic," Abraxas and Abraxoid amulets, gems, and
rings pertained to the general popular magical religion
and had nothing to do with the Gnosis proper, so we
may be sure that the circles of high mysticism, who
refused to offer to God even so pure a sacrifice as
82
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 83
the burnt offering of incense, and deemed naught
worthy of Him, short of the " prayers and praises of
the mind," had nothing directly to do with the
popular Hermes prayers, least of all with the invoca-
tory rites of popular theurgy, and phylactery or amulet
consecration.
Nevertheless, there is much of interest for us in these
invocations, and much that can throw side-lights on the
higher teaching and practice which transformed all
external rites into the discipline of inner spiritual
experience.
The following prayers, which, as far as I know, have
not been previously translated, are rendered from the
most recently revised texts of Reitzenstein, who has
omitted the magic names, and emended the previous
editions. I cannot but think, however, that these texts
might be submitted to a more searching analysis than
has yet been accorded them. They seem to present
somewhat similar phenomena to the recensions of the
Book of the Dead; that is to say, fragments of
material from the tradition of a greater past have been
adapted and overworked for the needs of a lesser age.
Indeed, the whole effort of the Trismegistic schools
seems to have been to restore the memory of that
greater past ; it had been forgotten, and its dim record
had become a superstition instead of a living faith, a
degenerate magic instead of a potent theurgy. The
theurgy of our prayers is that of dwarfs ; the theurgy
of the past was believed to have been that of
giants.
84 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
I. AN INVOCATION TO HERMES AS THE GOOD MIND l
[Revised text, R. 15-18 ; Leemans (C.), Papyri Grose. Mus. Ant.
Pub. Lug. Bat. (Leyden, 1885), II. 141, 14 ff., and V. 27, 27 ff. ;
Dieterich (A.), Abraxas (Leipzig, 1891), 195, 4 ff. ; and Jahrbiicher
f. class. PM.,'Suppl. XVI. 808 ff. (Papyrus Mag. Mus. Lug. Bat.).]
1. Come unto me, O thou of the four winds,2 al-
mighty one,3 who breathest spirit into men to give
them life;
2. Whose name is hidden, and beyond the power of
men to speak ; 4 no prophet [even] can pronounce it ; yea,
even daimons, when they hear thy name, are fearful !
3. O thou, whose tireless eyes are sun and moon,6 —
[eyes] that shine in the pupils 6 of the eyes of men !
4. 0 thou. who hast the heaven for head, aether for
body, [and] earth for feet, and for the water round thee
ocean's deep ! 7 Thou the Good Daimon art, who art
the sire of all things good, and nurse of the whole world.8
5. Thy everlasting revelling-place 9 is set above.
6. Thine the good emanations 10 of the stars, — those
daimons, fortunes, and those fates by whom are given
1 I have supplied the titles.
2 Perhaps originally spirits or breaths.
3 •KwroicpdTwp, used of Hermes, Anth. P., append., 282.
4 Compare Lactantius, i. 6 (Frag. II.) ; and especially iv. 7
(Frag. VI.).
5 The " eyes and light of Horus," according to Plutarch, De Is.
et Os., lii. ; mystically, the higher and lower " ego " and much else.
6 iv rats n6pius — compare the dissertation on the meaning of the
title of our treatise generally translated "Virgin (K&PII) of the
World," in the commentary thereto.
7 Sc. the Ocean of Space, the " Great Green " of the Ritual.
8 That is, father-mother of the universe.
9 Kufjiaa-T^piov — that is, heaven. See vn. 3 below.
10 hirtppoiat — or personified influences. See Plutarch, De Is. et
Os., xxxviii., liii., Iviii. ; and especially Pistis Sophia, where it
occurs over and over again. Compare also K. K., 1 ; Stob., p. 405,
17 (W.).
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 85
wealth, good blend [of nature],1 and good children, good
fortune, and good burial. For thou art lord of life, —
7. Thou who art king of heavens and earth and all
that dwell in them ;
8. Whose Righteousness is never put away ; whose
Muses hymn thy glorious name ; whom the eight
Wardens guard, — thou the possessor of the Truth 2 pure
of all lie !
9. Thy Name and Spirit rest upon the good.3
10. O mayst thou come into my mind and heart for
all the length of my life's days, and bring unto
accomplishment all things my soul desires!
11. For thou art I, and I am thou.* Whate'er I
speak, may it for ever be ; for that I have thy Name 5
to guard me in my heart.6
— referring apparently to the composition of
"body" and "soul."
3 That is, the Pleroma or Mon (see vi. 9 below). Reitzen-
stein (p. 18) says rightly, as we have seen, that Egyptologists
have long recognised that the God here identified with Agatho-
daimon was originally the Hermes or Thoth of Hermopolis
Magna, Lord of the Eight Wardens (the Ogdoad), symbolised by
apes, hymned by the Muses ( ? the Nine or Ennead), and spouse
of Isis-Righteousness (cf. Plut., De Is. ei Os., iii.).
3 See 13 below.
4 Compare the extra-canonical logos : " I stood on a lofty
mountain and saw a gigantic man, and another, a dwarf ; and I
heard as it were a voice of thunder, and drew nigh for to hear ;
and He spake unto me and said : I am thou, and thou art I ;
and wheresoever thou mayest be I am there. In all am I scattered
[that is, the Logos as seed or " members "], and whencesoever thou
wiliest, thou gatherest Me ; and gathering Me, thou gatherest
Thyself." (From the Gospel of Eve, quoted by Epiphanius, Haeres.,
xxvi. 3.) Of. n. 7.
6 In the Egyptian sense — that is, thy true "person" or
"presence." See R. 17, n. 6, for many references to this funda-
mental concept of Egyptian religion.
6 <pv\a.>tri\piov — lit., as a phylactery or amulet. See R. 18, n. 8,
for Egyptian origin of Jewish phylacteries.
86 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
12. Aud every serpent l roused shall have no power
o'er me, nor shall I be opposed by any spirit, or
daimonial power, or any plague, or any of the evils in
the Unseen World ; 2 for that I have thy Name within
my soul.
13. Thee I invoke ; come unto me, Good, altogether
good, [come] to the good,3 — thou whom no magic can
enchant, no magic can control,* who givest me good
health, security,6 good store, good fame, victory, [and]
strength, and cheerful countenance ! 6
14. Cast down the eyes of all who are against me,
and give me grace on all my deeds ! 7
II. AN INVOCATION TO LORD HERMES
[Revised and restored text, stripped of later overworkings, R.
20, 21. Wessely (C.), Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, "Neue griechische Zauberpapyri " (Vienna, 1893),
vol. xiii. p. 55 ; Kenyon (F. G.), Greek Papyri in the British
Museum (London, 1893), i. 116.]
1. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, even as into women's
wombs [corne] babes ! 8
2. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, who dost collect the
food of gods and men ! 9
3. Lord Hermes, come to me, and give me grace,
1 Spd£ — here the symbol of any hostile elemental force.
Compare K. K.,— Stob., 402, 22 (W.).
* KaO' "AtSov.
3 See 9 above.
4 afld.ffKa.VTOS, b.RaaKavTos.
6 orwTTjp/ai', or salvation.
6 See II. 2 below.
7 Compare with this prayer for the descent of the Mind into
the heart, the ascent of the man into the Mind of G. H., xiii.
(xiii.) 3.
8 This is an echo of spiritual rebirth or regeneration.
9 In its highest sense the heavenly food, or wisdom, the " super-
substantial bread," or " bread of life."
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 87
[and] food, [and] victory, [and] health and happiness,
and cheerful countenance,1 beauty and powers in sight
of all!
4. I know thy Name that shineth forth in heaven;
I know thy forms 2 as well ; I know thy tree ; 3 I know
thy wood 4 as well.
5. I know thee, Hermes, who thou art, and whence
thou art, and what thy city is.
6. I know thy names in the Egyptian tongue,5 and
thy true name as it is written on the holy tablet in the
holy place at Hermes' city, where thou dost have thy birth.
7. I know thee, Hermes, and thou [knowest] me;
[and] I am thou, and thou art I.6
8. Come unto me ; fulfil all that I crave ; be favour-
able to me together with good fortune and the blessing
of the Good.7
III. AN INVOCATION TO LORD HERMES
[Revised and restored text, B. 21. It is worked in with the
preceding, but is of later date.]
1. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, 0 thou of many
names, who know'st the secrets hidden both beneath
the poles [of heaven] and underneath the earth !
1 2Tra<f>po$iff(a,v irpoar&irov. See I. 13 above.
2 The symbols of which are : the ibis in the east, ape in the
west, the serpent in the north, the wolf (or jackal) in the south.
So says the overworking of the text ; but perhaps wolf should
rather be dog.
3 The terebinth, or turpentine palm. Compare this with the
story of Terebinthus, from whose four Books Manes is said, in
the A eta Archelai, to have derived his system.
4 The ebony ; perhaps symbolic of the " dark " wisdom, the
initiation " in the black " of the K. K. Fragments.
5 TO. ftapfiapiKo, bv6na.ro. — lit., barbarous, that is, non-Greek.
6 Qf. I. 11.
7 Lit., with Agathodaimon ; compare <ri>v Ot$ — "with God's
blessing."
88 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
2. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, thou benefactor, who
doest good to all the world !
3. Give ear to me, [and] give me grace with all that
are on earth ; open for me the hands of all that give
like thee ; l [and] make them give me what their hands
contain !
4. Even as Horus,2 if e'er he called on thee, 0
greatest of all gods, in every trial, in every space,
'gainst gods, and men, and daimones, and things that
live in water and on earth, — had grace and riches with
gods, and men, and every living thing beneath the
earth ; — so let me, too, who call on thee ! So give
me grace, form, beauty !
6. Hear me, 0 Hermes, doer of good deeds, thou
the inventor of [all] incantations,3 speak me good
words ! *
7. Hear me, 0 Hermes, for I have done all things
[that I should do] for thy black dog-ape,5 lord of the
nether ones !
8. 0, soften all [towards me], and give me might
1 <rvv$K<ii'Tuv — a 3ira| \eydfi.(vov — SUKU (5i5a>/xi) may be com-
pared with OT^KOJ ("(TTTj/u). The image may be taken from the
well-known symbolical representation of the sun sending forth
rays, each furnished with a hand for giving and blessing, especially
in the frescoes of the Atem-cult period. Cf. K. K., 11 and 31.
2 In the mystery-myth.
3 Orig., medicines or philtres.
* tv5ia\(Kros yevov — a unique and inelegant expression in Greek,
and of uncertain translation into English.
6 This appears here to refer to Anubis, the " dog " of Hades, or
the "death-genius," the attendant on Thoth. "Black" is lit.
"Ethiopian." But compare in Pistis Sophia, 367, "^Ethiopia
Ariouth," a ruler among the infernal daimonials, who is " entirely
black." The Ethiopians were famous for their sorcery and black
magic. They were the traditional opponents of the "white
magicians " of Egypt. Compare " Hor, son of the Negress" in the
" Second Story of Khamuas," in Griffith's (F. LI.) Stories of the
High Priests of Memphis (Oxford, 1900), pp. 51 ff.
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 89
[and] form,1 and let them give me gold, and silver [too],
and food of every kind continually.
9. Preserve me evermore for the eternity from spells,
deceits, and witchery of every kind, from evil tongues,
from every check and every enmity of gods and
men!
10. Give unto me grace, victory, success, and satis-
faction !
11. For thou art I, and I am thou ; thy Name
is mine, and mine is thine; for that I am thy
likeness.2
12. Whatever shall befall me in this year, or month,
or day, or hour, — it shall befall the Mighty God, whose
symbol is upon the holy vessel's prow.3
1 This is not necessarily a prayer for physical form and the rest,
but a prayer that the subtle ka of the man, the plastic soul-
substance, may take a form of power and beauty, in the unseen
world.
2 f15ca\ov, or image or double. The theurgist is endeavouring
to identify his ka with that of the god. It was with his ka also,
presumably, that the consecrated statue of the god was "animated."
Compare the exposition of this theory as given in P. S. A., and
the " image " or "likeness of God " in Lactantius, ii. 10. Accord-
ing to the Egyptians, man possessed : (1) a physical body (khat) ;
(2) a soul (6a) ; (3) a heart (ab) ; (4) a double (ka) ; (5) an
intelligence (khu) ; (6) a power (sekhem) ; (7) a shadow (khaibif) • (8)
a spiritual body (sdh [stc]) ; (9) a name (reri). See Budge, Gods of
the Egyptians, ii. 299, 300. These are, of course, not arranged in
any natural order or in a scientific distribution. The precise
meaning of most of these terms is not known. Budge (op. tit., i.
163, 164), however, writes : " Related intimately to the body, but
with undefined functions, as far as we can discover, was the sekhem,
a word which has been translated ' power,' and ' form,' and even
' vital force ' ; finally the glorified body, to which had been united
the soul, and spirit and power, and name of the deceased, had its
abode in heaven. This new body of the deceased in heaven was
called sdhu."
3 Thoth and Maat are represented as sitting on either side of
Ra in his boat.
90 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
IV. AN INVOCATION TO THOTH AS LOGOS
[Revised text, R. 22. Leemans, op. cit., II. 103, 7 ; Dieterich,
op. cit., 189.]
1. Thee I invoke alone, thou who alone in all the
world imposest order upon gods and men,1 who dost
transform thyself in holy forms,2 making to be from
things that are not, and from the things that are
making the not to be.
2. O holy Thoth,3 the true sight of whose face none
of the gods endures !
3. Make me to be in every creature's name4 — wolf,
dog, [or] lion, fire, tree, [or] vulture,5 wall,6 [or] water,7
or what thou will'st, for thou art able [so to do].
V. AN INVOCATION TO HERMES AS THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT
[Revised text> R. 22, 23. Leemans, ibid., II. 87, 24 ; Dieterich,
ibid., 176, 1.]
1. Thee I invoke who hast created all, who dost
transcend the whole, the self-begotten God, who seest
all and hearest all, but who art seen by none.
2. For thou didst give the sun his glory and all
might, the moon her increase and her decrease, and
[unto both] their ordained course. Though thou didst
not diminish aught the [powers of] darkness, the still
1 That is, Hermes as the cosmic Logos.
2 Thoth changes his form in every heaven-space or sphere.
Compare G. H., i. 13 ; and also the same idea in the descent of
the Christos in a number of Gnostic systems, where the Saviour
and King conceals himself in the forms of his servants in every
phase of his descent. Cf. also 0. H., xi. (xii.) 16.
3 6a.vO.
4 That is, essence, or may be type.
5 Presumably a symbol for air.
6 Presumably a symbol for earth.
7 Compare G. H., xi. (xii.) 20 ; and P. S. A., vi.
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 91
more ancient [than the sun and moon], thou mad'st
them equal [with it].1
3. For when thou didst shine forth, Cosmos came
into being, and light appeared, and all things were
dispensed through thee ; wherefore they all are under
thee.
4. 0 thou, whose actual form none of the gods can
see, who dost transform thyself into them all in visions
[that men see], 0 thou Eternity of the eternity.2
5. Thee I invoke, 0 Lord, that thy true form may
manifest to me, for that I am in servitude below thy
world,3 slave to thy angel and unto thy fear.4
6. Through thee the pole and earth are fixed.
7. Thee I invoke, O Lord, e'en as the gods whom
thou hast made to shine, that they may have their
power.
The above prayers afford us some striking examples
of the popular Hellenistic form of the Hermes religion,5
1 With the Egyptians, Darkness was the mystery of all
mysteries. As Damascius (On First Principles) says : " Of the
first principle the Egyptians said nothing ; but characterised it
as a darkness beyond all intellectual conception, a thrice unknown
Darkness " (oWi-os &yvo>ffrov rpls TOVTO eiri<f>ri[i.i£ovTfs). See my
Orpheus (London, 1896), p. 93, and for "Night," pp. 154 and
170 if. Perhaps this may again give some clue to the initiation
" in the black " of the K. K. excerpt. The " dark wisdom " was
the hidden of the hidden.
2 al&v aluvos. In another hymn, Hermes, as Logos, is called
"Cosmos of cosmos" (R. 23, n. 1) — that is, the spiritual world or
order.
3 That is the spiritual cosmos, or cosmos of Mind.
4 Compare Isaiah xlv. 7 : " I form the light and create dark-
ness : I make peace and create evil : I the Lord do all these
things." Cf. G. H.,\. 23, "the avenging daimon" ; and ibid., 15,
"Within the Harmony he hath become a slave."
5 Called in the Trismegistic literature the " Religion of the
Mind " (Mentis religio). See P. S. A., xxv.
92 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
in its theurgic phase. In it Hermes is regarded as the
Mind1 or Logos. The Mind is invoked to enter the
mind and heart (I. 10).2 With the shining out of the
Mind, the Spiritual or Intelligible Light shines forth in
the world and man (v. 3). The Mind is thus the guide
of souls.3 He is also identified with the Good Daimon
(of whom Chnuphis or Horus are variants), with the
Great Ocean, the Heaven-Space or Celestial Nile, the
Great Green, the Light, the JE>on.
In connection with the above invocations Keitzenstein
gives the text of a very interesting ritual of lower theurgy,
or rite of the sacred flame, which he characterises by the
term " mystery of lychnomancy or lamp-magic." This
is the lower side of such high vision as is referred to in
"The Shepherd of Men" treatise and in the rite de-
scribed in the following passage of the Pistis Sophia,
272, 373 :
" Jesus said unto his disciples : Come unto me ! And
1 Compare the cosmogony in Dieterich, Abraxas, 17, 43 :
" Through the Bitterness of God, there appeared Mind . . . that
restrains the heart, and was called Hermes." With this peculiar
phrase " Bitterness of God" compare the " Bitter Chaos " of the
hymn at the end of the J. source of the Naassene Document in
"The Myth of Man" chapter; also the "Bitter Water" or
Chaos of the Sethian System (Hipp., Philos., v. 19) ; so also Julian,
in Oration V., who writes : " The oracles of the gods declare that
through purification not only our soul but also our bodies are
judged worthy of being greatly helped and presei'ved, for it is
said in them that ' the mortal vesture of bitter matter is pre-
served.1," Is it thus possible that the "Bitterness" of Jacob
Bohnie may be a reminiscence of the ancient Gnosis?
2 For pure Egyptian parallels see R. 24, n. 1.
3 See the theogony in Dieterich, op. tit., 18, 75 : " And the
soul came into being. And God said : ' Thou shalt move all
things . . . Hermes guiding thee.' " Compare G. H., x. (xi.) 21 :
" But on the pious soul the Mind doth mount, and guide it to
the Gnosis' light ;" also xii. (xiii.) 12, ix. (x.) 10, iv. (v.) 11, vii.
(viii.) 2.
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 93
they came unto him. He turned to the four quarters
of the world, and spake the Great Name over their heads,
and blessed them, and breathed on their eyes.
" Jesus said unto them : Look, see what ye may see !
" And lifting up their eyes they saw a great Light,
exceeding vast, which no dweller on earth could
describe.
" He said to them again : Gaze into the Light, and
see what ye may see !
" They said : We see fire and water, and wine and
blood."
VI. THE MYSTIC KITE OF THE FLAME
[Revised text, R. 25-27. Wessely, op. dt., " Griechische zauber-
papyrus von Paris und London" (Vienna, 1888), 68, 930 ff.]
(a) Invocation to the Light l
1. I invoke thee, 0 God, the living one,2 who dost
show forth thy splendour in the fire, thou unseen
Father of the Light ! 3 Pour forth thy strength ;
awake thy daimon, and come down into this fire ;
inspire it with [thy] holy spirit ; show me thy might,
and let the house of the almighty God, which is within
this light, be opened for me! Let there be light, —
1 These rubrics I have added, following the example of Reitzen-
stein, but not his wording.
2 Compare the expression "Jesus the living [one]" found
frequently in the Introduction to the " First Book of leou " (Carl
Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache aus dem Codex
Brucianus (Leipzig, 1892), 142-145 — reprinted with his recent
translation of the Pistis Sophia in Band I. of his Koptisch gnostische
Schriften (Leipzig, 1905) ; and also the Preface to the newest
found logoi : " These are the . . . words which Jesus, the living
[one], spake " (Grenfell and Hunt, New Sayings of Jesus, London,
1904).
3 Compare in the same writings the oft-repeated " Father of all
fatherhood, Boundless Light."
94 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
[thy] breadth-depth-length-height-ray;1 and let the
Lord, the [God] within, shine forth !
(&) A Stronger Form to be used if the Flame dies down
2. I adjure thee, 0 Light, holy ray, breadth-depth-
length-height-ray, by the holy names which I have
uttered,2 and am now about to speak . . . abide with
me in this same hour, until I have besought thy God,
and learnt about the things that I desire !
(c) The Theagogy or Invocation of the God proper
3. Thee I invoke, thou mightiest God and Master
. . . thou who enlightenest all and pour's t thy rays by
means of thine own power on all the world, 0 God of
gods!
4. 0 Word (Logos) that orderest night and day, who
guid'st the ship,3 and hold'st the helm, thou dragon-
slayer,4 Good Holy Daimon . . . !
5. To whom the East and West give praise as thou
dost rise and set, thou who art blest by all the gods,
angels, and daimones !
6. Come, show thyself to me, 0 God of gods . . . !
7. Enter, make manifest thyself to me, 0 Lord ; for I
invoke as the three apes invoke thee — who symbol-wise
name forth thy holy Name.
1 See Dieterich, Jahrb. f. Phil, Suppl., xvi. 802, 171, and
706. Compare also Ephes. iii. 18, and the Valentinian interpreta-
tion of the terms in this text as given by Hippolytus, Philos.y vi.
34 (Dunker and Schneidewin, p. 248) ; also the interpretation of
the Light Hymn in Pistis Sophia, 146, where the " height " is
identified with the " home " of the Light.
2 The magic names of power are omitted, as in the other prayers.
3 Horus is often represented as pilot of the sun-ship in its
voyage across the ocean of space, the " Great Green."
* The dragon here undoubtedly meaning darkness. Cf. G. H.,i. 4.
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 95
8. In thy ape-form1 enter, appear to me, 0 Lord;
for I name forth thy mightiest names !
9. 0 thou who hast thy throne about the height of
cosmos,2 and judgest all, encircled with the sphere of
Surety and Truth!3
10. Enter, appear to me, 0 Lord, for that I was
before the fire and snow, and shall be after [them] ;
11. I am the one who has been born from heaven.4
12. Enter, appear to me, 0 Lord of mighty names,
whom all have in their hearts,5 who dost burst open
rocks,6 and mak'st the names of gods to move !
13. Enter, appear to me, 0 Lord, who hast thy power
and strength in tire, who hast thy throne within the
seven poles.7
1 d>y K^voKt(f>a\os. Can it be possible that behind this strange
symbolism there may once have been some such idea as this — that
as the ape is to man, so was this great elemental to the God ?
2 Lit., art seated on the head of cosmos.
3 That is the Eternity or ^Eon, called elsewhere the Pleroma
or "fullness of grace," and identified with Agathodaimon (see
prayer, R. 30). See also Wessely, op. cit.t 185 (R. 362) ; and com-
pare John i. 14, " full of grace and truth " ; and 16, " Of his
fullness have we received, and grace for grace."
4 The regenerate, or spirit-born — that is of " virgin-birth" or the
" birth of Horus." But compare the declaration of the soul on its
entrance into the unseen world after death, as given on an inscrip-
tion found in the tomb of an Orphic or Pythagorean initiate, at
Petilia, in what was once Magna Greecia : " Of Earth and starry
Heaven child am I ; my race is of the Heavens ! " (See Inscr.
Gr. Sicilice et Italics, 638 ; and my " Notes on the Eleusinian
Mysteries," Theosophical Review, xxii. 317.)
6 These are the logoi hidden in the hearts of all.
6 This may be merely a figurative expression in praise of the
might that can not only dissolve the most stable things on earth,
but also set in motion the centre of stability of spiritual essences ;
or it may refer to the idea of the " God born from the rock,"
which is most familiar to us from the Mithriac mystery-tradition,
where the rock is said to symbolise in physics the " firmament,"
which was thought of as solid or rigid by the ancients.
7 That is, the seven cosmic spheres.
96 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
14. And on thy head a golden crown, and in thy
hand a staff . . .l by which thou sendest forth the gods !
15. Enter, 0 Lord, and give me answer with thy
holy voice, that I may clearly hear and truthfully about
this thing !
(d) A Stronger Form of Adjuration if (c) fails
16. He doth enjoin thee, He the great living God,
who is for the eternities of the eternities, the shaker
and the thunderer, who doth create each soul and every
birth. Enter, appear to me, O Lord, joyous, benignant,
gentle, glorious, free from all wrath ; for I adjure thee
by the Lord [of all] !
(e) The Greeting when the Presence of the God
is manifested
17. Hail Lord, 0 God of gods, thou benefactor . . . !
Hail to thy glories 2 ever more, 0 Lord !
(/) The Farewell to the God
18. I give thee thanks, 0 Lord. Depart, 0 Lord, to
thine own heavens, thine own realms, and thine own
v — an untranslatable reading. Is it Egyptian? — or
is it intended for yuepWpetai' ? If the latter, it would presumably
be connected with the Egyptian myth and cult of Memnon (see
Roscher's Lexikon, coll. 2661 ff.). The Memnon cult was somehow
connected with Hermes, for in the ruins of the temple were
still (at the beginning of the third century) to be seen " statues
of Hermes," according to Philostratus (Vit. Apoll., vi. 4), who
also (Imag., i. 7) tells us that the Memnon statue was as a lyre
which was struck by the rod (TT\T\KTPOV), that is the ray (^ a/cr/j),
of the sun. If so, " the rod [of power], by which thou sendest
forth the gods," that is thy rays, each god being a ray of the
spiritual sun, might have the epithet Memnonian applied to it.
But in our present lack of information, this interpretation
seems very strained.
2 5rf|at — here meaning powers.
THE POPULAR THEURGIC HERMES-CULT 97
course, preserving me in health, free from all harm,
free from all fear of any ka,1 free from all stripes, and
all dismay, hearkening to me for all the days of [all]
my life !
(g) The Farewell to the Flame
19. Depart, 0 holy ray ; depart, 0 fair and holy light
of highest God !
In connection with the above, we may also take the
following ritual-prayer used in the consecration of an
amulet ring.
VII. A PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
[Revised text, R. 28, 29. Wessely, ibid., 84, 1598 ff.]
1. Thee I invoke, 0 greatest God, Lord everlasting,
thou world-ruler, above the world, beneath the world,
mighty sea-ruler ;
2. Who shinest forth at dawn, out from the East
rising for all the world, and setting in the West !
3. Come unto me, thou who dost rise from the four
winds, joyous Good Daimon, for whom the heaven is
thy revelling-place ! 2
4. I call upon thy holy, mighty, hidden names which
thou dost joy to hear.
5. When thou dost shine the earth doth sprout
afresh, the trees bear fruit when thou dost laugh, the
animals bring forth when thou dost turn to them.
6. Give glory, honour, grace, fortune and power . . . !
7. Thee I invoke, the great in heaven . . . , 0
dazzling Sun, who shed'st thy beams on all the world !
8. Thou art the mighty serpent, the chief of all the
ptov. Cf. I. 5 above.
VOL. I.
98 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
gods,1 0 thou who dost possess Egypt's beginning,2 and
the end of all the world !
9. Thou art the [God] who saileth o'er the ocean ;
thou art the [God] who doth come into sight each day.
10. 0 thou who art above the world, and art beneath
the world, 0 mighty ruler of the sea, give ear unto my
voice this day, this night, these holy hours [of thine],
and through this amulet let that be done for which I
consecrate it !
1 The serpent was a symbol of the Logos, and this is the idea
underlying the so-called Ophite systems of the Gnosis.
2 This refers to the first nome of Upper Egypt, whose metro-
polis, Elephantine, was once the chief seat of the popular Agatho-
daimon cult (R. 29, n. 4). The " world " was thus the Egyptian
civilised world, beyond which was the darkness of Ethiopia.
THE MAIN SOURCE OF THE TEISMEGISTIC
LITEEATUEE ACCOEDING TO MANETHO,
HIGH PEIEST OF EGYPT
HERMES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE HELLENISTIC
PERIOD
Chapter V: The Main Source of the Trismegistic Literature according to Manetho, High Priest of Egypt
philosophy with Egyptian lore and mystic tradition
began immediately with the brilliant era of the Lagides,
who gradually made Alexandria the intellectual and
religious, philosophic and scientific, centre of the
Hellenistic world.
Thoth-Hermes, as we have seen, had been for the
Egyptians from the earliest times the teacher of all
ancient and hidden wisdom ; he was par excellence the
writer of all sacred scripture and the scribe of the
gods. We should then naturally expect that his
dominating influence would play a leading part in the
new development ; and this, indeed, is amply demon-
strated by the evidence of the religious art of the time,
which presents us with specimens of statues of the
Greek type of Hermes, bearing at the same time either
the feather of truth (the special symbol of Maat) on the
head, or the papyrus-roll in the hand l — both symbols of
Thoth in his dual character as revealer and scribe.
1 R. 3, nn. 1, 2.
99
100 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Of the complex nature of the mystic and apocalyptic
literature that thus came into existence we have very
distinct testimony.1 In keeping with its Egyptian
prototype it was all cast in a theological and theo-
sophical mould, whether it treated of physics, or
medicine, or astrology. Thus we learn that Tamphilus,
the grammarian,2 was intimately acquainted with a
Greek- Egyptian literature dealing with "sacred
plants" and their virtues as determined by the
influences of the thirty-six Decans ; this lore, he tells
us, was derived from the "Books ascribed to the
Egyptian Hermes." 3
PETOSIRIS AND NECHKPSO
Of still greater interest are the Greek fragments of
Petosiris and Nechepso which have come down to us.4
These Greek fragments are to be dated at least before
the end of the second century B.C.,5 and afford us
striking parallels with our extant Trismegistic literature.
In them we find the Prophet Petosiris represented
as the teacher and counsellor of King Nechepso, as
Asclepius of Ammon in one type of our literature;
while it is Hermes who reveals the secret wisdom to
two younger gods, Asclepius and Anubis, as in our
sermons he does to Asclepius and Tat.
As to Petosiris himself, Suidas (s.v.) tells us that he
was an Egyptian philosopher who wrote on comparative
1 See R. 3-7, to whom I am indebted for the indications.
2 Of the school of Aristarchus (fl. 280-264). The great Lexicon
of Pamphilus is supposed by some to have been the basis of that
of Hesychius.
3 Apud, Galen, irepl a.v\S>v Qapp., vi. Procem. (torn. ix. p. 798 K).
4 See Riess, Philologus Supplem., Fragg. 27-29.
6 See Kroll, "Aus der Geschichte der Astrologie," Neue
Jahrbb.f. Phil. u. Pad., vii. 559 ff.
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 101
Greek and Egyptian theology, making selections from
the "Holy Books," and treating of astrology and the
Egyptian Mysteries. Moreover, Proclus l tells us that
Petosiris had an intimate knowledge of every order of
the Gods and Angels, and refers to a hieratic formula
of theurgic invocation to the greatest of the goddesses
(Necessity), for inducing the vision of this Power, and
the ritual of the manner of addressing her when she
appeared, as handed on by the same Petosiris.
The mystical nature of this literature is still more
clearly shown in what Vettius Valens2 tells us of
Nechepso, who surpassed the Ammon of our literature
and attained to direct knowledge of the Inner Way.
Vettius, in the first half of the first century A.D.,
laments that he did not live in those days of initiate
kings and rulers and sages who occupied themselves
with the Sacred Science, when the clear JSther spake
face to face with them without disguise, or holding
back aught, in answer to their deep scrutiny of holy
things. In those days so great was their love of the
holy mysteries, so high their virtue, that they left the
earth below them, and in their deathless souls became
" heaven-walkers " 3 and knowers of things divine.
Vettius then quotes from a Greek apocalyptic treatise
of Nechepso, where the King tells us that he had
remained in contemplation all night gazing into the
aether ; and so in ecstasy he had left his body,4 and had
then heard a heavenly Voice5 addressing him. This
Voice was not merely a sound, but appeared as a
1 Kroll, ii. 344 ; Riess, Frag. 33.
2 Riess, Frag. 1.
3 ovpavoftartlv.
4 So R. (5) completes a lacuna.
5 0o-fi— presumably a parallel with the Bath-kol of Talmudic
Rabbinism.
102 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
substantial presence, who guided Nechepso on his way
through the heaven-space.
It is, moreover, exceedingly probable that the mag-
nificent spectacle of the star-spheres l to which Vettius
refers, speaking of it as "the most transcendent and
most blessed vision (Oewpia) of all," was taken directly
from the same source.
With this we may compare the wish of Trismegistus
that Tat might get him the wings of the soul and
enjoy that fair sight,2 and the seeing of it by Hermes
himself through the Mind.3
All of which proves the existence of books in Greek
in middle Ptolemaic times treating in the same
manner of identical subjects with those contained in
our Trismegistic literature.
MANETHO THE BELOVED OF THOTH
When, then, the sovereignty of Egypt passed into the
hands of the Diadochi of Alexander, and the Ptolemies
made Alexandria the centre of learning in the Greek
world, by the foundation of the ever-famous Museum
and Library and Schools in their capital, there arose
an extraordinary enthusiasm for translating, para-
phrasing, and summarising into Greek of the old
scriptures and records of the nations. The most famous
name of such translators and compilers and comparative
theologians is that of Manetho,4 who introduced the
1 The same rapturous vision of the soul after death is trans-
lated by Seneca (Cows, ad Marciam, 18, 2) from Poseidonius
(135-(?)51 B.C.), who also clearly derived it from the same
Egyptian Hellenistic literature.
2 0. H., v. (vi.) 5.
3 C. H., xi. (xii.) 6, 7 ; also Stob., Eel, i. 49 (386, 3, W.).
4 There are some dozen variants in the spelling and accenting
of this name in Greek transliteration ; in Egyptian we are told
it means " Beloved of Thoth " (Mai en Thoth).
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 103
treasures of Egyptian mysticism, theology, mythology,
history, and chronology to the Grecian world. More-
over, seeing that the veracity and reliability of Manetho
as a historian is with every day more and more
accepted as we become better acquainted with the
monuments, he seems to have done his work loyally
enough.
Manetho was contemporary with the first two
Ptolemies; that is to say, he lived in the last years
of the fourth and the first half of the third century B.C.
He was a priest of Heliopolis (On),1 and was thoroughly
trained in all Greek culture2 as well as being most
learned in the ancient Wisdom of Egypt.3 Manetho
not only wrote on historical subjects, but also on the
mystic philosophy and religion of his country, and it
is from his books in all probability that Plutarch and
others drew their information on things Egyptian.
Manetho derived his information from the hieroglyphic
inscriptions in the temples4 and from the rest of the
priestly records ; but unfortunately his books are almost
entirely lost, and we only possess fragments quoted by
later writers.
THE LETTER OF MANETHO TO PTOLEMY PHILADELPHIA
One of these quotations is of great importance for
our present enquiry. It is preserved by Georgius
1 Plutarch, De Is. et Osir., ix. and xxviii.
2 Josephus, C. Apion., i. 14.
3 Julian, De Animalium Natura, x. 16.
4 Budge, op. sup. cit., i. 332, says : "A tradition says Solon,
Thales, and Plato all visited the great college at Heliopolis, and
that the last-named actually studied there, and that Manetho
the priest of Sebennytus, who wrote a history of Egypt in Greek
for Ptolemy II., collected his materials in the library of the
priesthood of Ra."
104 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Syncellus,1 and is stated to be taken from a work of
Manetho called Sothis? a work that has otherwise
entirely disappeared. The passage with the introduc-
tory sentence of the monk Syncellus runs as follows :
" It is proposed then to make a few extracts concern-
ing the Egyptian dynasties from the Books of Manetho.
[This Manetho,] being high priest of the Heathen
temples in Egypt, based his replies [to King Ptolemy]
on the monuments 3 which lay in the Seriadic country.
[These monuments,] he tells us, were engraved in the
sacred language and in the characters of the sacred
writing by Thoth, the first Hermes ; after the flood they
were translated from the sacred language into the then
common tongue,4 but [still written] in hieroglyphic
characters, and stored away in books by the Good
Daimon's son and the second Hermes, father of Tat
— in the inner chambers of the temples of Egypt.
'"In the Book of Sothis Manetho addresses King
Philadelphus, the second Ptolemy, personally, writing
as follows word for word:
" ' The Letter of Manetho, the Sebennyte, to Ptolemy
Philadelphus.
"'To the great King Ptolemy Philadelphus, the
venerable : I, Manetho, high priest and scribe of the
holy fanes in Egypt, citizen of Heliopolis but by birth
a Sebennyte,5 to my master Ptolemy send greeting.
1 Chron., xl. See Cory (I. P.), Ancient Fragments, pp. 173,
174 — mispaged as 169 (2nd ed. ; London, 1832) ; and Mitller,
Fragments Historicorum Grcecorum, pp. 511 ff. (Paris, 1848).
3 ffrri\£>v, generally translated " columns " ; but the term is quite
a general one and denotes any monument bearing an inscription.
4 Syncellus has " into the Greek tongue," an evident slip, as
many have already pointed out.
5 Sebennytus was the chief city of the Sebennyte province,
situated about the centre of the Delta. Heliopolis or On, the
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 105
"'We1 must make calculations concerning all the
points which you may wish us to examine into, to answer
your questions 2 concerning what will happen to the
world. According to your commands, the sacred books,
written by our forefather Thrice-greatest Hermes, which
I study, shall be shown to you. My lord and king,
farewell.'"
THE IMPOKTANCE OF MANETHO'S STATEMENT IN HIS
" SOTHIS "
Here we have a verbal quotation from a document
purporting to be written prior to 250 B.C. It is evi-
dently one of a number of letters exchanged between
Manetho and Ptolemy II. Ptolemy has heard of the
past according to the records of Egypt ; can the priests
tell him anything of the future ? They can, replies
Manetho ; but it will be necessary to make a number
of calculations. Ptolemy has also expressed a strong
desire to see the documents from which Manetho
derived his information, and the high priest promises
to let him see them.
These books are ascribed to Hermes, the Thrice-
greatest, and this is the first time that the title is used
in extant Greek literature. This Hermes was the
second, the father of Tat, we are told elsewhere by
Manetho, and son of the Good Spirit (Agathodaimon),
who was the first Hermes. Here we have the precise
grading of the degrees in our treatises: (i.) The
Shepherd of Men, or The Mind ; (ii.) Thrice-greatest ;
(iii.) Tat. This refers to the ever-present distinction of
pupil and master, and the Master of masters.
City of the Sun, was situated some thirty miles north of
Memphis.
1 Presumably Manetho and his fellow priests.
a Lit., " for you questioning."
106 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
If, however, we seek for historical allusions, we may
perhaps be permitted to conclude that the first Hermes,
that is to say the first priesthood among the Egyptians,
used a sacred language, or in other words a language
which in the time of the second Hermes, or second
priesthood, was no longer spoken. It was presumably
archaic Egyptian. The two successions of priests and
prophets were separated by a " flood." This " flood "
was presumably connected with, if not the origin of, the
flood of which Solon heard from the priest of Sai's,
which happened some nine thousand years before his
time, and of which we have considerable information
given us in the Timceus and Critias of Plato.1 The
Good Angel is the same as the Mind, as we learn from
the Trismegistic literature, and was regarded as the
father of Hermes Trismegistus. This seems to be a
figurative way of saying that the archaic civilisation of
Egypt before the flood, which presumably swept over the
country when the Atlantic Island went down, was
regarded as one of great excellence. It was the time
of the Gods-! or Divine Kings or Demi-Gods, whose
wisdom was handed on in mystic tradition, or revived
into some semblance of its former greatness, by the lesser
descendants of that race who returned from exile, or
reincarnated on earth, to take charge of the new
populations who had gradually returned to the lower
Nile plains after the flood had subsided.
Thus we have three epochs of tradition of the
Egyptian mystery-cultus : (i.) The first Thoth or Agatho-
daimon, the original tradition preserved in the sacred
language and character in the stone monuments of the
1 See my article on " The Sibyl and her Oracles," in The Theo-
sophical Review, vol. xxii. pp. 399 S. See also the passage preserved
from the Ethiopian History of Marcellua by Proclus in his com-
mentary on the Timceus of Plato ; Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 233.
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 107
Seriadic land, presumably the Egypt prior to the
Atlantic flood ; (ii.) the second Thoth, the Thrice-
greatest, the mystery-school after the period of the
great inundation, whose records and doctrines were
preserved not only in inscriptions but also in MSS.,
still written in the sacred character, but in the Egyptian
tongue as it was spoken after the people reoccupied
the country ; and (iii.) Tat, the priesthood of Manetho's
day, and presumably of some centuries prior to his time,
who spoke a yet later form of Egyptian, and from
whose demotic translations further translations or
paraphrases were made in Greek.
Is " SOTHIS " A FORGERY ?
This natural line of descent of the fundamental
doctrines in the tradition of the Trismegistic litera-
ture, however, is scouted by encyclopsedisrn, which
would have our sermons to be Neoplatonic forgeries,
though on what slender grounds it bases its view we
have already seen. It will now be interesting to see
how the testimony of Manetho is disposed of. Our
encyclopaedias tell us that the book Sothis is obviously a
late forgery ; parrot-like they repeat this statement ;
but nowhere in them do we find a single word of proof
brought forward. Let us then see whether any scholars
have dealt with the problem outside of encyclopsedism.
Very little work has been done on the subject. The
fullest summary of the position is given by C. Miiller.1
Muller bases his assertion on Bockh,2 and Bockh on
Letronne.3
1 Frag. Hist. Grcec., ut sup. cit., p. 512.
2 A. Bockh, Manetho und die Hundsternperiode : em Beitrag
sur Geschichte der Pharaonen,'pp. 14-17 (Berlin, 1845).
3 M. Letronne, Recueil des Inscriptions grecques et latines de
I'&jypte, torn, i., pp. 206, 280 ff. (Paris, 1842).
108 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
The arguments are as follows: (i.) That the term
" venerable " (o-e/Sao-ro?) is not used prior to the time of
the Koman emperors ; (ii.) that Egypt knows no flood ;
(iii.) that the ancient mythology of Egypt knows no
first and second Hermes; (iv.) that Egypt has no
Seriadic land ; (v.) that the term " Trismegistus " is of
late use.
THE ABGUMENTS OF ENOYCLOPJEDISM REFUTED
Let us take these arguments in order and examine
them, bearing in mind, however, that the whole
question has been prejudiced from the start, and that
encyclopaedism, in order to maintain its hypothesis of
the spuriousness of our Trismegistic writings, is bound
to argue the spuriousness of Manetho's Sothis. The cate-
gorical statements of Manetho are exceedingly distressing
to the former hypothesis ; in fact, they give it the lie
direct. As to the arguments, then :
(i.) The term <re/3acrro? is in later times equated
with "Augustus," the honorific title of the Roman
emperors. Therefore, it is argued, it could not have
been used prior to their times. But why not? The
king to an Egyptian was divine — every inscription
proves it — and the term "venerable" was in early
times always applied to the Gods. Why not then
apply it to the " Great King " ? Indeed, what could be
more natural than to do so ?
(ii.) We have already shown that, according to Plato,
Egypt knew most accurately of a Flood ; Plato further
tells us that Solon got his information from the priests
of Sais, who told him that all the records were
preserved in the temple of Neith.
It is not here the place to discuss the Atlanticum of
Plato and the long history of opinion connected with
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 109
it, for that would require a volume in itself. I have,
however, acquainted myself with all the arguments for
and against the authenticity of at least the germ of this
tradition, and with the problems of comparative
mythology and folklore involved in it, and also with
the recent literature of the subject which seeks to
corroborate the main conceptions of Plato by the
researches of seership. All this, taken in conjunction
with the general subject of the " myths " of Plato, and
the latest views on this subject, has convinced me that
the greatest of Greek philosophers did not jest when,
his dialectic having gone as far as it could, he sought
refuge in the mystery-traditions for corroboration of
those intuitions which his unaided intellect could not
demonstrate.
It can of course be argued that every reference to a
flood in Egyptian Hellenistic literature is but a repeti-
tion of what the incredulous must regard as Plato's
brilliant romance ; but in this connection, as in many
others, it is equally arguable that all such references
— Plato's included — are derivable from one and the
same source — namely, Egypt herself.
And, indeed, on 9th November 1904, at a meeting of
the Society of Biblical Archaeology, a paper by Pro-
fessor Naville was read by Mr F. Legge on " A Mention
of a Flood in the Book of the Dead." The flood in
question is that described in the Leyden version as
Ch. clxxv.1
(iii.) Cicero (106-44 B.C.) speaks of five Mercurii, the
last two of whom were Egyptian.2 One was the " son
of Father Nile," whose name the Egyptians considered
it impiety to pronounce — and for whom, presumably,
they substituted the term Agathodaimon ; and the
1 See The Athenasum, 12th November 1904.
2 De Nat. Deorum, iii. 22.
110 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
second was the later Thoyth, the-founder of Hermopolis.1
Cicero could hardly have invented this ; it must have
been a commonplace of his day, most probably derived
in the first instance from the writings of Manetho,
from which generally the Greeks, and those imbued
with Greek culture, derived all their information about
Egypt.
And, indeed, Reitzenstein (p. 139), though he refers
the information given by Syncellus to a Pseudo-
Manetho (without a word of explanation, however),
admits that the genealogy of Hermes there given is in
its main features old.2
THE SERIADIC LAND
(iv.) The statement that Egypt knew no Seriadic
land or country seems to be a confident assertion, but
the following considerations may perhaps throw a
different light on the matter.
In the astronomical science of the Egyptians
the most conspicuous solar system near our own,
represented in the heavens by the brilliant Sirius, was
of supreme interest. Cycles of immense importance
were determined by it, and it entered into the highest
mysticism of Egyptian initiation. Sirius was, as it
were, the guardian star of Egypt. Now ancient Egypt
was a sacred land, laid out in its nomes or provinces
according to the heavens, having centres in its body
corresponding to the centres or ganglia of the heavens.
As the Hindus had a Heavenly Ganges (Akasha-Ganga)
and an earthly Ganges, so had the heavens a Celestial
1 Ursin, De Zoroastre, etc., p. 73.
2 For a permutation of the elements in this genealogy, in the
interests of Heliopolis, see Varro, De Genie Pop. Rom., as quoted
by Augustine in De Giv. Dei, xviii. 3 and 8.
MAIN SOURCE OP TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 111
Nile, and Egypt a physical Nile, the life-giver of the land.
The yearly inundation, which meant and means every-
thing for ancient and modern Khem, was observed with
great minuteness, and recorded with immense pains, the
basis of its cycle being the Sothiac or Siriadic ; Sirius
(Seirios) being called in Greek transliteration Sothis
and Seth (Eg. Sept). What more natural name, then,
to give to the country than the Seriadic Land ?
The Nile records in ancient times were self-registered
by pyramids, obelisks, and temples, and in later times
nearly all monuments were built according to the type
of the masonic instruments of the Egyptian astro-
geological science. This science has been studied in
our own times by an Egyptian, and the results of his
researches have been printed " for private circulation,"
and a copy of them is to be found in the British
Museum. In his Preface the author writes as
follows : l
" The astrogeological science gave birth to a monu-
mental system, by means of which the fruits of the
accumulated observations and experience of the human
race have been preserved, outliving writings, inscrip-
tions, traditions, and nationalities. The principal
monuments had imparted to them the essential property
of being autochronous landmarks of a geochronological
nature. Many of them recorded, hydromathematically,
the knowledge in astronomy, in geography, and in the
dimension and figure of the earth obtained in their
respective epochs. They were Siriadic monuments,
because their magistral lines were projected to the scale
1 Hekekyan Bey, C. E., A Treatise on the Chronology of Siriadic
Monuments, demonstrating that the Egyptian Dynasties of Manetho
are Records of Astrogeological Nile Observations which have been con-
tinued to the Present Time — Preface, p. v. (London, 1863). The
book deserves careful study, and cannot be hastily set aside with
the impatience of prejudice.
112 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
of the revolutions of the cycles of the star Surios (sic)
in terms of the standard astrogeological cubit."
Doubtless our author flogs his theory too severely, as
all such writers do ; but nilometry and the rest was
certainly one of the most important branches of the
priestly science.
THE STELAE OF HERMES
But before we deal with the last objection urged
against the authenticity of Manetho's Sothis, we will
add a few words more concerning these Seriadic monu-
ments known in antiquity as the Stelae of Hermes or
of Seth, and erroneously spoken of in Latin and English
as the " Columns " or " Pillars " of Hermes.
The general reader may perhaps be puzzled at the
variety of spelling of the name of the star, but he should
recollect that the difficulties of transliteration from one
language to another are always great, and especially so
when the two languages belong to different families.
Thus we find the variants of Tehuti, the Egyptian name
of Hermes, transliterated in no less than nineteen
various forms in Greek and two in Latin — such as Thoyth,
Thath, Tat, etc.1 Similarly we find the name of the
famous Indian lawgiver transliterated into English as
Manu, Menu, Menoo, etc.
With regard to these "Mercurii Columnse," it was
the common tradition, as we have already pointed out,
that Pythagoras, Plato, and others got their wisdom
from these columns, that is to say, monuments.2 The
1 See Pietschmann, op. tit., pp. 31, 32; also Spiegelberg,
Eecueil des Travaux relatifs d la Philologie et a VArcheologie
fyyptiennes et assyriennes, xxiii. 199. R 117, n. 1.
2 See the last chapter of the book from which the following
passage is quoted. See also lamblichus, De Mysteriis, cap. ii.,
who in a very clear statement of the sources of his information,
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 113
historian Ammianus Marcellinus,1 the friend of the
Emperor Julian, has preserved for us a peculiarity of
the construction of some of these pyramids or temples
which is of interest. The passage to which we refer
runs as follows :
"There are certain underground galleries and
passages full of windings, which, it is said, the adepts
in the ancient rites (knowing that the flood was coming,
and fearing that the memory of the sacred ceremonies
would be obliterated) constructed in various places,
distributed in the interior [of the buildings], which were
mined out with great labour. And levelling the walls,2
they engraved on them numerous kinds of birds and
animals, and countless varieties [of creatures] of another
world, which they called hieroglyphic characters."3
We are thus told of another peculiarity of some of
the Seriadic monuments, and of the " Books preserved
from the Flood " of which there were so many traditions.
These are the records to which Sanchuniathon and
Manetho make reference.
THE SONS OF SETH-HERMKS
The Egyptian account is straightforward enough ; but
when Josephus, following the traditional practice of his
race in exploiting the myths of more ancient nations
for the purpose of building up Jewish history — for the
and the method of treating the numerous points raised by
Porphyry, says : " And if thou proposest any philosophical
problem, we will resolve it for thee according to the ancient
monuments of Hermes, on the thorough study of which Plato,
and prior to him Pythagoras, founded their philosophy."
1 Who flourished in the early second half of the fourth
century A.D.
2 The passages and chambers being hewn out of the solid rock.
3 Ammiani Marcellini Rerum, Gestarum Libri qui super sunt,
xxii. xv. 30 ; ed. V. Gardthausen (Leipzig, 1874), p. 301.
VOL. I. 8
114 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Mosaic Books supply innumerable examples of the
working-up of elements which the Jews found in the
records of older nations — runs away with the idea that
Seth (the Egyptian Sirius) was the Biblical patriarch
Seth, the Jewish " antiquarian " enters on a path of
romance and not of history. Tis thus he uses the
Egyptian Seriadic tradition for his own purposes :
"All of these [the Sons of Seth] being of good
disposition, dwelt happily together in the same country
free from quarrels, without any misfortune happening
to the end of their lives. The [great] subject of their
studies was that wisdom which deals with the heavenly
bodies and their orderly arrangement. In order that
their discoveries should not be lost to mankind and
perish before they became known (for Adam had foretold
that there would be an alternate disappearance of all
things l by the force of fire and owing to the strength and
mass of water) — they made two monuments,2 one of
brick and the other of stone, and on each of them en-
graved their discoveries. In order that if it should
happen that the brick one should be done away with
by the heavy downpour,3 the stone one might survive
and let men know what was inscribed upon it, at the same
time informing them that a brick one had also been
made by them. And it remains even to the present day
in the Siriad land." 4
This passage is of great interest not only as affording
a very good example of the method of inventing Jewish
" antiquities," but also as permitting us to recover the
outlines of the original Egyptian account which Josephus
purloined and adapted. The Sons of Seth were the
initiates of the archaic priesthood of the First Hermes.
3 ^irojujSpfay, a downpour or flood of rain.
4 Josephus, Antt., I. ii. ; Cory's An. Fragg., pp. 171, 172.
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 115
Adam has been substituted for the First Man, in the
sense of our " Shepherd " tradition ; and the two kinds
of monuments (which Josephus seems to regard as
two single structures and not as relating to two classes
of buildings) may refer to the brick structures and
temples of that age, and to specially constructed and
more lasting monuments of stone — perhaps rock-cut
temples, or the most ancient pyramids. I have also
asked myself the question as to whether there may
not be some clue concealed in this " brick monument "
reference to the puzzling statement in the Babylonian
Talmud1 that Jesus set up a " brick-bat " and worshipped
it. Jesus is said in the Talmud Jeschu Stories to have
" learned magic in Egypt," and the magical wisdom of
ancient Egypt is here said to have been recorded on
monuments of brick.2
Reitzenstein (p. 183), after pointing to the similarity
of tradition as to the Seriadic Land contained in Josephus,
and in what he characterises as Pseudo-Manetho,3 adds
the interesting information that the Seriadic Land is
borne witness to by an inscription as being the home
and native land of Isis ; indeed, the Goddess herself is
given the name of Neilotis or Seirias ; she is the
fertile earth and is Egypt.1
To continue, then, with the consideration of the
arguments urged against the authenticity of Manetho's
Sothis. With regard to objection (iv.), we have given
very good reasons for concluding that so far from
Egypt " knowing no Seriadic land," Egypt was the
Seriadic Land par excellence, and the Books of Hermes
1 Sanhedrin, 107 B ; /Sofa, 47 A.
2 See my Did Jesus Live 100 B.C. ?— pp. 137 ff. and 147 ff.
3 A similarity already pointed out by Plew, Jahrb. f. Phil.
(1868), p. 839.
4 Drexler in Roscher's Lex. d. Myth., ii. 388, 408, 445.
116 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
were the direct descendants of the archaic stone monu-
ments of that land. And further, we have shown that
our Trismegistic writings are a step or two further
down in the same line of descent. The whole hangs
together logically and naturally.
We have thus removed four of the five props which
support the hypothesis of forgery with regard to the
Sothis document. Let us now see whether the remain-
ing prop will bear the weight of the structure.
THE EPITHET "THRICE-GREATEST"
(v.) We are told that the term " Trismegistus " is of
late use. This assertion is based entirely on the
hypothesis that all our extant Trismegistic writings are
Neoplatonic forgeries of the third or at best the second
century, before which time the name Thrice-greatest
was never heard of. The term Trismegistus must go
as far back as the earliest of these writings, at any rate,
and where we must place that we shall see at the end
of our investigations.
That the peculiar designation Trismegistus was known
in the first century even among the Romans, however,
is evident from the famous Latin epigrammatist Martial
(v. 24), who in singing the praise of one Hermes, a famous
gladiator, brings his paean to a climax with the line :
Hermes omnia solus et ter urws.1
A verse which an anonymous translator in 1695 freely
renders as :
Hermes engrosses all men's gifts in one,
And Trismegistus' name deserves alone.
Such a popular reference shows that the name
Trismegistus was a household word, and argues for
1 Pietschmann misquotes this line, giving " ter maximus " for
" ter unus " (op. cit., p. 36).
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 117
many years of use before the days of Martial (A.D.
43-104 ?). But have we no other evidence ?
In the trilingual inscription (hieroglyphic, demotic,
and Greek) on the famous Rosetta Stone, which sings
the praises of Ptolemy Epiphanes (210-181 B.C.), Hermes
is called the " Great-and-Great." 1 Letronne renders
this deux fois grand ; 2 and in his notes 3 says that
the term " Trismegistus " was not known at this date,
thus contemptuously waving aside Manetho's Sothis.
Had it been known, he says, it would undoubtedly have
been used instead of the feebler expression " great-and-
great." 4 But why undoubtedly ? Let us enquire a
little further into the matter. The Egyptian re-
duplicated form of this attribute of Hermes, da, da,
the " great-great," is frequently elsewhere found with a
prefixed sign which may be transliterated ur.5 So
that if the more simple form is translated by " great,
great," the intensive form would naturally be rendered
"great, great, great," or "three times great." But
we have to deal with the form "thrice-greatest," a
superlative intensive. We have many examples of
adjectives intensified with the particle T/O/? in Greek,6
'Epjirjs & fifyas Kal fifyas, line 19 ; the reading is
perfectly clear, and I cannot understand the remark of Chambers
(op. cit., Pref. vii.) that Hermes is called " nfyas, nfyas, ntyas "
on the Kosetta Stone.
2 " Inscription grecque de Rosette," p. 3, appended to Miiller,
Frag. Hist. Grate. (Paris, 1841).
3 Ibid., p. 20.
4 Recueil des Inscriptions grecques et latines de Vfigypte, i. 283
(Paris, 1842).
8 See Pietschmann, op. sup. cit., p. 35.
6 In Greek not only is the term rplff^axap (thrice-blessed)
applied to Hermes in the inscriptions of Pselcis (see Letronne's
Recueil, i. 206 n.), but also in a Magical Prayer (Wessely, 1893 —
p. 38, 11. 550 ff. ; Kenyon, p. 102) he is addressed as t purity as, or
" thrice-great " simply.
118 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
but no early instances of their superlatives ; therefore,
what ? Apparently that the term " Trismegistus " is a
late invention.
But may we not legitimately suppose, in the absence
of further information, that when the Egyptian had
intensified his reduplicated form he had come to an
end of his resources — it was the highest term of great-
ness that he could get out of his language? Not so
when he used Greek. He could go a step further in
the more plastic Hellenic tongue. Why, then, did he
not use " thrice-greatest " instead of " great-and-great "
on the Eosetta Stone ?
Because he was translating ad da and not its
intensified form. But why did he not use the
intensified form in the demotic inscription ? Well,
" whys " are endless ; but may we not suppose that, as
Ptolemy was being praised for his justice, which he is
said to have exercised " as Hermes the great-and-great,"
the reduplicated form was sufficient for this attri-
bute of the idealised priesthood, while the still more
honorific title was reserved for Hermes as the per-
sonified Wisdom ? Or, again, may it not have been
politic to refrain from adjectives which would have
dimmed the greatness of Ptolemy?
THE CLUE OF GKIFFITHS
So I wrote in November 1899, when the major part
of this chapter was first published in The Theosophical
Review. Shortly afterwards, however, I came across an
entirely new clue. In his Stories of the High Priests of
Memphis : the Sethon of Herodotus and the Demotic Tales
of Khamuas (Oxford, 1900), F. LI. Griffiths presents
us with the translation of an exceedingly interesting
demotic text, found on the verso of two Greek docu-
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 119
ments, the contents of which prove them to be official
land-registers of the seventh year of Claudius (A.D.
46-47). There is also " strong evidence for attributing
the demotic .text to some time within thirty years from
that date" (p. 41). So much for the copy of the
original ; but what of its contents ? As they belong to
the most important cycle of folk-tates of Egypt, it is to
be assumed that their form and substance is old.
In this papyrus we are told that on an occasion of
great need when the Pharaoh of Egypt was being over-
come at a distance by the sorceries of the Ethiopian en-
chanters, he was saved, and the magic of the Black Ones
sent back upon them, by a certain Hor, son of Pa-neshe,
most learned in the Books. Before his great trial of
strength with the Ethiopian spells, we read of this
Hor that:
" He entered the temple of Khmun ; he made his
offerings and his libations before Thoth, the Eight-times-
great, the Lord of Khmun, the Great God " (p. 58).
To this Griffiths appends the following note :
"'Thoth, eight times great'; the remains of the
signs indicate this reading. The title, which here
appears for the first time in Egyptian literature, is the
equivalent of T/our/xeytoroy [thrice - greatest], a late
epithet first used about the date of this MS.1 6 is
/xe'ya? [great], which we may represent algebraically by
a; 6 6 (2a), a common title of Thoth in late hiero-
glyphic, is yue'ya? Kal /ueyas [great and great] on the
Eosetta Stone, but probably represents ^e-yia-ro?
[greatest], and 86 is therefore T/oicr/oteytcrrof [thrice-
greatest], i.e. (2a)3. The famous epithet of Hermes
which has puzzled commentators thus displays its
mathematical formation. 66 = 3(2a) would not fill the
1 Griffiths here refers to Pietschmann as his authority for this
statement.
120 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
lacuna on the papyrus, nor would it give the obviously
intended reference to the name of Thoth's city, 'the
Eighth,' and the mythological interpretation of that
name."
The mythological interpretation of that name, namely
Khmun (Khemen-nw), which Budge transliterates
Khemennu, Griffiths says is " the eighth city," i.e.
" the eighth in Upper Egypt going up the river. " x
We are loth to deprive any one of a so fair
adaptation to environment in the evolution of purely
physical interpretation ; but we are afraid that our
readers will have already learned for themselves that
Khemennu was the City of the Eight, the City of the
Ogdoad, and will expect some less mundane explanation
of the name ; not that we altogether object to Khemennu
being the " Eighth City up the Kiver," if that river is
interpreted as the Celestial Nile on which the soul of
the initiated sailed in the solar boat.
Eeitzenstein then is wrong in supposing (p. 117, n. 6)
that Griffiths connects the honorific title Trismegistus
with the eight cynocephali who form the paut of Thoth ;
but we may do so.
The nature of this symbolic Ogdoad is most clearly
seen in the inscription of Der-el-Bahari, of the time of
the Twenty-second Dynasty which Maspero has lately
published.2
In it the Osirified says to the Supreme :
" I am One who becomes Two ; I am Two who
becomes Four ; I am Four who becomes Eight ; I am
the One after that."
So also in the first Hermes Prayer, quoted in a
preceding chapter, addressed to Hermes as Agatho-
1 Of. Proc. Soc. Bib. Arch. (1899), p. 279.
2 Recueil des Travaux relat. a la Phil, et a FArcheol. egypt. et
assyr., xxiii. 196. Cf. R. 54.
daimon, Thoth is he " whom the Eight Wardens
guard."
These Eight, we may perhaps be permitted to specu-
late, were generated Two from One, aa aa, Greatest ;
Four from Two, Twice-greatest; Eight from Four,
Thrice-greatest.
Such a combination would specially commend itself
to men trained in Pythagorean mathematical symbols,
as were doubtless many who took part in compiling the
Egyptian Hellenistic theosophical literature.
I, therefore, conclude that the honorific title Thrice-
greatest can very well go back to early Ptolemaic times ;
and therefore, as far as I can see, the authenticity of
Manetho's Sothis stands unimpugned as far as any
arguments so far brought against it are concerned. I
therefore regard the quotation of Syncellus as a most
valuable piece of information in tracing the genesis of
the Trismegistic literature. Whether or not any of our
extant sermons can be placed among these earlier ftfrms
of this literature will be discussed later on.
THE EARLIEST TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE
That, however, literature of a similar nature existed
in early and middle Ptolemaic times we have already
seen from the material adduced at the beginning of
this chapter ; we may therefore fitly conclude it by
pointing out that in later Ptolemaic times, and down
to the first century A.D., we find in the same litera-
ture specimens of cosmogenesis closely resembling the
main elements of the world-formation given in our
" Shepherd " treatise.
An excellent example is that of the fragmentary
cosmogonical poem, the text of which Reitzenstein has
printed in his Zwei religionsgesch. Fragen, to which we
122 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
have already referred. This poem Eeitzenstein (p. 92)
dates as belonging to the first century B.C., though it
may probably be earlier ; it declares itself to be of the
Hermes tradition, both in its statement about itself
and also in the fact that it is Hermes, the Beloved
Son of Zeus, who is the Logos-Creator of the cosmos,
and also the progenitor or "father" of the prophet-
poet who writes the vision.
PHILO BYBLIUS
But not only did the tradition of Egyptian Hermes
dominate the Greek forms of cosmogony which
emanated from Alexandria and spread through the
Hellenic world, but it also imposed itself upon the
forms of cosmogony and the history-writing of other
nations; the most striking example of this is to be
found in the Phoenician Histories of Philo Byblius, who
lived in the second half of the first century A.D.
The fragments of this work are of great interest to
our present enquiry, as they tend to show that both
Egypt and Phoenicia, the two most sacred nations,
derived their cosmogonical knowledge and mystery-
traditions from the same source ; that source being
traced to the most archaic Books of Thoth.
This is all, no doubt, an overwriting of Phoenician
records in the light of Egyptian tradition ; Philo,
however, would have us regard his work as a Greek
translation or paraphrase of a compilation made by an
ancient and learned Phoenician priest, Sanchuniathon,
based immediately upon archaic Phoenician records by
one who was also learned in the oral tradition of his
own mysteries.
The initial question as to whether Philo had a
genuine Phoenician document before him or not, need
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 123
not occupy us here, save in the most superficial fashion,
as we are at present interested in the Egyptian
elements of his account solely, and not in disentangling
the native Phoenician substratum.
It must, however, in fairness be said that though
the Byblian prefaces his account with an introduction
and intersperses it with occasional remarks, all this is
transparently his own, and is clearly distinguishable
from what have every appearance of being translated
ARE HIS " PHCENICIAN HISTORIES " A FORGERY ?
The general theory, however, since the time of Orelli 1
has been that Philo forged the whole of this cosmogony
and history. On the contrary, it was made considerable
use of by Porphyry in his criticism of Christianity, and
Eusebius2 quotes the passages used by Porphyry.3
The whole work of Philo, moreover, is claimed to be
recovered by Wagenfeld, who has elaborately defended
its genuineness.4 There indeed seems no reason to
1 J. C. Orelli, Sanchoniatlwnis Berytii quce feruntur Fragmenta
(Leipzig, 1826).
2 Prceparatio Evangelica, I. vi., vii.
3 These are collected by Cory in his Ancient Fragments, pp.
3 ff. (London, 1832) ; and they may also be found in C. Miiller,
Fragmenta Historicorum Gracorum, " Philo Byblius," iii. pp. 560
ff. (Paris, 1848).
4 F. Wagenfeld, Sanchuniathon's Urgeschichte der Phonizier in
einem Auszuge a us der wieder aufyefundenen Handschrift von Philo' s
vollstdndiger (fbersetzung (Hanover, 1836). In the following year
Wagenfeld published the Greek text with a Latin translation
under the title Sanchoniathonis Historiarum Phoenicia Libri IX.
(Bremse, 1837). For the further consideration of the reliability
of Sanchuniathon, see Count (Wolf Wilhelm) Baudissin's Studien
zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, Heft ii., " Uber den religions-
geschichtlichen Werth der phonicischen Geschichte Sanchuni-
athon's" (Leipzig, 1876).
124 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
accept the forgery-hypothesis, which apparently rests
on an even flimsier basis than the forgery-theory of
the Trismegistic writings. The work, on the contrary,
considered as a specimen of Phoenician story strongly
influenced by Egyptian tradition, is a most interest-
ing document for understanding the ancient Semitic
mystery-tradition as distinguished from Jewish adapta-
tions of general Semitic legend — in other words, the
distinction of Semitismus and Israelitismus. Porphyry
was not only a Semite himself but also a good critic,
and not likely to base his arguments on a forgery;
nor would Philo have ventured to put forward a
forgery when there were thousands of learned and
fanatical Jews who would have been only too glad to
expose it.
Philo tells us that the Phoenician public traditions
being chaotic, " Sanchuniathon, a man of great learning
and a busy searcher [after knowledge], who especially
desired to know the first principles from which all
things are derived, most carefully examined the Books
of Taaut, for he knew that Taaut was the first of all
under the sun who discovered the use of letters and
the writing of records. So he started from him, making
him as it were his foundation — from him the Logos
whom the Egyptians called Thouth, the Alexandrians
Thoth,1 but whom the Greeks have turned into Hermes."2
SANCHUNIATHON AND THE BOOKS OF HERMES
This evidently means that the source of Sanchuni-
athon's information as to the mystic beginning of
things was derived from the Books of Thoth, and
1 Perhaps attempts at transliterating the dialectic variants of
Upper and Lower Egypt of the name Tehuti.
2 Wagenfeld's text, Procem., p. 2 ; Euseb., Prcep. Ev., I. ix. 29.
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 125
that this was so may be seen from the following
passage :
" He supposes the beginning of all things to consist
of a Dark Mist of a spiritual nature, or as it were a
Breath of dark mist, and of a turbid Chaos black as
Erebus ; l that these were boundless, and for many an
age 2 remained without a bound. ' But when,' he 3 says,
' the Spirit fell in love with his own principles,4 and
they were interblended, that interweaving was called
Love ; 5 and this Love was the origin of the creation of all
things. But [Chaos] did not know its own creation.6
From its embrace with Spirit Mot was born.7 From
her [Mot, the Great Mother] it was that every seed of
the creation came, the birth of all the cosmic bodies.
" ' [First of all] there were [Great] Lives 8 devoid of
sensation, and out of these came subsequently [Great]
1 This is the beginning of the out-breathing of the universe or
of any system ; it is the Great Breath or Spirit moving on the
Waters of Chaos, the primal nebula. Erebus was fabled to be a
region of nether darkness separating Earth and Hades (not Hell).
It was the Dark Side of Heaven.
2 Lit., aeon.
3 That is, Sanchuniathon ; so that we may take this passage as
a direct quotation, or rather translation.
4 Or sources ; that is, the primal states of Matter or Chaos.
5 Pothos, triOos ; yearning, longing — love for all that lives and
breathes. This union was symbolised not only among the
Phoenicians but also among most of the other nations by an egg,
round which a serpent twines. When the egg and serpent are
represented apart they stand for " Chaos " and " Ether," matter
and spirit ; but when united they represent the hermaphrodite or
male-female first principle of the universe, spirit-matter, called in
Greek translation Pothos or Eros.
6 Cf. " The Darkness comprehended it not " of the Proem to the
Fourth Gospel.
7 Here Philo, the translator, volunteers the information that
some call this prime plasm of Chaos, " Slime," others explain it as
" Fermentation," in a watery sort of medium.
8 The primal elements and their subdivisions.
126 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Lives possessed of intelligence.1 The latter were called
Zophasemin (that is to say, " Overseers of the Heavens ").
The latter were fashioned in the form of eggs, and shone
forth as Mot, the Sun and Moon, the Stars and the
great Planetary Spheres.
"'Now as the [original] nebula began to lighten,
through its heat mists and clouds of sea and earth2
were produced, and gigantic downpours and torrents of
the waters in the firmaments. Even after they were
separated,3 they were still carried from their proper
places by the heat of the sun, and all the [watery and
earthy elements] met together again in the nebula one
with the other, and dashed together, amid thunder and
lightning ; and over the crash of the thunderings the
[Great] Eational Lives before-mentioned watched,4 while
on the land and sea male and female cowered at their
echo and were dismayed.'
" After this our author proceeds to say : ' These
things we found written in the Cosmogony of Taaut,
and in his commentaries, based on his researches and
the evidences which his intelligence saw and discovered,
and so enlightened us.' " 6
There are many other points of interest in Philo's
translation, but we need not elaborate them here. One
point, however, must not be omitted, because of its
importance with regard to the Hermes-^sculapius
tradition, an important factor in the Trismegistic
writings.
1 The same distinction is made in the cosmogonic account in
" The Shepherd," but with more detail.
2 Presumably still mingled together, as in the account in " The
Shepherd."
3 That is to say, after the land and water were separated.
4 typ-nytprivev. The same expression is used in the Greek transla-
tion of The Book of Enoch, in speaking of the Watchers (Egregores).
6 Op. cit., i. ii., pp. 8 ff.
MAIN SOURCE OF TRISMEGISTIC LITERATURE 127
"And Cronus [Ammon] going to the land of the
South gave the whole of Egypt to the God Taaut to be
his kingdom. All these things were first recorded by
the Seven Sons of Sydyk, the Cabiri, and their eighth
brother, Asclepius, as it was commanded them by the
God Taaut." l
^Esculapius is here at once identified with the cult
of the " Great Gods " (-Q3, KBE, Kdbirim), who were,
according to the old Semitic tradition, the Sons of King
Sydyk (? Melchizedec). The whole subject of the very
ancient mysteries of these Great Gods is one of immense
interest, but we must not be tempted to follow this
alluring bye-path.2 Enough has been said to show
that both Sanchuniathon and the writer of "The
Shepherd " drew their accounts of cosmogony from the
same sources, namely, the " Books of Thoth," or, in other
words, the Egyptian mystery-tradition.
1 Op. tit., viii. p. 26.
2 The best source of information is the art. " Megaloi Theoi,"
in Reseller's Ausfuhrliches Lexikon der griechischen u. r&mischen
Mythologie, II. ii. (Leipzig, 1894-97).
VI
AN EGYPTIAN PROTOTYPE OF THE MAIN
FEATURES OF THE PCEMANDRES' COSMOGONY
THE HIGHER CRITICISM OF THE "PCEMANDRES"
Chapter VI: An Egyptian Prototype of the Main Features of the Poemandres' Cosmogony
Trismegistic literature preserved to us to assure him-
self that the whole of it looked back to the Poemandres
instruction as the most primitive form of the tradition
in the language of Greece. The extant form of our
" Pcemandres " sermon is clearly not the most primitive
form ; but whatever that form was, it must have con-
tained the cosmological part.
Now, if we regard this cosmogenesis as a purely
literary compilation, the task of the higher criticism will
be to try to sift out the various elements in it, and if
possible to trace them to their sources.
But before making any attempt of this nature, it will
be as well to consider the nature of the literary art of
our document. It purports itself to be an apoca-
lypse, or rather the record of an apocalyptic vision, and
not a purely literary compilation from already existing
literary sources. It declares itself to be the work of a
seer and prophet and not of a scribe or commentator ; it
claims to be an inspired document, a scripture, and not
the work of a schoolman.
Of this class of writing we have very many examples
in other scriptures, and it will be as well to consider
128
A PROTOTYPE OF THE PCEMANDREs' COSMOGONY 129
briefly the nature of such documents. In the original
form of apocalypses we do not as a rule find that
prior formal literary material is used — that is to say, we
do not find that previously existing written sources are
incorporated ; what we do find is that in almost every
case the seer uses the forms and terms of previously
existing ideas to express what he sees. These forms
and terms are found in already existing written and
oral traditions, and the prophetical writer is compelled
to use the thought-language of his own mind and of
that of his age to express himself. This, however, does
not negate the possibility of his having seen a true
vision, of his having been inspired.
It is evident that whoever wrote the " Pcemandres "
must have been saturated with the religious, mystical,
philosophic, and scientific thought of his age, clothed in
the forms of the thought-language of his day ; and it
is also clear that whatever " newness " there may have
been in him, was owing to the nature of the " touch "
of inspiration he had received. This striking of a new
keynote, as it were, in his inner nature, enabled him to
regroup and reconstruct the previous ideas he had
imbibed from his studies.
A PROTOTYPE OF ITS COSMOGENESIS
Now as far as our cosmogenesis is concerned, it has
not yet been found possible to trace the exact verbal
forms of its elements to any precise literary sources,
but it has been found possible to point to written
sources which contain similar ideas ; and not only so,
but with regard to the main features of it, a distinct
prototype has been found in Egypt itself. This dis-
covery is due to Eeitzenstein (pp.59 ff.),and the prototype
is to be found in an Egyptian inscription in the British
.VOL. i. 9
130 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Museum, which was first read correctly and interpreted
by Dr J. H. Breasted. * Before using it, however, Eeit-
zenstein got his colleague Professor Spiegelberg to go
through it; and again when Maspero, in reviewing2
Breasted's work, had further confirmed the view of it
which Eeitzenstein had in his mind, Spiegelberg again
revised certain points in the translation owing to
Maspero's suggestions.
The inscription itself is dated about the eighth
century B.C., but it states that it is the reproduction of
a then old written text from the temple of Ptah at
Memphis.
The chief content has to do with the Osiris-myth, but
into this is inserted the distinctive Ptah-doctrine.
Ptah is supposed by some to have originally been
simply the god of handicraft, seeing that he is equated
by the Greek interpreters of god-names with Hephaistos.
He was, however, rather the Demiurgus, for in very
early times he is found in the closest connection with
the Gods of Heaven and Gods of Light, and is conceived
as the Dispenser of all life.
In our text Ptah is brought into the closest relations
with the Supreme Deity (Atum). This "God the
Father " emanates from himself eight deities (the
Ogdoad). Each one of these is Ptah with a distinctive
epithet. To the fourth3 of them, "Ptah the Great,"
a theological system is attached, which, though not
entirely ignoring the former presentation, is but loosely
interwoven with it.
Before, however, Eeitzenstein proceeds to deal with
this, he gives Professor Spiegelberg's translation of a
1 Zeitschr.f. ag. Sprache (1901), pp. 39 ff.
2 " Sur la Tout-puissance de la Parole," Recueil des Travaux rel.
a la Phil. . . . egypt., xxiv. 168 ff.
3 The God of Fire and Mind.
A PROTOTYPE OP THE PCEMANDRES* COSMOGONY 131
Prayer to Ptah, of the time of Ramses III. (c. 1233
B.C.), from the Papyrus Harris (I. 44, 3 ff.), in order
to make clearer the circle of ideas into which we
shall be introduced. This Prayer is as follows :
A PRAISE-GIVING To PTAH
" Hail to thee ! Thou art great, thou art old,
Tatenen,1 Father of the gods,
God ancient from the beginning ;
Who fashioned men,
Who made the gods,
Who began with the creation as the first creator,
Who created for all who came after him,
Who made the heaven ; as his heart 2 he created it ;
Who hanged it up,
As God Shu raised himself ; 8
Who founded the earth of thy own power,
Who circled in the primal water of the Great Green,4
Who created the invisible world, which brings the
dead bodies to rest ;
1 An epithet of Ptah. But compare the Hymn to Ra given by
Budge (op. tit., i. 339) : " Praise to thee 0 Ra. exalted Sekhem,
Ta-thenen, Begetter of his Gods." Sekhem is vital " power " ;
Tathenen is, therefore, presumably Creative Life, or the Demiurgic
or Creative Power. On page 230 Budge tells us that Tathenen
is elsewhere symbolised as a fire-spitting serpent armed with a
knife.
2 The Heaven is the Great Heart of the Great Cosmos ; in man
the little cosmos, the heart, was the seat of the true understanding
and will.
3 Shu generally represents the dry air between the earth and
sky. Cf. the Hymn to Amen-Ra : " Thou art the One God, who
did'st form thyself into two gods ; thou art the creator of the egg,
and thou did'st produce thy Twin-gods " (Budge, op. tit., ii. 89).
Shu's twin or syzygy is Tefiiut, who in terrene physics represents
the moist air ; but Shu is elsewhere equated with the Light.
4 The Ocean of Heaven.
132 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Who let Ra come to make them glad,
As Prince of Eternity,
Lord of Eternity,
Lord of Life ;
Who fills the lungs with air,
Who gives breath to every nostril,
Who vivifies all beings with his gifts.
Length of life, fortune, and fate are subject unto him
They live by that which goeth forth out of his
mouth.1
Who made contentment for all the gods,
In his form of ancient primal water ; 2
Lord of Eternity, to whom Eternity is subject,
Breath of Life for all beings."
There are other hymns of an exactly similar nature
in which other gods are praised, especially Thoth and
Horus. And now to turn to our inscription, and to
that part of the text assigned to the fourth of the
Forms of Manifestation, or Aspects or Persons, of Ptah.
PTAH-THOTH THE WISE ONE
L 52. Ptah the Great is the heart and tongue of the
god-circle.3
§ 1, I. 53. (Two gods)4 are they, the one as heart,
the other as tongue, emanations of Atum. Exceeding
great is Ptah; if he ... then are their ka's in this
heart and tongue [of his].
1. 54. When Horus arose in him (Atum) as Ptah, and
when Thoth arose in him as Ptah, the power of heart
1 The life or breath of the Creator.
2 Sc. the water of the Great Green.
3 Paut, sphere, or group, or company, or hierarchy, or pleroma,
— here an Ogdoad.
4 Namely, Thoth and Horus.
A PROTOTYPE OF THE P(EMANDRES' COSMOGONY 133
and tongue came into being through him. (It is Atum)
who brings forth his being out of every body and out
of every mouth of all the gods. All men, all quadru-
peds, all creeping things live through his thinking and
uttering whatsoever he will
§ 2, 1. 55. His god-circle is before him ; he is teeth
[and] lips, vessels [and] hands. Atum (is in his) god-
circle ; Atum is in his vessels, in his hands ; the god-
circle is also teeth and lips in that mouth which hath
uttered the name of everything, and out of which Shu
and Tefnut have proceeded.1
/. 56. Then the god-circle organised the seeing of
the eye, the hearing of the ear, the smelling of the nose,
wherewith they made the desire of the heart to arise.
And this [heart] it is which accomplishes every desire, but
it is the tongue which repeats 2 what the heart desires.
§ 3. He (Ptah) gives existence8 unto all gods, to
Atum and his god-circle, for every god-word* comes
into existence through the desire of the heart and the
command of the tongue.
1. 57. He makes the Tea . . . ; he makes all nourish-
ment and all offerings 5 with this word ; he makes what
1 That is, the heart (Horus) rules action by fingers (and toes),
by means of the ducts or vessels (arteries, veins, and nerves)
leading to them, and all that these mean on the hidden side of
things ; while the tongue in the mouth (Thoth), by means of
teeth and lips, is the organ of speech, or intelligent or meaning
utterance.
2 This appears to be a mistranslation ; it seems by what follows
to mean " commands " or " gives expression to."
3 Not being ; that is, brings them into manifestation. He is the
Demiurge.
4 R. glosses this as hieroglyph ; but it should perhaps mean
" word of the language of the gods " — the language shown by action
in the world.
5 That is to say, apparently, the fruit of actions on which gods
and men feed. Of. Hermes-Prayer, II. 2, where Hermes is said to
" collect the nourishment of gods and men."
134 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
is loved and what is hated. He gives life to the pious,
death to the impious. He makes every fabric, and every
fabrication.
I. 58. The doing of the arms, the going of the feet,
the movement of all limbs, is accomplished by the
utterance of the word, because of the desire of the
heart, [the word] which comes from the tongue and
effects the whole of all things. So arises the
teaching: Atum has made the gods to become Ptah
Tatenen1 so soon as the gods come into existence.
All things proceed from him : sacrifice and food as well
as oblation and all fair things.
§ 4, I. 59. He is Thoth the Wise, whose power is
greater than that of the other gods. He (Thoth)
at-oned himself with Ptah, after he had brought forth
all things and all god-words;2 after that he had
fashioned the gods, had made the cities, settled the
nomes, established the gods in their shrines,
I. 60. When he had ordained their sacrifices, founded
their shrines, and had made statues of [?for] their
bodies for their contentment.
§ 5. If the gods enter into their body, so is he
(Ptah) in every wood, in every jewel, in every metal.3
All things thrive after him if they [the gods] are there.
To him all gods and their Tea's make oblation, uniting
and binding themselves together [for him who is] Lord
of the Two Lands.4
1 That is, as we have seen above, Ptah as the Demiurgic Power.
2 Hieroglyphics ; showing that the oldest hieroglyphics were
symbols of the words of action — that is to say, modes of expression
of being in action.
3 Lit., copper.
4 That is, the worlds of gods, or immortals, and of men, or mortals.
But Reitzenstein says : " Thus the God of Memphis [i.e. Ptah]
is the divinity or ' the God ' of all Egypt " — meaning thereby the
physical upper and lower lands ; but I prefer a wider sense.
A PROTOTYPE OF THE PCEMANDRES' COSMOGONY 135
With these words the special theological system
attached to the fourth person of Ptah is concluded, and
the text returns to the Osiris-myth.
EGYPTIAN SYNCRETISM 1000 B.C.
From this most interesting inscription copied from
an ancient written document, we learn in the first place
that in Egypt already, a good thousand years before the
date of our " Poemandres," we have what the critical
mind would call a distinct specimen of syncretism ;
namely, an attempt to combine three God-myths, or
traditions, into a single system. These, if we persist in
taking a purely traditional view, are : (i.) The Hermo-
politan myth of Thoth as the Logos-Demiurge, who also
in it frequently appears as an aspect of the Supreme;
(ii.) The doctrine of the Ptah-priests of Memphis,
according to which Ptah as the Primal Deity creates
himself and all gods and men, and fashions the world ;
and (iii.) The Heliopolitan theology, in which A turn as
the first of an ennead of gods unites his eight fellow-
gods in himself and is the Primal God and Primal Basis
of all things.
In all this the scribe or prophet has employed very
early conceptions : on the one hand, that the plurality of
gods are but " members " of a One and Only God ; and
on the other, that a sharply-defined and in some respect
special God is similar to another more-general God in
some particular attribute of his. Thus Atum is really
the Primal God ; but the God-circle, his " Body " (or
Pleroma), consists of Eight different Forms of Ptah.
Atum has emanated them ; he is therefore " he who him-
self creates himself " ; but equally so has Ptah created
Atum and himself. The most important Member of this
universal Ptah-Being or Cosmic God is Ptah the Great,
136 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
who is Heart and Tongue — the former as Horus, the
latter as Thoth. Thoth proceeds into manifestation
as Tongue or Word to accomplish the cosmic purpose ;
but the Word is only the thought which has proceeded,
or in a certain fashion emanated, out of the Person.
Thoth and Horus are inseparably united with Ptah.
Reitzenstein thinks that the occasion for introducing
the whole of this system into an exposition which other-
wise deals with the Osiris-myth, was afforded by the parts
played by Horus and Thoth in that myth. But it is
evidently in itself a special system in which Thoth was
the One God, the Word by whom all things were made.
All of this must be quite manifest to any careful
reader, and therefore there is no reason for its further
elaboration. But though we have recovered one speci-
men of this kind of syncretism only, it is not to be
supposed that it was unusual ; indeed, it was a necessity
in Egypt, where, beyond all other lands, the idea of a
number of divinities united in one, each showing forth
in separation some attribute dominantly, but in union
possessing simultaneously the attributes of all the
others, was the only key possible to a state of affairs
where a plurality of gods existed side by side with
the doctrines of the One and the AIL
THE DOCTRINE OF " POSMANDRES " COMPARED WITH
THAT OF ITS PROTOTYPE
Nevertheless, our inscription is not only of general
use, but of special use for an elucidation of the main
elements in the " Poemandres " cosmogony. Any
attempt to translate the ideas of the Atum-Ptah-Thoth
combination into Greek could have resulted in no
other nomenclature than Oeos (God) — Sr]/u.iovpyos or
Sr)/u.iovpyo9 vovs (Demiurge or Demiurgic Mind) —
A PROTOTYPE OP THE P(EMANDRES* COSMOGONY 137
and Ao'yo? (Mind and Word), as is the case in our
treatise.
This argument is all the stronger if we reflect that
if Thoth, after the ordering of the cosmos, at-oned him-
self again with Ptah, then he must have completed
this ordering which was emanated from Ptah. It is
thus that the writer has brought to clear expression
the conception that the Word is the Proceeding
Thought of Ptah, and that both are inseparably united
with one another.
So, too, we find in the " Pcemandres " that the Logos,
after the completion of the cosmic ordering, returns to
the Demiurgic Mind and is at-oned with him.
This similarity of fundamental conception cannot be
due to chance, and we must therefore conclude that a
doctrine essentially corresponding with the theology of
our inscription is the main source of the " Poemandres "
cosmogony. This fairly establishes the main content
of our cosmogony on an Egyptian ground.
If to this we add the general Egyptian belief that
a man's soul, after being " purified " in the after-death
state, goes back to God, to live for the eternity as a god
with the gods,1 then we have established the chief part
of the " Poemandres " treatise as the Hellenised doctrine
of the Egyptian priests — the mystery-tradition.
With all of this agrees the thought that the God as
Mind dwells in the pious, as we learn from the Hermes
Prayers. So also it is Ptah in our inscription who
gives life to the pious and death to the impious. In
very early accounts we find Ptah, the Mind, is the
1 This does not mean, I hold, that there was no "reincar-
nation," that is, that the "being" of the man did not emanate
other " souls," but that the " soul " of a particular life did not
return — that all of it deserving of immortality became a god with
the gods, or " those-that-are," and do not only ex-ist.
138 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
imparter of the gnosis for the gods — that is, as a
Greek would say, he was the inventor of philosophy,
as indeed Diogenes Laertius tells us (Prooem. 1) : " The
Egyptians declare that Hephaistos was the source of
philosophy, the presidents of which are priests and
prophets." Ptah, the Mind, reveals himself to his own
and gives them good counsel; "Ptah hath spoken to
thee," Suidas tells us (s.v.), was a Greek-Egyptian saying,
which is best elucidated by the Stele of Intef, which
tells us that the people say of the heart of Intef : " It is
an oracle of the god which is in every body." 1
All of this and much more of a like nature make it
indubitably clear that the fundamental conceptions of
the " Poemandres " are Egyptian, and that the theory
of Neoplatonic forgery must be for ever abandoned;
so that even the dreams of DeVeria are nearer the
truth than the confident assertions of many a great
name in scholarship.
THE MAN-DOCTRINE
But what, says Reitzenstein (p. 69), is not Egyptian,
is the doctrine of the Man, the Heavenly Man, the
Son of God, who descends and becomes a slave of the
Fate-Sphere ; the Man who, though originally endowed
with all power, descends into weakness and bondage, and
has to win his own freedom and regain his original state.
This doctrine seems to have been in its origin part
and parcel of the Chaldsean mystery-tradition ; but it was
widely spread in Hellenistic circles, and had analogies
in all the great mystery-traditions, as we shall now
proceed to see, and chiefly by the analysis of what has
hitherto been regarded as one of the most chaotic and
puzzling documents of Gnosticism.
i Cf. Breasted, Zeit.f. ag. Spr. (1901), p. 47.
VII
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES
THE GNOSTIC TRADITION
Chapter VII: The Myth of Man in the Mysteries
forth Man (" A.v6 pooirov) co-equal to Himself." 1
So runs the opening paragraph of what we may call
the soteriological part of the " Pcemandres " treatise of
our Trismegistic literature. This Man or Anthropos is
the Spiritual Prototype of humanity and of every
individual man, and is a technical term found in a
number of the early Christianised Gnostic systems.
For instance, in a system some outlines of which are
preserved in the polemical Refutation of Irenseus,2 and
which the Bishop of Lyons seems to associate with an
Ophite tradition, while Theodoret3 ascribes it to the
Sethians, we are told that in the Unutterable Depth
were two Great Lights, — the First Man, or Father, and
His Son, the Second Man ; and also the Holy Spirit,
the First Woman, or Mother of all living.
In this tradition, moreover, the Son of the Mother —
the chief Formative Power of the seven Demiurgic
Potencies of the sensible cosmos — is called laldabaoth
(? the Child of the Egg), who boasts himself to be
1 C. H., i. 12.
2 Contra Om. Hcer., I. xxx. ; ed. A. Stieren (Leipzig, 1853),
i. 263 ff.
3 fleer. Fab., I. xiv.
140 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
supreme. But his mother, Wisdom, reproves his pride,
saying unto him : " Lie not, laldabaoth, for above thee
is the Father of All, First Man, and Man Son of Man." *
THE " PHILOSOPHUMENA " OF HIPPOLYTUS
But the main source of our information on this
Anthropos tradition, in its Christianised Gnostic form,
is to be found in Hippolytus' Philosophumena ; or,
Refutation of all Jleresies.
In 1842, Minoides Mynas, a learned Greek, sent on
a literary mission by the French Government, dis-
covered in one of the monasteries on Mount Athos the
only MS. (generally ascribed to the fourteenth century)
which we possess of this extremely valuable work. It
was originally in ten books, but, unfortunately, the first
three and the beginning of the fourth are missing from
our MS. The first book, however, was already known,
though previously erroneously ascribed to Origen, and
was accordingly prefixed to the text of the editio princeps
of our work by Emmanuel Miller (Oxford, 1851).
The missing Books II. and III. dealt respectively
with the doctrines and mysteries of the Egyptians and
with those of the Chaldseans. Hippolytus (Prooem.)
boasts that he has divulged all their mysteries, as well
as the secrets of those Christian mystics whom he
stigmatises as heretics, and to whom he devotes
Books V.-IX.
It is a curious fact that it is precisely those Books
wherein this divulging of the Mysteries was attempted,
which should be missing; not only have they dis-
appeared, but in the Epitome at the beginning of
Book X. the summary of their contents is also omitted.
This seems almost to point to a deliberate removal of just
1 F. F. F., pp. 188 ff.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 141
that information which would be of priceless value to
us to-day, not only for the general history of the
evolution of religious ideas, but also for filling in an
important part of the background of the environment
of infant Christianity.
Why, then, were these books cut out? Were the
subsequent Christian Orthodox deterred by religious
scruples, or were they afraid to circulate this informa-
tion ? Hippolytus himself seems to have had no such
hesitation ; he is ever delightedly boasting that he is
giving away to the multitude the most sacred secrets of
others ; it seems to have been his special metier to cry
aloud on the house-tops what had been whispered in
their secret chambers. It was for him a delicious
triumph over " error " to boast, " I have your secret
documents, and I am going to publish them ! "
Why, then, should those who came after him
hesitate ? Surely they were like-minded with Hip-
polytus, and would have been as delighted as himself in
humbling the pride of the hated Mystery-institutions
in the dust ? Can it possibly be that they saw far more
clearly than he did that quite other deductions might
be drawn from his " startling revelations " ?
THE NAASSENES
That far other deductions could be drawn from the
Mystery-rites and Mystery-myths was at anyrate the
view of a tradition of early Jewish and Christian mystics
whom Hippolytus calls Naassenes. The claim of
these Gnostics was practically that Christianity, or
rather the Good News of the Christ, was precisely the
consummation of the inner doctrine of the Mystery-
institutions of all the nations ; the end of them all was
the revelation of the Mystery of Man.
142 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
It is further to be noticed that these Naassenes, " who
call themselves Gnostics " (v. 2), are the very first school
of Christian "heresy" with which Hippolytus deals;
he puts them in the forefront of his Refutation, as
being, presumably, in his opinion, the oldest, or, at any-
rate, as representing the most ancient form of Christian
" heresy."
Although the name Naassene (Naao-cnfi/oi) is derived
from the Hebrew Nahash (Serpent), Hippolytus does
not call them Ophites ; indeed, he reserves the latter
name to a body to which he also gives (viii. 20) the
name Cainites and Nochaitse (Noxaira/) — ? Nachaitae,
again, from Nachash1 — and considers them of not
sufficient importance for further mention.
These Naassenes possessed many secret books or
apocrypha — that is, books kept back from general
circulation — and also regarded as authoritative the
following scriptures : The Gospel of Perfection, The
Gospel of Eve, The Questions of Mary? Concerning the
Offspring of Mary, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel
according to Thomas, and The Gospel according to the
Egyptians. All of which points somewhat to an
Alexandrian or Egyptian circle.
ANALYSIS OF HIPPOLYTUS' ACCOUNT OF THE
NAASSENE DOCUMENT
One of their secret MSS. had fallen into the hands of
Hippolytus. It is in the Bishop of Portus' quotations
1 Both h and ch being transliteration devices for the same
Hebrew letter n in the word viji.
2 We know of the two titles, The Greater and The Lesser
Questions of Mary • the general title is thought by some to be
the proper designation of one of the sources of the composite
document known as Pistis Sophia, and has been suggested as its
more appropriate general epigraph.
THE MYTH OP MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 143
from this document that Reitzenstein (pp. 81 ff.) seeks
to discover what he calls the " Hellenistic Myth of the
God Anthropos." His theory is that, by eliminating
the Christian citations and thoughts of the Naassene
writer, we are face to face with a purely Heathen
document.
The reproduction of their views, as given by Hippo-
lytus,1 falls according to Reitzenstein into three divisions.
(i.) The first begins with the explanation of the name
" Naassene" (S. 131, 1 ; C. 139, 1 2), and, after giving a
few brief headings, ends (S. 134, 8 ; C. 141, 2) with the
statement that the writer of the MS. said they had
their tradition from James, the Brother of the Lord, who
had delivered it to Mariamne.
(iii.) The third begins (S. 170, 64 ; C. 178, 1) with
another explanation of the name. In both of these
parts are found remains of hymns from some liturgical
collection.
(ii.) Between i. and ii. lies a longer exposition in
which Hippolytus tries to show that the Naassene
doctrines are taken from the Mysteries, culminating in
the assertion that the Naassenes, as a matter of fact,
were nothing else than sectaries of the Mysteries of the
Mother of the Gods, in proof of which he quotes at
length from a secret document of their school
Our interest in these quotations, however, is very
different from that of Hippolytus, for, as Eeitzenstein
has now shown, it is manifest on inspection that the
Christian quotations and thoughts in this document
1 Philos., v. 1-11, of which I published a preliminary translation,
under the heading " Selections from the ' Philosophumena,' " in
The Theosophical Review (August and September 1893), xii. 559-
569, xiii. 42-52, and a summary in F. F. F,, pp. 198-206.
2 Ed. L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin (Gottingen, 1859) ;
and ed. P. Cruice (Paris, 1860).
144 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
violently disrupt its underlying continuity, and that
they are for the most part easily removable without
damage to the sense.
With regard to the Old Testament quotations it is
not always so easy to disentangle them from the
Hellenistic source, much less from the New Testament
quotations; the phenomena, however, presented by
them are of such a nature that, in my opinion, there is
ample evidence before us that there was a Jewish
working-over of the matter before it came into the
hands of the Christian overwriter. Reitzenstein, how-
ever, does not venture so far.
Even, then, if we were content with Eeitzenstein's
analysis only, it is quite clear that the quotations from
the Old Testament formed no part of the original ; and
that we have, therefore, before us what was once a purely
Heathen text, with Gnostic Christian scholia, or rather
overworked by a Christian Gnostic. The original Pagan
text had, accordingly, been cut up by the Naassene
overwriter before ever it came into the hands of
Hippolytus.
Now, as the Christianised text must have been
for some time in private circulation before it reached
the library of the Bishop of Portus * — even if we make
no allowance for a Jewish Hellenistic stratum of over-
writing, still seeing that Hippolytus' own view was
that, in the Naassene MS., he had before him a basic
document of those whom he regarded as the earliest
Christian " heretics " — it is quite evident that if we were
to place the date of the original Hellenistic source in
the first century, we should not be doing violence even
to the ecclesiastical traditional absurdity that Gnosti-
cism first sullied the orthodox purity of the Church only
1 The date of the writing of the Philosophumena is placed some-
where about 222 A.D.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 145
in the reign of Trajan (96-117 A.D.). But we will re-
turn to the question of date later on.
As the whole matter is not only one of considerable
interest for the student of our treatises, but also of the
greatest importance for the student of the history of
Gnosticism, I shall give a translation of Hippolytus'
introductory and concluding sections, as well as of the
intermediate section which specially concerns us, so that
the reader may have a view of the whole medley as it
comes to us from the hands of the he.resy-hunting bishop.
I shall, moreover, proceed a stage further in the
analysis of the material of Hippolytus than Eeitzenstein
has done, and hope, when the evidence has been laid
before the reader, to win his assent to what appears to
me to be the natural sifting out of the various elements,
with resultant phenomena which are of the greatest
importance for the history of Gnosticism, and, therefore,
of the evolution of Christian dogmatics, and which
lead to conclusions that are far too serious to be treated
in the short space of a single chapter of our present
In the following analysis H. stands for Hippolytus ;
C. for the Christian Gnostic final overwriter, the " Naas-
sene " whose MS. lay before H. ; J. for the Naassene
Jewish mystic who preceded C. and overworked the
original ; S. for the original Heathen Hellenistic Source.
As H. and C. are of secondary importance for our
immediate enquiry, though of themselves of the
greatest value and interest, I shall print them in smaller
type. J. I shall print in the same type as S., as
nearer in contact with S. than C., and as being some-
times more difficult to detach from S. than from C.
The reader, to have the text of Hippolytus before
him, must neglect all the critical indications and read
straight on.
VOL. I. 10
146 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
With these brief preliminary indications we will,
then, present the reader with a translation of the first
section, or introductory part,1 of Hippolytus' exposure
or exposition of the Naassene doctrines, begging him to
remember throughout that it is a portrait painted by
the hand of one of their bitterest foes.
HIPPOLYTUS' INTRODUCTION
H. The priests and chiefs of [this] doctrine2 were first of all
those who were called Naasseni — so named in Hebrew, [in
which] " serpent " is called naas.3 But subsequently they called
themselves Gnostics, pretending that they alone knew the Depths.
From these many separated themselves and [so] turned the
school, which was originally a single one, into numerous sects,
setting forth the same ideas in various doctrinal forms, as our
argument will show as it advances.
These [Naassenes] honour as the Logos (Reason) of all
universals * Man, and Son of Man. This Man is male-female, and
is called by them Adamas.6 And they have many intricate 6 hymns
in his honour. These hymns — to dispose of them briefly — run
somewhat as follows :
J. '"From Thee '[is] Father, and ' Through Thee ' 7
Mother — the two Immortal Names,8 Parents of ^Eons,
0 Thou who hast the Heaven for Thy City, 0 Man of
Mighty Names." 9
1 S. 132, 1—134, 80 ; C. 139, 1—141, 2.
2 The worship of the serpent, according to H.
3 Cf. the strange logos, preserved in Matt. x. 16 alone : "Be ye
therefore wise as serpents."
4 The reading can be slightly emended by H.'s epitome in
x. 9 ; but the phrase irap& rbv wriav \6yov still remains an enigma.
6 The Celestial Adam, the Adam Kadmon of Kabalistic
tradition, or the Intelligible Cosmos of Hellenistic theology.
See Cruice, note in loc.
6 Or hymns of subtle meaning.
7 That is, Man as Cause and Substance of all things.
8 Sc. Powers.
9 That is, presumably, " names of power " (Egyptice) ; the Adam
who gave their " names " to all the " animals."
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 147
H. And they divide him into three, like Geryones ; l for, they
say, he has a mental, psychic, and choi'c [aspect] ; 2 and they
think that the Qnosia of3 this [Man] is the beginning of the
possibility of knowing God, saying :
J. The beginning of Perfection [is] the Gnosis of Man,
but the Gnosis of God is perfected Perfection.*
H. All these, he says 6 — mental, psychic, and earthy — descended
together into one man — Jeaus, born of Mary.
And these three Men, he says, spake each from their own
special essences to their own special folk.
For of the universal principles there are three kinds [or races]
— the angelic, psychic, and earthy ; and three churches — angelic,
psychic, and earthy — named the Elect, Called, and Bound.
These are the chief heads from a very large number of
doctrines,6 which, he says, James, the Brother of the Lord, handed
on to Mariamne.7
1 Geryon, the triple-headed or triple-bodied Giant, who plays
a prominent part in the myth of Hercules.
2 Or spiritual, psychic, and earthy.
3 That is, the learning to know.
4 Of. § 25, J.
6 That is, as we shall see later, C.
0 \6ya>v.
7 Celsus (c. 150-175 A.D.) knows of groups of Harpocratians —
that is, worshippers of Horus; — some of whom derived their
tradition from Salome, others from Mariamne, and others again
from Martha (Origen, C. Celsum, v. 62). This suggests an
Egyptian setting. (For Salome and Maria or Miriam (Mariamne),
the Sisters of Jesus, see D. J. L., 405 f . ; for Martha, Our Lady, see
ibid., 375 ff.) In the Gnostic Acts of Philip, Mariamne, or
Mariamme (both forms being found in the MSS., according to
R. A. Lipsius, Die apokr. Apostelgeschichten — Brunswick, 1884 —
iii. 12), is the "virgin sister" of Philip, and plays an important
rule as prophetess. She is to Philip as Thekla to Paul, or Helen
to Simon. Compare with this the "sister wife" whom Paul
demands the right to take about like " the rest of the Apostles and
the Brethren of the Lord and Cephas " (1 Corinth, ix. 5 ; D. J. L.,
229). Salmon (art. " Mariamne " in Smith and Wace's D. of Christ.
Biog., iii. 830) refers to the Mary (Magdalene) of the Pistis Sophia,
the chief questioner of the Master and His favourite disciple, the
148 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
But in order that we may put an end to the lying accounts of
these impious [heretics] concerning Mariamne, and James, and the
Saviour Himself,1 let us come to the Initiations from which
they get this myth — if you like [to call it so] — to the non-Grecian
and Grecian [Initiations] ; and let us see how, by combining
together the secret Mysteries of all the Gentiles which must not
be spoken of, and by telling lies about the Christ, they take in
those who do not know that these things are the Orgies of the
Gentiles.
Now, since the foundation of their system is Man Adamas,
and they say it has been written of him, " Who shall declare his
generation ? " 2 — learn how they have taken the undiscoverable and
contradictory generation of Man and plastered it on the Christ.
THE MATERIAL FOR THE KECOVERY OF THE ORIGINAL
HELLENISTIC DOCUMENT
(1) S. " Earth (say the Greeks3) first brought forth
Man — bearing a fair gift, desiring to be mother
not of plants without feeling, nor of brutes without
reason, but of a tamed God-loving life.
"Difficult is it (H. he says4) to discover whether
it was among the Boeotians that Alalkomeneus rose
from the Kephisian Lake as first of men ; or whether
sister of Martha. The tradition of the Gnosis from James, the
Brother of the Lord, is asserted by Clement of Alexandria in
Book VI. of his lost work, The Iiistitutions, where he writes :
" The Lord imparted the Gnosis to James the Just, to John and
Peter, after His resurrection ; these delivered it to the rest of the
Apostles, and they to the Seventy " (Euseb., Hist. Eccks., ii. 1 ;
cf. D. J. L., 226).
1 From here onwards we use the revised critical text of Reitzen-
stein (pp. 83-98), who appends what we may call an apparatus
criticus of the emendations and conjectures of the various editions
of our solitary MS. R., as usual, however, gives no translation.
2 Is. liii. 8 — same reading as LXX. Cf. also § 25 J.
3 A remark of the writer of S., which, as we shall see at the end,
is divided into Texts and Commentary.
4 The " he says " may be ascribed to any subsequent hand ; I
have marked them all H. to avoid further complication.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 149
it was the Idsean Kuretes, race divine, or the Phrygian
Korybantes, whom Helios saw first sprouting forth
tree-like; or whether Arkadia brought forth Pelasgos
[first], older than the Moon ; or Eleusis Diaulos, dweller
in Karia; or Lemnos Kabeiros, fair child of ineffable
orgies;1 or whether Pallene Phlegraean Alkyoneus,
eldest of Giants.
" The Libyans say that Garamas,2 rising from parched
plains, first picked sweet date of Zeus ; while Neilos,
making fat the mud of Egypt to this day (H. he
says), breeds living things, and renders from damp heat
things clothed in flesh."3
The Assyrians say it was with them Oannes, the
Fish-eater; while the Chaldseans [say that it was]
Adam.
(2) J. And this Adam they [the Chaldseans] say was
the man that Earth produced — a body only, and that
he lay breathless, motionless, immovable, like a statue,
being an image of that Man Above —
1 " Burstings forth," inspirations, revealings, or mysteries.
2 In Greek transformation, son of Apollo and the daughter
of Minos, born in Libya. This points to a very ancient myth-
connection with the old Cretan civilisation. Garamas was also
called Amphithemis (q.v. in Roscher's Lex.) ; he appears also, ac-
cording to one tradition, to have been the father of Ammoii. (See
" Garamantis Nympha," ibid.)
3 This passage is doubly interesting, for it is not only a source,
but a source within a source. Already a number of scholars have
recognised it as an Ode ; and not only so, but conjectured with
much probability that it is by no less a master than Pindar himself.
Nay, further, it is part of a Hymn to Jupiter Ammon — an
additionally interesting point for us as showing strong Egyptian
influence. It is true that in our text of Hippolytus the order of
the words has been frequently changed to bring it into prose form ;
but the reconstruction of most of it is not difficult, and quite
convincing. I translate from the text of Bergk's final revision, as
given S. 134, 135 ; C. 142. R., for some reason or other, does not
refer to this interesting side-light.
150 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
H. — of whom they sing, and brought into existence by the
many Powers,1 concerning which there is much detailed teaching.
J. In order, then, that the Great Man from Above —
C. From whom, as is said, every fatherhood has its name on
earth or in the heavens.2
J. — might be completely brought low, there was
given unto him 3 Soul also, in order that through the
Soul the enclosed plasm of the Great, Most-fair, and
Perfect Man might suffer and be chastened.
H. For thus they call Him. They seek to discover then
further what is the Soul, and whence, and of what nature, that by
entering into man and moving him, it should enslave and chasten
the plasm of the Perfect Man ; but they seek this also not from
the Scriptures, but from the Mysteries.
(3) S. And they4 say that Soul is very difficult to
discover, and hard to understand ; for it never remains
of the same appearance, or form, or in the same state,
so that one can describe it by a general type,5 or com-
prehend it by an essential quality.
H. These variegated metamorphoses they 6 have laid down in
the Gospel, superscribed " According to the Egyptians." 7
S. They are accordingly in doubt —
H. — like all the rest of the Gentiles —
J. — whether it [sc. the Soul] is from the Pre-existing
[One], or from the Self-begotten, or from the Streaming
Chaos.8
1 Sc. of the Fate-Sphere.
2 This looks back, though with variants, to Ephes. iii. 15.
3 Sc. the image-man, or Adam of " red " earth.
4 Sc. the Chaldaeans.
5 rvircp,
6 Sc. the Naassenes.
7 This is a further indication of the environment of the Naas-
senes. Cf. G. H., x. (xi.) 7.
8 That is from Man (Father), Man Son of Man (Son), or Flow-
ing Chaos (Mother) — corresponding in Hellenic mythology to
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 151
H. And first of all, in considering the triple division of Man,
they fly for help to the Initiations of the Assyrians ; for the
Assyrians were the first to consider the Soul triple and [yet]
one.
(4) S. Now every nature (H. he says) yearns after
Soul — one in one way and another in another.
For Soul is cause of all in Genesis. All things that
are sustained and grow (H. he says) need Soul.
Indeed, no sustenance (H. he says) or growth is
possible without the presence of Soul.
Nay, even stones (H. he says) are ensouled;1 for
they have the power of increase [or growth] ; and
growth could not take place without sustenance;
for it is by addition that things which increase
grow ; and addition is the sustenance of that which is
sustained.2
(5) Now the Assyrians call this [Mystery] Adonis
(or Endymidn). And whenever it is called Adonis
(H. he says), it is Aphrodite who is in love with and
desires Soul so-called.
H. And Aphrodite is Genesis according to them.3
But when Persephone (that is, Kore) is in love with
Adonis, Soul becomes subject to Death, separated from
Aphrodite (that is, from Genesis).
But if Selene is impassioned of Endymidn, and is in
Kronos, Zeus, and Rhea. For Rhea (from peW, " to flow ") is the
Moist or Liquid Nature, as with the Stoics ; she is the a-cosmic
or unordered Earth, the Prima Materia (the First Earth, the
Spouse of Heaven — Uranus), Hyle Proper, who carries in her
bosom the Logos. For references, see R., p. 99, n. 2.
1 Of. Ex. viii. 8.
2 The preceding paragraph is evidently composed of selections
from S. R. (p. 85, n. 1) thinks that we have here the description
of only one aspect of Soul, and that the description of the
remaining two aspects has been omitted by H.
3 Sc. the Naassenes, in H.'s view.
152 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
love with [formal"| beauty,1 it is the Nature of the
higher [spaces 2] (H. he says) which desires Soul.
(63) But if (H. he says) the Mother of the Gods
emasculate Attis — she, too, regarding him as the object
of her love — it is the Blessed Nature Above of the
supercosmic and seonian [spaces] which calls back the
masculine power of Soul to herself.4
H. For Man, he says, is male-female. According, then, to this
theory of theirs, the intercourse between man and woman is
exhibited as most mischievous, and is forbidden according to
their teaching.
J. For Attis (H. he says) is emasculated — that is
[Soul is separated] from the earthy parts of the creation
[tending] downwards, and ascends in quest of the
Ionian Essence Above —
lit., either form or beauty.
2 Sc. of cosmos.
3 This paragraph and § 7, together with the accompanying
overworkings, seem to have been misplaced by H., according to
R. (pp. 99, 100).
The sudden introduction of the name Attis without any prelimin-
aries, indicates another lacuna ; the transition from the Assyrian
to the Phrygian Mysteries of the Great Mother is too brusque.
4 The threefold nature of the Soul is thus distinguished by :
(i.) The union (or marriage) which joins it to generation, or to earth-
life — the nature of things on earth ; (ii.) The union which joins
it with death — the nature of the things " beneath " the earth ;
(iii.) The union which joins it with formal beauty, or beauty in
form (popQ-fi) — the nature of super-terrene (or sublunary) things,
here regarded as the Elysian state.
The love of the Mother of the Gods for the Soul represents the
" fourth state " (the turlya of Vedantic mystic psychology), or the
absorption of the masculine power of the Soul by its own higher
Feminine Nature. Cf. in Damascius' " Life of Isidores " (Photius,
Bibl., ed. Bekker, 345 a. 5 : "I fell asleep, and in a vision Attis
seemed to appear to me, and, on behalf of the Mother of the
Gods, to initiate me into the feast called Hilaria — a mystery
which discloses the way of our salvation from Hades." Hades,
the realm of Selene, is not Tartarus, the realm of Death.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 153
C. — where (H. he says) is " neither male nor female," l but a
new creature, a new man, who is male-female.
H. What they call "Above" I will explain when I come to
the proper place. And they say that this theory is supported not
simply by [the myth] of Rhea, but also, to put it briefly, by
universal creation.
Nay, they make out that this is [even] what was said by the
Word (Logos) : 2
C. "For the invisible3 things of Him [God] — namely, His
Eternal 4 Power and Godhead — are clearly seen from the creation
of the world, being understood by His things that are made ; so
that they [men] are without excuse. Because that, though
knowing God, they glorified Him not as God, nor did they give
[Him] thanks, but their non-understanding heart was made foolish.5
1 Compare the so-called Second Epistle of Clement (an early
homily incorporating extra-canonical Gospel-materials), xii. 2 :
" For the Lord Himself being asked by some one when his King-
dom should come, said : When the two shall be one, and the
outside as the inside, and the male with the female neither male
nor female " ; and also the well-known logoi, from The Gospel
according to the Egyptians, quoted several times by Clement of
Alexandria : " When Salome asked how long Death should
prevail, the Lord said : So long as ye women bear children ; for
I am come to destroy the work of the Female. And Salome said
to Him : Did I therefore well in bearing no children ? The Lord
answered and said : Eat every Herb, but eat not that which hath
bitterness. When Salome asked when these things about which
she questioned should be made known, the Lord said : When ye
trample upon the Garment of Shame ; when the Two become One,
and Hale with Female neither male nor female." And with the
last logos of the above compare the new-found fragment of a lost
Gospel : " His disciples say unto Him : When wilt thou be
manifest to us, and when shall we see Thee ? He saith : When ye
shall be stripped and not be ashamed." — Grenfell and Hunt, New
Sayings of Jesus (London, 1904), p. 40. The environment is
Egyptian and ascetic ; it is a saying addressed to a community,
as may be seen from one of the previous logoi : " Having one
garment what do ye [lack] 1 "
2 See Rom. i. 20-23, 25-27.
4 atSios — evidently a word-play.
6 The received Pauline text is slightly shortened here.
154 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" Professing themselves to be wise, they convicted themselves
of folly, and changed the Glory of the Incorruptible God into the
likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of
four-footed beasts, and creeping things.1 . . .2
" Wherefore also God gave them up to passions of dishonour ;
for both their females did change their natural use to that which
is against nature —
H. And what the natural use is, according to them, we will say
later on.
C. — "and likewise also their males, leaving the natural use of
the female, burned in their lust for one another, males with males
working unseemliness 3 —
H. And "unseemliness," according to them, is the First and
Blessed Formless Essence, the Cause of all forms for things
enformed.4
C. — " and receiving in themselves the recompense of their
Error which was meet."
H. For in these words which Paul spake is contained, they say,
the whole of their hidden and ineffable Mystery of the Blessed Bliss.
For what is promised by the [rite of the] bath 5 is nothing else,
according to them, than the introduction into Unfading Bliss of
him who, according to them, is washed with Living Water, and
anointed with the Chrism that no tongue can declare.6
1 Evidently a reference to the Chaldsean fourfold (man-eagle-
lion-bull) glyph of what Later Orphicism and Platonism called
the Autozoon, representing the four main types of Animal
Life ; the same mystery which Ezekiel saw in the Vision of the
Mercabah, or Celestial Chariot — a reflected picture, I believe,
from the Chaldaean Mysteries.
2 Verses 24 and 25 of the Keceived Text are omitted.
3 a.ffx-nfi.off'uvn — meaning also " formlessness."
4 Of. Ex. v. 2.
5 That is, baptism.
6 We wonder what "they" really did say? They may have
argued in their private circles that even in the foulest things the
clean soul could recognise the reversed signs of the Mysteries of
Purity ; for certainly these things require an explanation — nay,
more urgently do they require an interpretation in proportion to
their foulness. The hateful suggestion of Hippolytus that these
ascetic and spiritually-minded folk — for their doctrines plainly
show them to be so — were as foul as those of the Flood, only
shows the ineradicable prejudice of unwitting self-righteousness.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 155
(7) And they say that not only the Mysteries of the Assyrians
and Phrygians substantiate this teaching (logos) concerning the
Blessed Nature, which is at once hidden and manifest [but also
those of the Egyptians 1 ].
C.2 [The Nature] which (H. he says) is the Kingdom of the
Heavens sought for within man —
H. — concerning which [Nature] they hand on a distinct
tradition in the Gospel entitled According to Thomas, saying as
follows :
C. " He who seeketh shall find me in children from the age
of seven years 3 ; for in them at the fourteenth year 4 [lit. aeon] I
hidden am made manifest."
H. But this is not Christ's Saying but that of Hippocrates :
" A boy of seven years [is] half a father." 5
Hence as they place the Original Nature of the universals
in the Original Seed, having learned the Hippocratian dictum
that a child of seven is half a father, they say at fourteen years,
according to Thomas, it is manifested. This6 is their ineffable
and mysterious Logos.7
(8 8) S. (H. — At anyrate they say that) the Egyptians
— who are the most ancient of men after the Phrygians,
who at the same time were confessedly the first to
communicate to mankind the Mystery-rites and Orgies
of all the Gods, and to declare their Forms and Energies
— have the mysteries of Isis, holy, venerable, and not to
be disclosed to the uninitiated.
1 Completion of R.
2 Picking up "Blessed Nature" from the first paragraph
of §6.
3 Cf. Ex. viii. 6, note.
4 At fourteen a boy took his first initiation into the Egyptian
priesthood.
5 Of. Littre, Traduct. des CEuvres d'Hippocrate, torn. i. p. 396.
6 Presumably referring to Seed.
7 Perhaps, however, they meant something very different, and
perhaps even their analogies are not so foolish as they seemed
toH.
8 The material here seems to follow directly on § 5. It is a
summary by H. ; but seeing that there is more in it of S. than of
H., we will print it as S., indicating H. when possible.
156 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
H. And these are nothing else than the robbing of the member
of Osiris, and its being sought for by the seven-robed and black-
mantled J [Goddess].
And (they [the Egyptians] say) Osiris is Water.2
And Seven-robed Nature —
H. — having round her, nay, robing herself in seven aetheric
vestures — for thus they 3 allegorically designate the planet-stars,
calling [their spheres] setheric vestures —
S. — being metamorphosed, as ever-changing Genesis,
by the Ineffable and Uncopiable and Incomprehensible
and Formless, is shown forth as creation.
J. And this is what (H. he says) is said in the
Scripture :
"Seven times the Just shall fall and rise again."*
For these " fallings " (H. he says) are the changes
of the stars,5 set in motion by the Mover of all
things.
(9) S. Accordingly they6 declare concerning the
Essence of the Seed which is the cause of all things in
1 Isis, or Nature, as the seven spheres and the eighth sphere
( ? the " black " earth).
2 That is the Celestial Nile or Heaven-Ocean, which fructifies
Mother Nature. " The Alexandrians honoured the same God as
being both Osiris and Adonis, according to their mystical god-
blending (syncrasia)." Damascius, "Life of Isidorus" (Phot.,
BttL, 242 ; p. 342 a. 21, ed. Bek.).
3 Sc. the Egyptians.
4 Prov. xxiv. 16 — same reading as LXX. Cf. Luke xvii. 4. :
" If he trespass against thee seven times in a day and turn again
to thee, saying, ' I repent ' ; thou shalt forgive." This saying is
apparently from the "Logia" source; cf. Matt, xviii. 21, and
compare the idea with the scheme of the " repentance " of the
Pistis Sophia.
5 The seven planetary spheres ; but it may also connect with
the idea of the falling "stars" as the souls descending into
matter, according to the Platonic and Hermetic doctrine.
6 Probably the Egyptians in their Mysteries, connecting with
what is summarised by H. at end of § 6 and beginning of § 7.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 157
Genesis, that it is none of these things, but that it
begets and makes all generated things, saying :
" I become what I will, and am what I am." l
Therefore (H. he says) That which moves all is
unmoved ; for It remains what It is, making all things,
and becomes no one of the things produced.
(H. He says that) This is the Only Good—
C. And concerning this was spoken what was said by the
Saviour :
" Why callest thou me Good ? One is Good 2 — my Father in
the Heavens, who maketh His sun to rise on righteous and
unrighteous, and sendeth rain on saints and sinners." 3
H. And who are the saints on whom He sendeth rain and the
sinners on whom He also sendeth rain — this also he tells subse-
quently with the rest.
S. — and (H. that) This is the Great, Hidden, and
Unknown Mystery of the Egyptians, Hidden and [yet]
Eevealed.
For there is no temple (H. he says) before the
1 Evidently a logos from some Hellenistic scripture. In the
evidence of Zosimus which we adduce at the end of our Tris-
megistic Fragments, he quotes (§§ 15 and 7) from the " Inner
I)oor" — a lost treatise of Hermes Trismegistus — as follows : " For
that the Son of God having power in all things, becoming all
things that He willeth, appeareth as He willeth to each." Thus
we have S. quoting the original logos, which, I suggest, belongs to
the " Pcemandres " type of Trismegistic literature. Therefore
that type was in existence before S. This confirms our attribu-
tion of the " they declare " to the Egyptians and their Mysteries
(Trismegisticism being principally the Hellenised form of those
Mysteries), and also the completion of R. at the end of the first
paragraph of § 7 above.
2 Of. Matt. xix. 17 Mark x. 18 Luke xviii. 19. The first
clause agrees with Mark and Luke, the second with Matthew
(omitting "the" before "Good"). The presumably primitive
reading of the positive command, " Call me not Good," has dis-
appeared entirely from this phase of tradition.
3 A different form from Matt. v. 45, but the same idea ; for
the other tradition, see Luke vi. 35.
158 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
entrance of which the Hidden [Mystery] does not
stand naked, pointing from below above, and crowned
with all its fruits of generation.
(10) And (H. they say) it stands so symbolised
not only in the most sacred temples before the statues,
but also set up for general knowledge —
C. — as it were " a light not under the bushel, but " set
" on the candlestick" 1 — a preaching " heralded forth on the
house-tops."2
S. — on all the roads and in all the streets, and along-
side the very houses as a boundary and limit of the
dwelling ; (H. that) This is the God spoken of by
all, for they call Him Bringer-of-good, not knowing what
they say.
H. And this mystery [-symbol] the Greeks got from the
Egyptians, and have it [even] to this day.
At anyrate, he says, we see the " Hermes " 3 honoured by them
in this form.
(11) S. And the Cyllenians, treating [this symbol]
with special honour, [regard it as the] Logos.4
For (H. he says) Hermes is [the] Logos, who, as
being the Interpreter and Fabricator of all things that
have been and are and shall be, was honoured by them
under the symbolism of this figure, namely an ithy-
phallus.
And that he (H. that is Hermes, so symbolised) is
1 Of. Matt v. 15 Mark iv. 21 Luke viii. 16 and xL 33.
2 Gf. Matt. x. 27 = Luke xii. 3.
3 That is, symbolically distinguished statues of Hermes.
4 The text is faulty ; but compare Pausanias, VI. xxvi. 5, where,
speaking of Cyllene, he says : " The image of Hermes which the
people of the place revere exceedingly, is nothing but an ithy-
phallus on a pedestal." This famous symbolic figure at Cyllene
is mentioned also by Artemidorus, Oneirocr., i. 46 ; and by Lucian,
Jupiter Tragoedus, 42. Of. J. Q. Frazer's Pausanias (London,
1898), iv. 110.
THE MYTH OP MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 159
Conductor and Keconductor of souls,1 and Cause of
souls, has not escaped the notice of the poets (H. of the
Gentiles), when saying :
" But Cyllenian Hermes summoned forth the souls
Of men mindful " 2—
— not the " suitors " of Penelope (H. he says), hapless
wights! but of those who are roused from sleep, and
have their memory restored to them —
" From what honour and [how great] degree of
blessedness." 3
J. That is, from the Blessed Man Above —
H. — or Original Man, or Adamas, as they 4 think —
J. — they 5 have been thus brought down into the
plasm of clay, in order that they may be enslaved to
the Demiurge of this creation, Esaldaios 6 —
H. — a fiery God, fourth in number, for thus they call the
Demiurge and Father of this special cosmos.7
1 Psychagogue and psychopomp — or leader and evoker of souls
— apparently here meaning him who takes souls out of body and
brings them back a^ain to it.
2 nvjiffT-fipuv — lit., meaning " recalling to mind " ; and also
"suitors." Cf. Od., xxiv. 1 ff.
3 Empedocles, On Purifications (Diels, 119 ; Stein, 390 ; Karsten,
11; Fairbanks, First Philosophers of Greece, 206); Empedocles
continues : " . . . have I fallen here on the earth to consort with
mortals ! "
4 The Naassenes, in H.'s opinion.
5 The souls.
6 Some editors think this is a mistake for laldabaoth. The
name, however, appears in the system of Justinus (Hipp., Philos.,
v. 26) as Esaddaios, evidently the transliteration of El Shaddai,
as one of the twelve Paternal Angels, the Sons of Elohim, the
Demiurge of the sensible world, and of Eden, the Maternal
Potency or Nature.
* 'rov IStKov K6fffj.ov — the cosmos of species and not of wholes.
Cf. § 17 below for the passage of C. from which H. takes this.
160 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
(13) S. " And he x holds a rod in his hands,
Beautiful, golden ; and with it he spell-binds the
eyes of men,
Whomsoever he would, and wakes them again too
from sleep." 2
This (H. he says) is He who alone hath the power
of life and death.3
J. Concerning Him it is written: "Thou shalt
shepherd them with a rod of iron." 4
But the poet (H. he says), wishing to embellish the
incomprehensibility of the Blessed Nature of the Logos,
bestowed upon Him a golden instead of an iron rod.
S. " He spell-binds the eyes " of the dead (H. he says),
and " wakes them again too from sleep " — those who
are waked from sleep and become " mindful." 5
C. Concerning them the Scripture saith : " Awake thou that
sleepest, and rise, and Christ will give thee light." a
This is the Christ, the Son of Man (H. he says), expressed in
all who are born from the Logos, whom no expression can express.
S. This (H. he says) is the Great Ineffable Mystery
of the Eleusinia : " Hye Eye." 7
Compare Ptah-Hephaistos, the Demiurge by Fire, the Fourth, in
the Inscription of London given in Chap. VI. above.
1 Sc. Hermes.
2 The continuation of the above quotation — Od., xxiv. 2 ff.
3 Cf. C. H., i. 14: "he who hath power over the lives of
cosmos."
4 Ps. ii. 9 — same reading as LXX.
6 Or " get back memory," or " become suitors."
6 Eph. v. 14 — a shortened form of the present Pauline text ;
Paul himself, however, seems to be quoting from some older
writing. If the intermediate reading (fintyatfffi for evKJHitffet)
can stand (see W. H., Ap. 125), it would mean "Christ shall
touch thee " with His rod.
7 Cf. Plutarch, De 7s. et Os., xxxiv. After saying that Osiris,
or the Logos, is symbolised as Ocean and Water, and that Thales
took his idea of Primal "Water, as the cause of things, from the
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 161
J. And that (H. he says) all things have been put
under Him, this too has been said : " Into all the earth
hath gone forth their sound." 1
(14) S. And "Hermes leads them, moving his rod,
and they follow, squeaking " 2 — the souls in a cluster, as
the poet hath shown in the following image :
" But as when bats into some awesome cave's recess
Fly squeaking — should one from out the cluster
fall
Down from the rock, they cling to one another." 3
J. The " rock " (H. he says) means Adamas. This
(H. he says) is the " corner-stone " —
C. — " that hath become the head of the corner." 4 For in the
Egyptians, the initiated priest of Apollo and learned comparative
mythologist continues : " The Greeks say that ' son ' (vi6v) comes
from 'water' (ifSaros) and 'to moisten' (5<rai), and they call
Dionysus ' Hyes ' (vyv) as Lord of the Moist (vypas) Nature, he
being the same as Osiris." Stoll in Roscher's Lex. (sub w.) says
that "Hyes" and "Hye" were respectively designations of
Dionysus and Semele, and that the meaning is the "Moistener"
and the "Moistened" (references loc. tit.). The nymphs who
reared Bacchus were also called Hyades (Pherecydes, 46; p. JOS,
ed. Sturz). Hyes was also a popular epithet of Zeus as god of
rain. See also Lobeck, Aglaophamus, 782 and 1045 ff. ; Anecd.,
Bekk., p. 202 : Some say that HyesAttis, others that Hyes
Dionysus ; " for Zeus poured (So-s) ambrosia upon him." One of
the names of Bacchus was Ambrosia (Pherecy., ibid. ; Non., xxi.
20). I would therefore suggest that the mystic cry " Hye Kye "
meant " 0 Moistener beget ! "
1 Ps. xix. 4. That is the Sound ( = Word) of the Heavens ;
quoted also in Rom. x. 18.
2 Cf, Od., xxiv. 5. And compare also Hamlet, I. i. :
" The sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets."
3 Od., ibid. ff.
4 Ps. cxviii. 22. Quoted in Matt. xxi. 42 ; Mark xii. 10 ;
Luke xx. 17 ; Acts iv. 11.
VOL. I. 11
162 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" Head " is the expressive Brain l of the Essence, from which
[Brain] " every fatherhood " 2 has its expression —
J. — which " I insert in the foundation of Zion." 3
[By this] (H. he says) he4 means, allegorically,
the plasm of man. For the Adamas who is " inserted "
is [the inner man, and the " foundations of Zion " are 5]
the " teeth " — the " fence of the teeth," as Homer says
— the Wall and Palisade 6 in which is the inner man,
fallen into it from the Primal Man, the Adamas Above
— [the Stone] "cut without hands"7 cutting it, and
brought down into the plasm of forgetfulness, the
earthy, clayey [plasm].
(15) S. And (H. he says that) they followed Him
squeaking8 — the souls, the Logos.
"Thus they went squeaking together; and he led
them on,
Hermes, the guileless, down the dark ways."9
That is, (H. he says) [He led them] into the eternal
lands free from all guile. For where (H. he says)
went they ?
(16) "They passed by the streams of Ocean, and by
the White Rock,
By the Gates of the Sun, and the People of Dreams." 10
For He (H. he says) is Ocean — "birth-causing of
1 Taken by C. from S. and J., § 20 ; but I think that C. has
missed the true meaning of the "corner-stone" in the brain.
2 Of. Eph. iii. 15.
3 Is. xxviii. 16 — reading tvrdffffw for e>£c£AX« of LXX. ; quoted
also in Eph. ii. 20 and 1 Pet. ii. 7.
4 Sc. Isaiah.
6 Completion of the lacuna by R.
6 x«P<fowM« — a technical term also-fpr the " Gnostic " supernal
Horos or Boundary.
7 Dan. ii. 15.
* Compare the "complaints of the souls" in the K.K. fragments.
9jOd, xxiv. 9 f.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 163
gods and birth-causing of men " 1 — flowing and ebbing
for ever, now up and now down.
J. When Ocean flows down (H. he says), it is the
birth-causing of men ; and when [it flows] up, towards
the Wall and Palisade, and the " White Eock," it is
the birth-causing of gods.
This (H. he says) is what is written :
"'I have said ye are Gods and all Sons of the
Highest ' 2 — if ye hasten to flee from Egypt and get you
beyond the Eed Sea into the Desert " ; that is, from
the intercourse below to the Jerusalem Above, who is
the Mother of the Living.3 " But if ye turn back again
into Egypt" — that is, to the intercourse below — "'ye
shall die like men.' " 4
For (H. he says) all the generation below is subject
to death, but the [birth] begotten above is superior
to death.
C. For from water alone — that is, spirit — is begotten the
spiritual [man], not the fleshly ; the lower [man] is fleshly.
That is (H. he says) what is written : " That which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
spirit." 6
H. This is their 6 spiritual birth.
J. This (H. he says) is the Great Jordan, which,
flowing downwards and preventing the sons of Israel
1 Gf. II., xiv. 201, 246 ; Hymn. Orph., Ixxxiii. 2.
2 Ps. Ixxxii. 6.
3 Cf. Gal. iv. 27 : " But Jerusalem Above is free, which is
our Mother." (W. and H. text.)
4 The final quotation within the quotation is also from Ps
Ixxxii. 6. Here, then, we have a quotation from a scripture (" what
is written "), glossed by J. with his special exegesis, but already
being an exegesis of an Old Testament logos. It is not only a
halacha, to use a term of Talmudic Kabbinism, but it is an
authoritative apocalypse of the Jewish Gnosis.
6 John iii. 6.
6 Sc. the Naassenes, according to H.
164 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
from going forth out of Egypt, or from the intercourse
below —
H. — for Egypt is the body, according to them —
J. — was turned back by Jesus l and made to flow
upwards.
H. Following after these and such like [follies], these most
wonderful "Gnostics," discoverers of a new grammatical art,
imagine that their prophet Homer showed forth these things
arcanely ; and, introducing those who are not initiated into the
Sacred Scriptures into such notions, they make a mock of them.
And they say that he who says that all things are from One,
is in error, [but] he who says they are from Three is right, and
will furnish proof of the first principles [of things].2
J. For one (H. he says) is the Blessed Nature of
the Blessed Man Above, Adamas; and one is the
[Nature] Below, which is subject to Death ; and one is
the Eace without a king3 which is born Above —
where (H. he says) is Mariam the sought-for, and
Jothor the great sage, and Sepphora the seeing, and
Moses whose begetting is not in Egypt — for sons
were born to him in Madiam.4
S. And this (H. he says) also did not escape the
notice of the poets :
1 I am persuaded that this stood originally in J., and not in C.
— being LXX. for Joshua.
2 This paragraph summarises S. See next S.
3 apffi\evTos — that is, presumably, those who have learned to
rule themselves, the " self-taught " race, etc., of Philo.
4 Eusebius (Prcep. Evaiig., IX. xxviii. and xxix. 5 ff. ; ed. Dind.
i. 505 ff. and 508 ff.), quoting from Alexander Cornelius (Poly-
histor), who nourished about 100 B.C., has preserved to us a
number of verses from a tragedy (called The Leading Forth)
on the subject of Moses and the Exodus story, by a certain
Ezechiel, a (? Alexandrian) Hebrew poet writing in Greek. In
these fragments of Ezechiel's tragedy, Mariam, Sepphora, and
Jothor are all dramatis personce. These spellings and that of
Madiam are, of course, all LXX. (that is, Greek Targum) forms
of our A.V. Miriam, Jethro, Zipporah, and Midian.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 165
" All things were threefold divided, and each received
his share of honour." l
C. For the Greatnesses (H. he says) needs must be spoken, but
so spoken by all everywhere " that hearing they may not hear,
and seeing they may not see." 2
J. For unless (H. he says) the Greatnesses3 were
spoken, the cosmos would not be able to hold together.
These are the Three More-than-mighty Words (Logoi) :
Kaulakau, Saulasau, Zeesar; — Kaulakau, the [Logos]
Above, Adamas ; Saulasau, the [Logos] Below ; Zeesar,
the Jordan flowing upwards.4
(17 5) S. He (H. he says) is the male-female Man
1 II, xv. 189.
2 Cf. Luke viii. 10. Luke seems to preserve the reading of
the source more correctly than Matt. xiii. 13 or Mark iv. 12.
The Saying looks back to Is. vi. 9.
3 Cf. § 30 J.
4 These three names are based on the Hebrew text of Is. xxviii.
13, A.V. : " But the Word of the Lord was unto them precept
upon precept, precept upon precept ; line upon line, line upon
line ; here a little, there a little." LXX. : " «al lo-rai avrols -rb
\6yiov rov Otov, 8\{$is firl Q\tyiv, ^Airls eV ^A.irt5i, €Tt /j.iKpov tri
n'ucpoi/" That is : " And the logion [oracle, the Urim-and-
Thummim, or instrument of the Logos, according to Philo] of God
shall be to them tribulation on tribulation, hope on hope, still
little still little." See Epiphanius, Hcer., xxv. 4. "Saulasau
saulasau " = " tribulation on tribulation, tribulation on tribula-
tion ; " " kaulakau kaulakau " = " hope on hope, hope on hope ; "
" zeesar [zeesar] " = " still little still little "—that is, the " Height of
Hope," the "Depth of Tribulation," and the " As yet Very Little "—
evidently referring to the as yet small number of the Regenerate.
Cf. Pistis Sophia, 354 : " One out of a thousand, and two out of
ten thousand." See Salmon's article, " Caulacau," in Smith and
Wace's D. of Ch. Biog.t i. 424 f. It is also to be noticed that
Epiphanius ascribes the origin of these names to the Nicolaitans.
In Hebrew the corresponding name would be Balaamites ; and
Balaam or Bileam (Nico-laus) was one of the Rabbinical by-names
for Jeschu (Jesus). See D. J. L., p. 188.
5 This and the following paragraph seem to have been mis-
166 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
in all, whom the ignorant call three-bodied Geryones —
Earth-flow-er, as though flowing from the earth ; l while
the Greek [theologi] generally call Him the " Heavenly
Horn of Men," 2 because He has mixed and mingled 3
all things with all.
C. For " all things (H. he says) were made through Him, and
without Him no one thing was made that was made. In Him
is Life." «
This (H. he says) is " Life," the ineffable Kace of perfect men,
which was unknown to former generations.
And the " nothing " 6 which hath been made " without Him,"
is the special cosmos ; 6 for the latter hath been made without
Him by the third and fourth [? Ruler].7
placed by J. or C., for § 19 connects directly with the exposition
concerning the ithyphallic Hermes. See B. 100, n. 4.
1 &s ftt yys pfovra Tri-pvSv-rjv.
2 Men was the Phrygian Deus Lunus. See Drexler's admirable
art. s.v. in Roscher, ii. 2687-2770.
3 KfKtpaxt — a word-play on ntpas (horn), unreproducible in
English.
4 John i. 3, 4. So the present text ; but it must have been
" nothing" in the text which lay before C.
5 6y. the logos, from The Book of the Great Logos according to the
Mystery : " Jesus, the Living One, answered and said : Blessed
is the man who knoweth this [Word (Logos')], and hath brought
down the Heaven, and borne the Earth and raised it heavenwards,
and he becometh the Middle, for it (the Middle) is ' nothing.' " —
Schmidt (C.), Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache aus dem
Codex Brucianus (Leipzig, 1892), p. 144 ; and Koptisch-gnostische
Schriften (Leipzig, 1905), p. 259.
6 That is the world of phenomena, or cosmos of species (ISutos)
and not of genera or wholes.
7 The fourth Demiurgic Power of the Sensible World was
Esaldaios, as we have already seen from J., § 12. The indications
are too vague to recover the " measures " and " numbers " of the
system. But the " third and fourth " are apparently both " fiery " —
the former giving " light," the latter " heat." Compare § 23 C.,
who speaks of the third Gate, or entrance to the third Heaven.
This Heaven, the third from below, would correspond with the
first setheric sphere — there being, presumably,';-three before the
fourth or middle, the " Fiery Ruler."
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 167
J. This1 (H. he says) is the drinking- vessel— the
Cup in which " the King drinketh and divineth." 2
This (H. he says) was found hidden in the " fair
seed " of Benjamin.
(18) S. The Greeks also speak of it (H. he says)
with inspired tongue, as follows :
" Bring water, bring [me] wine, boy !
Give me to drink, and sink me in slumber ! 3
My Cup tells me of what race I must be born,
[Speaking with silence unspeaking]." *
C. This (H. he says) would be sufficient alone if men would
understand — the Cup of Anacreon speaking forth speechlessly the
Ineffable Mystery.
J. For (H. he says) Anacreon's Cup is speech-
less— in as much as it tells him (says Anacreon) with
speechless sound of what Kace he must be born —
C. — that is, spiritual, not carnal —
J. — if he hear the Hidden Mystery in Silence.
C. And this is the Water at those Fair Nuptials which Jesus
turned and made Wine.
"This (H. he says) is the great and true beginning of the
signs which Jesus wrought in Cana of Galilee, and made manifest
His Kingship [or Kingdom] of the Heavens." 5
This (H. he says) is the Kingship [or Kingdom] of the
Heavens within us,6 stored up as a Treasure,7 as " Leaven hid
in three measures of Flour." 8
1 Sc. " Heavenly Horn of Men."
2 Cf. Gen. xliv. 5.
3 Bergk includes these verses among the Anacreontica, n. 63,
p. 835. Cf. Anacr., i. 10 (Bergk, 50, 10).
4 The last line is reconstructed by Cruice (not. in loc.). Cf.
Anacr,, xxvi. 25, 26. Was Omar Khayyam, then, "Anacreon
palingenes," or was the same spirit in each ?
5 Cf. John ii. 11. The reading of our quotation, however, is
very different from that of the familiar Textus Eeceptus.
e Cf. Luke xvii. 21. 7 Cf. Matt. xiii. 44.
8 Cf. Matt. xiii. 33 = Luke xiii. 20.
168 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
(19 J) S. This is (H. he says) the Great Ineffable
Mystery of the Samothracians, —
C. — which it is lawful for the perfect alone to know — [that
is] (H. he says) for us.
J. For the Samothracians, in the Mysteries which
are solemnised among them, explicitly hand on the
tradition that this Adam is the Man Original.
S. Moreover,2 in the initiation temple of the Samo-
thracians stand two statues of naked men, with both
hands raised to heaven and ithyphallic, like the statue
of Hermes in Cyllene.3
J. The statues aforesaid are images of the Man
Original.4
C. And [also] of the regenerated 5 spiritual [man], in all things
of like substance with that Man.
This (H. he says) is what was spoken by the Saviour :
" If ye do not drink My Blood and eat My Flesh, ye shall not
enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens.6
" But even if ye drink (H. he says) the Cup which I drink,7
where I go, there ye cannot come." 8
1 This seems to connect immediately with the end of § 16. See
R. 100, n. 4.
2 S. probably had "For," which was glossed by J. into
" Moreover."
3 But this "statue," as we have seen, was the ithyphallus
simply.
4 Or Typal Man.
5 Or, generated or born from Above.
6 Cf. John vi. 53, which reads in T. R. : " Amen, Amen, I
say unto you, if ye eat not the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink
His Blood, ye have not Life in yourselves."
7 Cf. Matt. xx. 22 = Mark x. 38 (where the phrase is put in a
question).
8 Cf. John viii. 21 and xiii. 33. It is remarkable that in the
text of our Gospels these logoi are addressed to the Jews ; C.,
however, takes them as sayings addressed to the disciples. It
is possible that we may have here a " source " of the Fourth
Gospel !
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 169
For He knew (H. he says) of which nature each of His
disciples is, and that it needs must be that each of them should go
to his own nature.
For from the twelve tribes (H. he says) He chose twelve
disciples, and through them He spake to every tribe.1
On this account (H. he says) all have not heard the preach-
ings of the twelve disciples ; and even if they hear, they cannot
receive them. For the [preachings] which are not according to
their nature are contrary to it.
S. This [Man] (H. he says) the Thracians who
dwell round Haimos call Korybas,2 and the Phrygians
in like manner with the Thracians ; for taking the
source of His descent from the Head Above 3 —
J. — and from the expressive Brain 4 —
S. — and passing through all the sources of all things
beneath — how and in what manner He descends we do
not understand.
J. This is (H. he says) what was spoken :
" His Voice we heard, but His Form we have not
seen." 5
For (H. he says) the Voice of Him, when He hath
been delegated and expressed, is heard, but the Form
that descended from Above, from the Inexpressible
[Man] — what it is, no one knows. It is in the earthy
plasm, but no one has knowledge of it.
This [Man] (H. he says) is He who " inhabiteth the
1 These " tribes," then, were not the Jewish tribes, ten of which
did not return, but twelve typical natures of men, and something
else.
2 See Immisch's excellent art., " Kureten u. Korybanten," in
Roscher, ii. 1587-1628.
3 Kopv/Sas, the Lord of the Corybantes, or frenzied priests of
Cybele, is thus feigned by mystical word-play to be & ait'b-KopvQris-
j8aj, " he who descends from the head."
* Qf. C., § 14.
5 Apparently a quotation from some Jewish apocryphon. Cf.
John v. 37 : " Ye have never at any time heard His voice nor
have ye seen His form."
170 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Flood," l according to the Psalter, who cries and calls
from " many waters." 2
The " many waters " (H. he says) are the manifold
genesis of men subject to death, from which He shouts
and calls to the Inexpressible Man, saying :
" Save my [? Thy] alone-begotten from the lions." 3
To this [Man] (H. he says) it hath been spoken :
" Thou art my Son, 0 Israel,4 fear not ; should'st
thou pass through rivers, they shall not engulph thee ;
should'st thou pass through fire, it shall not consume
thee."5
By " rivers " (H. he says) he 6 means the Moist
Essence of Genesis, and by "fire" the impulse and
desire tpwards Genesis.
And : " Thou art mine ; fear not." 7
And again he 8 says :
" If a mother forget her children so as not to take
pity on them or give them suck, [then] I too will
forget you " 9 — saith Adamas (H. he says) to his own
men.
" Nay, even if a woman shall forget them, I will not
forget you. Upon my hands have I graven you." 10
And concerning His Ascent —
C. — that is his regeneration in order that he may be born
spiritual, not fleshly.
J. — the Scripture saith (H. he says) :
" Lift up the gates, ye who are rulers of you, and be
1 Gf. Ps. xxviii. 10. 3 Ibid., 3.
3 Conflation of LXX. of Ps. xxiv. 17 and Ps. xxi. 21.
4 A paraphrase of LXX. — Is. xli. 8.
6 A paraphrase of LXX. — Is. xliii. 1.
6 Isaiah ; or the Word speaking through the prophet.
7 Is. xliii. 1.
8 Sc. Isaiah.
9 Paraphrase of LXX.— Is. xlix. 15.
10 Is. xlix. 16.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 171
ye lift up ye everlasting gates, and the King of Glory
shall come in." 1
This is a wonder of wonders.
"For who (H. he says) is this King of Glory?2
A worm 3 and no man, the scorn of men, and the con-
tempt of the people.4 He is the King of Glory, the
Mighty in War." 5
By " War " he 6 means the " [war] in the body," for
the plasm is compounded of warring elements, as it is
written (H. he says) :
" Kemember the war that is [warred] in the body." 7
This (H. he says) is the Entrance, and this is the
Gate, which Jacob saw, when he journeyed into Meso-
potamia.8
C. Which is the passing from childhood to puberty and man-
hood ; that is, it was made known to him who journeyed into
Mesopotamia.
J. And Meso-potamia (H. he says) is the Stream
of Great Ocean flowing from the middle of the Perfect
Man.
And he 9 marvelled at the Heavenly Gate, saying :
" How terrible [is] this place ! This is naught else
than the House of God ; yea, this [is] the Gate of
Heaven."10
C. On this account (H. he says) Jesus saith :
" I am the True Door." "
J. And he12 who says these things is (H. he
I Ps. xxiii. 7 and 9. 2 Ps. xxiii. 10.
3 Sc. a " Serpent." 4 Ps. xxi. 6.
6 Ps. xxiii. 10 and 8.
6 Sc. the psalmist ; or, rather, the Logos through the psalmist.
7 Job xl. 27. 8 Gen. xxviii. 7.
9 Sc. Jacob. 10 Gen. xxviii. 17.
II Gf. John x. 9 — " true " not appearing in the traditional text.
12 Sc. " Jacob " — using the name in the Philonean sense.
172 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
says) the [one] from the Inexpressible Man, expressed
from Above —
C. — as the perfect man. The not-perfect man, therefore,
cannot be saved unless he be regenerated passing through this
Gate.
(21) S. This same [Man] (H. he says) the Phrygians
call also Papa;1 for He calmed2 all things which,
prior to His own manifestation, were in disorderly
and inharmonious movement.
For the name Papa (H. he says) is [the] Sound-
of -all-things-together in Heaven, and on Earth, and
beneath the Earth, saying : " Calm, calm " 3 the discord
of the cosmos.
C. And: Make "peace for them that are far" — that is, the
material and earthy — "and peace for them that are near"4 —
that is, the spiritual and knowing and perfect men.
(22) S. The Phrygians call Him also Dead — when
buried in the body as though in a tomb or sepulchre.
C. This (H. he says) is what is said :
"Ye are whited sepulchres, filled (H. he says) within with
bones of the dead,6 for Man, the Living [One] 6 is not in you."
And again He says :
" The dead shall leap forth from their graves " 7 —
— that is, from their earthy bodies, regenerated spiritual, not
fleshly.
This (H. he says) is the Resurrection which takes place
1 This is the Zeus Phrygius of Diodor. iii. 58, and Eustathius,
565, 3. Gf. E. 163, n. 3, and Zwei relig. Fragen, 104, n. 3.
2 tTraufff.
3 irave iravf, a mystical word-play on «•(£-*•«.
* Gf. Eph. ii. 17.
6 Cf. what underlies Matt, xxiii. 27, Luke xi. 44, and Acts
xxiii. 3.
6 Cf. "Jesus, the Living [One]" in the Introduction to the
newest found Sayings ; and also passim in the Introduction
(apparently an excerpt from another document) to the First
Book of leou, in the Codex Brucianus.
7 Cf. what underlies Matt, xxvii. 52, 53.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 173
through the Gate of the Heavens, through which all those who
do not pass (H. he says) remain Dead.
S. The same Phrygians again call this very same
[Man], after the transformation, God [or a God].1
C. For he becomes (H. he says) God when, rising from the
Dead, through such a Gate, he shall pass into Heaven.
This is the Gate (H. he says) which Paul, the Apostle, knew,
setting it ajar in a mystery, and saying that he was caught up by
an angel and came to the second, nay the third heaven, into
Paradise itself, and saw what he saw, and heard ineffable words,
which it is not lawful for man to utter.2
These (H. he says) are the Mysteries, ineffable [yet] spoken
of by all, —
" — which [also we speak, yet] not in words taught of human
wisdom, but in [words] taught of Spirit, comparing things
spiritual with spiritual things. But the psychic man receiveth
not the things of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness unto him." 3
And these (H. he says) are the Ineffable Mysteries of the
Spirit which we alone know.
Concerning these (H. he says) the Saviour said :
"No one is able to come to Me, unless my Heavenly Father
draw him." *
For it is exceedingly difficult (H. he says) to receive and
accept this Great Ineffable Mystery.
And again (H. he says) the Saviour said :
" Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord ! shall enter
into the Kingdom of the Heavens, but he who doeth the Will of
My Father who is in the Heavens " 5 —
— which [Will] they must do, and not hear only, to enter into
the Kingdom of the Heavens.
1 Some words have apparently been omitted, corresponding to
the final clause of the last sentence in S. See E., p. 101.
2 Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 2-4.
3 Of. 1 Cor. h. 13, 14.
4 Cf. John vi. 44. Instead of " Heavenly Father," T. R. reads
" the Father who sent me." Compare with this the longest of the
newest found logoi, concerning " them who draw us " towards
self-knowledge or the " kingship within." (Grenfell and Hunt,
op. cit., p. 15.) G Cf. Matt. vii. 21.
174 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
And again He said (H. he says) :
" The tax-gatherers and harlots go before you into the Kingdom
of the Heavens." 1
For by " tax-gatherers " (reXwyai) are meant (H. he says)
those who receive the consummations2 (T«A.TJ) of the universal
[principles] ; and we (H. he says) are the " tax-gatherers " 3
[" upon whom the consummations of the aeons have come " * ].
For the "jconsummations " (H. he says) are the Seeds dis-
seminated into the cosmos from the Inexpressible [Man], by
means of which the whole cosmos is consummated ; for by means
of these also it began to be.
And this (H. he says) is what is said :
" The Sower went forth to sow. And some [Seeds] fell by the
way-side, and were trodden under foot ; and others on stony
places, and they sprang up (H. he says), but because they had
no depth, they withered and died.
" Others (H. he says) fell on the fair and good ground, and brought
forth fruit — one a hundred, another sixty, and another thirty.
" He who hath (H. he says) ears to hear, let him hear ! " 6
That is (H. he says), no one has been a hearer of these
Mysteries, save only the gnostic, perfect [man].
This (H. he says) is the "fair and good ground" of which
Moses saith :
" I will bring you into a fair and good land, into a land flowing
with milk and honey." 6
This (H. he says) is the " honey and milk " by tasting
which the perfect [men] become free from all rule,7 and share in
the Fullness.
This (H. he says) is the Fullness whereby all things that are
generated both are and are full-filled from the Ingenerable [Man].
> Cf. Matt. xxi. 31. T. R. reads " The Kingdom of God."
2 Or perfectionings, or completions, or endings, or initiations ;
also taxes — here a mystical synonym for pleromata (fullnesses) or
logoi (words).
3 Or, collectors of dues.
4 1 Cor. x. 11.
6 Cf. the logos underlying Matt. xiii. 3 ff. Mark iv. 3 ff. Luke
viii. 5 ff.
6 Slightly paraphrased from LXX. — Deut. xxxi. 20.
7 In that they are rulers of themselves, members of the " self-
taught" Race — a,0afft\f6Tovs, that is, free from the Rulers of
Destiny, or Karmic bonds.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 175
(23) S. This same [Man] is called by the Phrygians
Unfruitful.
C. For He is unfruitful as long as He is fleshly and works
the work of the flesh.
This (H. he says) is what is said : " Every tree that beareth
not good fruit, is cut down and cast into the fire." *
For these "fruits" (H. he says^ are the logic* living men
only who pass through the third Gate.3
J. At anyrate they 4 say :
"If ye have eaten dead things and made living
ones, what will ye make if ye eat living things ? " 6
And by " living things " they mean logoi and minds
and men — the "pearls" of that Inexpressible [Man]
cast into the plasm below,6
C. This is what He saith (H. he says) :
"Cast not the holy thing to the dogs nor the pearls to the
swine." 7
H. For they say that the work of swine is the intercourse of man
with woman.
(24 8) S. This same [Man] (H. he says) the Phrygians
also call Ai-polos ; 9 not because (H. he says) He feeds
1 Cf. Matt. iii. 10= Luke iii. 9. Of. also Hipp., Philos., vi. 16,
in his maltreatment of the " Simonian " Qnosis.
2 That is, Sons of the Logos.
3 Cf. note on the third Ruler in § 17 C.
* Presumably the Phrygians.
6 If our attribution of this to J. is correct (R. gives it to C.), we
have perhaps before us a logos from the Phrygian Mysteries.
c This may possibly be assigned to C. ; but C. usually comments
on J. and does not lead, and the terminology is that of J. and not
of C.
7 A simple form of Matt. vii. 6. Is it by any means possible
an underlying mystical word-play on the Eleusinian logos " S«
Kvt" ; hence 5j (pig) — a synonym of xolpos — and KVW (dog)?
8 This section seems to be misplaced, and § 25 probably
followed § 23 immediately in the original ; the antithesis of Fruit-
ful and Unfruitful following one another, as above (§ 22), the
antithesis of Dead and God.
9 a*'-ir<5\oy, vulg. = " goat-herd."
176 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
she-goats and he-goats, as the (C. — psychics l ) interpret
the name, but because (H. he says) He is Aei-polos —
that is, "Always-turning" (Aei-polon),2 revolving and
driving round the whole cosmos in [its] revolution ;
for polein is to " turn " and change things.
Hence (H. he says) all call the two centres3 of
heaven poles. And the poet also (H. he says) when
he says : " Hither there comes and there goes (poleitai)
Old Man of the Sea, whose words are e'er true — Egypt's
undying Proteus." 4
1 S. had probably " ignorant."
2 afnr<f\os, rovrfffTi iel vo\S>». Cf. Plato, Cratylus, 408 c, D.
3 This is not very clear. But see Mozley's article, " Polus," in
Smith, Wayte, and Marindin's D. of Gk. and Rom. Antiquities
(London, 1891), ii. 442, 443: "Both in [Plato's] Timceus, 40 B.
and [Aristotle's] De Ccelo, ii. 14, ic6\os is used, not for the entire
heaven, but for the axis of heaven and earth, around which the
whole revolved. Again in the De Ccelo, ii. 2, the v6\oi are the
poles, north and south, in our sense of the word." Compare also
the rubric in one of the rituals in the Greek Magic Papyri— C.
Wessely, Griechische Zauberpapyrus, in Denkschr. d. Akad., ph. hist.
Kl., xxxvi. (Vienna, 1888) — where it is said that the Sun will
then move towards the Pole, and the theurgist will see Seven
Virgins (the Seven Fortunes of Heaven) approach, and Seven
Youths, with heads of bulls (the Pole-lords of Heaven), who make
the axis turn (661-670). Compare this with the " cylinder "
idea in the fragment of K. K. Then there will appear the Great
God " in a white robe and trowsers, with a crown of gold on his
head, holding in his right hand the golden shoulder of a heifer,
that is the Bear that sets in motion and keeps the heaven turning
in due seasons." This God will pronounce an oracle, and the
theurgist will then receive the gift of divination. The special
interest of this tradition is that it contains a Magian element (to
wit, the "trowsers"), and this connects closely with Phrygia
and the cult that was wedded most closely with the Mithriaca,
namely, that of the Mother of the Gods.
4 Od., iv. 384. In the Proteus myth Egypt is the Nile— that is,
the " Great Green," the Heaven Ocean. Proteus was also said to
have been the messenger or servant of Poseidon, the special God,
it will be remembered, of Plato's Atlantis.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 177
[By poleitai] he does not mean " he is put on sale," 1
but "he turns about" [or comes and goes] there, — as
though it were, [he spins] and goes round.
And the cities in which we live, in that we turn
about and circulate in them, are called poleis.
Thus (H. he says) the Phrygians call Aipolos this
[Man] who turns all things at all times all ways, and
changes them into things kin.
(25) The Phrygians, moreover (H. he says), call Him
Fruitful.
J. For (H. he says) :
"Many more are the children of the desolate
[woman] than of her who hath her husband."2
C. That is, the regenerated, deathless, and ever-continuing
[children] are many, although few are they [thus] generated ;
but the fleshly (H. he says) all perish, though many are they
[thus] generated.
i, a synonym of wwAtiTat, which, besides the meaning
of " coming and going," or " moving about," also signifies " is
sold " ; but I do not see the appositeness of the remark, unless the
" ignorant" so understood it.
2 Is. liv. 1 ; quoted also in Gal. iv. 27. Cf. Philo, De Execrat.,
§ 7 ; M. ii. 435, P. 936 (Ri. v. 254) : "For when she [the Soul]
is a multitude of passions and filled with vices, her children
swarming over her — pleasures, appetites, folly, intemperance,
unrighteousness, injustice — she is weak and sick, and lies at
death's door, dying ; but when she becomes sterile, and ceases to
bring them forth, or even casts them from her, forthwith, from
the change, she becometh a chaste virgin, and, receiving the
Divine Seed, she fashions and engenders marvellous excellencies
that Nature prizeth highly — prudence, courage, temperance,
justice, holiness, piety, and the rest of the virtues and good
dispositions."
There are, thus, seen to be identical ideas of a distinctly
marked character in both J. and Philo. Did J., then, belong to
Philo's " circle " ? Or, rather, did Philo represent a propagandist
side of J.'s circle ? In other words, can we possibly have before
us in J. a Therapeut allegorical exercise, based on S., by an
exceedingly liberal-minded Hellenistic Jewish mystic ¥
VOL. I. 12
178 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
C. For this cause (H. he says) :
" Rachel bewailed her children, and would not (H. he says) be
comforted weeping over them ; for she knew (H. he says) that
they are not." 1
J. And Jeremiah also laments the Jerusalem Below
— not the city in Phoenicia,2 but the generation below —
which is subject to destruction.
C. For Jeremiah also (H. he says) knew the perfect man, re-
generated from water and spirit, not fleshly.
J. At anyrate the same Jeremiah said :
" He is man, and who shall know him ? "3
C. Thus (H. he says) the knowledge of the perfect man is
deep and hard to comprehend.
J. For " The beginning of Perfection (H. he says)
is Gnosis of man, but Gnosis of God is perfect
Perfection." 4
(26) S. And the Phrygians (H. he says) call Him
also " Plucked Green Wheat-ear " ; and after the Phry-
gians the Athenians [so designate Him], when, in the
secret rites at Eleusis, they show those who receive in
silence the final initiation there into the Great —
C. — and marvellous and most perfect —
S. — Epoptic Mystery, a plucked wheat-ear.5
1 Cf. Matt. ii. 18, which depends on Jer. xxxi. 15 (LXX.
xxxviii. 15). In T. R., however, the reading is by no means the
same as in LXX. C. favours the Gospel text rather than that of
LXX.
2 This shows a very detached frame of mind on behalf of J.
Perhaps it may be an interpolation of C.
3 Jer. xvii. 9.
4 This has all the appearance of a quotation from some mystic
apocryphon of the Gnosis.
5 See Cumont (F.), My stores de Mithra (Brussels, 1898). In
the monuments representing the bull-slaying myth of the
Mithriaca, the bull's tail is frequently terminated in " une truffe
d'epis" — the number varies, being either one, three, five, or seven.
In the Bundahish all things are generated from the body,
THE MYTH OP MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 179
And this Wheat-ear is also with the Athenians the
Light -giver l —
0. — perfect [and] mighty —
J. — from the Inexpressible —
S. — as the hierophant himself — not emasculated like
the " Attis," 2 but made eunuch with hemlock juice —
C. — and divorced from all fleshly generation —
S. — in the night, at Eleusis, solemnising the Great
Ineffable Mysteries, when the bright light streams
forth,3 shouts and cries aloud, saying :
especially from the spinal marrow, of the slain bull. Sometimes
the wheat-ears are represented as flowing like blood from the
wound above the heart inflicted by the dagger of Mithras, the
Bull-slayer (op. dt., i. 186, 187). The constellation of the Wheat-
ear in the Virgin, which was supposed to give good harvests,
presumably refers to the same idea (cf. Eratosth., Gataster., 9).
See op. cit., i. 202, 205, n. 2. The wheat-ear, therefore, symbolised
in one aspect the " generative seed " — in animals and men-animals
the spermatozoa, in man a mystery. Mithraicism had the closest
connection with the Phrygian Mystery Cult ; indeed, the Magna
Mater Mysteries were used by it for the initiation of women,
who were excluded from the Mithriaca proper.
1 The Light-spark of Pistis Sophia nomenclature.
2 That is, the hierophant initiate of the Great Mother.
3 M Tro\\if irvpi, lit., "to the accompaniment of much fire."
This refers, I believe, to the brilliant ilhimination of the Temple,
or, as it was variously called, the Initiation Hall (rtKtffT-fipiov),
the Mystic Enclosure (/UUO-TIK&J o^/crfs) — though this was probably
the inner court surrounding the Temple proper — the Great Hall
(neyapov), or Palace (aydnropov). As Hatch says, in the tenth of
his famous Hibbert Lectures for 1888 : "And at night there were
the mystic plays : the scenic representations, the drama in
symbol and for sight. The torches were extinguished ; they
stood outside the Temple [in the Mystic Enclosure, presumably] in
the silence and darkness. The door opened — there was a blaze
of light — before them was enacted the drama." — Hatch (E.), The
Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church
(4th ed., London, 1892). See also my "Notes on the Eleusinian
Mysteries," in The Theosoph. Rev. (April 1898), xxii. p. 151.
180 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" [Our] Lady hath brought forth a Holy Som Brimo
[hath given birth] to Brimos " —
— that is, the Strong to the Strong.
(27) J. And " [Our] Lady " (H. he says) is the
Genesis —
C. — the Spiritual, Heavenly [Genesis] —
J. — Above. And the Strong is he who is thus
generated.
For it is the Mystery called " Eleusis " and " Anak-
toreion " ; — " Eleusis," because we —
C. — the spiritual —
J. — come2 from Above, streaming down from
Adamas, for eleus-esthai (H. he says) is " to come " ; and
" Anaktoreion " [from anag-esthai, " leading back," that
is 3 ] from " returning " 4 Above.5
This [Eeturn] (H. he says) is that of which
those who are initiated into the great Mysteries of the
Eleusinia speak.
(28) S. And the law is that after they have been
initiated into the Little Mysteries, they should be
further initiated into the Great.
" For greater deaths do greater lots obtain." 6
The Little (H. he says) are the Mysteries of
1 See especially Lobeck, Aglaophamm, 587 ff.
2 tf\6o/jitv} this verb forming its tenses from \/ep and \/f\v0,
and e\tvffts meaning also "coming."
3 Emend, by Keil.
4 avtb.Qt'tv.
6 It need hardly be said that this is all mystical word-play ;
a.i>a.KT6pfiov is philologically derived from the same stem as &va£,
"a king." Cf. the Anaktoron or Palace as the name of the
Eleusinian Temple of Initiation.
c Heracleitus, Fr. (25, Diels ; 101, Fairbanks, First Philosophers
of Greece). " Deaths " may also be rendered destinies, fates, or
dooms.
THE MYTH OP MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 181
Persephone Below ; concerning which Mysteries and
the way leading there and —
C. — being broad and wide, —
— taking [men] to Persephone, the poet also speaks :
" Beneath this there is another path death-cold,
Hollow and clayey. But this l is best to lead
To grove delightsome of far-honoured Aphrodite." 2
These 3 are (H. he says) the Little Mysteries —
C. — those of the fleshly generation —
S. — and after men have been initiated into them,
they should cease for a little, and become initiated in
the Great —
C. — heavenly [Mysteries].
S. For they to whom the "deaths" in them4 are
appointed, " receive greater lots."
J. For this [Mystery] (H. he says) is the Gate of
Heaven, and this is the House of God, where the Good
God dwells alone; into which [House] (H. he says)
no impure [man] shall come —
C. — no psychic, no fleshly [man] —
J. — but it is kept under watch for the spiritual
alone; — where when they come, they must cast away
their garments, and all become bridegrooms, obtaining
their true manhood 5 through the Virginal Spirit.
1 Sc. the first path.
2 These verses are from some unknown poet, who is con-
jectured variously to have been either Parmenides or Pamphus of
Athens. See notes in loc. in both Schneidewin and Cruice.
3 Sc. those of Persephone.
4 Sc. the Greater Mysteries ; in which, presumably, the candidate
went through some symbolic rite of death and resurrection.
6 Or true virility, ainjpo-epw/xe'i/ot/j, which equates with air-
a.v5povnfvovs, I believe, and does not mean demasculati, or exuta
virilitate, as translated respectively by Schneidewin and Cruice.
182 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
For this (H. he says) is the Virgin big with child,
conceiving and bearing a Son l —
C. — not psychic, not fleshly, but a blessed ^Eon of JSons. 2
Concerning these [Mysteries] (H. he says) the Saviour hath
explicitly said that :
"Narrow and strait is the Way that leadeth to Life, and
few are they who enter it ; but broad and wide [is] the Way
that leadeth to Destruction, and many are they who journey
thereby." 3
S.4 Moreover, also, the Phrygians say that the Father
of wholes 5 is Amygdalos 6 —
J. — no [ordinary] tree 7 (H. he says) ; but that He
is that Amygdalos the Pre-existing, who having in
Himself the Perfect Fruit, as it were, throbbing8 and
moving in [His] Depth, He tore asunder 9 His Womb,
and gave birth to His own Son 10 —
For the " death " mentioned above and the " casting away of the
garments," see the Mystery Ritual in The Acts of John (F. F. F., 431-
434) ; and for the latter and the " Virginal Spirit," the passages
on the Sacred Marriage which I have collected in the chapter on
the main doctrines of Philo.
1 A loose reference to LXX. — Is. vii. 14.
2 Or Eternity of Eternities.
3 Cf. Matt. vii. 13, 14 ; our text, however, is an inversion of
the clauses, with several various readings, of T. R.
4 This seems to connect with the Fruitful of § 25. See below,
in the Hymn " Whether blest Child," the "cut wheat-ear" that
Amygdalos brought forth.
6 This refers to the First Man.
6 Vulg., Almond-tree.
7 In the Mithriaca, Mithras, in the most ancient myth, was
represented as in (? born from) a Tree. See Cumont.
8 Reading olovtl 5ia<t>v£ovTa with S., C., and R. ; but the Codex
has oiov ISicf, ffv£ov^a.. If we read $6v for the corrupt oiov, we get
" the Egg throbbing apart " or in separation — and so link on with
the Orphic (Chaldaean) tradition.
9 5»^vfe, the synonym of a term which occurs frequently in
the Pistis Sophia, " I tore myself asunder."
10 That is, to Man Son of Man.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 183
C. — the Invisible, Unnameable, and Ineffable [One] of whom
we tell.1
S. For " amyxai " 2 is, as it were, " to break " and
" cut open " ; just as (H. he says) in the case of in-
flamed bodies and those which have some internal
tumour, when physicians lance them, they speak of
" amychas" 3
Thus (H. he says) the Phrygians call him Amygdalos.
C. From whom proceeded and was born the Invisible —
"Through whom all things were made, and without whom
nothing was made." 4
(30) S. The Phrygians also say that that which is
generated from Him is Syriktes.5
J. For that which is generated is Spirit in harmony.6
C. For " God (H. he says) is Spirit." 7
Wherefore He says :
"Neither in this mountain do the true worshippers worship,
nor in Jerusalem, but in Spirit." 8
1 The somewhat boastful tone, shown in several passages already,
probably betrays C. ; it may, however, be assigned to J.
2 aptl-ai, a play on Amygdalos.
3 That is, "scarifications."
4 Cf. John i. 3., reading, however, •uSey and not the <w5£ eV of
W. H.
5 The Piper ; properly, the player on the syrinx or seven-reeded
Pan-pipe. Compare the Mystery Ritual in The Acts of John : " I
would pipe ; dance all of you ! " ( F. F. F., p. 432) ; and, " We
have piped unto you and ye have not danced " (Matt. xi. 17 =
Luke vii. 27).
6 Or harmonised ; that is, cosmic or ordered. Cf. C. H., i. 15 :
" For being above the Harmony, He became a slave enharmo-
nised" ; also Orph. Hymn., viii. 11 ; and also Acts of John, where
the Logos is spoken of as " Wisdom in harmony " (F. F. F., 436).
? Cf. John iv. 24.
8 A conflation of John iv. 21 and 23. The " mountain," when
used mystically, signifies the inner " Mount of initiation." Jeru-
salem in the text signifies the Jerusalem Below. The true wor-
shippers worship in the Jerusalem Above.
184 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
For the worship of the perfect [men] (H. he says) is spiritual,
not fleshly.
J. And " Spirit " (H. he says) is there where both
Father and Son are named, generated there from Him l
and the Father.
S. He2 (H. he says) is the Many-named, Myriad-
eyed, Incomprehensible, whom every nature desires,
some one way, some another.
J. This (H. he says) is the Word 8 of God, which is :
" The Word of Announcement of the Great Power.
Wherefore It shall be sealed, and hidden, and concealed,
stored in the Habitation, where the Hoot of the Uni-
versals has its foundation —
" Of Mons, Powers, Intelligences, Gods, Angels,
Spirits Delegate, Existing Non-existences, Generated
Ingenerables, Comprehensible Incomprehensibles, —
Years, Months, Days, Hours, — of [the] Boundless
Point, from which the most minute begins to increase
by parts.4
" For (H. he says) the Point which is nothing and
is composed of nothing, though partless, will become by
1 Sc. the Son.
2 Sc. the Piper.
3 pfjua, — used also by Philo and LXX.
4 With slight verbal omissions the opening lines down to
" foundation " are identical with the beginning of The Great Apoca-
lypse or Announcement of the " Simonian " tradition, an exceedingly
interesting document from which some quotations have been
preserved to us by Hippolytus elsewhere (Philos., vi. 9). The
" Simonian " tradition was regarded by all the Church Fathers as
the source of all " heresy " ; but modern criticism regards The
Great Announcement as a late document of the Christian Gnosis.
The quotation of this document by J., however, makes this opinion,
in my view, entirely untenable. If my analysis stands firm, The
Great Announcement is thus proved to be pre-Christian, according
to the traditional date. I am also inclined to think that in this
quotation itself we have already the work of a commentator and
not the original form of the Apocalypse.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 185
means of its own Thought a Greatness l beyond our own
comprehension. "
C. This [Point] (H. he says) is the Kingdom of the Heavens,
the " grain of mustard seed," 2 the partless point, the first existing
for the body ; which no one (H. he says) knows save the spiritual
[men] alone.
J. This (H. he says) is what is said :
"They are neither words nor languages whereby
their 3 sounds are heard." 4
H. These things, [then,] which are said and done by all men,
they thus interpret off-hand to their peculiar theory (vow), pre-
tending that they are all done with a spiritual meaning.
For which cause also they5 say that the performers in the
theatres — they, too, neither say nor do anything without Design.6
S. For example (H. he says), when the people
assemble in the theatres, and a man comes on the stage,
clad in a robe different from all others, with lute 7 in
hand on which he plays, and thus chants the Great
Mysteries, not knowing what he says : 8
" Whether blest Child of Kronos, or of Zeus, or of
Great Ehea, — Hail, Attis, thou mournful song 9 of Khea !
1 Cf. § 16 J.
2 Cf. Matt. xiii. 31 Mark iv. 30 Luke xiii. 18.
3 Sc. the Heavens of the Psalm, that is, the JSons and the
rest above.
4 Ps. xviii. 3.
6 The Naassenes, in H.'s view.
6 o.trpovo'ijTtas.
7 KiOdpav — the ancient cithara was triangular in shape and
had seven strings.
8 The text of the following Ode has been reconstructed by
Wilamowitz in Hermes, xxxvii. 328 ; our translation is from his
reconstruction.
9 &Kovffna. — a hearing, an instruction, lesson, discourse, sermon,
applied to the public lectures of Pythagoras (Jamb., V. P., 174).
It means also a song or even a "singer," a "bard." "Their
singers (atcoixrij.*™,) are thus called ' bards ' " (Posid. ap. Athen., vi.
49). The Hearers (ol a.no\iff^a.riKoi) were the Probationers in the
186 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Assyrians call thee thrice-longed-for Adonis ; all Egypt
[calls thee] Osiris ; the Wisdom of Hellas [names thee]
Men's Heavenly Horn ; the Samothracians [call thee]
august Adama ; the Hsemonians, Korybas ; the
Phrygians [name thee] Papa sometimes, at times again
Dead, or God,1 or Unfruitful, or Aipolos, or Green
Eeaped2 Wheat-ear, or the Fruitful that Amygdalos
brought forth, Man, Piper . . . Attis ! "
H. He [S.] says that this is the Attis of many forms of whom
they [NN., in H.'s opinion] sing as follows :
S. " Of Attis will I sing, of Khea's [Beloved] ;— not
with the boomings 3 of bells, nor with the deep-toned 4
pipe of Idsean Kuretes ; but I will blend my song with
Phoebus' music of the lyre. Evoi ! Evan ! — for [thou
.art] Pan, [thou] Bacchus [art], and Shepherd of bright
stars ! "
HIPPOLYTUS' CONCLUSION
H. For these and suchlike reasons these [Naassenes] frequent
what are called the Mysteries of the Great Mother, believing that
they obtain the clearest view of the Universal Mystery from the
things done in them.
For they have nothing beyond the [mysteries] therein enacted
except that they are not emasculated. Their sole "accomplish-
ment," [however,] is the business of the Eunuch, for they most
severely and vigilantly enjoin to abstain, as though emasculated,
from intercourse with women. And the rest of their business, as
we have stated at length, they carry out just like the Eunuchs.
School of Pythagoras (see s.w. in Sophocles' Lex.). Schneidewin
and Cruice adopt Hermann's " emendation," &Kpi<r^a. (mutilation),
but I prefer the reading of the Codex, as referring to the " mournful
piper," or Logos, in the flowing " discord " of Rhea or Chaos, and
therefore the " song " that Rhea is beginning to sing as she changes
from Chaos to Cosmos.
1 Perhaps Quick, for Qtls is from Of-ttv, "to run," to imitate the
word-play of our mystics.
2 Or cut. 3 pArfou. * Lit., " bellower."
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 187
And they honour nothing else but "Naas,"1 being called
Naasseni. And Naas is the Serpent —
J.2 — from whom (H. he says) are all those [things]
called naous 3 under heaven, from naas.
To that Naas alone every shrine and every rite of
initiation and every mystery (H. he says) is dedicated ;
and, in general, no initiation can be found under heaven
in which a naos does not play a part, and [also] the
Naas in it, from which it has got the name of naos.
(H. Moreover, they say that) the Serpent is the
Moist Essence —
H. — just as [did] also Thales the Milesian 4 —
J. — and (H. that) naught at all of existing things,
immortal or mortal, animate or inanimate, can hold
together without Him.
[And they say] (H. that) all things are subject to
Him, and (H. that) He is Good, and has all things in
Him as in " the horn of the one-horned bull " ; 5 so that
He distributes beauty and bloom to all that exist
according to each one's nature and peculiarity, as
though permeating all, just as [the River] " proceeding
forth out of Eden and dividing itself into four sources." 6
H. And they say that Eden is His Brain, as though it were
bound and constricted in its surrounding vestures like heavens ;
while Paradise they consider to be the Man as far as His Head only.
This Eiver, then, coming forth out of Eden (H, that
is, from His Brain), is divided into four streams.
1 The Hebrew Nahash, as we have already seen.
2 There being more of J. than of H. in this, I have printed it
as J. though it is a defaced J. I am also persuaded that in what
follows we have a quotation from a " Simonian " document by J.
rather than J. himself.
3 That is, temples.
4 Who derived all things symbolically from " Water."
5 Cf. Deut. xxxiii. 17. 6 Of. Gen. ii. 10 (LXX.).
188 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
And the name of the first river is called Pheison.
L-i
" This is that which encircles all the land of Evilat,
there where is the gold, and the gold of that land is
fair ; there too is the ruby and the green stone." l
This (H. he says) is His Eye — by its dignity and
colours bearing witness to what is said.
The name of the second river is Gedn. " This is that
which encircles all the land of ^Ethiopia." 2
This (H. he says) is [His organ of] Hearing ; for it
is labyrinth-like.
And the name of the third is Tigris. " This is that
which flows the opposite way to the Assyrians." 3
This (H. he says) is [His organ of] Smell, for the
current of it is very rapid ; and it " flows the opposite
way to the Assyrians," because after the breath is
breathed out, on breathing in again, the breath that
is drawn in from without, from the air, comes in more
rapidly, and with greater force. For this (H. he says)
is the nature of respiration.
" And the fourth river [is] Euphrates." 4
This (H. they say) [is] the mouth, through which by
the utterance of prayer and entrance of food, the (? C. —
spiritual, perfect) man is rejoiced, and nourished and
expressed.5
This [River] (H. he says) is the Water above the
Firmament.6
C. Concerning which (H. he says) the Saviour hath said :
" If thou hadst known Who it is Who asketh, thou wouldst have
asked from Him [in return], and He would have given thee to
drink of Living Water bubbling [forth]." 7
1 Cf. Gen. ii. 11, 12. 2 Ibid., 13.
3 Ibid., 14. 4 Ibid.
6 The substance of this is also to be found in the " Simonian "
tradition " refuted " by Hippolytus.
6 Cf. Gen. i. 7. 7 Cf. John iv. 10.
THE MYTH OP MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 189
J. To this Water (H. he says) every nature comes,
each selecting its own essence, and from this Water
there comes to each nature what is proper [to it] (H.
he says), more surely than iron to magnet,1 and gold to
the bone 2 of the sea-hawk, and chaff to amber.
C. And if any man (H. he says) is " blind from birth," 3 and
hath not seen " the True Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world," 4 — let hin» see again through us, and let
him see as it were through —
J.5 —Paradise, planted with Trees and all kinds of
seeds, the Water flowing amid all the Trees and Seeds,
and [then] shall he see that from one and the same
Water the Olive selects and draws Oil, and the Vine
Wine, and each of the rest of the Trees according to
its kind.
1 Lit., the Heracleian stone.
2 KtpictSi. Of. Hipp., Phil, v. 17, on system of Sethiani (S. 198,
36). Both S. and C. translate it correctly as "spina" meaning
" backbone " ; it has, however, been erroneously translated as
" spur." Plutarch, De Is. d Os., Ixii. 3, tells us that the load-stone
was called by the Egyptians " bone of Horus " ; and Horus is the
"hawk" par excellence, the "golden hawk." Cf. Budge, Gods of
the Egyptians, ii. 246, who says that we are informed by Manetho
(thus making Manetho the main source of Plutarch) that the
" load-stone is by the Egyptians called the ' bone of Horus,' as
iron is the 'bone of Typho.'" In the chapter of the Ritual
dealing with the deification of the members, the backbone of the
deceased is identified with the backbone of Set (xlii. 12). Else-
where (cviii. 8) the deceased is said " to depart having the harpoon
of iron in him." This seems to suggest the black backbone of
death and the golden backbone of life.
3 Of. John ix. 1 ; rv<f>\bs IK ytvfrris, perhaps mystically meaning
"blind from (owing to) genesis." Cf. the "blind accuser" in the
Trismegistic treatise quoted by Zosimus in our Fragments.
4 John i. 9.
5 This is evidently to be attributed to J., or rather his
" Simonian " source, as it follows directly on the sentence about
" every nature selecting." Either C. has suppressed the opening
words of J.'s paragraph and substituted his own gloss, or H. has
mangled his text.
190 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
But (H. he says) that Man is of no honour in the
World, though of great honour [in Heaven, betrayed x]
by those who know not to those who know Him not,
being accounted " as a drop from a cask." 2
But we (H. he says) —
C. — are the spiritual [men] who —
J. — choose for ourselves from —
C. — the Living Water —
J. — the Euphrates, that flows through the midst of
Babylon, what is proper [to each of us] — journeying
through the True Gate —
C. — which is Jesus the Blessed.
And of all men we alone are Christians,3 accomplishing the
Mystery at the third Gate —
J. — and being anointed with the Ineffable Chrism
from the Horn,4 like David [was], not from the flask 5
of clay, like Saul —
C. — who was fellow- citizen with an evil daemon of fleshly
desire.
H. These things, then, we have set down as a few out of many.
For innumerable are the attempts of their folly, silly and crazy.
But since we have, to the best of our ability, exposed their
unknowable Gnosis, it seems best to set down the following also.
This is a Psalm which they have improvised ; by means of
which they fancy they thus sing the praises of all the mysteries
of their Error.6
1 A lacuna in the Codex which is thus completed by S. and C.
2 Cf. Is. xl. 15.
3 That is, Messiah-ites, or Anointed-ones.
4 C£ 1 Sam. xvi. 13.
6 1 Sam. x. 1.
6 The text of this Hymn is in places very corrupt ; I have
followed Cruice's emendations mostly. Schneidewin, for some
reason or other which he does not state, omits it bodily from his
Latin translation.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 191
J.1 "First [was there] Mind the Generative2 Law
of All;3
Second to the Firstborn was Liquid Chaos ;
Third Soul through toil received the Law.
Wherefore, with a deer's * form surrounding her,
She labours at her task beneath Death's rule.
Now, holding sway,5 she sees the Light ;
And now, cast into piteous plight, she weeps ;
Now she weeps, and now rejoices ;
Now she weeps, and now is judged ;
Now is judged, and now she dieth ;
Now is born, with no way out for her ; in misery
She enters in her wandering the labyrinth of ills.
(? C. — And Jesus 6 said) : 0 Father, see !
[Behold] the struggle still of ills on earth !
1 This attribution may be thought by some to be questionable ;
but as it is far more similar to the thought-sphere of J. than to
that of C., I have so assigned it. It belonged to the same circles
to which we must assign the sources of J.
2 ffviKbs — perhaps "general" simply.
3 Or, of the Whole.
4 The Codex has e\a<f>ov, which, with Miller, we correct into
t\d<f>ov. Is this a parallel with the " lost sheep " idea ? Can it
possibly connect with the conception underlying the phrases on
the golden tablets found in tombs of " Orphic " initiates, on the
territory of ancient Sybaris : " A kid thou hast fallen into the
milk" ("Timpone grande" Tablet a, Naples Museum, Kaibel,
C.I.Q.I.S., 642); and, "A kid I have fallen into milk" ("Cam-
pagno" Tablet a, ibid., 641, and Append., p. 668)? But this
connection is very hazy ; it more probably suggests the nebris or
"fawn-skin" of the Bacchic initiates (see my Orpheus, "The
Fawn-skin," pp. 243 ff., for an explanation). Cruice proposes to
substitute vSapbv (" watery ") ; but there seems no reason why we
should entirely reject the reading of the Codex, especially as C.'s
suggestion breaks the rule of the " more difficult " reading being
the preferable.
5 Pa<ri\tiav — kingdom or kingship.
6 The Codex reads €?*•«/ Sjrjo-oSs eVbp. Can this possibly be a
glossed and broken-down remains of 'low Ztrjtrap (lao Zeesar) ?
192 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Far from Thy Breath l away she 2 wanders !
She seeks to flee the bitter Chaos,3
And knows not how she shall pass through.
Wherefore, send me, O Father !
Seals in my hands, I will descend ;
Through ^Eons universal will I make a Path ;
Through Mysteries all I'll open up a Way !
And Forms of Gods will I display ; 4
The secrets of the Holy Path I will hand on,
And call them Gnosis." 6
CONCLUSION OF ANALYSIS
All this may have seemed, quite naturally, con-
temptible foolishness to the theological prejudices of
our worthy Church Father ; but it is difficult for me,
even in the twentieth century, not to recognise the
beauty of this fine Mystic Hymn, and I hope it may be
equally difficult for at least some of my readers.
But to return to the consideration of our much over-
written Source.
This Source is plainly a commentary, or elaborate
paraphrase, of the Eecitation Ode, " Whether, blest Child
of Kronos," which comes at the end (§ 30) and not, as
we should expect, at the beginning, and has probably
been displaced by Hippolytus. It is an exegetical
1 Cruice thinks this refers to the breath of God's anger ; but
surely it refers to the Holy Spirit of God ?
2 Sc. the soul, the " wandering sheep."
3 Gf. " the bitter Water," or " Darkness," or " Chaos," of the
Sethian system in Hipp., Philos., v. 19 ; and see the note to the
comments following Hermes-Prayer v., p. 92.
4 The Logos in His descent through the spheres takes on the
Forms of all the Powers.
6 Is it, however, possible that the original Hymn had Naas
Nefar and not Gnosis Tvuffiv ?
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 193
commentary written from the standpoint of the
An thropos- theory of the Mysteries (? originally Chal-
daean), the Man-doctrine.
This commentary seems for the most part to run on
so connectedly, that we can almost persuade ourselves
that we have most of it before us, the lacunae being
practically insignificant. Paragraphs 6 and 7 S., how-
ever, are plainly misplaced, and §§ 17 and 18 S. also
as evidently break the connection.1
THE HELLENIST COMMENTATOR
The writer is transparently a man learned in the
various Mystery-rites, and his information is of the
greatest possible importance for a study of this ex-
ceedingly obscure subject from an historical standpoint.
With § 8 S., and the Egyptian Mystery-doctrine, we
come to what is of peculiar interest for our present
Trismegistic studies. Osiris is the Heavenly Man, the
Logos; not only so, but in straitest connection with
this tradition we have an exposition of the Hermes-
doctrine, set forth by a system of allegorical interpreta-
tions of the Bible of Hellas — the Poems of the
Homeric cycle. Here we have the evident syncrasia
Thoth Osiris Hermes, a Hermes of the "Greek
Wisdom," as the Eecitation Ode phrases it, and a
doctrine which H., basing himself on the commentator
(§ 10), squarely asserts the Greeks got from Egypt.
Nor is it without importance for us that in closest
connection with Hermes there follow the apparently
misplaced sections 17 and 18, dealing with the
"Heavenly Horn," or drinking-horn, of the Greek
Wisdom, and the " Cup " of Anacreon ; with which we
may compare the Crater, Mixing-bowl or Cup, in which,
1 Cf. R. 99, 100 ; and 100, n. 4.
VOL. I. 13
194 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
according to Plato's Timceus, the Creator mingled and
mixed the elements and souls, and also the spiritual
Cup of the Mind in our Trismegistic treatise, "The
Crater or Monas," 0. H., iv. (v.).
But above all things is it astonishing that we should
find the commentator in S. quoting (§ 9) a logos from
a document which, as we have shown in the note
appended to the passage, is in every probability a
Trismegistic treatise of the Poemandres type.
THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN OVERWRITERS
This commentary S. was worked over by a Jewish
Hellenistic mystic J., whose general ideas and method
of exegesis are exactly paralleled by those of Philo.
In my opinion, he was a contemporary of that period
and a member of one of those communities whom Philo
classes generally as Therapeut. He was, moreover,
not a worshipper of the serpent, but a worshipper of
that Glorious Eeality symbolised as the Serpent
of Wisdom, and this connects him with initiation
into Egypto-Chaldsean or Chaldseo-Egyptian Mysteries.
These he finds set forth allegorically in the prophetical
scriptures of his race. His quotations from the LXX.
show him to be, like Philo, an Alexandrian Hellenistic
Jew ; the LXX. was his Targum.
J. again was overwritten by C., a Christian Gnostic,
no enemy of either J. or S., but one who claimed that
he and his were the true realisers of all that had gone
before ; he is somewhat boastful, but yet recognises
that the Christ-doctrine is not an innovation but a
consummation. The phenomena presented by the New
Testament quotations of C. are, in my opinion, of extra-
ordinary interest, especially his quotations from or
parallels with the Fourth Gospel. His quotations from
THE MYTH OP MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 195
or parallels with the Synoptics are almost of the same
nature as those of Justin; he is rather dealing with
" Memoirs of the Apostles " than with verbatim quota-
tions from our stereotyped Gospels. His parallels
with the Fourth Gospel also seem to me to open up the
question as to whether or no he is in touch with
" Sources " of that " Johannine " document.
On top of all our strata and deposits, we have — to
continue the metaphor of excavation, and if it be not
thought somewhat uncharitable — the refutatory rubbish
of Hippolytus, which need no longer detain us here.
I -would, therefore, suggest that C. is to be placed
somewhere about the middle of the second century A.D.;
J. is contemporary with Philo — say the first quarter of
the first century A.D. ; the Pagan commentator of S. is
prior to J. — say somewhere in the last half of the first
century B.C. ; while the Recitation Ode is still earlier,
and can therefore be placed anywhere in the early
Hellenistic period, the termini being thus 300-50 B.C.1
And if the redactor or commentator in S. is to
be placed somewhere in the last half of the first
century B.C. (and this is, of course, taking only the
minimum of liberty), then the Poemandres type of
our literature, which J. quotes as scripture, must, in its
original Greek form, be placed back of that — say at
least in the first half of the first century B.C., as a
moderate estimate.2 If those dates are not proved,
1 Wilamowitz' hesitating attribution of it to the reign of
Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) is, in my opinion, devoid of any objec-
tive support whatever. (See R., p. 102.) Reitzenstein himself
(p. 165) would place it in the second century B.C.
2 Incidentally also it may be pointed out that this analysis
gives the coup de grace to Salmon's contention (" The Cross-refer-
ences in the Philosophumena," Hermathena, 1885, v. 389 if.)
that the great systems of the Gnosis made known to us only by
Hippolytus are all the work of a single forger who imposed
196 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
I am at anyrate fairly confident they cannot be
disproved.
ZOSIMUS AND THE ANTHROPOS-DOCTRINE
That, moreover, the Anthropos-doctrine, to the spirit
of which the whole commentary of our S. exegete is
accommodated, was also fundamental with the ad-
herents of the Trismegistic tradition, may be clearly
seen from the interesting passage (which we give in the
Fragments at the end of the third Volume) of Zosimus,
a member of what Reitzenstein calls the Poemandres
Community, who flourished somewhere at the end of
the third and beginning of the fourth century A.D.1
The sources of Zosimus for the Anthropos-doctrine,
he tells us, are, in addition to the Books of Hermes,
certain translations into Greek and Egyptian of books
containing traditions (mystery-traditions, presumably)
of the Chaldaeans, Parthians, Medes, and Hebrews on
the subject. This statement is of the very first im-
portance for the history of Gnosticism as well as for
appreciating certain elements in Trismegisticism.
Though the indication of this literature is vague, it
nevertheless mentions four factors as involved in the
Hebrew tradition ; the Gnostic Hebrews, as we should
upon the credulity of the heresy-hunting Bishop of Portus.
This contention, though to our mind one of the most striking
instances of "the good Homer nodding," was nevertheless practi-
cally endorsed by Stahelin (Die gnostische Quellen Hippolyts in
seiner Hauptschrift gegen die Haeretiken, 1890 ; in Texte u. Unter-
suchungen, VI.), who went over the whole ground opened up
by Salmon with minute and scrupulous industry. The general
weakness of this extraordinary hypothesis of forgery has, how-
ever, been well pointed out by De Faye in his Introduction a
Vfitude du Gnosticisme au He et au III1 Sitcle (Paris, 1903),
pp. 24 ff.; though De Faye also maintains a late date.
1 R. p. 9.
THE MYTH OF MAN IN THE MYSTERIES 197
expect, were handing on elements from Chaldsean,
Parthian, and Median traditions. Translations of these
books were to be found scattered throughout Egypt,
and especially in the great library at Alexandria.
There is, in my opinion, no necessity precisely, with
Keitzenstein (p. 106, n. 6), to designate these books the
" Ptolemaic Books," and so to associate them with a
notice found in the apocryphal " Eighth Book of
Moses," where, together with that of the Archangelic
Book of Moses, there is mention of the Fifth Book of the
" Ptolemaic Books," described as a book of multifarious
wisdom under the title " One and All," and containing
the account of the " Genesis of Fire and Darkness." !
Another source of Zosimus was the Pinax of Bitos
or Bitys, of whom we shall treat in considering the
information of Jambliohus.
From all of these indications we are assured that
there was already in the first centuries B.C. a well-
developed Hellenistic doctrine of the descent of man
from the Man Above, and of his return to that heavenly
state by his mastery of the powers of the cosmos.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA ON THE MAN-DOCTRINE
This date is further confirmed by the testimony of
Philo (c. 30 B.C.-45 A.D.).
For, quoting the verse : " We are all sons of One
Man,"2 he addresses those who are "companions of
wisdom and knowledge " as those who are " Sons of
one and the same Father — no mortal father, but an
immortal Sire, the Man of God, who being the Reason
(Logos) of the Eternal, is of necessity himself eternal." 3
And again, a little further on :
1 Dieterich, Abraxas, 203 ff. 2 Gen. xlii. 11.
3 De Confus. Ling., § 11 ; M. i. 411, P. 326 (Ri. ii. 257).
198 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
"And if a man should not as yet have the good
fortune to be worthy to be called Son of God, let him
strive manfully to set himself in order1 according to
His First-born Reason (Logos), the Oldest Angel, who is
as though it were the Angel-chief of many names ; for
he is called Dominion, and Name of God, and Eeason,
and Man-after-His-Likeness, and Seeing Israel.
" And for this reason I was induced a little before
to praise the principles of those who say : ' We are
all sons of One Man.' For even if we have not yet
become fit to be judged Sons of God, we may at any
rate be Sons of His Eternal Likeness, His Most Holy
Eeason (Logos); for Reason, the Eldest of all Angels,
is God's Likeness [or Image]."2
Thus Philo gives us additional proof, if more were
needed, for the full Anthrdpos-doctrine was evidently
fundamental in his circle — that is to say, in the
thought-atmosphere of the Hellenistic theology, or the
religio-philosophy, or theosophy, of his day, the be-
ginning of the first century A.D.
This date alone is sufficient for our purpose ; but it
is not too bold a statement even to say that the
Man -Mystery was a fundamental concept of the
brilliant period of the Hellenistic syncretism which
succeeded to the founding of Alexandria — the period
of the expansion of Hellas beyond her national borders ;
in other words, her birth into the greater world.
It is enough to know that the Mystery was hidden
and yet revealed in the shadow-garments of Chaldsean,
Babylonian, Magian, Phoenician, Hebrew, Egyptian,
Phrygian, Thracian, and Greek mystery-traditions. It
was, in brief, fundamental in all such wisdom-shows,
and necessarily so, for it was the Christ-Mystery.
1 To make himself a cosmos like the Great Cosmos.
* Ibid., § 28 ; M. i. 426, 427, P. 341 (Ri. ii. 279).
VIII
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE
HELLENISTIC THEOLOGY
CONCERNING PHILO AND HIS METHOD
Chapter VIII: Philo of Alexandria and the Hellenistic Theology
essentially a study in Hellenistic theology, no introduc-
tion to this literature would be adequate which did not
insist upon the utility of a careful review of the writings
of Philo, the famous Jewish Hellenist of Alexandria,
and which did not point to the innumerable parallels
which are traceable between the basic principles of the
Jewish philosopher-mystic and the main ideas embodied
in our tractates. To do this, however, in detail would
require a volume, and as we are restricted to the narrow
confines of a chapter, nothing but a few general outlines
can be sketched in, the major part of our space being
reserved for a consideration of what Philo has to say
of the Logos, or Divine Reason of things, the central
idea of his cosmos.
In perusing the voluminous writings 1 of our witness,
the chief point on which we would insist at the very
outset, is that we are not studying a novel system
devised by a single mind, we are not even face to face
with a new departure in method, but that the writings
1 In all, upwards of sixty Philonean tractates are preserved to
us ; and in addition we have also numerous fragments from lost
works.
199
200 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
of our Alexandrian1 came at the end of a line of
predecessors; true that Philo is now, owing to the
preservation of his writings, by far the most dis-
tinguished of such writers, but he follows in their steps.
His method of allegorical interpretation is no new
invention,2 least of all is his theology.
In brief, Philo is first and foremost an " apologist " ;
his writings are a defence of the Jewish myths and
prophetic utterances, interpreted allegorical ly, in terms
not of Hellenic philosophy proper, but rather of Hellen-
istic theology, that is, of philosophy theologised, or of
theology philosophised ; in other words, in the language
of the current cultured Alexandrian religio-philosophy
of his day.
As Edersheim, in his admirable article,3 says, speaking
1 Philo is known to the Jews as Yedidyah ha-Alakhsanderi.
2 Thus, in D. V. C'., § 3 ; M. ii. 475, P. 893 (Ri. v. 309, C. 65),
referring to his beloved Therapeuts, he himself says : " They
have also works of ancient authors who were once heads of their
school, and left behind them many monuments of the method
used in allegorical works." Nor was this "allegorising" Jewish
only ; it was common. It was applied to Homer ; it was the
method of the Stoics. Indeed, this "treatment (Oepairtla) of
myths " was the only way in which the results of the philosophy
and science of the time could be brought into touch with
popular faith.
The text I use is that of Richter (M. C. E.), Philonis Judcei
Opera Omnia, in Bibliotheca Sacra Patrum Ecclesix Grwcorum.
(Leipzig, 1828-1830), 8 vols. M. refers to the edition of Mangey ;
P. to the Paris edition ; Ri. stands for that of Richter — thus
abbreviated so as not to be confused with R., which elsewhere
stands for Reitzenstein ; C. stands for Conybeare's critical text of
the D. V. G. (Oxford, 1895), the only really critical text of any
tractate which we so far possess.
3 " Philo," in Smith and Wace's Diet, of Christ. Biog. (London,
1887), iv. 357-389 — by far the best general study on the subject
in English. Drunimond's (J.) two volumes, Philo Judceus, or The
Alexandrian Philosophy (London, 1888), may also^be consulted, but
they leave much to be desired. The only English translation
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 201
of this blend of the faith of the synagogue with the
thinking of Greece : " It can scarcely be said that in
the issue the substance and spirit were derived from
Judaism, the form from Greece. Rather does it often
seem as if the substance had been Greek and only
the form Hebrew."
But here Edersheim seems to be not sufficiently
alive to the fact that the " Greek thinking " was already
in Hellenistic circles strongly theologised and firmly
wedded to the ideas of apocalypsis and revelation.
How, indeed, could it have been otherwise in Egypt,
in the face of the testimony of our present work ?
Philo, then, does but follow the custom among the
cultured of his day when he treats the stories of the
patriarchs as myths, and the literally intractable
narratives as the substance of an ethical mythology.
It was the method of the religio-philosophy of the time,
which found in allegorical interpretation the " antidote
of impiety," and by its means unveiled the supposed
under-meaning (virovoia) of the myths.
The importance of Philo, then, lies not so much in
his originality, as in the fact that he hands on much
that had been evolved before him; for, as Edersheim
says, and as is clear to any careful student of the
Philonean tractates : " His own writings do not give
the impression of originality. Besides, he repeatedly
refers to the allegorical interpretation of others, as
well as to canons of allegorism apparently generally
recognised. He also enumerates differing allegorical
interpretations of the same subjects. All this affords
evidence of the existence of a school of Hellenist
[Hellenistic, rather] interpretation " (p. 362).
is that of Yonge (C. D.), The Works of Philo Judwus (London,
1854) in Bonn's Library ; but it is by no means satisfactory, and
I have in every instance of quotation made my own version.
202 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
But this does not hold good only for the interpreta-
tion of "the myths of Israel" by Hellenistic Jews; it
holds good of the whole cultured religious world of the
time, and pre-eminently of the Hellenistic schools of
every kind in Egypt. In brief, Philo's philosophy was
often already philosophised myth before he ingeniously
brought it into play for the interpretation of Hebrew
story.
In short, the tractates of Philo and our Trismegistic
sermons have both a common background — Hellenistic
theology or theosophy. Both use a common language.
Philo, of course, like the rest of his contemporaries,
had no idea of criticism in the modern sense ; he was
a thorough - going apologist of the Old Covenant
documents. These were for him in their entirety the
inerrant oracles of God Himself ; nay, he even went to
the extent of believing the apologetic Greek version to
be literally inspired.1
Nevertheless he was, as a thinker, confronted with
the same kind of difficulties as face us to-day with im-
measurably greater distinctness. The ideas of God, of
the world-order, and of the nature of man, were so far
advanced in his day beyond the frequently crude and
repugnant representations found in the ancient scrip-
tures of his people, that he found it impossible to claim
for them on their surface-value the transcendency of
the last word of wisdom from God to man, at anyrate
among the cultured to whom he addressed himself.
These difficulties he accordingly sought to remove by
an allegorical interpretation, whereby he read into them
the views of the highest philosophical and religious
environment of his time.
Having no idea of the philosophy of history, or of
the history of religion, or of the canons of literary
1 Or " divinely prompted " (De Vit. Mos., ii. 5-7).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 203
criticism, as we now understand these things, he never
stopped to enquire whether the writers of the ancient
documents intended their narratives to be taken as
myths embodying an esoteric meaning ; much less did
he ask himself, as we ask ourselves to-day, whether
these writers had not in all probability frequently
written up the myths of other nations into a history
of their own patriarchs and other worthies ; on the
contrary, he relieved them of all responsibility, and
entirely eliminated the natural human element, by his
theory of prophecy, which assumed that they had acted
as impersonal, passive instruments of the Divine
inspiration.
But even Philo, when he came to work it out, could
not maintain this absolutism of inspiration, and so we
find him elsewhere unable to ascribe a consistent level
of inspiration to his " Moses," who of course, in Philo's
belief, wrote the Pentateuch from the first to the last
word. Thus we find him even in the "Five Fifths"
making a threefold classification of inspiration : (i.) The
Sacred Oracles "spoken directly of God by His in-
terpreter the prophet"; (ii.) Those prophetically de-
livered "in the form of question and answer"; and
(iii) Those "proceeding from Moses himself while in
some state of inspiration and under the influence of the
deity." !
But what is most pleasant is to find that Philo
admitted the great philosophers of Greece into his holy
assembly, and though he gives the pre-eminence to
Moses, yet it is, as it were, to a first among equals — a
wide-minded tolerance that was speedily forgotten in
the bitter theological strife that subsequently broke
forth.
1 De Vit. Mos., iii. 23, 24.
204 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF HIS WRITINGS
But what makes the writings of our Alexandrian so
immensely important for us is, that the final decade
of his life is contemporary with the coming into
manifestation of Christianity in the Graeco-Roman
world owing to the energetic propaganda of Paul.
Philo was born somewhere between 30 and 20 B.C.,
and died about 45 A.D. There is, of course, not a single
word in his voluminous writings that can in any way
be construed into a reference to Christianity as tradi-
tionally understood ; but the language of Philo, if not
precisely the diction of the writers of the New Testa-
ment documents, has innumerable pqints of resemblance
with their terminology ; for the language of Hellenistic
theology is largely, so to speak, the common tongue of
both, while the similarity of many of their ideas is
astonishing.
Philo, moreover, was by no mqans an obscure member
of the community to which he belonged ; on the contrary,
he was a most distinguished ornament of the enormous
Jewish colony of Alexandria, which occupied no less
than two out of the five wards of the city.1 His brother,
Alexander, was the head of the largest banking firm of
the capital of Egypt, which was also the intellectual
and commercial centre of the Grseco-Roman world.
Indeed, Alexander may be said to have been the Roth-
schild of the time. The operations of the firm embraced
the contracting of loans for the Imperial House, while
the banker himself was a personal friend of the Emperor,
and his sons intermarried with the family of the Jewish
King Agrippa.
Philo, himself, though he would have preferred the
solitude of the contemplative life, took an active part
1 For a sketch of ancient Alexandria, see F, F. F.t pp. 96-120.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 205
in the social life of the great capital ; and, at the time
of the greatest distress of his compatriots in the city,
when they were overwhelmed by a violent outbreak of
anti - semitism, their lives in danger, their houses
plundered, and their ancient privileges confiscated, it
was the aged Philo who was chosen as spokesman of
the embassy to Caius Caligula (A.D. 40).
Here, then, we have a man in just the position to
know what was going on in the world of philosophy, of
letters, and religion, and not only at Alexandria, but
also wherever Jewish enterprise — which had then, as
it now has, the main commerce of the world in its
hands — pushed itself. The news of the world came to
Alexandria, and the mercantile marine was largely
owned by Hebrews.
Philo is, therefore, the very witness we should choose
of all others to question as to his views on the ideas we
find in our Trismegistic tractates, and this we may now
proceed to do without any further preliminaries.
CONCERNING THE MYSTERIES
Speaking of those who follow the contemplative
life,1 Philo writes :
"Now this natural class of men [lit. race] is to be
found in many parts of the inhabited world ; for both
the Grecian and non-Grecian world must needs share
in the perfect Good." 2
In Egypt, he tells us, there were crowds of them in
every province, and they were very numerous indeed
about Alexandria. Concerning such men Philo tells
us elsewhere:
1 For a translation of the famous tractate on this subject, from
the recent critical text of Conybeare, see F. F. F., pp. 66-82.
2 D. V. C., § 3 ; M. ii. 474, P. 891 (Ei. v. 308, C. 56).
206 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
"All those, whether among Greeks or non-Greeks,
who are practisers of wisdom (acncr/rcii <ro0/a?), living a
blameless and irreproachable life, determined on doing
injury to none, and on not retaliating if injury be
done them," avoid the strife of ordinary life, " in their
enthusiasm for a life of peace free from contention."
Thus are they " most excellent contemplators of
nature (Oecopoi T*JS 0iVeo>?) and all things therein ;
they scrutinise earth and sea, and air and heaven, and
the natures therein, their minds responding to the
orderly motion of moon and sun, and the choir of all
the other stars, both variable and fixed. They have
their bodies, indeed, planted on earth below ; but for
their souls, they have made them wings, so that they
speed through aether (aiOepo^arowre^, and gaze on
every side upon the powers above, as though they
were the true world-citizens, most excellent, who dwell
in cosmos as their city ; such citizens as Wisdom hath
as her associates, inscribed upon the roll of Virtue,
who hath in charge the supervising of the common
weal. . . .
"Such men, though [in comparison] but few in
number, keep alive the covered spark of Wisdom
secretly, throughout the cities [of the world], in order
that Virtue may not be absolutely quenched and
vanish from our human kind."1
Again, elsewhere, speaking of those who are good
and wise, he says :
" The whole of this company (0/acrop) have voluntarily
deprived themselves of the possession of aught in
abundance, thinking little of things dear to the flesh.
Now athletes are men whose bodies are well cared for
and full of vigour, men who make strong the fort, their
body, against their soul ; whereas the [athletes] of
1 Z)c Sept., §§ 3, 4 ; M. ii. 279, P. 1175 (Ri. v. 21, 22).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 207
[this] discipline, pale, wasted, and, as it were, reduced to
skeletons, sacrifice even the muscles of their bodies to
the powers of their own souls, dissolving, if the truth
be told, into one form — that of the soul, and by their
mind becoming free from body.
"The earthly element is, therefore, naturally dis-
solved and washed away, when the whole mind in its
entirety resolves to make itself well-pleasing unto
God. This race is rare, however, and found with
difficulty ; still it is not impossible it should exist." l
And in another passage, when referring to the small
number of the "prudent and righteous and gracious,"
Philo says :
" But the ' few,' though rare [to meet with], are yet
not non-existent. Both Greece and Barbary [that is,
non-Greek lands] bear witness [to them].
"For in the former there nourished those who are
pre-eminently and truly called the Seven Sages — though
others, both before and after them, in every probability
reached the [same] height — whose memory, in spite
of their antiquity, has not evanished through the length
of time, while that of those of far more recent date
has been obliterated by the tide of the neglect of their
contemporaries.
" While in non-Grecian lands, in which the most
revered and ancient in such words and deeds [have
nourished], are very crowded companies of men of
worth and virtue; among the Persians, for example,
the [caste] of Magi, who by their careful scrutiny of
nature's works for purpose of the gnosis of the truth,
in quiet silence, and by means of [mystic] images of
piercing clarity (rpavwrepa^ e^aa-ea-iv) are made
initiate into the mysteries of godlike virtues, and in
their turn initiate [those who come after them]; in
1 Dt Mut. Norn., § 4 ; M. i. 583, P. 1049 (Ri. iii. 163, 164).
208 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
India the [caste] of the Gymnosophists, who, in addition
to their study of the lore of nature, toil in [the fields
of] morals, and [so] make their whole life a practical
example of [their] virtue.
"Nor are Palestine and Syria, in which no small
portion of the populous nation of the Jews dwell,
unfruitful in worth and virtue. Certain of them are
called Essenes, in number upwards of 4000, according
to my estimate. " *
Philo then proceeds to give an account of these
famous mystics.
In Egypt itself, however, he selects out of the many
communities of the Therapeutse and Therapeutrides
(which the Old Latin Version renders Cultores et
Cultrices pietatis)2 only one special group, with which
he was presumably personally familiar and which was
largely Jewish. Of this order (o-uoTiy/xa)3 Philo gives
us a most graphic account, both of their settlement
and mode of life. By means of this intensely interest-
ing sketch of the Contemplative or Theoretic Life, and
by the parallel passages from the rest of Philo's works
which Conybeare has so industriously marshalled in his
"Testimonia," we are introduced into the environment
and atmosphere of these Theoretics, and find ourselves
in just such circumstances as would condition the
genesis of our Trismegistic literature.
The whole of Philo's expositions revolve round the
idea that the truly philosophic life is an initiation into
the Divine Mysteries ; for him the whole tradition of
Wisdom is necessarily a mystery-tradition. Thus he
tells us of his own special Therapeut community, south
of Alexandria :
1 Quod Om. Prob. L., § 11 ; M. ii. 456, P. 876 (Ri. v. 284, 285).
2 C., p. 146, 1. 13.
3 D. V. C., § 9 ; M. ii. 482, P. 900 (Ri. v. 319, C. 111).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 209
" In every cottage there is a sacred chamber,1 which
is called semneion and monasterion? in which, in soli-
tude, they are initiated into the mysteries of the solemn
life." 3
With this it will be of interest to compare Matt,
vi. 6 : " When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is
in the Hidden ; and thy Father who seeth in the Hidden,
shall reward thee. "
It is said that among the " Pharisees " there was a
praying-room in every house.
We may also compare with the above reference to
the Mysteries Luke xii. 2 = Matt. x. 26, from a
" source " which promised the revelation of all mysteries,
following on the famous logos also quoted in Mark iv. 22
and Luke viii. 17;
"For there is nothing veiled which shall not be
revealed, and hidden which shall not be made known."
" Therefore, whatsoever ye (M., I) have spoken in dark-
ness, shall be heard in the light, and what ye have
spoken (M., heard) in the ear in the closets, shall be
heralded forth on the house-tops."
Both Evangelists have evidently adapted their
" source " to their own purposes, but the main sense of
the original form is not difficult to recover.
It is further of interest to compare with the first
clause of the above passages the new-found logos :
" Jesus saith, Everything that is not before thy face
and that which is hidden from thee, shall be revealed
to thee. For there is nothing hidden that shall
1 Or shrine — a small room or closet.
2 That is, a sanctuary or monastery, the latter in the sense of a
place where one can be alone or in solitude. This is the first use
of the term " monastery " known in classical antiquity, and, as we
see, it bears a special and not a general meaning.
3 Ibid., § 3 ; M. ii. 475, P. 892 (Ri. v. 309, C. 60).
VOL. I. 14
210 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
not be made manifest, nor buried that shall not be
raised." l
But there are other and more general mysteries
referred to in Philo ; for, in speaking of the command
that the unholy man who is a speaker of evil against
divine things, should be removed from the most holy
places and punished, our initiated philosopher bursts
forth:
" Drive forth, drive forth, ye of the closed lips, and
ye revealers 2 of the divine mysteries,3 the promiscuous
and rabble crowd of the defiled — souls unamenable to
purification, and hard to wash clean, who wear ears
that cannot be closed, and tongues that cannot be kept
within the doors [of their lips] — organs that they ever
keep ready for their own most grievous mischance,
hearing all things and things not law [to hear]." *
Of these "ineffable mysteries,"5 he elsewhere says,
in explaining that the wives of the patriarchs stand
allegorically as types of virtues :
" But in order that we may describe the conception
and birth-throes of the Virtues, let bigots6 stop their
ears, or else let them depart. For that we give a
higher teaching of the mysteries divine, to mystae who
are worthy of the holiest rites [of all].
"And these are they who, free from arrogance,
practise real and truly genuine piety, free from display
1 Grenfell and Hunt, New Sayings of Jesus (London, 1904),
p. 18.
2 Lit., ye mystae and hierophants.
3 Lit., orgies — that is, " burstings forth " of inspiration, or
revealings.
4 De Prof., § 16 ; M. i. 558, P. 462 (Hi. iii. 128).
6 Leg. Alleg., i. 39, 4.
c StifftSainovfs — here meaning the literalists ; it generally
signifies the religious in a good sense, and the superstitious in a
bad one.
PHILO OP ALEXANDRIA 211
of any kind. But unto them who are afflicted with
incorrigible ill — the vanity of words, close-sticking unto
names, and empty show of manners, who measure purity
and holiness by no other rule [than this] — [for them]
we will not play the part of hierophant." l
Touching on the mystery of the Virgin-birth, to which
we will refer later on, Philo continues :
" These things receive into your souls, ye mystse, ye
whose ears are purified, as truly sacred mysteries, and
see that ye speak not of them to any who may be
without initiation, but storing them away within your
hearts, guard well your treasure - house ; not as a
treasury in which gold and silver are laid up, things
that do perish, but as the pick and prize of all posses-
sions— the knowledge of the Cause [of all] and Virtue,
and of the third, the child of both." 2
Now the " Divine Spirit " (Oeiov Trvev/jia), says Philo,
does not remain among the many, though it may dwell
with them for a short time.
" It is [ever] present with only one class of men —
with those who, having stripped themselves of all the
things in genesis, even to the innermost veil and
garment of opinion, come unto God with minds
unclothed and naked.
"And so Moses, having fixed his tent outside the
camp — that is, the whole of the body 3 — that is to say,
having made firm his mind, so that it does not move,
begins to worship God; and, entering into the dark-
ness, the unseen land, abideth there, being initiated into
the most holy mysteries. And he becomes, not only
a mystes, but also a hierophant of revelations,4 and
1 D« Cherub., § 12 ; M. i. 146, P. 115 (Ri. i. 208).
2 Ibid., § 14 ; M. i. 147, P. 116 (Ri. i. 210).
3 (y. Leg. Alleg., ii. § 15 ; M. i. 76, P. 1097 (Ri. i. 105).
4 Lit., orgies.
212 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
teacher of divine things, which he will indicate to those
who have had their ears made pure.
" With such kind of men, then, the Divine Spirit is
ever present, guiding their every way aright." l
Eeferring to the ritual sacrifices of a heifer and two
rams, Philo declares that the slaying of the second ram,
and the symbolic rite of sprinkling certain portions of
the bodies of the priests with its blood, was ordained
" for the highest perfectioning of the consecrated by
means of the purification of chastity 2 — which [ram] he
[' Moses '] called, according to its meaning, the ' [ram]
of perfectioning,' since they [the priests] were about to
act as hierophants of mysteries appropriate to the
servants (Oepcnrevrais) and ministers of God." 8
So also Philo's language about the Therapeuts proper,
and not the allegorically interpreted temple-sacrificers,
is that of the Mysteries, when he writes :
" Now they who betake themselves to this service
(OepaTreiav) [of God do so], not because of any custom,
or on some one's advice and appeal, but carried away
with heavenly love, like those initiated into the Bacchic
or Corybantic Mysteries, they are a-fire with God until
they see the object of their love." 4
These Mysteries were, of course, not to be revealed
except to the worthy. Therefore he says :
"Nor because thou hast a tongue and mouth and
organ of speech, shouldst thou tell forth all, even things
that may not be spoken." 5
1 De Gigan., § 12 ; M. i. 270, P. 291 (Ri. ii. 61).
2 Philo, apparently, would have it that the sacrifice of the ram,
which was a symbol of virility, signified the obligation of chastity
prior to initiation into the higher rites.
3 De Vit. Mos., iii. § 17 ; M. ii. 157, P. 675 (Ri. iv. 216). The
Therapeuts, with Philo, then do not mean " Healers," as has been
sometimes thought, but " Servants of God."
* D. V. C., § 2 ; M. ii. 473, P. 891 (Ri. v. 306, C. 41, 42).
5 Quod Det. Pot. Insid., § 27 ; M. i. 211, P. 174 (Ri. i. 295).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 213
And in the last section of the same treatise he
writes :
"Wherefore I think that [all] those who are not
utterly without [proper] instruction, would prefer to be
made blind than to see things not proper [to be seen],
to be made deaf than to hear harmful words, and to
have their tongue cut out, to prevent them divulging
aught of the ineffable Mysteries. . . . Nay, it is even
better to make oneself eunuch than to rush madly into
unlawful unions." l
With which we may usefully compare Matt. v. 29 :
" If thy right eye offend thee, cut it out and cast it
from thee"; and Matt. xix. 12: "There are some who
have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the
kingdom of the heavens; he that can receive it, let
him receive it." Both passages are found in the first
Gospel only.
For the comprehension of virtue man requires the
reason only ; but for the doing of ill, the evil man re-
quires the organs of the body, says our mystic dualist ;
" for how will he be able to divulge the Mysteries, if he
have no organ of speech ? " 2
This continual harping on the divulging of the
Mysteries, shows that Philo considered it the greatest
of all enormities ; we might almost think that he had
in view some movement that was divulging part of the
mystery-tradition to the untrained populace.
Elsewhere, speaking of those "who draw nigh unto
God, abandoning the life of death, and sharing in
immortality," he tells us these are the "Naked" —
(that is, " naked " of the trammels of the flesh) — who
sacrifice all to God. And he adds that only these " are
permitted to see the ineffable* Mysteries of God, who
1 Ibid., § 48 ; M. i. 224, P. 186 (Ri. i. 314).
3 Leg. Alleg., i. § 32 ; M. i. 64, P. 59 (Ri. i. 87).
214 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
are able to cloak them and guard them " from the un-
worthy.1
With regard to these Mysteries, they were, as we
might expect, divided into the Lesser and the Greater
— in the former of which the neophytes " worked on the
untamed and savage passions, as though they were
softening the [dough3 of their] food with reason
(logos)."
The manner of preparing this divine food, so that it
becomes the bread of life, was a mystery.3
One of the doctrines revealed in these Lesser Mysteries
was plainly that of the Trinity ; for, commenting on
Gen. xviii. 2 : " And he lifted up his eyes and looked,
and, lo, three men stood by him " — Philo writes :
" ' He lifted up his eyes/ not the eyes of his body, for
God cannot be seen by the senses, but by the soul
[alone] ; for at a fitting time He is discovered by the
eyes of wisdom.
" Now the power of sight of the souls of the many
and unrighteous is ever shut in, since it lies dead in
deep sleep, and can never respond and be made awake
to the things of nature and the types and ideas within
her. But the spiritual eyes of the wise man are awake,
and behold them ; nay, they are sleeplessly alert, ever
watchful from desire of seeing.
" Wherefore it is well said in the plural, that he raised
not one eye, but all the eyes that are in the soul, so
that one would have said that he was altogether all eye.
Having, then, become the eye, he begins to see the holy
and divine vision of the Lord, in such a fashion that the
one vision appeared as a trinity, and the trinity as a
unity." 4
1 Leg. Alleg., ii. § xv. ; M. i. 76, P. 1097 (Ri. i. 106).
2 Which they brought out of Egypt — that is, the body.
3 De Sacrif., § 16 ; M. i. 174, P. 139 (Ei. i. 245).
4 Qucest. in Gen., iv. § 2; P. Auch. 243 (Ei. vii. 61).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 215
Elsewhere, referring to the same story, and to the
words of Abraham to Sarah " to hasten and knead three
measures of fine meal, and to make cakes upon the
hearth,"1 Philo expounds the mystery at length as
follows. It refers to that experience of the inner life :
"When God, accompanied by His two highest
Potencies, Dominion (apxn) and Goodness, making One
[with Himself] in the midst, produces in the seeing soul
a triple presentation, of which [three persons] each
transcends all measure ; for God transcendeth all
delineation, and equally transcendent are His Potencies,
but He [Himself] doth measure all.
" Accordingly, His Goodness is the measure of things
good, and His Dominion is the measure of things subject,
while He Himself is chief of all, both corporeal and
incorporeal.2
" Wherefore also these Potencies, receiving the Eeason
(Logos) of His rules and ordinances, measure out all
things below them. And, therefore, it is right that
these three measures should, as it were, be mingled and
blended together in the soul, in order that, being per-
suaded that He is Highest God, who transcendeth His
Potencies, both making Himself manifest without them,
and also causing Himself to be seen in them, it [the
soul] may receive His impressions (^a/aa/cr^pa?), and
powers, and blessings, and [so] becoming initiate into
the perfect secrets, may not lightly disclose the divine
Mysteries, but, treasuring them up, and keeping sure
silence, guard them in secret.
"For it is written: 'Make [them] secret,'— for the
sacred sermon (\dyov) of initiation (fjivtrr^v) about the
Ingenerable and about His Potencies ought to be kept
1 Gen. xviii. 6.
2 That is, apparently, the " good " = the "incorporeal," and the
"subject" =the "corporeal."
216 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
secret, since it is not within the power of every man to
guard the sacred trust (TrapaKaTaB^Ktjv) of the divine
revelations (opyuav)." l
CONCEKNING THE SACRED MARRIAGE
But the chief of all the mysteries for Philo was,
apparently, the Sacred Marriage, the mystic union of
the soul, as female, with God, as male (Deo nubere). In
this connection he refers to Gen. iv. 1 :
" And Adam knew his wife. And she conceived and
bare Cain. And she said : / have gotten a man by
means of the Lord. And He caused her also to bring
forth Abel his brother."2
We are, of course, not concerned with the legitimacy
or consistency of Philo's allegorising system, whereby
he sought to invoke the authority of his national
scriptures in support of his chosen doctrines ; but we
are deeply concerned with these doctrines themselves,
as being the favourite dogmas of his circle and of
similar circles of allied mystics of the time.
His views on the subject are clearly indicated, for he
tells us in the same passage that he is speaking of a
secret of initiation, not of the conception and parturi-
tion of women, but of Virtues — that is, of the virtuous
soul. Accordingly he continues in § 13 :
" But it is not lawful for Virtues, in giving birth to
their many perfections, to have part or lot in a mortal
husband. And yet they will never bring forth of
themselves, without conceiving their offspring of
another.
" Who, then, is He who soweth in them their glorious
[progeny], if not the Father of all universal things —
1 De Sacrif., § 15 ; M. i. 173, 174 ; P. 139 (Ri. i. 244, 245).
2 De Cherub., § 12 ; M.'i. 146, P. 115 (Ri. i. 208).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 217
the God beyond all genesis, who yet is Sire of every-
thing that is ? For, for Himself, God doth create no
single thing, in that He stands in need of naught ; but
for the man who prays to have them [He creates]
all things."
And then, bringing forward Sarah, Leah, Eebecca, and
Sepphora, as examples of the Virtues who lived with
the great prophets of his race, Philo declares that
" Sarah " conceived, when God looked upon her while
she was in solitary contemplation, and so she brought
forth for him who eagerly longed to attain to wisdom
— namely, for him who is called " Abraham."
And so also in the case of " Leah," it is said " God
opened her womb," which is the part played by a
husband ; and so she brought forth for him who under-
went the pains of labour for the sake of the Beautiful —
namely, for him who is called "Jacob"; "so that
Virtue received the divine seed from the Cause [of
all], while she brought forth for that one of her lovers
who was preferred above all other suitors."
So also when the " all- wise," he who is called " Isaac,"
went as a suppliant to God, his Virtue, " Rebecca," that
is Steadfastness, became pregnant in consequence of his
supplication.
Whereas " Moses," without any supplication or prayer,
attained to the winged and sublime Virtue " Sepphora,"
and found her with child by no mortal husband.1
Moreover, in § 14, in referring to Jeremiah, Philo
writes :
"For T, having been initiated into the Great
Mysteries by Moses, the friend of God, nevertheless
when I set eyes upon Jeremiah, the prophet, and learned
that he is not only a mystes, but also an adept hiero-
phant, I did not hesitate to go to him as his disciple.
1 Ibid., § 13 ; M. i. 147, P. 116, 117 (Ri. i. 209).
218 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" And he, in that in much [he says] he is inspired by
God, uttered a certain oracle [as] from the Face of God,
who said unto the Virtue of Perfect Peace : ' Hast thou
not called Me as 'twere House and Father and Husband
of thy virginity ? ' x — suggesting in the clearest [possible]
fashion that God is both Home, the incorporeal land of
incorporeal ideas, and Father of all things, in that He
did create them, and Husband of Wisdom, sowing for
the race of mankind the seed of blessedness into good
virgin soil.
"For it is fitting God should converse with an
undefiled, an untouched and pure nature, with her who
is in very truth the Virgin, in fashion very different
from ours.
" For the congress of men for the procreation of
children makes virgins women. But when God begins
to associate with the soul, He brings it to pass that she
who was formerly woman becomes virgin again. For
banishing the foreign and degenerate and non-virile
desires, by which it was made womanish, He substitutes
for them native and noble and pure virtues. . . .
" But it is perhaps possible that even a virgin soul
may be polluted by intemperate passions, and so
dishonoured.
" Wherefore the oracle hath been careful to say that
God is husband not of 'a virgin' — for a virgin is
subject to change and death — but of ' virginity ' [that
is of] the idea which is ever according to the same
[principles], and in the same mode.
" For whereas things that have qualities, have with
their nature received both birth and dissolution, the
[archetypal] potencies which mould them have obtained
a lot transcending dissolution.
1 Jer. iv. 3 — where A.V. translates : " Wilt thou not from this
time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth ?"
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 219
" Wherefore is it not fitting that God, who is beyond
all generation and all change, should sow [in us] the
ideal seeds of the immortal virgin Virtues, and not those
of the woman who changes the form of her virginity ? " l
But, indeed, as Conybeare says :
" The words, virgin, virginity, ever-virginal, occur on
every other page of Philo. It is indeed Philo who first 2
formulated the idea of the Word or ideal ordering
principle of the Cosmos being born of an ever-virgin
soul, which conceives, because God the Father sows
into her His intelligible rays and divine seed, so beget-
ting His only well-beloved son, the Cosmos." 3
Thus, speaking of the impure soul, Philo writes :
" For when she is a multitude of passions and filled
with vices, her children swarming over her — pleasures,
appetites, folly, intemperance, unrighteousness, injustice
— she is weak and sick, and lies at death's door, dying ;
but when she becomes sterile, and ceases to bring them
forth or even casts them from her, forthwith, from
the change, she becometh a chaste virgin, and, receiving
the Divine Seed, she fashions and engenders marvel-
lous excellencies that nature prizeth highly — prudence,
courage, temperance, justice, holiness, piety, and the rest
of the virtues and good dispositions." 4
So also, speaking of the Therapeutrides, he writes :
" Their longing is not for mortal children, but for a
deathless progeny, which the soul that is in love with
God can alone bring forth, when the Father hath sown
into it the spiritual light-beams, by means of which it
1 De Cherub., § 14, 15 ; M. i. 148, P. 116, 117 (Ri. i. 210, 211).
2 In this, however, I venture to think that Conybeare is mis-
taken ; it was a common dogma of the Hellenistic theology of the
time.
3 Op. sup. cit., pp. 302, 303.
4 De Execrat., § 7 ; M. ii. 435, P. 936 (Ri. v. 254). See " Myth
of Man in the Mysteries," S. § 25 J.
220 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
shall be able to contemplate (Oewpeiv) the laws of
wisdom." !
And as to the progeny of such virgin-mothers, Philo
elsewhere instances the birth of " Isaac " — " which
could not refer to any man," but is " a synonym of Joy,
the best of the blessed states of the soul — Laughter,
the spiritually conceived (wStdOeros) 2 Son of God, Who
bestoweth him as a comfort and means of good cheer
on souls of perfect peace." 3
And a little later on he adds :
" And Wisdom, who, after the fashion of a mother,
brings forth the self-taught Eace, declares that God is
the sower of it."*
And yet, again, elsewhere, speaking of this spiritual
progeny, Philo writes :
" But all the Servants of God (Therapeuts), who are
lawfully begotten, shall fulfill the law of [their] nature,
which commands them to be parents. For the men
shall be fathers of many sons, and the women mothers
of numerous children." 5
So also, in the case of the birth of Joseph, when his
mother, Eachael, says to Jacob : " Give me children ! " —
" the Supplanter, disclosing his proper nature, will
reply : ' Thou hast wandered into deep error. For I
am not in God's place, who alone is able to open the
wombs of souls, and sow in them virtues, and make
them pregnant and mothers of good things.'"6
So too, again, in connection with the birth of Isaac,
referring to the exultant cry of Sarah : " The Lord hath
1 D. V. C., § 8 ; M. ii. 482, P. 899 (Ri. v. 318, C. 108).
2 Elsewhere an epithet of the Logos.
3 De Mut. Norn., § 23 ; M. i. 598, P. 1065 (Ri. iii. 183).
4 Ibid., § 24 ; M. i. 599, P. 1065 (Ri. iii. 184).
6 De Prasm. et Pan., § 18 ; M. ii. 425, P. 927 (Ri. v. 241).
6 Leg. Alleg., iii. § 63 ; M. i. 122, 123, P. 94 (Ri. i. 175). Of.
Gen. xxx. 2 : "Am I in God's stead ?"
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 221
made me Laughter; for whosoever heareth, rejoiceth
with me"1 — Philo bursts forth:
" Open, then, wide your ears, ye mystse, and receive
the most holy mysteries. 'Laughter' is Joy, and
' hath made ' is the same as ' hath begotten ' ; so that
what is said hath the following meaning : ' The Lord
hath begotten Isaac ' — for He is Father of the perfect
nature, sowing in the soul and generating blessedness." 2
That all of this was a matter of vital moment for
Philo himself, may be seen from what we must regard
as an intensely interesting autobiographical passage, in
which our philosopher, speaking of the happy child-
birth of Wisdom, writes :
" For some she judges entirely worthy of living with
her, while others seem as yet too young to support such
admirable and wise house-sharing; these latter she
hath permitted to solemnise the preliminary initiatory
rites of marriage, holding out hopes of its [future]
consummation.
" ' Sarah/ then, the Virtue who is mistress of my soul,
hath brought forth, but hath not brought forth for me
— for that I could not, because I was too young, receive
[into my soul] her offspring — wisdom, and righteousness,
and piety — because of the brood of bastard brats which
empty opinions had borne me.
" For the feeding of these last, the constant care and
incessant anxiety concerning them, have forced me to
take no thought for the legitimate children who are
the true citizens.
" It is well, therefore, to pray Virtue not only to
bear children, who even without praying brings her fair
1 Gen. xxi. 6. A.V. : " God hath made me to laugh, so that
all that hear will laugh with me."
3 Leg. Alleg., iii. § 77 ; M. i. 131, P. 101 (Ri. i. 187). Cf. also
De Cherub,, § 13 ; M. i. 147, P. 115 (Ri. i. 209).
222 THRICE- GREATEST HERMES
progeny to birth, but also to bear sons for us, so that
we may be blessed with a share in her seed and offspring.
" For she is wont to bear to God alone, with thank-
fulness repaying unto Him the first-fruits of the things
she hath received, [to Him] who, Moses says, 'hath
opened ' her ever-virgin ' womb.' " l
But, indeed, Philo is never wearied of reiterating this
sublime doctrine, which for him was the consummation
of the mysteries of the holy life. Thus, then, again he
sets it forth as follows :
" We should, accordingly, understand that the True
Keason (Logos) of nature has the potency of both father
and husband for different purposes — of a husband,
when he casts the seed of virtues into the soul as into
a good field ; of a father, in that it is his nature to
beget good counsels, and fair and virtuous deeds, and
when he hath begotten them, he nourisheth them with
those refreshing doctrines which discipline and wisdom
furnish.
"And the intelligence is likened at one time to a
virgin, at another to a wife, or a widow, or one who has
not yet a husband.
" [It is likened] to a virgin, when the intelligence
keeps itself chaste and uncorrupted from pleasures and
appetites, and griefs and fears, the passions which
assault it ; and then the father who begot it, assumes
the leadership thereof.
" And when she (intelligence) lives as a comely wife
with comely Eeason (Logos), that is with virtuous
Eeason, this self-same Keason himself undertakes the
care of her, sowing, like a husband, the most excellent
concepts in her.
" But whenever the soul is bereft of her children of
1 Gen. xxix. 31. Cong. Erud. Grat., § 2 ; M. i. 520, P. 425
(Ri. iii. 72).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 223
prudence, and of her marriage with Eight Eeason,
widowed of her most fair possessions, and left desolate
of Wisdom, through choosing a blameworthy life —
then, let her suffer the pains she hath decreed against
herself, with no wise Reason to play physician to her
transgressions, either as husband and consort, or as
father and begetter."1
Eeferring to Jacob's dream of the white, and spotted,
and ring-straked, and speckled kine, Philo tells us that
this, too, must be taken as an allegory of souls. The
first class of souls, he says, are " white."
"The meaning is that when the soul receives the
Divine Seed, the first-born births are spotlessly white,
like unto light of utmost purity, to radiance of the
greatest brilliance, as though it were the shadowless
ray of the sun's beams from a cloudless sky at noon." 2
With this it is of service to compare the Vision of
Hades seen by Thespesius (Aridaeus), and related by
Plutarch. Thespesius' guide in the Unseen World
draws his attention to the " colours " and " markings "
of the souls as follows :
" Observe the colours of the souls of every shade and
sort : that greasy, brown-grey is the pigment of sordid-
ness and selfishness ; that blood-red, inflamed shade is
a sign of a savage and venomous nature ; wherever
blue-grey is, from such a nature incontinence in
pleasure is not easily eradicated; innate malignity,
mingled with envy, causes that livid discoloration, in
the same way as cuttle-fish eject their sepia.
"Now it is in earth-life that the vice of the soul
(being acted upon by the passions, and re-acting upon
the body) produces these discolorations ; while the
purification and correction here have for their object
1 De Spec. Leg., § 7 ; M. ii. 275, P. 774 (Ei. v. 15, 16).
2 De Som., i. § 35 ; M. i. 651, P. 595 (Ri. iii. 257).
224 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the removal of these blemishes, so that the soul may
become entirely ray-like and of uniform colour." x
Again.ingivingtheallegoricalmeaning of the primitive-
culture story of Tamar,2 Philo not only interprets it by
the canon of the Sacred Marriage, but also introduces
other details from the Mysteries. Thus he writes :
" For being a widow she was commanded to sit in
the House of the Father, the Saviour ; for whose sake
for ever abandoning the congress and association with
mortal [things], she is bereft and widowed from [all]
human pleasures, and receives the Divine quickening,
and, full-filled with the Seeds of virtue, conceives, and
is in travail with fair deeds. And when she brings
them forth, she carries off the trophies from her
adversaries, and is inscribed as victor, receiving as a
symbol the palm of victory." 3
And every stage of this divine conception is but the
shadow of the great mystery of cosmic creation, which
Philo sums up as follows :
" We shall, however, be quite correct in saying that
the Demiurge who made all this universe, is also at the
same time Father of what has been brought into
existence; while its Mother is the Wisdom of Him
who hath made it — with whom God united, though
not as man [with woman], and implanted the power of
genesis. And she, receiving the Seed of God, brought
forth with perfect labour His only beloved Son, whom
all may perceive 4 — this Cosmos."5
1 De Ser. Num. Vind., 565 c. ; ed. Bern. iii. 459. See, for a
translation of the whole Vision, my "Notes on the Eleusinian
Mysteries," Theosophical Review (April, May, June, 1898), xxii.
145 ff., 232 ff., 312 ff.
2 Gen. xxxviii. 11 ff.
3 Quod Deus Immut., § 29 ; M. i. 293, P. 313 (Ri. ii. 94).
* Lit., " sensible."
6 De Ebriet., § 8 ; M. i. 361, P. 244 (Ri. i. 189).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 225
CONCERNING THE LOGOS
The idea of God found in Philo is that of the more
enlightened theology of his time. God is That which
transcends all things and all ideas. It would, of course,
be a far too lengthy study to marshal the very numerous
passages in which our philosopher sets forth his view
on Deity; and so we shall select only two passages
simply to give the reader who may not be acquainted
with the works of the famous Alexandrian, some notion
of the transcendency of his conception. For, as he
writes :
" What wonder is it if That-which-[really]-is trans-
cends the comprehension of man, when even the
mind which is in each of us, is beyond our power of
knowing? Who hath ever beheld the essence of
the soul?"1
This Mystery of Deity was, of necessity, in itself
ineffable ; but in conception, it was regarded under two
aspects — the active and the passive causative principles.
" The Active Principle, the Mind of the universals, is
absolutely pure, and absolutely free from all admixture ;
It transcendeth Virtue ; It transcendeth Wisdom ; nay,
It transcendeth even the Good Itself and the Beautiful
Itself.
" The Passive Principle is of itself soulless and
motionless, but when It is set in motion, and enformed
and ensouled by the Mind, It is transformed into the
most perfect of all works — namely, this Cosmos." 2
This Passive Principle is generally taken by com-
mentators to denote Matter; but if so, it must be
equated with Wisdom, which we have just seen was
regarded by Philo as the Mother of the Cosmos.
1 De Mut. Norn., § 2 ; M. i. 579, P. 1045 (Ri. iii. 159).
2 De Mund. Op., § 2 j M. i. 2, P. 2 (Ri. i. 6).
VOL. I. 15
226 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
But beyond all else Philo is useful to us in record-
ing the views of contemporary Hellenistic theology
concerning the concept of the Logos, the Mystery of
the Heavenly Man. the Son of God. Even as this word
of mystic meaning comes forward in almost every
tractate and fragment of our Trismegistic literature, so
in Philo is it the dominant idea in a host of passages.
It should, however, never be forgotten that Philo is
but handing on a doctrine ; he is inventing nothing.
His testimony, therefore, is of the greatest possible
value for our present study, and deserves the closest
attention. We shall accordingly devote the rest of
this chapter exclusively to this subject, and marshal
the evidence., if not in Philo's own words, at anyrate
in as exact a translation of them as we can give ; for
although much has been written on the matter, we
know no work in which the simple expedient of letting
Philo speak for himself has been attempted.
THE SON OF GOD
The Logos, then, is pre-eminently the Son of God,
for Philo writes :
"Moreover God, as Shepherd and King, leads [and
rules] with law and justice the nature of the heaven,
the periods of sun and moon, the changes and har-
monious progressions of the other stars — deputing [for
the task] His own Eight Reason (Logos), His First-
born Son, to take charge of the sacred flock, as though
he were the Great King's viceroy." l
Of this Heavenly Man, who was evidently for Philo
the Celestial Messiah of God, he elsewhere writes :
" Moreover, I have heard one of the companions of
Moses uttering some such word (logos) as this : ' Behold
i De Agric., § 13 ; M. i. 308, P. 195 (Ri. ii. 116).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 227
Man whose name is East,' l — a very strange appellation,
if you imagine the man composed of body and soul to
be meant; but if you take him for that Incorporeal
Man in no way differing from the Divine Image, you
will admit that the giving him the name of East exactly
hits the mark.
" For the Father of things that are hath made him
rise as His Eldest Son, whom elsewhere He hath called
His First-born, and who, when he hath been begotten,
imitating the ways of his Sire, and contemplating His
archetypal patterns, fashions the species [of things]." 2
Here we notice first of all Philo's graphic manner
(a commonplace of the time) of quoting Ezekiel as
though he were still alive, and he had heard him speak ;
and, in the second place, that the First-born Son is
symbolically represented as the Sun rising in the East.
THE TRUE HIGH PRIEST
That, moreover, the Logos is the Son of God, he
explains at length in another passage, when writing of
the true High Priest:
" But we say that the High Priest is not a man, but
the Divine Reason (Logos), who has no part or lot in
any transgressions, not only voluntary errors, but also
involuntary ones. For, says Moses, he cannot be defiled
either 'on account of his father,' the Mind, nor 'on
account of his mother,'3 the [higher] Sense — in that,
as I think, it is his good fortune to have incorruptible
1 Or Rising. Cf. Zech. vi. 12 — where A.V. translates : " Behold
the man whose name is The Branch." Philo, however, follows
LXX., but reads fodptairos instead of avfy. The Man-doctrine of
the " Pcemandres " and of the Naassene Document was a funda-
mental one with Philo.
2 De Gonfus. Ling., § 14 ; M. i. 414, P. 329 (Ri. ii. 262).
3 Cf. Lev. xxi. 11.
228 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
and perfectly pure parents, — God for father, who is as
well Father of all things, and for mother Wisdom,
through whom all things came into genesis ; and because
'his head hath been anointed with oil,' — I mean his
ruling principle1 shineth with ray-like brilliance, so
that he is deemed fit for robing in his vestures.
"Now the Most Ancient Eeason (Logos) of That-
which-is is vestured with the Cosmos as his robe ; — for
he wrappeth himself in Earth and Water, Air and Fire,
and what comes from them ; the partial soul [doth
clothe itself] in body ; the wise man's mind in virtues.
" And ' he shall not take the mitre from off his head,'
[signifies] he shall not lay aside the royal diadem,
the symbol of his admirable rule, which, however, is
not that of an autocrat-emperor, but of a viceroy.
" Nor ' will he rend his garments,' — for the Keason
(Logos) of That-which-is, being the bond of all things, as
hath been said, both holds together all the parts, and
binds them, and does not suffer them to be dissolved or
separated." 2
In another passage Philo treats of the same subject
still more plainly from the point of view of the
Mysteries, writing as follows:
" For there are, as it seems, two temples of God ; —
the one is this Cosmos, in which there is also the High
Priest, His First-born Divine Keason (Logos) ; the
other is the rational soul, whose [High] Priest is the
True Man, a sensible copy of whom is he who rightly
performs the prayers and sacrifices of his Father, who
is ordained to wear the robe, the duplicate of the
1 ri> fiyfuoviKfo — that is, the authoritative or responsible part of
the soul, namely, the reason — a Stoic technical term.
2 De Prof., § 20 ; M. i. 562, P. 466 (Ri. iii. 133). The quota-
tions look back to Lev. xxi. 10, but the readings in the first two
differ from the LXX.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 229
universal heaven, in order that the cosmos may work
together with man, and man with the universe." x
THE ELDER AND YOUNGEK SONS OF GOD
The Cosmic Logos is not the sensible cosmos, but the
Mind thereof. This Philo explains at length.
"It is then clear, that He who is the generator of
things generated, and the artificer of things fashioned,
and the governor of things governed, must needs be
absolutely wise. He is in truth the father, and
artificer, and governor of all in both the heaven and
cosmos.
"Now things to come are hidden in the shade of
future time, sometimes at short, and sometimes at
long distances. But God is the artificer of time as
well. For He is father of its father ; and time's father
is the cosmos, which manifests its motion as the
genesis of time ; so that time holds to God the place
of grandson.
" For that this cosmos 2 is the Younger Son of God,
in that it is perceptible to sense. The Son who's older
than this one, He hath declared to be no one [perceiv-
able by sense], for that he is conceivable by mind
alone. But having judged him worthy of the elder's
rights, He hath determined that he should remain with
Him alone.
" This [cosmos], then, the Younger Son, the sensible,
being set a-moving, has caused time's nature to appear
and disappear ; so that there nothing is which future is
with God, who has the very bounds of time subject to
Him. For 'tis not time, but time's archetype and
paradigm, Eternity (or ^Eon), which is His life. But
1 De Som., § 37 ; M. i. 653, P. 597 (Ki. iii. 260).
2 That is the sensible and not the intelligible cosmos.
230 THRICE- GREATEST HERMES
in Eternity naught's past, and naught is future, but all
is present only." l
YET GOD is ONE
The Logos, then, is not God absolute, but the Son of
God par excellence, and as such is sometimes referred to
as " second," and once even as the " second God." Thus
Philo writes :
" But the most universal [of all things] is God, and
second the Eeason (Logos') of God." 2
In his treatise entitled Questions and Answers,
however, we read :
" But why does He say as though [He were speaking]
about another God, 'in the image of God I made
" man ",' 3 but not in His own image ?
" Most excellently and wisely is the oracle propheti-
cally delivered. For it was not possible that anything
subject to death should be imaged after the supremest
God who is the Father of the universes, but after the
second God who is His Eeason (Logos).
" For it was necessary that the rational impress in the
soul of man should be stamped [on it] by the Divine
Eeason (Logos), since God, who is prior even to His own
Eeason, transcendeth every rational nature ; [so that] it
was not lawful that aught generable should be made like
unto Him who is beyond the Eeason, and established in
the most excellent and the most singular Idea [of all]." 4
1 QuodDeus Im., § 6 ; M. i. 277, P. 298 (Ri. ii. 72, 73).
2 Leg. Alkg., § 21 ; M. i. 82, P. 1103 (Ri. i. 113).
3 Cf. Gen. i. 27. Philo reads iv tlictvt instead of the tear' eiWva
of LXX., and ^roirjo-a instead of ^rofijo-<.
4 Namely, in His Reason. The Greek text is quoted by
Eusebius, Prasp. Evang., vii. 13 (M. ii. 625, Ri. vi. 175), who gives
it as from Bk. i. of Qucest. et Solut. The original text is lost, but
we have a Latin Version — q.v. ii. § 62 (Ri. vi. 356) — which, how-
ever, in this instance, has made sorry havoc of the original.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 231
From this passage we see that though it is true Philo
calls the Logos the " second God," he does not depart
from his fundamental monotheism, for the Logos is not
an entity apart from God, but the Reason of God.
Nevertheless, this solitary phrase of Philo's is almost
invariably trotted out in the forefront of all enquiry
into Philo's Logos-doctrine, in order that the difference
between this phrase and the wording of the Proem to
the Fourth Gospel may be insisted on as strongly as
possible for controversial apologetical purposes.
That, however, Philo is a strict monotheist may be
seen from the following passage, in which he is com-
menting on the words of Gen. xxxi. 13 : " I am the God
who was seen by thee in the place of God " 1 — where,
apparently, two Gods are referred to.
" What, then, should we say ? The true God is one ;
they who are called gods, by a misuse of the term, are
many. On which account the Holy Word 2 has, on the
present occasion, indicated the true [God] by means of
the article, saying : ' I am the God ' ; but the [one so
named] by misuse of the term, without the article,
saying : ' who was seen by thee in the place/ not of the
God, but only 'of God.' And what he (Moses) here
calls ' God ' is His Most Ancient Word (Logos)." 3
THE LOGOS is LIFE AND LIGHT
This Logos, moreover, is Life and Light. For,
speaking of Intelligible or Incorporeal " Spirit " and
" Light," Philo writes :
1 Philo and LXX. both have : " iyt& tlpi 6 Qtbs & o<f>6tls ao\.
lv -rAity Otov" ; whereas A.V. translates: "I am the God of
Beth-el "—that is, the " House or Place of El or God."
2 Here meaning the Inspiration of Scripture.
3 De Som., i. § 39 ; M. i. 655, P. 599 (Ki. iii. 262, 263).
232 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" The former he [' Moses '] called the Breath of God,
because it is the most life-giving thing [in the universe],
and God is the cause of life ; and the latter the Light
[of God], because it is by far the most beautiful thing
[in the universe].
" For by so much more glorious and more brilliant is
the intelligible [Light] than the visible, as, methinks,
the sun is than darkness, and day than night, and the
mind, which is the guide of the whole soul, than the
sensible means of discernment, and the eyes than the
body.
"And he calls the invisible and intelligible Divine
Keason (Logos) the Image of God. And of this [Image]
the image [in its turn] is that intelligible light, which
has been created as the image of the Divine Reason
who interprets it [that is, Light's] creation.
" [This Light] is the [One] Star, beyond [all] heavens,
the Source of the Stars that are visible to the senses,
which it would not be beside the mark to call All-
brilliancy, and from which the sun and moon and the
rest of the stars, both errant and fixed, draw their
light, each according to its power." 1
The necessity and reason of forming some such
concept of the Logos is that man cannot bear the utter
transcendency of God in His absoluteness. And apply-
ing this idea further to theophanies in human form,
Philo writes :
"For just as those who are unable to look at the
sun itself look upon its reflected rays as the sun, and
the [light-] changes round the moon, as the moon itself,
so also do men regard the Image of God, His Angel,
Keason (Logos), as Himself." 2
1 De Mund. Op., § 8 ; M. i. 6, 7, P. 6 (Ri. i. 11).
2 De Som., § 41 ; M. i. 657, P. 600 (Ri. iii. 264).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 233
THE DIVINE VISION
Such Divine Vision is the object of the contemplative
life, for :
" It is the special gift of those who dedicate them-
selves to the service (Qepa-jrevovTwv) of That-which-
is . . . to ascend by means of their rational faculties
to the height of the aether, setting before themselves
' Moses ' — the Eace that is the friend of God,1 as the
leader of the way.
" For then they will behold ' the place that is clear,' 2
on which the immovable and unchangeable God hath
set His feet, and the [regions] beneath His feet, as it
were a work of sapphire stone, and as it might be the
form of the firmament of heaven, the sensible cosmos,
which he [' Moses '] symbolises by these things.
" For it is seemly that those who have founded a
brotherhood for the sake of wisdom, should long to see
Him ; and if they cannot do this, to behold at least
His Image, Most Holy Reason (Logos)? and after him
also the most perfect work in [all] things sensible,
[namely] this cosmos.
" For the work of philosophy is naught else than the
striving clearly to see these things." *
THE SONS OF GOD ON EARTH
And later on, in the same treatise (§ 28), Philo writes
still more interestingly and instructively as follows :
1 This is the Kace of the Logos.
2 Cf. Ex. xxiv. 10. A.V. does not render this reading, but
LXX. gives " The place where the God of Israel stood."
3 Which here, as also above, Philo would equate with the " Place
of God."
4 De Confus. Ling., § 20 ; M. i. 419, P. 333, 334 (Ri. ii.
268, 269).
234 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" But they who have attained unto wisdom, are, as they
should be, called Sons of the One God, as Moses admits
when he says : ' Ye are the Sons of the Lord God,' 1 and
1 God who begat thee,' 2 and ' Is not He Himself thy
father?'3 . . .
" And if a man should not as yet have the good for-
tune to be worthy to be called a Son of God, let him
strive manfully to set himself in order according to
His First-born Reason (Logos), the Oldest Angel, who is
as though it were the Angel-chief, of many names ; for
he is called Dominion,4 and Name of God, and Reason,
and the Man-after-the-likeness, and Seeing Israel.
" And for this reason I was induced a little before
to praise the principles of them who say : ' We are all
Sons of One Man.' 5 For even if we have not yet become
fit to be judged Sons of God, we may at anyrate be Sons
of His Eternal Likeness, His Most Holy Reason; for
Reason, the Eldest [of all Angels], is God's Likeness [or
Image]."6
And so also we read elsewhere :
" But the Reason (Logos) is God's Likeness, by whom
[sc. Reason] the whole Cosmos was fashioned." 7
This Divine Reason of things, then, was the means by
which the Cosmos came into existence. And so we
find Philo writing :
"But if anyone should wish to make use of naked
1 Deut. xiv. 1. A.V. : " Ye are the children of the Lord your
God." LXX. : "Ye are the sons of the Lord your God."
2 Deut. xxxii. 18. A.V. : " God that formed thee." LXX. has
the same reading as Philo.
3 Deut. xxxii. 6.
4 opx^> or Source, Beginning, as in the Proem to the Fourth
Gospel.
5 Gen. xlii. 11.
6 De Confus. Ling., § 28 ; M. i. 426, 427, P. 341 (Ri. ii. 279).
7 De Monarch., ii. § 5 ; M. ii. 225, P. 823 (Ri. iv. 302).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 235
terms, he might say that the intelligible order of things l
is nothing else than the Eeason (Logos) of God per-
petually creating the [sensible] world-order.
THE CITY OF GOD
"For the Intelligible City is nothing else but the
reasoning of the Architect determining in His Mind to
found a city perceivable by the senses after [the model
of] the City which the mind alone can perceive.
" This is the doctrine of Moses and not [only] mine.
At any rate in describing the genesis of man he ex-
pressly agrees that he [man] was fashioned in the image
of God. And if this is the case with the part — the
image of the Image — it is plainly also the case with the
whole Form, that is the whole of this sensible cosmos,
which is a [far] greater imitation of the Divine Image
than the human image is.
"It is plain, moreover, that the Archetypal Seal,
which we call Cosmos which is perceptible only to the
intellect, must itself be the Archetypal Pattern,2 the
Idea of ideas, the Eeason (Logos) of God."3
And elsewhere also he writes :
"Passing, then, from details, behold the grandest
House or City, namely, this cosmos. Thou shalt find
that the cause of it is God, by whom it came into exist-
ence. The matter of it is the four elements, out of
which it has been composed. The instrument by means
of which it has been built, is the Eeason (Logos) of God.
And the object of its building is the Goodness of the
Creator." 4
And again :
1 Or the cosmos, which is comprehensible by the intellect alone.
2 Or Paradigm.
3 De Mund. Op., § 6 ; M. i. 5, P. 5 (Ri. i. 9).
4 De Cherub., § 35 ; M. i. 162, P. 129 (Ri. i. 228).
236 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
GOD'S SHADOW
" Now the Eeason (Logos) is the Likeness of God, by
which the whole cosmos was made." 1
And still more clearly :
" But God's Shadow is His Eeason (Logos), which
using, as it were an instrument, He made the cosmos.
And this Shadow is as it were the Archetypal Model of
all else. For that as God is the Original of His Image,
which he [' Moses '] now calls [His] Shadow, so, [in its
turn] that Image is the model of all else, as he [' Moses ']
showed when, at the beginning of the law-giving, he
said : ' And God made man according to the Image of
God,'2 — this Likeness being imaged according to God,
and man being imaged according to this Likeness,
which received the power of its Original." 3
Moreover, the Divine Eeason, as an instrument, is
regarded as the means of separation and division :
" So God, having sharpened His Eeason (Logos), the
Divider of all things, cut off both the formless and
undifferentiated essence of all things, and the four
elements of cosmos which had been separated out of
it,4 and the animals and plants which had been com-
pacted by means of these." 5
With this we may compare the following passage
from The Acts of John, where we read of the Logos :
" But what it is in truth, as conceived of in itself,
and as spoken of to thee,6— it is the marking-off [or
delimitation] of all things, the firm necessity of those
1 De Monarch., ii. § 5 ; M. ii. 225, P. 823 (Ei. iv. 302).
2 Gen. i. 26.
3 Leg, Alleg., Hi. § 31 ; M. i. 106, 107, P. 79 (Ri. i. 152, 153).
4 Sc. the essence.
6 Sc. elements. Quis Rer. Div. Her., § 27 ; M. i. 492, P. 500
(Ri. iii. 32).
6 John, to whom the Master is speaking.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 237
things that are fixed and were unsettled, the Harmony
of Wisdom." 1
But to return to the concept of the Logos as symbolised
by the idea of a City ; speaking of the six " cities of
refuge," Philo allegorises them as follows :
" Is not, then, the most ancient and most secure and
best Mother-city, and not merely City, the Divine Reason
(Logos), to which it is of the greatest service to flee first ?
" The other five, as though they were colonies [from
it], are the Powers of the Speaker [of this Word
(Logos) ], of which the chief is the Creative [Potency],
according to which He who creates by Reason [or Word],
fashioned the cosmos. The second is the Sovereign
[Potency], according to which He who created, ruleth
that which is brought into existence. The third is the
Merciful [Potency], by means of which the Artist hath
compassion and hath mercy on His own work. The
fourth is the Legislative Providence, by means of which
He doth forbid the things that may not be. . . ."2
Philo then regards these " cities " as symbolising the
refuges to which the various kinds of erring souls
should flee to find comfort. If the Divine Reason, and
the Creative and Sovereign (Kingly) Powers are too
far off for the comprehension of the sinner's ignorance,
then he should flee to other goals at a shorter distance,
the " cities " of the Necessary Powers, namely, the
Powers of Mercy and of the Law, which latter are
twofold, Enjoining and Forbidding, the latter again of
which is referred to vaguely, at the end of the chapter,
as the " averting of evils " without further definition.
1 F. F. F., 436.
2 De Prof., § 18 ; M. i. 560, P. 464 (Ri. iii. 130). There is un-
fortunately a lacuna in the text, so that we do not learn the char-
acteristics of the fifth potency ; but this is explained elsewhere, —
the Legislative Providence being a twofold potency, namely, the
Enjoining and the Forbidding.
238 THRICE- GREATEST HERMES
Moreover, Philo continues, there are symbols of these
five Potencies mentioned in the Scriptures :
" [The symbols] of Command and Prohibition are the
[two tables of the] laws in the ark ; of the Merciful
Potency, the top of the ark, which he [ ' Moses '] calls
the Mercy - seat ; of the Creative and Sovereign
[Potencies], the winged Cherubim, who are set over it.
" But the Divine Reason (Logos) above them did not
take any visible shape, inasmuch as no sensible object
answers to it, for it is the very Likeness of God, the
Eldest of all beings, one and all, which are cognisable by
mind alone, the nearest to the [One and] Only One-
that-is, without a space of any kind between, copied
inerrantly.
" For it is said : ' I will speak to thee from above
the Mercy-seat, from between the two Cherubim. ' l
" So that he who drives the Chariot 2 of the Powers is
the Word (Logos), and He who is borne in the Chariot
is He who speaks [the Word], giving commandment to
the Driver for the right driving of the universe. " 3
THE TRUE SHEPHERD
Again, speaking of God as the True Shepherd of the
universe and all things therein, the elements and all
therein, the sun, moon, and planets, the stars and
heavens, Philo writes :
"[He placed] at the head His own True Eeason
(Logos), His First-born Son, who shall succeed unto the
care of this sacred flock, as though he were the lieutenant
of the Great King." 4
1 Ex. xxv. 22.
2 This plainly refers to the Mercabah or Chariot of the Vision
of Ezechiel.
3 De Prof., § 19 ; M. i. 561, P. 465 (Ri. iii. 131).
4 De Agric.y § 12 ; M. i. 308, P. 195 (Ri. ii. 116).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 239
The Divine Reason of things, moreover, is regarded
as the Pleroma or Fullness of all powers, — ideal space,
and ideal time, if such terms can be permitted. The
Logos is the Mon or Eternity proper. And so Philo
speaks of :
"The Divine Eeason (Logos) whom God Himself
hath full-filled entirely and throughout with incorporeal
powers." l
THE APOSTLES OF GOD
This Supreme Logos, then, is filled full of powers —
words, logoi, in their turn, energies of God. As Philo
writes :
" For God not disdaining to descend into the sensible
world, sends forth as His apostles His own 'words' (logoi)
to give succour to those who love virtue ; and they act
as physicians and expel the diseases of the soul." 2
These " words " or " reasons " are men's angels ; they
are the "light-sparks" or "rays" in the heart — of
which we hear so much in " Gnostic " and allied litera-
ture— all from the Father-Sun, the Light of God, or
Logos proper, which Philo calls " the Light of the
invisible and supremest Deity that rays and shines
transcendently on every side."
THE LADDER OF THE " WORDS"
" When this Light shineth into the mind, the
secondary beams of the ' words ' (logoi) set [or are
hidden]." 3
In treating of the allegorical Ladder set up from
earth to heaven, Philo first gives what he considers to
1 De Som., i. § 11 ; M. i. 630, P. 574 (Ri. iii. 227).
a Ibid., § 12 ; M. i. 631, P. 575 (Ri. iii. 229).
3ilbid., § 13.
240 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
be its cosmic correspondences and then applies the
figure to the little world of man :
" The ladder (/tAZ)xa£), then, symbolically spoken of,
is in the cosmos somewhat of the nature I have
suggested. But if we turn our attention to it in man,
we shall find it is the soul ; the foot of which is as it
were its earthly part — namely, sensation, while its head
is as it were its heavenly part — the purest mind.
" Up and down through all of it the ' words ' (logoi)
go incessantly ; whenever they ascend, drawing it up
together with them, divorcing it from its mortal nature,
and revealing the sight of those things which alone are
worth the seeing; — not that when they descend they
cast it down, for neither God nor yet God's Word
(Logos) is cause of any loss.
"But they accompany them1 [in their descent] for
love of man and pity of our race, to succour, and give
help, that they, by breathing into them their saving
breaths, may bring the soul to life, tossed as it is upon
the body ['s waves] as on a river ['s bosom].
" It is the God and Governor of the universe alone
who doth, transcending sound and sight, walk 'mid the
minds of them who have been throughly purified. For
them there is an oracle, which the sage prophesied, in
which is said : ' I will walk amid you ; and I will be
your God.' 2
"But in the minds of them who are still being
washed, and have not yet had throughly cleansed the
life that is befouled and stained with bodies' grossness,
it is the angels, the ' words ' (logoi) divine, making them
bright for Virtue's eyes." 3
This Light of God is, as has repeatedly been said
before, the Divine Keason of things.
1 Sc. the souls. 2 Lev. xxvi. 12.
s De Som., § 23 ; M. i. 642, 643, P. 587 (Ri. iii. 245, 246).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 241
" ' For the Lord is my Light and my Saviour,' l as is
sung in the Hymns ; — [He is] not only Light, but the
Archetype of every other light ; nay rather more ancient
and sublime than the Archetypal Model [of all things],
in that this [latter] is His Word (Logos). For the
[Universal] Model is His all-full2 Word, the Light,
while He Himself is Jike to naught of things created." 3
THE LOGOS THE SPIRITUAL SUN
This Word, or Logos, is further symbolised among
phenomena as the sun. The Spiritual Sun is the Divine
Reason — " the intelligible Model of the [sun] that
moves in heaven."
" For the Word (Logos) of God, when it enters into
our earthly constitution, succours and aids those who
are Virtue's kinsmen, and those that are favourably
disposed to her, affording them a perfect place of refuge
and salvation, and shedding on their foes * destruction
and ruin past repair." 5
The Logos is thus naturally the panacea of all ills.
"For the Word (Logos) is, as it were, the saving
medicine for all the wounds and passions of the soul,
which [Word], the lawgiver declares, we should restore
' before the sun's going down ' 6 — that is, before the
1 Ps. xxvii. 1. A.V. "salvation." LXX. reads
"illumination" — a technical term among the mystics of Early
Christendom for baptism — instead of the <j>ws of Philo.
2 That is, the Logos as Pleroma.
3 De Som., § 13. * Sc. the vices of the soul.
6 Ibid., § 15 ; M. i. 363, P. 578 (Ri. iii. 232).
6 This seems to be somewhat reminiscent of the custom of
evening prayer in the Therapeut and other similar communities,
when, at the time of the setting of the sun, it was enjoined that
" rational " praises should be restored or given back to God, for
benefits received.
Philo, however, is here somewhat laboriously commenting, in
VOL. I. 16
242 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
most brilliant rays of God, supremest and most mani-
fest, go down [or set] — [rays] which through His pity
for our race He has sent forth from [His high] Heaven
into the mind of man.
" For whilst that Light most Godlike abideth in the
soul, we shall restore the ' word ' (logos) that hath been
given to us in pledge, as though it were a garment,
that it may be to him who doth receive it, the special
property of man — [a garment] both to cover up the
shame x of life, and to enjoy the gift of God and have
respite in quietude, by reason of the present help of
such a counsellor, and of a shielder such as will never
leave the rank in which he hath been stationed." 2
From all of which it seems that Philo is drawing a
distinction between the Pure Light of the Logos and
the reflection of that Light in the reason of man, for
he goes on to say :
" Indeed we have prolonged this long excursus for no
other reason than to explain that the trained mind,
moved by irregular motions to productiveness and its
contrary, and, as it were, continually ascending and
descending [the ladder] — when it is productive and
raised into the height, then is it bathed in radiance of
the archetypal immaterial rays of the Logic 3 Source of
God who bringeth all unto perfection ; and when it
doth descend and is barren, it is illumined by their
allegorical fashion, on the pawnbroking bye-law in Ex. xxii. 26,
27 : " But if thou takest in pledge thy neighbour's garment, thou
shalt give it him back before the going down of the sun. For
this is his covering ; this is the only garment of his indecency.
In what [else] shall he sleep ? If, then, he shall cry unto me, I
will give ear to him ; for I am pitiful." (See § 16.) The A.V.
translates otherwise.
1 Cf. the well-known logos from the Gospel according to the
Egyptians, " Unless ye tread on the garment of shame."
2 De Som., § 18 ; M. i. 637, P. 582 (Ri. iii. 238).
3 Or Rational.
PHILO OP ALEXANDRIA 243
images, the ' words ' (logoi) immortal, whom it is custom
to call angels." l
THE DISCIPLES OF THE LOGOS
And a little later on Philo proceeds to speak of those
who are disciples or pupils of the Holy Word or Divine
Eeason.
"These are they who are truly men, lovers of
temperance, and orderliness, and modesty," — whose life
he proceeds further to describe in similar terms to those
he uses of the Therapeuts.
Such a life, he concludes, "is adapted not for
those who are called men, but for those who are
truly so."2
For those, then, who consciously set their feet upon
the ladder of true manhood, there is a Way up even to
Deity Itself, for Philo writes :
" Stability, and sure foundation, and eternally abid-
ing in the same, changeless and immovable, is, in the
first place, a characteristic of That-which-is ; and, in
the second, [a characteristic] of the Eeason (Logos)
of That-which-is — which Eeason He hath called his
Covenant ; in the third, of the wise man ; and in the
fourth, of him who goeth forward [towards wisdom]." 3
How, then, continues Philo, can the wicked mind
think that it can stand alone — " when it is swept
hither and thither by the eddies of passion, which carry
the body forth to burial as a corpse ? "
And a little later on he proceeds to tell us that Eden
must be taken to stand for the Wisdom of God.
1 Ibid., § 19 ; M. i. 638, P. 582 (Hi. iii. 239).
2 Ibid., 20 ; M. i. 639, P. 584 (Ri. iii. 241). Of. G. H., x. (xi.)
24.
3 De Svm., ii. § 36 ; M. i. 690, P. 1140 (Ri. iii. 312).
244 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" And the Divine Reason (Logos) floweth down like
a river, from Wisdom, as from a source, that it may
irrigate and water the heavenly shoots and plants of
Virtue-lovers, that grow upon the sacred Mountain of
the Gods,1 as though it were a paradise.
THE RIVER OF THE DIVINE REASON
" And this Holy Reason is divided into four sources
— I mean it is separated into four virtues — each of
which is a queen. For its being divided into sources 2
does not bear any resemblance to division of space, but
rather to a sovereignty,3 in order that, having pointed
to the virtues, as its boundaries, he ['Moses'] may
immediately display the wise man, who makes use of
these virtues, as king, elected to kingship, not by the
show of men's hands, but by choice of that Nature
[namely, Virtue] which alone is truly free, and genuine,
and above all bribes. . . .
"Accordingly, one of the companions of Moses,
likening this Word (Logos) to a river, says in the
Hymns : ' The river of God was filled with water.' 4
" Now it is absurd that any of the rivers flowing on
earth should be so called ; but, as it seems, he [the
psalmist] clearly signifies the Divine Reason (Logos),
full of the flood of Wisdom, having no part of itself
bereft or empty [thereof], but rather, as has been said,
being entirely diffused throughout the universe, and
[again] raised up to the height [thereof], by reason of
1 Lit., Olympian.
2 apxal mean sources, but also principles and sovereignties.
It is, however, impossible to keep the word-play in English.
3 Or kingdom, namely, " of the heavens," or rulership of the
celestial realms, or rather of one's self.
* Ps. Ixv. 9. So also LXX. ; but A.V., " Thou greatly en-
richest it with the river of God, which is full of water."
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 245
the perpetual and continuous [circling] course of that
eternally flowing fountain.
" There is also the following song-verse : ' The rapid
flow of the river maketh glad the city of God.' l
JERUSALEM ABOVE
" What kind of city ? For what is now the holy
city,2 in which is the holy temple, was founded at a
distance from sea and rivers ; so that it is clear that
[the writer] intends to represent by means of an under-
meaning something different from the surface-sense.
" For indeed the stream of the Divine Eeason (Logos)
continually flowing on with rapidity and regularity,
diffuses all things through all and maketh them glad.
" And in one sense he calls cosmos the City of God,
inasmuch as, receiving the whole cup3 of the Divine
draught it . . .,* and, being made joyous, it shouteth
with a joy that can never be taken away or quenched
for the eternity.
" But in another sense [he uses it of] the soul of the
wise man, in which God is said to walk as in a city, for
' I will walk in you and I will be your God.' 5
" And for the happy soul that stretches forth its
own reasoning 6 as a most holy drinking vessel 7 — who
is it that poureth forth the sacred measures of true joy,
if not the cup-bearer of God, the [Divine] Reason (Logos),
who is master of the feast ? — he who differs not from
1 Ps. xlvi. 4. LXX. has the plural, rivers or streams. A.V.
translates : " There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad
the city of God."
2 The physical Jerusalem in Palestine.
3 KpaTTjpa, — lit., crater or mixing-bowl.
4 A lacuna occurs here in the text.
5 A loose quotation of Lev. xxvi. 12, as already cited above.
246 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the draught, but is himself unmingled delight, and
sweetness, f orthpouring, good-cheer, the immortal philtre
of all joy and of contentment, — if we may use the words
of poetry.
" But the City of God the Hebrews call Jerusalem,
which by interpretation signifies the ' Sight of Peace.'
Wherefore seek not the City of That-which-is in
regions of the earth — for 'tis not made of stocks and
stones ; but [seek it] in the soul that doth not war, but
offers unto them of the keen sight a life of contemplation
and of peace." l
This, then, is how Philo understands the New Jeru-
salem (or Ogdoad), so familiar to us from the writings
of the " Gnostic " schools, beyond which was the Pleroma
or Treasure of Light. For elsewhere he writes :
" He will offer a fair and fitting prayer, as Moses did,
that God may open for us His Treasure, yea [His]
Reason (Logos) sublime, and pregnant with lights divine,
which he [' Moses '] has called Heaven." 2
These "lights" are "reasons" (logoi), for a little
further on he says :
"Thou seest that the soul is not nourished with
things earthly and contemptible, but by the reasons
God rains down from His sublime and pure nature,
which he [' Moses '] calls Heaven." 3
THE LOGOS is AS MANNA AND CORIANDER SEED
And a little further on, referring to the allegorical
" manna," or heavenly food, " the bread which the Lord
hath given you to eat " (Ex. xvi. 13), he writes :
1 De Som., ii. §§ 37-39 ; M. i. 690-692, P. 1141, 1142 (Ei. iii.
312-315).
2 Leg. Alleg., iii. § 34 ; M. i. 108, P. 80 (Ki. i. 155).
3 Ibid., § 56 ; M. i. 119, P. 90 (Hi. i. 170).
PHILO OP ALEXANDRIA 247
" Dost thou not see the food of the soul, what it is ?
It is the Continuing Eeason (Logos) of God, like unto
dew, encircling the whole of it [the soul] on all sides,
and suffering no part of it to be without its share of
it [the Logos].
"But this Eeason is not apparent everywhere, but
[only] in the man who is destitute of passions and vices ;
yea, subtle is it for the mind to distinguish, or to be
distinguished by the mind, exceedingly translucent and
pure for sight to see.
"It is, moreover, as it were, a coriander seed.1 For
agriculturalists declare that the seed of the coriander
can be divided and dissected infinitely, and that every
single part and section [thereof], when sown, comes up
just as the whole seed. Such also is the Eeason (Logos)
of God, profitable in its entirety and in every part,
however small it be." 2
And he adds a little further on :
" This is the teaching of the hierophant and prophet,
Moses, who will say : ' This is the bread, the food
which God hath given to the soul,'3 that He hath
given [us] for meat and drink, His own Word,4 His
own Eeason,5 for this [Eeason] is the bread which He
hath given us to eat ; this is the Word." 6
THE LOGOS is THE PUPIL OF GOD'S EYE
Philo also likens the Divine Eeason to the pupil of
the eye — a figure that will meet us later in considering
the meaning of the Koptj KoV/xof ("Virgin of the
World") treatise — for he writes:
1 The grain of mustard seed of the Gospels and of the " Gnostics."
2 Ibid., § 59 ; M. i. 121, 122, P. 92 (Ri. i. 172, 173).
3 A gloss on Ex. xiv. 15.
4 two. 5 \6yos.
6 Leg. Alleg., iii., § 0 ; M. i. 121, P. 92 (Ri. i. 173).
248 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" May not [this Eeason] be also likened to the pupil
of the eye? For just as the eye's pupil, though the
smallest part [of it], does yet behold all of the zones of
things existing — the boundless sea, and vastness of the
air, and all of the whole heaven which the sun doth
bound from east to west, — so is the sight of the Divine
Eeason the keenest sight of all, so that it can behold
all things ; by which [men] shall behold things worthy
to be seen beyond white [light] l itself.
" For what could be more bright or more far-seeing
than Eeason Divine, by shining in which the other
[lights] drive out all mist and darkness, striving to
blend themselves with the soul's light." 2
"MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE"
And again, in a passage of intense interest we read :
"For He nourisheth us with His Eeason (Logos) —
the most general [of all things]. . . . And the Eeason
of God is above the whole cosmos; it is the most
ancient and most general of all the things that are.
" This Eeason the ' fathers ' 3 knew not, — not [our]
true [eternal] fathers, but those hoary in time, who
say : ' Let us take a leader, and let us return unto ' —
the passions of — ' Egypt.' 4
"Therefore let God announce His [good] tidings to
the soul in an image : ' Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word 5 that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God,' 6 — that is, he shall be nourished by the
whole of Eeason (Logos) and by [every] part of it.
For 'mouth' is a symbol of the [whole] Logos, and
' word ' is its part." 7
1 The reading seems to be faulty. 2 Ibid., § 59.
3 Qf. Deut. viii. 13. * Num. xiv. 4.
5 Wnan. 6 Deut. viii. 3.
7 Leg. Alleg., iii. § 61 ; M. i. 121, P. 93 (Ri. i. 174).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 249
These " fathers," then, are those of the lower nature,
and not our true spiritual parents ; it is these " fathers "
that we are to abandon.
Compare with this Matt. x. 37: "He who loveth
father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me " ;
and the far more striking form of the tradition in Luke
xiv. 26 : " If any man cometh unto Me, and doth not
hate his own father and mother and wife and children
and brethren and sisters, yea and his own soul also, he
cannot be My disciple."
In the Gnostic gospel, known as the Pistis Sophia
(341), the mystic meaning of these parents is given at
length, as signifying the rulers of the lower nature,
and the Master is made to say : " For this cause have I
said unto you aforetime, ' He who shall not leave father
and mother to follow after Me is not worthy of Me.'
What I said then was, ' Ye shall leave your parents
the rulers, that ye may be children of the First Ever-
lasting Mystery.' "
But the most arresting point is that Matt. iv. 4, in
the story of the Temptation, quotes precisely the same
words of the LXX. text of Deut. viii. 3 which Philo
does, beginning where he does and finishing where he
does, both omitting the final and tautological "shall
man live" — a very curious coincidence. Luke iv. 4
preserves only the first half of the sentence ; but it
evidently lay in exactly the same form in which Philo
uses it before the first and third Evangelists in their
second or " Logia " source. It was, then, presumably a
frequently quoted text.
THE LOGOS-MEDIATOR
The Divine Reasonis further figured as a true "Person,"
the Mediator between God and man. Thus Philo writes :
250 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" And on His angel-ruling and most ancient Reason
(Logos), the Father who created all, hath bestowed
a special gift — that standing between them as a
Boundary,1 he may distinguish creature from Creator.
" He [the Reason] ever is himself the suppliant unto
the Incorruptible on mortal kind's behalf in its distress,
and is the King's ambassador to subject nature.
"And he exulteth in his gift, and doth majesticly
insist thereon, declaring : ' Yea, have I stood between
the Lord and you,'2 — not increate as God, nor yet
create as ye, but in the midst between the [two]
extremes, hostage to both: to Him who hath created
him, for pledge that the creature never will remove itself
entirely [from Him], nor make revolt, choosing disorder
in order's place ; and to the thing created for good hope
that God, the Merciful, will never disregard the work
of His own hands. ' For I will herald forth the news
of peace to the creation from Him who knows how to
make wars to cease, from God the Everlasting Peace-
keeper.' " 3
In considering what is claimed to be the elaborate
symbolism of the sacred vestments of the High Priest,
and the nature of this symbolical office, Philo declares
that the twelve stones upon the breast of the High
Priest, in four rows of three each, are a symbol of the
Divine Reason (Logos), which holds together and regu-
lates the universe ; this breastplate, then, is the logion
or sacred oracle of God.
" For it was necessary that he who was consecrated
to the Father of the cosmos, should have [His] Son,
1 Cf. the "Gnostic" Horos (not the Egyptian Horus) as
referred to previously.
2 Perhaps a reflection of Num. xvi. 48.
3 Quis Rer. Div. Her., § 42 ; M. i. 501, 502, P. 504 (Ri. iii.
45, 46).
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 251
the most perfect in virtue, as intercessor,1 both for the
forgiveness2 of sins, and for the abundant supply of
the most unstinted blessings.
" It probably also imparts the preliminary teaching
to the Servant of God,3 that if he cannot be worthy of
Him who made the cosmos, he should nevertheless
without ceasing strive to be worthy of that cosmos;
for when he has [once] been clothed with its likeness,4
he is bound forthwith, by carrying about the image of
the model 5 in his head, of his own self to change him-
self as though it were from man into the nature of the
cosmos, and, if we ought to say so 6 — nay, he who
speaks on truth ought to speak truth ! — be [himself] a
little cosmos." 7
THE YOGA OF PLOTINUS
With these most instructive indications we may
compare the intensely interesting passage of Plotinus
in his essay " On Intelligible Beauty," where he gives
his yoga-system, so to speak. It is perhaps the most
important passage that has come down to us from the
corypheeus of Later Platonism, giving, as it does, in
every probability, the method of the school whereby
ecstasis was attained.
1 irapa.K\-frrcf — as paraclete, or intercessor, or defender (a term
of the law courts), or comforter.
2 a.(i.vi}ffTfiatr — lit., amnesty, or forgetfulness of wrong.
3 rbv TOV 6tov dtpaTrtvT-fiv — the Therapeut.
4 The dress of the High Priest, then, symbolised the cosmos —
the elements, etc. May we deduce from this that in one of the
Therapeut initiations the approyed candidate was clothed in such
a symbolic robe ?
6 Sc. the Logos as cosmos.
6 Signifying a religious scruple as referring to a matter of
initiation.
7 De Vii. Mos., iii. § 14 ; M. ii. 155, P. 673 (Hi. iv. 212, 213).
252 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
"Let us, then, form a mental image of this cosmos
with each of its parts remaining what it is, and yet
interpenetrating one another, [imagining] them all
together into one as much as we possibly can, — so that
whatsoever one comes first into the mind as the ' one '
(as for instance the outer sphere), there immediately
follows also the sight of the semblance of the sun, and
together with it that of the other stars,1 and the earth,
and sea, and all things living, as though in [one]
transparent sphere, — in fine, as though all things
could be seen in it.
" Let there, then, be in the soul some semblance of
a sphere of light [transparent], having all things in it,
whether moving or still, or some of them moving and
others still.
"And, holding this [sphere] in the mind, conceive in
thy self another [sphere], removing [from it all idea of]
mass; take from it also [the idea of] space, and the
phantom of matter in thy mind ; and do not try to image
another sphere [merely] less in bulk than the former.
"Then invoking God who hath made [that true sphere]
of which thou holdest the phantom [in thy mind], pray
that He may come.
" And may He come with his own cosmos,2 with all
the Gods therein — He being one and all, and each one
all, united into one, yet different in their powers, and
yet, in that one [power] of multitude all one.
" Nay, rather the One God is all [the Gods] for that
He falleth not short [of Himself] though all of them
are [from Him] ; [and] they are all together, yet each
again apart in [some kind of] an unextended state,
possessing no form perceptible to sense.
1 Presumably the seven " planetary spheres " of " difference,"
as set forth in Plato's Timceus.
3 Sc. the intelligible or spiritual world-order.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA 253
" For, otherwise, one would be in one place, another
in another, and [each] be ' each/ and not ' all ' in itself,
without parts other from the others and [other] from
itself.
"Nor is each whole a power divided and proportioned
according to a measurement of parts ; but this [whole]
is the all, all power, extending infinitely and infinitely
powerful; — nay, so vast is that [divine world-order1],
that even its ' parts ' are infinite." 2
THE EACE OF GOD
But to return to Philo. The rational soul or mind
of man is potentially the Intelligible Cosmos or Logos ;
thus he writes :
"The great Moses did not call the species of the
rational soul by a name resembling any one of the things
created, but he called it the image of the Divine and
Invisible, deeming it a true [image] brought into being
and impressed with the soul of God, of which the
Signet is the Eternal Eeason (Logos)." 3
All of which the disciplined soul shall realise in
himself. Of such a man Abraham is a type, for :
"Abandoning mortal things, he 'is added to the
people of God,'4 plucking the fruit of immortality,
having become equal to the angels. For the angels are
the host of God, incorporeal and happy souls."
1 Intelligible cosmos.
2 Ennead, V. viii. (cap. ix.), 550 A-B. ; Plot. Op. Om., ed. F.
Creuzer (Oxford, 1835), ii. 1016, 1017. M. N. Bouillet— in Les
Enneades de Plotin (Paris, 1861), iii. 122, 123 — gives, as usual, an
excellently clear rendering, but it is not easy to recognise some of
his sentences in the text.
3 De Plant. Noe, § 5 ; M. i. 332, P. 216, 217 (Ri. ii. 148).
4 A gloss on Gen. xxv. 8 : " And was added (A.V. gathered) to
his people."
254 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
The angels are the " people " of God ; but there is a
still higher degree of union, whereby a man becomes
one of the " Race " or " Kin " of God. This " Eace " is an
intimate union of all them who are " kin to Him " ; they
become one. For this Eace " is one, the highest one, but
' people ' is the name of many."
" As many, then, as have advanced in discipline and
instruction, and been perfected [therein], have their lot
among this ' many.'
"But they who have passed beyond these intro-
ductory exercises, becoming natural Disciples of God,
receiving wisdom free from all toil, migrate to this
incorruptible and perfect Eace, receiving a lot superior
to their former lives in genesis." *
And that the mind is immortal may be shown alle-
gorically from the death of Moses, who, says Philo,
migrated " by means of the Word (Logos) of the Cause,2
by whom the whole cosmos was created."
This is said " in order that thou mayest learn that
God regards the wise man as of equal honour with the
cosmos ; for it is by means of the same Eeason (Logos)
that He hath made the universe, and bringeth back the
perfect man from earthly things unto Himself again." s
But enough of Philo for the moment. Sufficient has
been given to let the reader hear the Alexandrian
speak for himself on the central idea of his cosmos.
Much else could be added — indeed, volumes could be
written on the subject — for it gives us one of the most
important backgrounds of Christian origins, and with-
out a thorough knowledge of Hellenistic theology it is
impossible in any way to get our values of many
things correctly.
» De Sam/., § 2 ; M. i. 164, P. 131 (Hi. i. 233).
2 Deut. xxxiv. 5. A.V. : " According to the word of the Lord."
* De -Sam/., § 3 ; M. i. 165, P. 131 (Ri. i. 233).
IX
PLUTAECH: CONCERNING THE MYSTERIES
OF ISIS AND OSIRIS
FOREWORD
Chapter IX: Plutarch: Concerning the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris
reader some outlines of the central doctrine of Hellen-
istic theology — the sublime concept of the Logos —
as envisaged by a learned Jew of the Diaspora, steeped
in Hellenism, and living in the capital of Egypt and
the centre of the intellectual life of Greater Greece.
In the present chapter we shall endeavour to give the
reader a further insight into this master-idea from
another standpoint, and shall reproduce the views of a
learned Greek, who, while remaining on the ground of
Hellenic traditions proper, turns his eyes to Egypt, and
reads what part of its mysterious message he can
decipher, in Greek modes of thought.
Plutarch, of Chseroneia in Boeotia, nourished in the
second half of the first century A.D., and so follows
immediately on Philo and on Paul ; like Philo, however,
he knows nothing of the Christians, though like the
Alexandrian he treats of precisely those problems and
questions which were and are of pre-eminent interest
for Christians.
Plutarch chooses as his theme the myth and mysteries
of Osiris and Isis. He gives the myth in its main
outlines, and introduces us into the general religious
255
256 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
atmosphere of the Egyptian belief of what we may,
perhaps, be allowed to call " Demotic " times. But he
does far more than this. Initiated himself into the
Osiriaca, of which there was apparently a thiasos at
Delphi, though on the one hand he possesses more
knowledge of formal details than he feels himself per-
mitted to disclose, on the other hand he is aware that
the " true initiate of Isis " is one who goes far beyond
any formal reception of the symbolic mysteries; the
true initiate must of his own initiative for ever keep
searching and probing more deeply into the intimate
reason of things, as adumbrated by the "things said
and done " in the sacred rites (iii. 3).
For this task Plutarch is well equipped, not only by
his wide knowledge of the philosophy and theology and
science of his day, but also by the fact that he held a
high office at Delphi in the service of Apollo and also
in connection with the Dionysiac rites. He was almost
certainly a hierophant, and no merely formal one at
that.
Plutarch accordingly gives a most instructive ex-
position, which should enable us, if only we are content
to put ourselves in his place, and condescend to think
in the terms of the thought of his day, to review the
ancient struggle between physical reason and formal
theology which was then in full conflict — a conflict
that has been renewed on a vastly extended scale for
the last few centuries, and which is still being fought
to a finish or honourable truce in our own day.
Our initiated philosopher is on the side neither of
atheism or pure physicism, nor on that of superstition,
as he understood those terms in his day ; he takes a
middle ground, and seeks final refuge in the fair vision
of the Logos; and that, too, in all humility, for he
knows well that whatever he can say is at best but a
THE MYSTERIES OP ISIS AND OSIRIS 257
dim reflection of the glory of the Highest, as indeed he
expressly tells us when writing:
"Nor can the souls of men here on the earth,
swathed as they are in bodies and enwrapped in
passions, commune with God, except so far as they
can reach some dun sort of a dream of Him with the
perception of a mind trained in philosophy " (Ixxiii. 2).
We accordingly find Plutarch discussing the various
theories of his day which professed to explain the
mythological and theological enigmas of the ancients,
with special reference to the Osiris myth.
He discusses the theory of Evemerus, that the gods
were nothing but ancient kings and worthies, and
dismisses it as no really satisfactory explanation (xxiii.).
He then proceeds to consider the theory that these
things refer to the doings of daimones, — which he
thinks a decided improvement on that of Evemerus
(xxv.).
Thence he passes to the theories of the Physicists
or natural phenomenalists (xxxii.), and of the Mathe-
matici — that is to say, the Pythagorean speculations as
to the celestial spheres, and their harmonies (xli.).
In each of these three latter theories he thinks there
is some truth ; still each by itself is insufficient ; they
must be combined (xlv.), and even then it is not enough.
He next considers the question of first principles,
and discusses the theories of the One, the Two, and
the Many ; again finding something to be said for each
view, and yet adopting none of them as all-sufficient.
But of all attempted interpretations he finds the
least satisfactory to be that of those who are content
to limit the hermeneutics of the mystery-myths simply
to the operations of ploughing and sowing. With this
" vegetation god " theory he has little patience, and
stigmatises its professors as that "dull crowd" (Ixv.).
VOL. i. 17
258 THRICE-GEEATEST HERMES
And here, perhaps, some of us may think that Plutarch
is not out of date even in the twentieth century of
grace, and his arguments might be recommended to the
consideration of those anthropologists who are just
now with such complacency running to death what
Mr Andrew Lang humourously calls the "Covent
Garden " theory.
Further on, dealing as he does with the puzzling
question of Egyptian "animal worship," Plutarch is
brought face to face with many problems of " taboo "
and " totemism," and he is not without interest in what
he says on these subjects (Ixxii. f.), and in the theories
of utilitarianism and symbolism which he adduces
(Ixxiv.).
Finally, he gives us his view of the rationale of the
custom of incense-burning (Ixxix.), which should be
of some concern to many in present-day Christian
communities.
But the whole of this complex of custom and rites,
puzzling and self-contradictory as they may appear,
and the whole of the riddles and veiled enigmas of
Egyptian priestly tradition, are, Plutarch believes,
resolvable into transparent simplicity by a proper
understanding of the true nature of man and of his
relation to Divine Nature, that Wisdom who is the
eternal and inseparable spouse of Divine Reason, the
Logos.
It would perhaps have been simpler for some of my
readers — it certainly would have been shorter — had
I condensed what Plutarch has to say ; but my desire
is rather to let this student of the comparative
theology of his day speak for himself, and not to give
my own views; for I still believe, in spite of the
superior formal education of the twentieth century,
that we cannot normally know more about the ancient
THE MYSTEEIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 259
mysteries and their inner purport than the best
minds who were initiated into them while they still
flourished.
For not only are we without the precise data which
these ancients possessed, but also the phase of thought
through which we have recently been passing, and in
which we mostly still are, is not one which can
sympathetically tolerate those very considerations
which, in my opinion, provide the most fertile ground
of explanation of the true inwardness of what was
best in those mystery-traditions.
Moreover, I have thought it of service to give a full
version of this treatise of Plutarch's from a decent
critical text,1 for the only translation in English read
by me is by no means a careful piece of work,2 and mani-
festly rendered from a very imperfect text ; also, the
language of Plutarch in some passages appears to me
to be deserving of more careful handling than has as
yet been accorded . it, for a number of sentences seem
to have been purposely phrased so as to be capable
of conveying a double meaning.
Finally, with regard to his own interpretation, I
would suggest that Plutarch, as was natural to a Greek,
has more insisted on intellectual modes of thought than
perhaps an Egyptian priest would have been inclined
to do ; for it seems probable that to the Egyptian mind
the chief interest would lie in the possibility of the
realisation of immediate contact with the Mystery in
all those modes which are not so much intellectual as
1 I use the texts of Parthey, Plutarch: Uber Isis und Osiris
(Berlin, 1850), and of Bernardakis, Plutarchi Ghaeronensis Moralia
(" Bibliotheca Teubneriana " ; Leipzig, 1889), ii. 471 ff.
2 See King (C. W.), Plutarch's Morals: Theosophical Essays
(London, 1889), pp. 1-71. S. Squire's Plutarch's Treatise of Isis
and Osiris (Cambridge, 1744) I have not read, and few can pro-
cure a copy nowadays.
260 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
sensible ; in other words, it would be by making himself
a vehicle of the Great Breath in his body rather than
a mirror of the Mystery in his mind, that the son of the
Nile Land would seek for union.
It is, moreover, of interest to find that Plutarch
addresses his treatise to a lady. For though we have
extant several moral tractates addressed to wives —
such as Porphyry's Letter to Marcella, and Plutarch's
Consolation to his own wife, Timoxena — it is rare to
find philosophical treatises addressed to women, and
nowadays many women are once more interested in
such " philosophy."
Plutarch wrote his essay at Delphi (Ixviii. 6), and
addressed it to Klea, a lady who held a distinguished
position among the Delphic priestesses, and who had
herself been initiated into the Osiriac Mysteries — her
very name Klea being, perhaps, her mystery -name
(xxxv.). The treatise is, therefore, addressed to one
who was prepared to read into it more than appears on
the surface.
It should also be remembered that in all probability
the main source of Plutarch's information was the now
lost treatise of Manetho on the Egyptian Eeligion, and
in this connection it is of interest to record Granger's
opinion, who, in referring to Plutarch's De Iside et
Osiride, says :
"First he deals with those opinions which identify
the Egyptian gods with natural objects — Osiris with
the Nile, Isis with the land, and so on. Then he con-
siders the interpretations of those who identify the gods
with the sun and moon, etc. (ch. Ixi.). These specula-
tions summarise for us, at first or second hand, some of
the Hermetic books current in Plutarch's time." l
1 Granger (F.), "The Poemander of Hermes Trismegistus,"
Jour. Theol Stud., vol. v. No. 19, p. 399.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 261
CONCERNING ISIS AND OSIRIS
ADDRESS TO KLEA CONCERNING GNOSIS AND THE
SEARCH FOR TRUTH l
1. I.2 While all who have mind, O Klea, should ask
for all their blessings from the Gods — let us, by pur-
suing after them, pray to obtain from them those
[blessings] of gnosis3 concerning them, as far as 'tis
within the reach of men ; in that there's nothing
greater for a man to get, nor more majestic for a God
to give, than Truth.
2. Of other things their God gives men what they
require, whereas of mind and wisdom He gives a share 4
to them — since He [Himself] possesses these and uses
[them].
For the Divine is neither blest through silver and
through gold, nor strong through thunderings and
lightnings, but [blest and strong] by gnosis and by
wisdom.
3. And thus most finely of all things which he hath
said about the Gods — sounding aloud :
Yea have they both a common source and one [fair] native
land ;
But Zeus came into being first and he knew more —
hath Homer made pronouncement of the primacy of
Zeus as more majestic, in that in gnosis and in wisdom
it 5 is older.
4. Nay, I believe that the good fortune of aeonian
life — the which the God hath gotten for his lot — is
1 I have added some sub-headings as an indication of contents.
2 I have numbered the paragraphs for greater convenience of
reference. 3 en-iar^ui?!.
A play on SiBwo-iv and /ueTa-SfSwo-ii/. 6 Sc. the primacy.
262 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
that by reason of His gnosis the things in genesis
should not entirely die ; for when the knowing of
existing things and being wise is taken from it, freedom
from death is Time — not Life.
THE ART OF KNOWING AND OF DIVINISING
II. 1. Wherefore the longing for the Godly state is
a desire for Truth, and specially the [truth] about the
Gods, in so much as it doth embrace reception of the
sacred [things] — instruction and research;1 a work
more holy than is all and every purging rite and
temple-service, and not least pleasing to that Goddess
whom thou servest, in that she is particularly wise and
wisdom-loving, seeing her very name doth seem to
indicate that knowing and that gnosis 2 is more suitable
to her than any other title.
2. For that " Isis" is Greek,3 and [so is] " Typhon"—
in that he's foe unto the Goddess, and is " puffed up " 4
through [his] unknowing and deceit, and tears the Holy
Reason (Logos) into pieces and makes away with it ; the
which the Goddess gathers up again and recomposes,
and transmits to those perfected in the art of divinis-
ing,5 — which • by the means of a continually sober life
. . Kal CiiTtiffiv. Mathesis was the technical
Pythagorean term for gnosis.
2 rb elS-fvai /cal T$)lr^ir-i<r-T^/uijj/ — word-plays on lens.
3 Cf. Ix. 2. The Egyptian of Isis is Ast.
4 T6Ti/0oyteVos — a play on TM^>&V — lit., "wrapped in smoke
(rv(f>os)," and because one so wrapped in smoke or clouds has his
intelligence darkened, hence " puffed up with conceit," crazy and
demented. TyphSn is the dark or hidden side of the Father.
5 Ottc&fffus (not in L. and S. or Soph.) ; it presumably comes
from the stem of 6ti6ut which means : (i.) to smoke with sulphur
and so purify ; (ii.) to make divine (0«<oj), and so transmute into
godship. The sentence may thus also mean "those initiated
into the sulphur rite" — a not impossible rendering when we
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 263
and by [their] abstinence from many foods and sexual
indulgences, tempers intemperate pleasure-love, and doth
accustom [them] to undergo, without being broken down,
the rigorous tasks of service in the sacred [rites], the
end of which is gnosis of the First and Lordly One, the
One whom mind alone can know,1 for whom the
Goddess calls on [them] to seek, though He is by her
side and one with her.
3. Nay more, the very appellation of the holy [place]
doth plainly promise gnosis, that is eidesis, of That-
which-is ; for it is named Iseion, as though " of them
who shall know"2 That-which-is, if that with reason
(logos) and with purity 3 we enter in the holy [places] of
the Goddess.
THE TRUE INITIATES OF Isis
III. 1. Yet many have set down that she is Hermes' ~}
daughter, and many [that she is] Prometheus's, — I
holding the latter as discoverer of wisdom and fore-
knowledge, and Hermes of the art of letters and the
Muses' art.
2. Wherefore, in Hermes-city, they call the foremost
of the Muses Isis, as well as Righteousness,4 in that she's
remember the Alchemical literature which had its source in
Chemia-Egypt. It will also permit us to connect brimstone with
Typhon — hoofs and all !
1 Or the Intelligible — voijroC.
2 els-ofifvuv rb ov — a play on iff-tl-ov — fut. of VF'8 (vid) from
which comes also rf5rj<ns above. This may also mean " seeing " as
well as " knowing," and thus may refer to the Epopteia or Mystery
of Sight, and not the preliminary Mystery of Hearing (Muesis).
3 dffioas — another play on TO-JJ ; cf. Ix. 3.
4 SiKaioffvfTft^ or Justice (Maat), that is, the " power of the
Judge," Hermes being Judge of the Scales. The Nine are the Paut
of Hermes, he being the tenth, the mystery being here read
differently from the Ogdoad point of view — that is to say, macro-
cosmically instead of cosmically.
264 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
wise,1 as has been said,2 and shows3 the mysteries of
the Gods to those who are with truth and justice called
the Carriers of the holy [symbols] and Wearers of the
holy robes.*
3. And these are they who carry the holy reason
(logos) about the Gods, purged of all superstition and
superfluity, in their soul, as in a chest, and cast robes
round it6 — in secret disclosing such [things] of the
opinion 6 about the Gods as are black and shadowy, and
such as are clear and bright, just as they are suggested
by the [sacred] dress.
4. Wherefore when the initiates of Isis at their
"death" are adorned in these [robes], it is a symbol
that this Keason (Logos) is with them ; and with Him
and naught else they go there.7
5. For it is not the growing beard and wearing cloak
that makes philosophers, 0 Klea, nor clothing in linen
and shaving oneself that makes initiates of Isis ; but a
true Isiac is one who, when he by law 8 receives them,
searches out by reason (logos) the [mysteries] shown and
1 Or, perhaps, the reading should be "Wisdom."
2 Of. ii. 1.
3 SeiKvvovffav — probably a play on SiKatoff^vriv.
4 Upo<ti4pois Kal ifpoffr6\otf. Plutarch by his "with truth and
justice" warns the reader against taking these words to mean
simply the carriers of the sacred vessels and instruments in the
public processions, and the sacristans or keepers of the sacred
vestments.
6 Trepi(TTf\\ovTts, which also means componere — that is, to lay
out a corpse and so to bury.
6 ol-fiffe<fs = SJfrjy, appearance, seeming — that is, the public myth ;
as opposed to \4yos— enurr-finti, knowledge or reality.
7 Or "walk there" — that is, in "Hades." Or, again, the
" death " is the death unto sin when they become Alive and walk
among the " dead " or ordinary men.
8 That is, when the initiation is a lawful one, or really takes
effect ; when a man's karma permits it, that is, after passing the
proper tests.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 265
done concerning these Gods, and meditates upon the
truth in them.
WHY THE PRIESTS ARE SHAVEN AND WEAR LINEN
IV. 1. Now, as far as the " many " are concerned, even
this commonest and smallest [secret] is hid from them,
— namely, why the priests cut off their hair, and wear
linen robes ; for some do not at all care to know about
these things, while others say that they abstain from
[the use of] the sheep's wool, as they do from its flesh,
because they hold it sacred, and that they shave their
heads through being in mourning, and wear linen things
on account of the colour which the flax in flower sends
forth, resembling the setherial radiance l that surrounds
the cosmos.
2. But the true cause, [the] one of all, is, as Plato says,
[because] : " It is not lawful for pure to touch not pure." 2
Now, superfluity8 of nourishment and excretion is
nothing chaste or pure ; and it is from superfluities that
wool and fur and hair and nails spring up and grow.
3. It would, thus, be laughable for them to cut off
their own hair in the purifications, shaving themselves,
and making smooth their whole body evenly, and [then]
put on and wear the [hair] of animals.4
4. For indeed we should think that Hesiod, when he
says:
Nor from five-branched at fire-blooming of Gods
Cut dry from green with flashing blade 6 —
1 xptav — also meaning surface, skin, and tone in melody.
2 Phced., 67 B.
3 Tttpiffffw/jia — also probably here a play on that which is" round
the body " (iftpl <r«/tia) — namely, the hair.
4 ep(fj./j.drt>y — lit., " things nourished " (from rpf<pu), presum-
ably a play on the " nourishment " (rpo<pi\) above.
6 Op. et L>ies, 741 f. This scrap of ancient gnomic wisdom
Hesiod has preserved, I believe, from the " Orphic " fragments
266 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
teaches that [men] ought to keep holy day only when
pure of such [superfluities], and not at the sacred
operations themselves have need of purification and the
removal of superfluities.
5. Again, the flax grows out of the deathless earth,
and yields a fruit that man may eat, and offers him a
smooth pure raiment that does not weigh upon the
watcher,1 but is well joined for every hour,2 and is the
least cone - bearing,3 as they say, — concerning which
things there is another reason (logos).
still in circulation in bis day in Bceotia among the people from an
Older Greece. I have endeavoured to translate it according to
the most primitive meaning of the words. In later days it was
thought that " five-branched " was the hand, and that the couplet
referred to a prohibition against paring the nails at a feast of the
Gods ! In this sense also Plutarch partly uses it. But if I am
right in my version, we have in the lines a link with that very
early tradition in Greece which in later times was revived by the
Later Platonic School, in a renewed contact with the ancient
Chaldsean mystery - tradition of the Fire. " Five - branched "
would thus mean man, or rather purified man, and the saying
referred to the " pruning of this tree." In it also we have an
example of a " Pythagorean symbol " three hundred years before
Pythagoras. Finally, I would remind the reader of the Saying
which the Master is said to have uttered as He passed to the Passion
of the Crucifixion (Luke xxiii. 31) : " For if they do these things
in the moist stock [A.V. green tree], what shall be done in
the dry ? " — presumably the quotation of an old gnomic saying
or mystery logos. The " moist nature " is the feminine side of the
" fiery " or " dry."
1 Reading vKoirovvTi for ffKetrovri — that is, the soul.
2 fvdpfnoffTov St irpbs iracrav 8>pav — "well adapted for every
season " is the common translation ; the " hour," however, is a
technical astrological term.
3 Vulg., "lice-producing" — but <t>6eip also means a special kind
of pine producing small cones ; and the great cone was a symbol
of the Logos, and the small cone of physical generation. It is
also connected with <p8fipu, meaning to corrupt, and so to breed
corruption.
THE MYSTERIES OP ISIS AND OSIRIS 267
OF THE BEFRAINING FROM FLESH AND SALT AND
SUPERFLUITIES
V. 1. And the priests handle so hardly 1 the nature
of superfluities, that they not only deprecate the many
kinds of pulse, and of meats the sheep-flesh2 kinds
and swine-flesh kinds, as making much superfluity, but
also at their times of purification they remove the salts
from the grains,3 having other further reasons as well
as the fact that it makes the more thirsty and more
hungry sharpen their desire the more.
2. For to argue that salts are not pure owing to the
multitude of small lives 4 that are caught 5 and die in
them when they solidify themselves, as Aristagoras
said,6 is naive.
3. They are, moreover, said to water the Apis also
from a special well, and by all means to keep him from
the Nile, — not that they think His7 water stained
with blood because of the Crocodile,8 as some think
(for nothing is so precious to Egyptians as the Nile),
1 Vulg., "endure with such difficulty" or "feel such disgust
at."
2 Referring usually to small animals of the sheep and goat
kind, and more generally to all sacrificial animals.
3 Or, perhaps, more generally, " the salt from their food." It
more probably refers to mineral and not to vegetable salts.
4 That is animalcules.
5 aKiffKiptva, — probably a word-play on SA.OJ (salts).
6 Muller, ii. 99. Aristagoras was a Greek writer on Egypt,
who flourished about the last quarter of the 4th century B.C.
7 Namely the Nile, as Osiris, or the Great Deep.
8 Mystically the " Leviathan " (e.g. of the " Ophites ") who lived
in the Great Deep. Cf. also Ps. civ. 26, where, speaking of the
Great Sea (25), it is written : " There go the ships [the barides,
boats, or vehicles of souls], and there is that Leviathan [LXX.
Dragon] whom thou hast fashioned to take his pastime [LXX.
sport or mock] therein."
268 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
but that the water of Nile's superfluity1 on being
drunk seems to make fat, nay, rather to make much
too much of flesh.
4. And [so] they do not wish the Apis to be so nor
yet themselves, but [wish] to wear their bodies on
their souls compact and light, and neither to corn-press
nor op-press them by the mortal part prevailing and its
weighing down of the divine.
ON THE DKINKING OF WINE
VI. 1. And as for wine, the servants of the God in
Sun-city 2 do not at all bring it into the sacred place,
as 'tis not right [for them] to drink by day while He,
their Lord and King, looks on.
2. The rest [of them 3] use it indeed, but sparingly.
They have, however, many times of abstinence at
which they drink no wine, but spend them in the
search for wisdom, learning and teaching the [truth]
about the Gods.
3. The kings used to drink it, though in certain
measure according to the sacred writings, as Hecatseus
has narrated,4 for they were priests [as well].
4 They began to drink it, however, only from the
time of Psammetichus ; 5 but before that they used not
to drink wine.
Nor did they make libation of it as a thing dear to
the Gods, but as the blood of those who fought against
the Gods,6 — from whom, when they fell and mingled with
1 rb Wti\tfov SSup — T& NeiAipa was the Feast of the Overflowing
of the Nile.
2 Heliopolis— the God being the " Sun."
3 Sc. the priests.
4 Miiller, ii. 389. H. flourished last quarter of 6th and first
5th century B.C.
6 Reigned 671-617 B.C.
6 Sc. the Titans or Daimones as opposed to the Gods.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 269
the earth, they think the vines came, and that because
of this wine-drenching makes men to be out of their
minds and struck aside,1 in that, forsooth, they are
full-filled with the forefathers of its 2 blood.3
5. These things, at any rate Eudoxus says, in Book II.
of his Circuit* are thus stated by the priests.
ON FISH TABOOS
VII. 1. As to sea-fish, all [Egyptians] abstain gener-
ally (not from all [fish] but) from some; — as, for
example, those of the Oxyrhynchus nome from those
caught with a hook, for as they venerate the sharp-
snouted fish,5 they fear that the hook6 is not pure when
"sharp-snout" is caught by it ; 7 while those of the Syene
nome [abstain from] the " devourer," 8 for that it seems
that it appears together with the rising of the Nile,
and that it shows their 9 growth to those in joy, seen
as a self-sent messenger.
1 Or "de-ranged" — irapav\rjyas. Paraplex is the first of the
daimonian rulers in The Books of the Saviour (Pistis Sophia, 367).
2 Sc. the vine's.
3 Or " with the blood of its forefathers."
4 Or Orbit. Eudoxus flourished about the middle of the 4th
century B.C. ; he was initiated into the Egyptian mysteries, and a
great astronomer, obtaining his knowledge of the art from the
priests of Isis.
5 -rbv o^vpvyx»" — perhaps the pike.
6 AyKurrpov — dim. of Hyicos, meaning a "bend" of any kind.
Perhaps it may be intended as a play on the ankh tie or " noose
of life," the well-known Egyptian symbol, generally called the
crux ansata.
7 If we read etur$ for avrif it would suggest a mystic meaning,
namely, " falls into his own snare."
8 (paypov — Vulg., sea-bream ; but Hesychius spells it tpdyupos,
connecting it with <po.yi~iv, to devour.
9 Or " his " (the Nile's) ; but the " self - sent messenger "
(avT&yyi\o s) seems to demand " their," and so suggests a mystical
sense.
270 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
2. Their priests, upon the other hand, abstain from
all ; and [even] on the ninth of the first month,1 when
every one of the rest of the Egyptians eats a broiled
fish before his front door,2 the priests do not taste it,
but burn their fishes to ashes before the doors [of the
Temple].3
3. And they have two reasons [for this], of which I
will later on take up the sacred and extraordinary [one],
according with the facts religiously deduced concerning
Osiris and Typhon. The evident, the one that's close
at hand, in showing forth the fish as a not necessary
and a not unsuperfluous cooked food, bears witness
unto Homer, who makes neither the Phaeacians of
luxurious lives, nor yet the Ithakesian Island men, use
fish, nor yet Odysseus's Companions4 in so great a
Voyage and on the Sea before they came to the last
Strait.5
4. And generally [the priests] think that the sea's
from fire and is beyond the boundaries — nor part nor
element [of earth], but of another kind, a superfluity
cor-rupted and cor-rupting.
1 Copt. Thoth — corr. roughly with September.
2 vpb TTJS av\flov Bvpas — that is, the outside door into the av\-fi,
or court of the house. Of. the title of the Trismegistic treatise
given by Zosimus — " The Inner Door." There may, perhaps, be
some mystical connection.
3 Cf. Luke xxiv. 42 : " And they gave Him a piece of broiled
fish." This was after His " resurrection." Also cf. Talmud Bab.,
" Sanhedrin," 103a : " That thou shalt not have a son or disciple
who burns his food publicly, like Jeschu ha-Notzri" (D. J. L.,
189).
4 Compare the Companions of Horus in the Solar Boat.
5 I fancy there must be some under-meaning here, and so I
have put the key- words in capitals.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 271
THE ONION AND PIG TABOOS
VIII. 1. For nothing reasonless, or [purely] fabulous,
or from [mere] superstition, as some suppose, has been
incorporated into the foundation of the sacred opera-
tions, but some things have moral and needful causes,
while others are not without a share in the embellish-
ment of science and physics, — as, for instance, in the
case of the onion.
2. [The story] that Diktys,1 the nursling of Isis,2
fell into the river and was drowned, in trying to catch
the onions with his hands,3 [is] utterly incredible.
3. The priests, however, keep themselves pure of the
onion, and treat it hardly, being [ever] on the watch
against it, because it is the only thing whose nature is to
be well nourished and to flourish when the moon's a- wane.
It's food 4 for neither fast nor feast, — neither for the
former in that it makes those feeding5 on it thirst,
while for the latter it makes them weep.
4. And in like manner also they consider the sow an
unholy animal, because it seems to be covered especially
when the moon is on the wane, while the bodies of
those who drink its milk burst forth6 into leprosy7
and scabrous roughnesses.
1 Diktys = the Netter. In other myth-cycles Diktys was son
of Poseidon, and is often called simply the Fisher.
2 Cf. xvi., xvii.
3 tin5pa(rff<lnfvoi>. The Fisher-soul, therefore, presumably fell
out of the celestial boat or baris of Isis, and the myth may not
be quite so InriOavov as Plutarch would have us think. Uf. xvii. 3.
Ordinary onions do not grow in rivers.
* Or "fit"— Kp6<T<t>opov.
5 TOI»S •n-poff<f>fpofj.evovs — a word-play on " food."
6 ^ov0«r— lit., " flower."
7 \ewpav — that which makes the skin scaly and rough (\arpbs,
as opposed to A.«JOJ, smooth) ; there being also, I believe, a
mystical under-meaning in it all.
272 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
5. And the tale (logos) they tell after once only l
sacrificing and eating pig at the full-moon — [namely]
that Typhon when pursuing pig towards full-moon found
the wooden coffin in which the body of Osiris lay dead,
and scattered it in pieces2 — they do not all receive,
thinking it is a trifling mis-hearing [of the true tale]
like many more.3
6. But they say their ancients so protected themselves
against softness [of living] and extravagance and
agreeable sensations, that they said a slab was set up in
the holy place at Thebes with deprecations in-lettered
on it against Meinis 4 the King, who first changed the
Egyptians from the way of life without riches and
without needs and plain.
7. Moreover, Technactis, father of Bocchoris,6 is said,
when marching on the Arabs,6 when his baggage was
delayed,7 to have used with joy the food nearest at
hand, and afterwards to have fallen into deep sleep on
a bed of straw,8 and so embraced frugality; and in
1 Apparently once a year.
2 Cf. xviii. 1.
3 This makes us doubt whether there may not be a number of
similar " mis-hearings " in the myth as handed on by Plutarch.
4 Probably this should be Mytvts (Mnevis), the sacred black bull,
venerated as the symbol of the ka of Ra, and so it may contain
some mystical allusion. Cf. xxxiii. 5.
6 re'x^aKTts is, perhaps, a word-play on TC'X (\/T«C, T^KTW),
" creative " or " generative," and a/crfs, " ray " ; while ftoKxtpu
may also be a play — such as, if one is allowed to speculate wildly,
£ovy, " kine," and x°P^s, " dance," reflecting the celestial &OVKO\OS
or Cowherd.
6 It is to be noticed that there was an Arab nome in Egypt,
and that Egypt was mapped out into a mystic body ; and further,
that the different surrounding nations were regarded as repre-
sentative each of certain powers.
7 Or it may mean "when his filth delayed him," and so
contain a mystical implication.
8 M o-Ti&dSos. It may also mean " on the way."
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 273
consequence of this [he is said] to have execrated the
Meinian, and, with the approval of the priests, to have
graven his execration on stone.
THE KINGS, THE RIDDLES OF THE PRIESTS, AND
THE MEANING OF AMOUN
IX. 1. The kings were appointed from the priests or
from the warriors, — the one caste possessing worth and
honour through manliness, and the other through
wisdom.
2. And he who was appointed from the warriors
immediately became [one] of the priests and shared in
their philosophy, — which for the most part was hidden
in myths and words (logoi), containing dim reflections
and transparencies of truth, as, doubtless, they them-
selves make indirectly plain by fitly setting sphinxes
up before the temples, as though their reasoning about
the Gods possessed a wisdom wrapped in riddle.1
3. Indeed, the seat 2 of Athena (that is Isis, as they
think) at Sai's used to have the following inscription
on it:
" I am all that has been and is and shall be, and no
mortal has ever re-vealed 3 my robe." 4
4. Moreover, while the majority think that the proper
name of Zeus with the Egyptians is Amoun (which
we by a slight change call Ammon), Manetho, the
Sebennyte, considers it His hidden [one], and that His
[power of] hiding is made plain by the very articulation
of the sound.
1 Of. M. L. ridellus, F. rideau, a curtain or veil.
2 The technical term for the sitting statue of a god or goddess.
3 airtKd\vtyfv — that is, no one within duality has expressed or
shown that in which this aspect of feminine life veils itself.
4 For this mystical logos of Net (Neith), the Great Mother, c/.
Budge, op. dt., i.*459 f.
VOL. I. 18
274 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
5. Hecataeus1 of Abdera, however, says that the
Egyptians use this word to one another also when they
call one to them, for that its sound has got the power
of " calling to." 2
6. Wherefore when they call to the First God —
who they think is the same for every man — as unto the
Unmanifest and Hidden, invoking Him to make Him
manifest and plain to them, they say " Amoun ! "
So great, then, was the care Egyptians took about
the wisdom which concerned the mysteries of the Gods.
OF THE GKEEK DISCIPLES OF EGYPTIANS AND OF
PYTHAGORAS AND HIS SYMBOLS
X. 1. And the most wise of the Greeks also are
witnesses — Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras,
and, as some say, Lycurgus as well — through coming to
Egypt and associating with her priests.
2. And so they say that Eudoxus was hearer of
Chonouphis 3 of Memphis, and Solon of Sonchis of Sai's,
and Pythagoras of (Enuphis of Heliopolis.
3. And the last especially, as it appears, being con-
templated and contemplating,4 brought back to the
1 H. flourished 550-475 B.C. A. was a town on the southern
shore of Thrace.
2 TrpoffK\rtrncf}i>. H. thus seems to suggest that it (? Amen) was
a "word of power," a word of magic for evoking the ka of a
person, or summoning it to appear. It does not seem very
probable that the Egyptians shouted it after one another in the
street.
3 That is, presumably, Knouph or Knef.
4 Oavnao-Btls Kal Bavudfas, passive and active of the verb of flaCyuo,
generally translated " wonder," but meaning radically " look at
with awe " ; hence contemplate religiously (the art of Bewpla), and
hence the Platonic (? Pythagorean) saying : " The beginning of
philosophy is wonder." Compare the variants of the new-found
Jesus logos (" Let not him who seeks," etc.), which preserve both
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 275
memory of his men their1 symbolic and mysterious
[art], containing their dogmas in dark sayings.
4. For most of the Pythagoric messages leave out
nothing of what are called the hieroglyphic letters;
for instance : " Eat not on what bears two "; 2 " Sit not
down on measure "; 3 " Plant not phoanix "; 4 " Stir not
fire with knife 5 in house."
5. And, for myself at least, I think that his men's
calling the monad Apollo,6 and the dyad Artemis, and
the hebdomad Athena, and the first cube7 Poseidon,
also resembles those whose statues preside over the
sacred places, and whose dramas are acted [there],
yea and [the names] painted 8 [there as well].
1 That is, to the men of Greece the art of the Egyptians.
2 tvl 5l<j>pov ( = $i-<f><lpov) — variously translated "off a chair,"
" in a chariot," hence " on a journey." "That which bears two"
is that which either carries two or brings forth two ; the logos is
thus, perhaps, a warning against falling into duality of any kind,
and hence an injunction to contemplate unity.
3 The xoivi£ was a dry measure, the standard of a man's
(slave's) daily allowance of corn. Hence, perhaps, in one sense the
symbol may mean : " Be not content with your ' daily bread '
only " ; yet any meaning connected with " that which measures "
would suit the interpretation, such as, "Best not on measure,
but move in the unimmeasurable."
4 Qowil- means a " Phoenician " (as opposed to an Egyptian), a
" date palm " (as opposed to a " pine "), and a " phoenix " ; in
colour this was " purple red," " purple," or " crimson." The
phoenix proper rose again from its ashes ; its colour was golden.
<t>vrvuv means " plant," but also " engender," " beget."
5 ndxatpa was, in Homeric times, the technical term for the
sacred sacrificial knife — the knife that kills and divides the
victim's body, while the fire transmutes and consumes it. There
may, perhaps, be some connection between the symbol and the
gnomic couplet of Hesiod quoted above (iv. 3) ; it is, however,
generally said to mean, " Do not provoke an angry man," but
this leaves out of consideration the concluding words " in house."
6 Cf. Ixxv. 14.
7 Presumably the ogdoad or eight.
8 Or " written " or " engraved."
276 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
6. For they write the King and Lord, Osiris,1 with
" eye " and " sceptre." 2 But some interpret the name
also as " many-eyed," since in the Egyptian tongue os
means " many," and iri " eye."
7. And they write Heaven, as unageing through
eternity,8 with "heart," [that is] spirit,4 [rising] from
" altar " 5 underneath.
8. And at Thebes there used to be set up hand-less
statues of judges, while the [statue] of the chief judge
had its eyes tight shut, — seeing that Justice neither
gives nor takes gift, and is not worked on.
9. And for the warriors, " scarab " was their seal-em-
blem ; — for the scarab is not female, but all [scarabs]
are male,6 and they engender their seed into matter [or
material] which they make into spheres, preparing a
field not so much of nourishment 7 as of genesis.
ADVICE TO KLEA CONCERNING THE HIDDEN MEANING
OF THE MYTHS
XI. 1. When, therefore, thouhearest the myth-sayings
of the Egyptians concerning the Gods — wanderings and
1 Eg. Asar.
2 Generally a "throne" in the hieroglyphs. But for the
numerous variants, see Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, ii. 113.
Of. li. 1 below.
3 tiStJT-nTo, — lit., form -(or idea-) less -ness ; transcending all
forms.
* 6vnbv, one of the most primitive terms of Greek psychology —
spirit or soul, or more generally life-principle.
5 tff\&pa, an altar for burnt offerings ; here probably sym-
bolising Earth as the syzygy of Heaven.
6 It is to be remembered that the " mark " of the warriors was
their manliness (ix. 1).
7 Matter (#AIJ) being the Nurse, "according to Plato." The
legend was that the scarab beetle deposited its seed into dung
which it first made into balls (Ixxiv. 5).
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 277
dismemberings, and many such passions1 — thou shouldst
remember what has been said above, and think none of
these things spoken as they [really] are in state and
action.
2. For they do not call Hermes " Dog " as a proper
name, but they associate the watching and waking
from sleep of the animal,2 who by knowing and not
knowing determines friend from foe (as Plato says3),
with the most Logos-like of the Gods.
3. Nor do they think that the sun rises as a new-born
babe from a lotus, but so they write " sun-rise," riddling
the re-kindling of the sun from moist [elements].4
4. Moreover, they called the most crude and awe-
some King of the Persians (Ochus) 5 — who killed
many and finally cut the throat of Apis and made a
hearty meal off him with his friends — "Knife,"6 and
they call him so unto this day in the Catalogue7 of
their kings, — not, of course, signifying his essence by
its proper name,8 but likening the hardness of his
mood 9 to an instrument of slaughter.
— the technical mystery-term for such experiences, or
sensible knowing.
2 Or "of the Animal" — the Living One or Animal Itself or
World Soul, if Dog is taken to mean the genus or Great Dog.
3 Rep., ii. 375 F.
4 That is, the ideogram of a new-horn child with its finger on
its lips seated on the bosom of the lotus signified " sun-rise," and
" sun-rise " within as well as without. The " re-kindling " or
" lighting up again " was presumably also a symbol of the " new
birth from above."
5 Artaxerxes III. ; the priests, however, presumably used
this incident to illustrate some more general truth. A similar
story is also related of Cambyses (xliv. 8) ; they also called
Ochus" Ass "(xxxi. 4).
6 The sacrificial knife again, as in x. 2. 7 Cf. xxxviii. 6.
8 Perhaps even meaning by " his name of power."
9 Or "of the turn," where it might refer to the turn of
Egypt's fate-wheel.
278 THRICE -GREATEST HERMES
5. So too shalt thou, if thou hearest and receivest
the [mysteries] about the Gods from those who interpret
the myth purely and according to the love of wisdom,
and if thou doest ever and keepest carefully the customs
observed by the priests, and if thou thinkest that
thou wilt offer neither sacrifice nor act more pleasing
to the Gods than the holding a true view concerning
them, — thou shalt escape an ill no less than being-
without-the-gods,1 [that is to say] the fearing-of-the-
daimones.2
XII. 1. The myth which is told is — in its very
shortest possible [elements], after the purely useless
and superfluous have been removed — as follows :
THE MYSTERY-MYTH
2. They say that when Ehea 3 secretly united with
Kronos, Helios on sensing4 it imprecated her not to
bring forth in month or year.5
3. That Hermes being in love with the Goddess,
came to conjunction [with her] ; then playing draughts 6
against Selene,7 and winning8 the seventieth of each
1 Or "atheism."
2 Generally rendered " superstition."
3 The Mother of the Gods — "Flowing," that is, motion pure
and simple, unordered or chaotic.
4 In the most primitive meaning of the word ala-86fi.(veif —
from V«"jrj lengthened form of at (compare aim).
6 privl /XTJT' iviavry. Both words are connected with roots
meaning "one " in ancient dialects ; n^yfj.-tls (J£ol.) and fvos
an-nus (Lat.). Cf. «&> /*'*«> «" ; hence eVi-at>Trfs = " one-same."
The Goddess, therefore, apart from the Sun, could only bring forth
in a day.
6 irerTia, — vtffffts was an oval-shaped stone for playing a game
like our draughts ; it was also used for the board on which the
game was played, divided by 5 straight lines each way, and
therefore into 36 squares.
7 Sc. the moon. 8 Or " taking away."
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 279
of the lights, he con-duced from all1 five days and
in-duced them into the three hundred and sixty
[days] — which Egyptians call the "now in-duced,"2
and keep as birthdays of the Gods.3
4. [And they say] that on the first Osiris was born,
and that a voice fell out4 together with him on his
being brought forth — to wit : " The Lord of all forth
comes to light."
5. But some say that a certain Pamyle,5 being
moistened 6 from the holy [place] of Zeus, heard a voice
directing her to proclaim with outcry that " Great King
Good-doing Osiris is born " ; and that because of this
she nursed Osiris, Kronos entrusting him to her, and
they keep with mystic rites the Pamylia in his honour,
similar to the Phallephoria.7
6. And on the second [they say] Aroueris [was born]
— whom they call Apollo, and some call Elder Horus.8
On the third that Typhon, neither in season nor in
place, but breaking through with a blow, leapt forth
through her side.9
On the fourth that Isis was born in all moist
[conditions].
1 Sc. the lights. 2 eirayontvats — or " now intercalated."
3 This is an exceedingly puzzling statement. The "lights"
cannot be the "lights" of the moon, of which there were 30
phases. It more probably has some connectipn with 360, the
70th of which works out at 5'i42857 — a number not so very far
removed from our own calculations. The " each " in the text may
thus be an error.
4 A voice from heaven, a Bath-kol, proceeding from the Womb
of Ehea.
5 Tra/*t\i7 — presumably a play on vav (all) and v\i\ (matter).
6 v5ptvo/j.tvi)v — presumably by the Great Moistener ; it is, how-
ever, generally translated " drawing water."
7 That is the " Phallus-Bearing." » Eg. Heru-ur.
9 ir\t Spa — meaning in man radically " rib " ; also side of a
square, and root of a square (or cubic) number. Typhon would be
represented by the diagonal.
280 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
On the fifth Nephthys, whom they name End and
Aphrodite, while some [call] her also Victory.
7. And [they say] that Osiris and Aroueris were from
Helios, Isis from Hermes, and Typhon and Nephthys
from Kronos, and therefore the kings considering the
third1 of the "induced" [days] nefast, used neither
to consult nor serve themselves till night.2
8. And [they say] that Nephthys was married to
Typhon ; 3 but Isis and Osiris being in love with each
other, united even before they were born, down in the
Womb beneath the Darkness.4
9. Some, moreover, say that Aroueris thus came to
birth, and that he is called Elder Horus by Egyptians,
but Apollo by Greeks.
XIII. 1. And [they say] that when Osiris was king,
he straightway set free the Egyptians from a life from
which they could find no way out and like unto that of
wild beasts,5 both setting fruits before them, and laying
down laws, and teaching them to honour the Gods.
2. And that subsequently he went over the whole
earth, clearing it,6 not in the least requiring arms,
but drawing the multitude to himself by charming
them with persuasion and reason (logos),7 with song
and every art the Muses give ; 8 and that for this
1 That is, the birthday of Typhon.
2 A strange sentence ; but as the kings were considered Gods,
they probably worshipped themselves, or at least their own lea,
and consulted themselves as oracles.
3 Presumably as being opposite, or as hating one another.
4 Cf. liv. 4.
6 Metaphors reminiscent of the symbolism of the so-called Book
of the Dead.
6 Sc. of wild beasts ; but may also mean " softening it," when
Osiris stands for Water, and again "making it mild," or
" civilising it." ' He himself being the Logos.
8 novffmrjs — music, in the modern meaning of the term, was only
one of the arts of the Muses, the nine daughters of Zeus.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 281
cause he seems to the Greeks to be the same as
Dionysus.1
3. And [they say] that while he was away, Typhon
attempted no revolution, owing to Isis keeping very
careful guard, and having the power2 in her hands,
holding it fast ; but that when he [Osiris] came back,
he made with art a wile for him, con-juring seventy-two
men, and having as co-worker a queen coming out of
Ethiopia, whom they call Aso.3
4. But that after measuring out for himself in secret
the body of Osiris,4 and having devised, according to
the size,6 a beautiful and extraordinarily ornamented
chest,6 brought it into the banqueting hall.7
1 At6-wffos — that is, " lie of the Mount (vCo-a) of Zeus."
2 That is "sovereignty."
3 Probably the prototype of the Alchemical Azoth. ^Ethiopia
was the land of the black folk south of Egypt, the land^or excellence
of the black magicians as opposed to the good ones of the Egyptians
(this, of course, being the Egyptian point of view). The Osiris-myth
was in Egyptian, presumably, as easily interpretable into the language
of magic and con-juration as into other values. Compare the Demotic
folk-tales of Khamuas, in Grifiith's Stories of the High Priests of
Memphis, for how this view of it would read in Egyptian. ^Ethiopia
would also mean the Dark Earth as opposed to the Light Heaven.
4 The " body of Osiris " may mean the cosmos (great or little),
as the " body of Adam," its copy in the Kabalah.
5 Or, "according to the greatness" — using "greatness" in its
Gnostic signification, as here meaning the great cosmos and also
the cosmic body of man.
6 In Pythagorean terms, " an odd-ly ordered rectangular encase-
ment"— referring, perhaps, to a certain configuration of cosmic
permanent atoms. But see the plate which Isaac Myer calls " A
Medieval Idea of the Makrokosm, in the Heavenly Zodiacal Ark,"
but which intitles itself "Forma Exterior Arcce Noe ex Descriptione
Mosis." This is a coffin, and within it lies the dead Christ. The
plate is prefixed to p. 439 of Myer's Qabbalah (Philadelphia, 1888).
It also presumably refers to the " germ " of the cosmic robe of the
purified man, the " robe of glory." In mysticism the metaphors
cannot be kept unmixed, for it is the apotheosis of syncretism.
7 Lit., the "drinking together," referring perhaps to the con-
282 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
5. And that when they were delighted at the sight
and wondered, Typhon, in sport, promised to give the
chest to him who could make himself exactly equal
to it by laying himself down in it.1
6. And that when all were trying, one after another,
since no one fitted, Osiris stepped in and laid himself
down.
7. And they who were present running up, dashed
on the lid, and, after some [of them] had closed it down
with fastenings, and others had poured hot lead over it,
they carried it out to the Eiver,2 and let it go into the
Sea by way of the Tanitic 3 mouth, which [they say]
Egyptians call even to this day by a hateful and
abominable name.
8. These things they say were done on the seven-
teenth of the month Athur,* in which [month] the
Sun passes through the Scorpion ; it being the eight-
and-twentieth year of Osiris' reign.
9. Some, however, say that he had lived and not
reigned so long.5
XIV. 1. And as the Pans and Satyrs6 that in-
habit round Chemmis7 were the first to sense the
junction of certain cosmic forces, and also microcosmically to souls
in a state of joy or festivity or bliss, prior to incarnation.
1 That is, prove the " permanent atoms " were his own — if we
think in terms of reincarnation.
2 Sc. the Sacred Nile, Great Jordan, etc., the Stream of Ocean,
which, flowing downwards, is the birth of men, and upwards, the
birth of Gods.
3 rav-tTiKov — probably a word-play connected with VTw, "to
stretch," and so make tense or thin, or expand, and so the " wide-
stretched mouth of the Great River." Cf. the Titans or Stretchers.
4 Copt. Hathor — corr. roughly to November,
s Cf. xlii. 4.
6 Two classes of elemental existences.
7 That is Apu, the Panopolis of the Greeks ; the name Chemmis,
the modern Akhmlm, is derived from an old Egyptian name.
See Budge, op. cit., ii. 188.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 283
passion l [of Osiris], and give tongue concerning what
was being done, [they say] that on this account sudden
disturbances and emotions of crowds are even unto
this day called "panics."
2. But when Isis 2 sensed it, she cut off one of her
curls, and put on a mourning dress, whence the city to
this day bears the name Kopto.3
But others think the name signifies privation,4 for
they say that koptein is to de-prive.
3. And [they say] that she, wandering about in
every direction, and finding no way out, never ap-
proached any one without accosting him; nay, she
asked even little children whom she happened to meet,
about the chest.
4. And they happened to have seen, and showed the
mouth 5 through which the friends of Typhon let the
vessel 6 go into the Sea.
5. Because of this [they say] Egyptians believe that
little children have prophetic power, and they especially
divine from the sounds of their voices, when playing
in the holy places and shouting about anything.
6.7 And [they say] that when [Isis] was aware that
j — the technical term of what was enacted in the
mystery -drama.
2 As Mother Nature.
3 Meaning " I cut " ; and in mid. " I cut or beat the breast," as
a sign of mourning.
4 " The depriving things of their power " or " negation " ;
Osiris being the fertilising or generative or positive power.
5 Sc. the way or passage. In little children the life force is not
sexually polarised.
6 ayyeiov — a vase or vessel of any kind, hence funerary urn or
even coffin ; but fitrayyt^tiv means "to pour from one vessel into
another," and utrayyitr^s is the Pythagorean technical term for
metempsychosis or palingenesis.
7 This paragraph, which breaks the narrative, is introduced to
give the myth of the birth of Anubis.
284 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Osiris in ignorance had fallen in love and united him-
self with her sister l as with herself, and seeing as proof
the honey-clover2 wreath which he had left behind
with Nephthys, she sought for the babe — (for she [N.]
exposed it immediately she bore it, through fear of
Typhon3).
7. And after it was found with toil and trouble —
dogs 4 guiding Isis to it — it was reared and became her
guard and follower, being called Anubis, and is said to
guard the Gods, as their dogs men.
XV. 1. It was from him she got intelligence about
the chest : — that after it had been wave-tossed out by
the Sea to the Byblos6 country, the land- wash had
gently brought it to rest in a certain heather-bush." 6
2. And the heather-bush, in a short time running up
into a most beautiful and very large young tree, en-
folded, and grew round it,7 and hid it entirely within
itself.
3. And the King,8 marvelling at the greatness of the
1 Sc. Nephthya
2 Meli-lote — lotos in Greek stands for several plants ; it might
be translated as " honey -lotus." Cf. xxxviii. 5.
3 Her legitimate spouse.
4 A term used frequently among the Greeks (who presumably
got the idea elsewhere) for the servants, agents, or watchers of
the higher Gods ; thus the Eagle is called the " winged dog "
of Zeus ^Esch., Pr., 1022). "Dog," as we have seen (xi. 1, n.)
signifies a power of the World, Soul or Great Animal, also of
individual souls.
6 That is, " Papyrus." This Byblos was a " city in the Papyrus
Swamps of the Delta." (So Budge, op. cit., ii. 190.)
6 <?pefK7? — probably a play on the root-meaning of tptiKtiv, "to
quiver," is intended. The Egyptian erica was taller and more
bushy than ours. Or it may be the tamarisk ; elsewhere it is
called a mulberry-tree.
7 Sc. the " coffin " — perhaps here signifying what has lately
been called the " permanent atom " in man.
8 The ruler of the form-side of things.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 285
tree, after cutting off the branches, and rounding off
the trunk that surrounded the coffin without its being
seen,1 set it up as the prop of his roof.
4. And they say that on her hearing of these things
by the dainionian spirit of a voice,2 Isis came to Byblos,
and, sitting down at a fountain-head, downcast and
weeping, held converse with no one else, but she
embraced and showed affection to the maids of the
Queen, curling 3 their hair and exhaling from herself on
their skin a marvellous fragrance.
5. And when the Queen saw her maids, longing for
the ambrosia-smelling hair and skin of the stranger
came upon her.
And so when she had been sent for and had become
an inmate [of the palace, the Queen] made her nurse of
her little one.
6. And the name of the King, they say, was
Malkander,4 while her name according to some was
Astarte, according to others Saosis, and according to
others Nemanous,5 — or whatever is the name for which
the Greek equivalent would be Atheuai's.6
1 On the erroneously called " Gnostic " gems, the lopped trunk
is a frequent symbol ; the lopped " five-branched," presumably.
2 Notice the three stages of awareness : (i.) the babbling of
children ; (ii.) the intelligence given by the dog ; (iii.) the
daimonian spirit of a voice (Heb. Bath-kol).
3 Isis, when she first lost Osiris, cut off a curl (xiv. 2).
4 Apparently, though curiously, a play on the Semitic MLK or
Malek, "king," and the Greek andr, "man" — that is, "king of
men."
6 Or " Nemanos." The names seem to have been impartially
maltreated by the copyists ; thus we find such variants as Asparte,
Sooses, Neimanoe.
6 There was among the ancients an art of name-translation, as
Plato tells us in the Story of Atlantis, in which the Atlantic names
he says, were translated into Greek by Solon or by the priests of
Sais. Here, I believe, there is also a word-play intended. Isis, as
we have seen, was pre-eminently Nurse, rirdit, a further intensifica-
286 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
XVI. 1. And [they say] that instead of giving it1 the
breast, Isis reared the little one by putting her finger 2
into its mouth, and that at night she burnt round 3 the
mortal [elements] of its body, and, turning herself into
a swallow, flew round the pillar and twittered a dirge ;
until the Queen, through spying [on her] and cry-
ing out4 when she saw the babe being burnt round,
deprived it of its immortality.5
2. That when the Goddess revealed herself, she
claimed for herself the pillar of the roof ; and, taking
it down with the greatest care, she cut away the heather-
tree from round it, then wrapping this 6 up in fine linen,
and pouring the juices of sweet herbs over it,7 she placed
it in the hands of the royal couple ; and even unto this
day the people of Byblos venerate the wood 8 lying in
the holy place of Isis.
tion of the intensified rf-0r; from \/Oa, " suckle " ; the common form
of " nurse " was n-B^-vn. On the contrary, a,6iivats is a daughter or
derivative of d-e^-j^, one who does not give suck ; for Athena was
born from the head and was the virgin goddess par excellence.
Mythologically, Athena'is was wife of Alalkomeneus, the epony-
mous hero of a city in Boaotia, where was a very ancient temple of
Athena. In the Pindaric ode quoted in S. (1) of chapter, " Myth
of Man in the Mysteries," Alalkomeneus is given as one of the
equivalents for the " first man."
1 The child's name was Diktys, according to viii. 2.
2 The V5eK in 8<ttcTv\o$ is said to be the same as that in Se'wa,
" ten," and " ten " is the number of " perfection."
3 Or " away."
4 Lit., " croaking " like a raven, to match the " twittering " of
the swallow.
6 This presumably hints that Isis, as the Divine Mother,
endeavours to make all perfect and sound, while the earthly
mother prevents this.
6 Sc. the erica.
7 Cf. John xix. 40 : " So they took the body of Jesus and
wrapped it in fine linen together with sweet herbs."
8 -rb £v\ov — the term used repeatedly in the New Testament
for the cross.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 287
3. As for the coffin, she flung herself round it, and
kept moaning so long, that the younger of the little ones
of the king died away ; * and, taking the elder with her-
self, and placing the coffin on a boat, she sailed away.
4. And when the Eiver Phsedrus 2 raised too rough a
wind 3 just after dawn,4 waxing wrath, she dried up his
stream.
XVII. 1. And [they say] that when first she found soli-
tude and was by herself, she opened the chest, and laying
her face on his face, she kissed [him] and shed tears.
2. And that when the little one came up in silence
from behind and understood, on sensing it she turned
herself about, and passionately gave him an awe-ful
look. And the little one could not hold himself up
against the awe of her, and died.
3. But some say [it was] not thus, but, as it has been
said before,5 that he fell out 6 into the river.
4. And he has honours owing to the Goddess, for the
Maneros7 whom Egyptians hymn at their symposia is he.
5. While others relate that the boy was called
Palaestinos8 or Pelousios, and that the city9 was
named after him when it was founded by the Goddess ;
and that the Maneros who is hymned was the first to
discover the art of the Muses. 10
1 Or " swooned," or lost consciousness.
2 <f><it$pos — lit., Bright, Beaming, Shining — that is, the Sun-
stream.
3 Or " breath" (™v/*a). * That is "at sun-rise."
5 Cf. viii. 2. 6 Sc. of the boat of Isis.
7 Mav-epus. I fancy this is a play, in conjunction with the
Ka-ra-nai'-ddv-ovTa, and avo-Odv-ovra (the " understanding " and
"dying away") above; the name would then mean either "love
of understanding " or " understanding of love."
8 ira\ai<niv6s — perhaps a play on iraA.ai<rHjy, "a wrestler";
hence a " rival " or " suitor."
9 Pelusium ; the Pelusian was the eastern mouth of the Nile.
10 See note on xii. 1.
288 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
6. But some say that it is the name of no one, but a
manner of speech for men drinking and feasting, — with
the meaning " May such and such things be present in
becoming measure ! " For the Egyptians on every
such occasion shout out this, it being indicated to them
by " Maneros."
7. Just as, doubtless, also their being shown the
image of a dead man carried round in a small wooden
coffin, is not a reminder of the Osirian passion, as
some suppose ; but it is in order to exhort them while
filled with wine to make use of things present, in that
all will very presently be such [as it], that they bring
in an unpleasing after-revel.
XVIII. 1. And [they say] that when Isis had gone a
journey to her son Horus, who was being reared at
Boutos,1 and had put away 2 the chest,3 Typhon, taking
his dogs 4 out by night towards the moon, came upon it ;
and recognising the body, tore it into fourteen pieces,
and scattered them abroad.
2. And Isis [they say] on learning this, searched for
them in a papyrus skiff (baris) sailing away through the
marshes ; 6 whence those who sail in papyrus hulls are
not injured by the crocodiles, either because they 6 fear
or rather revere the Goddess.7
1 Generally supposed to stand for the city Buto, but may be
some word-play. Can it be connected with Bootes, the Plough-
man— the constellation Arcturus — the voyage being celestial ;
that is, a movement of the world-soul or change of state in the
individual soul ? Budge (p. 192) gives its Egyptian equivalent as
Per-Uatchit, i.e. " House of the Eye."
2 Lit., from her feet.
3 Lit., vessel ; may also mean " celL"
4 Vulg., "hunting."
6 ?A.»J — a probable play on the St-t\f?t> (" tear to pieces ") above.
6 Sc. the crocodiles.
7 It is remarkable how that every now and then Plutarch in-
serts apparently the most naive superstitions without a word of
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 289
3. And it is because of this [they say] that many
tombs of Osiris are spoken of in Egypt l — through her
performing burial rites on meeting with each piece.
4. Some, however, say no ; but that making herself
images [of them] she distributed these to each city,2 as
though she were giving it the [whole] body, in order
that it might have honours from the multitude, and
that even if Typhon should get the better of Horus,
he might renounce his search for the true tomb when
many were spoken of and pointed out.
5. Now, the only one of the parts of Osiris which
Isis did not find was that which causes awe ; for that
it was cast straightway into the River, and the scaly-
coat,3 and the devourer,4 and the sharp-snout5 ate it
up — which [they say] among fishes are considered
specially expiate;6 and that Isis, making herself a
counterfeit instead of it, consecrated the phallus; in
honour of which the Egyptians keep festival even to
this day.7
XIX. 1. Thereafter Osiris, coming to Horus out of
explanation. They cannot be all simply irresponsible on dits.
It is, perhaps, not without significance that the " chest " is first of
all drifted to the Papyrus country, and that the baris of Isis
should be made of papyrus. It seems almost as if it symbolised
some " vehicle " that was safe from the " crocodile " of the deep.
In other words, the skiffs are not paper boats and the crocodiles
not alligators.
1 "And Egypt they say is the body" — to quote a refrain
from Hippolytus concerning the " Gnostics."
2 Presumably of the fourteen sacred ones.
3 AeiriSwrJj/. * <f>aypov. 6 o£6pvyx°V-
6 Anthropologically, " taboo."
7 What these " fourteen parts " of Osiris may be is beyond the
sphere of dogmatism. I would suggest that there may be along one
line some connection with those seeds of life which have lately
been called " permanent atoms " ; and along another line, that
of the birth of the Christ-consciousness, there may be a series of
powers derived from past incarnations.
VOL. I. 19
290 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the Invisible,1 worked through him and trained him for
the fight.
2. He then put this test question to him: "What
does he consider fairest ? " And when he said : " Help-
ing father and mother in ill plight," — he asked a
second: "What animal does he think most useful for
those who go out to fight ? "
3. And when Horus said "Horse," he marvelled
at him, and was quite puzzled why he did not say
" Lion " rather than " Horse." 2
4. Accordingly Horus said : " ' Lion ' is a needful
thing to one requiring help, but ' Horse ' [can] scatter in
pieces the foe in flight and consume him utterly." 3
Thus hearing, Osiris rejoiced that Horus was fitly
prepared.
5. And it is said that as many were changing over
to the side of Horus, Thueris,4 Typhon's concubine,
came too; and that a certain serpent pursuing after
her was cut in pieces by those round Horus.5 And
to-day on this account they cast down a small rope and
cut it in pieces for all to see.6
6. The fight lasted for many days, and Horus won.
Nevertheless, when I sis received Typhon in bonds, she
did not make away with him. Far from it; she
unbound him and let him go.
1 Hades.
2 The " Horse " may symbolise purified passion, and " Lion " a
certain receptive power of the mind.
3 The white " Horse " was presumably opposed to the red " Ass "
of Typhon, as the purified vehicle of the soul contrasted with the
impure. " Lion " was one of the grades in the Mithriac Mysteries ;
it was a sun-animal.
4 Eg. Ta-urt (Budge, op. cit., p. 193).
5 That is, by the Companions of Horus (or Disciples of the
Christ) — a frequent scene in the vignettes of the Book of the
Dead.
6 That is, in the public mystery processions.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 291
7. Horus, however, did not bear this temperately;
but, laying hands on his mother, he drew off the crown
from her head. Whereupon Hermes1 crowned her
with a head-dress of cow-horns.
8. And [they say] that also when Typhon got the
chance of bringing a bastardy suit against Horus, and
Hermes was counsel for the defence, Horus was judged
legitimate by the Gods.2
And that [afterwards] Typhon was fought under in
two other fights.
9. And that Isis brought forth from her union with
Osiris after his death 3 Harpocrates 4 — who missed the
month and was weak in his limbs from below upwards.6
THE UNDER-MEANING A EEFLEXION OF A
CERTAIN KEASON
XX. I. These are approximately the chief headings of
their myth, after the most ill-omened have been removed,
— such as, for instance, the one about the cutting up
into pieces of Horus, and the beheading of Isis.
2. That, however, if people suppose and say these
things about that Blessed and Incorruptible Nature
according to which especially the Divine conceives
itself, as though they were actually enacted and really
took place, " thou shouldst spit out and cleanse mouth,"
according to JEsehylus,6 there is no need to tell thee ; 7
for of thyself thou showest displeasure at those who
hold illegitimate and barbarous notions about the Gods.
1 The symboliser as well as the interpreter of the Gods.
2 Of. liv. 3.
3 Or it may mean "completion" (T«A«I/T^X).
4 In Eg. Heru-p-khart, i.e., " Horus the Younger."
6 TOJS Kdrtadtv yAots — but, presumably, not from above down-
wards.
6 Ed. Nauck, p. 84. 7 Sc. Klea.
292 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
3. But that these things are not at all like lean tales
and quite empty figments, such as poets and prose-
writers weave and expand as though they were spiders
spinning them out of themselves from a source that has
no basis in fact, but that they contain certain informa-
tions and statements, — thou knowest of thyself.
4. And just as the Mathematici l say that " Iris " 2
is the sun's reflexion many-coloured by the return of its
visual impression to the cloud, so the myth down here
is a reflexion of a certain reason (logos) that bends its
thinking back on other things ; as both the sacred
offerings suggest by the reflected element of mournful-
ness and sadness they contain, and also the dispositions
of the temples which in one direction open out into
side-walks and courts for moving about in, open to the
sky and clear of objects, while in the other they have
hidden and dark robing-rooms under ground, like places
for putting coffins in and burying-spots.
CONCERNING THE TOMBS OF OSIRIS
5. And not least of all does the belief of the Osirians
— since the body [of Osiris] is said to be in many places
— [suggest this].
6. For they say that both Diochite is called Polichne,3
because it alone has the true one ; and [also] that it
is at Abydos that the wealthy and powerful of the
Egyptians are mostly buried, — their ambition being to
have a common place of burial with the body of Osiris ;
and [again] that it is at Memphis that the Apis is
1 Presumably, again, the Pythagorean grade above the Hearers.
2 Sc. the rainbow.
3 Either the reading is at fault, or some word-play is intended.
Dio-chite is probably Zeus-something ; but I cannot resolve it.
While Polichne is a rare diminutive of WA.«J, and would thus
mean " Little City."
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 293
reared as the image of the soul of Osiris, because it is
there also that his body lies.
7. And as for the City,1 some interpret it as " Harbour
of Good Things," but others give it the special meaning
of " Tomb of Osiris " ; it is, however, the little island one 2
at Philae [they say] which is in other respects inaccessible
and inapproachable by all, and that not even the birds
light on it or fish come near it, but at a certain season
the priests cross over [to it] and make offerings to the
dead, and place wreaths on the monument which is
overshadowed by a . . . 3 tree, which is greater in size
than any olive.
XXI. 1. Eudoxus, however, [says] that, though many
tombs are spoken of in Egypt, the body lies at Busiris,
for that this had been the native city of Osiris ; never-
theless Taphosiris requires no further reason [to
establish its claim], for the name explains itself —
namely, " Burying of Osiris."
" But I rede of cutting of wood, of rending of linen,
and pouring of pourings, because many of the mystery-
[meanings] have been mixed up with them."4
1 ? Memphis ; or, perhaps, as contrasted with the Little City above .
- 2 Sc. city ; v\.am6.vi\v is a hopeless reading, and as the editors
can make nothing out of it, I suggest vya-lnSa or vT\<r&&vi\v (ircto.jp).
3 /MJ0/S7JS — apparently an error ; Bernardakis suggests pivOtis
(Lat. mentha\ " mint." Can the right reading be wtititris (Was) ?
The herba medico, was, however, the sainfoin or lucerne, which,
though reminding us of the melilote of xiv., is hardly capable of
overshadowing a tomb even in the most intricate symbolical sense.
4 Evidently a verbal quotation from Eudoxus. The " cutting
of wood " presumably refers to the trunk with lopped branches,
which, as we have already mentioned, occurs so frequently on so-
called " Gnostic " gems ; the " rending of linen " (\ivov) might also
be made to refer to Linus, the Bard, and his being torn to pieces
like Osiris ; Linos also means the " Song of Linus," so called, it is
supposed by some, because in earliest times the strings of the
cithara were made of flax. For other names of singers used for
lays or modes of song, compare Maneros and Paean ; though, of
294 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
2. But the priests say that not only of these Gods,
but also of all the other gods also who are not ingener-
able and indestructible, the bodies lie buried with them
when they1 have done their work, and have service
rendered them, while their souls shine in heaven as
course, the modern way is to regard the singer as the personifica-
tion of the lay. Thus in Emil Naumann's History of Music
(trans, by F. Praeger ; London, 1882), p. 3, we read: "The
Greek tribes of Peloponnesus and Hellas, as well as the Egyptians,
Phoenicians, the Greeks inhabiting the isles of the 2Egean Sea,
and especially those of Cyprus, had a primitive ' Lament ' which
seems to have come originally from Phoenicia. It was a funeral
chant on the death of the youthful Adonis. . . . The Egyptians
changed its signification into a lament of Isis for Osiris. The
Greeks called it Linos, and the Egyptians Maneros? The
beginning of the " Maneros," or the Lament of Isis for her
Beloved, is given as follows by Naumann (p. 40) :
" Return, oh, return !
God Panu, return !
Those that were enemies are no more here.
Oh lovely helper, return,
That thou may'st see me, thy sister,
Who loves thee.
And com'st thou not near me 1
0 beautiful youth, return, oh, return !
When I see thee not
My heart sorrows for thee,
My eyes ever seek thee,
1 roam about for thee, to see thee in the form of the Nai,
To see thee, to see thee, thou beautiful loVd one.
Let me the Radiant, see thee
God Panu, All- Glory, see thee again !
To thy beloved come, blessed Onnofris,
Come to thy sister, come to thy wife,
God Urtuhet, oh, come !
Come to thy consort ! "
Unfortunately, Naumann does not give any references by
which we can control his statements.
1 The bodies ; presumably referring to the mummies of those
men and women who were believed to have reached the god-stage
while living.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 295
stars; and that [of the former] the [soul] of Isis is
called Dog by the Greeks, but Sdthis by the Egyptians,
while the [soul] of Horus [is called] Orion,1 and Typhon's
Bear.2
3. And [they say] that for the burials of the animals
to whom honour is paid, the rest [of the Egyptians]
pay the [dues which are] mutually determined; but
that those alone who inhabit the Thebaid give nothing,
since they believe that no God is subject to death, and
that he whom they themselves call Kneph is ingener-
able and immortal.
CONCERNING THE THEORY OF EVEMERUS
XXII. 1. Now, since many of such [? tombs] are
spoken of and pointed out, those who think these
[myths] commemorate the awe-inspiring and mighty
works and passions of kings and tyrants who, through
surpassing virtue and power, put in a claim for the
reputation of divinity, and afterwards experienced
reverses of fortune, — employ a very easy means of
escape from the [true] reason (logos), and not unworthily
transfer the ill-omened [element in them] from Gods
to men, and they have the following to help them from
the narratives related.
2. For instance, the Egyptians tell us that Hermes
had a short-armed 3 body, that Typhon was red-skinned,
1 Cf. xxii. 3.
2 Probably all name-plays : KVWV (dog), \/KV (conceive) — see
Ixi. 6 ; H-or-os, Or-ion ; Upte-ros (bear), sJapK (suffice, endure,
bear) ; Ursa Major is called the Wain.
3 -ya^-dyKcava — lit., weasel-armed. Now, as we are told further
on (Ixxiv. 3) that the weasel (yaA?)), or marten, was fabled to
conceive through the ear and bring forth through the mouth,
this animal was evidently a symbol of mind-conception. " Weasel-
armed" may thus symbolise some faculty of the interpretative
mind (Hermes).
296 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Horus white, and Osiris black, as though they were
[men] born in the course of nature.
3. Moreover, also, they call Osiris "General" and
Kanobus : " Pilot," — from whom, they say, the star got
its name.
And [they say] that the ship which Greeks call Argo
is an image of the bark of Osiris, constellated in his
honour, and that it sails not far from Orion and Dog,
the former of which Egyptians consider the sacred
[boat] of Horus and the latter of Isis.2
XXIII. 1. But I am afraid that this is " moving the
immoveable," and " warring " not only " against many
centuries," according to Simonides,3 but "against
many nations of men " and races held fast by religious
feeling towards these Gods — when people let nothing
alone but transfer such mighty names from heaven
to earth, and [so] banish and dissolve the sense of
worship and faith that has been implanted in nearly
all [men] from their first coming into existence,
opening up wide entrances for the godless folk,4 and
reducing the divine [mysteries] to the level of men's
doings, and giving a splendid licence to the charla-
tanries of Evemerus5 the Messenian, who of himself
composing the counterpleas of a baseless science of
myths unworthy of any credit, flooded the civilised
world with sheer atheism, listing off level all those who
are looked on as gods into names of generals and
admirals and kings, who (he is good enough to say)
1 Canopus was fabled to be the pilot of the bark of Osiris ; in
Greek mythology he was the pilot of the General Menelaos on
his return from Troy.
2 Of. xxi. 2. 3 Bergk, iii. 522.
4 Or " atheists." " An evident allusion to the Christians," says
King (in loc.) ; but we think Plutarch was more impersonal than
his commentator.
5 E. floiirished in the last quarter of the 4th century B.C.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 297
existed in bygone days, and are recorded in letters of
gold at Panchon,1 — which [records] neither any non-
Greek nor any Greek has ever come across, but Evemerus
alone, when he went his voyage to the Panchoans and
Triphyllians, who never have been nor are anywhere
on earth.
XXIV. 1. And yet mighty deeds of Semiramis are
sung of among Assyrians, and mighty [deeds] of
Sesostris in Egypt. And Phrygians even unto this day
call splendid and marvellous doings " manic," owing to
the fact that Manes, one of their bygone kings, proved
himself a good and strong man among them — the one
whom some call Mazdes.2 Cyrus led Persians and
Alexander Macedonians, conquering to almost the
ends of the earth; still they have the name and
memory of good kings [only].
2. "And if some elated by vast boastfulness," as
Plato says,3 "concomitant with youth and ignorance,
through having their souls inflamed with pride," have
accepted titles like gods and dedications of temples,
their glory has flourished for a short time [only], and
afterwards they have incurred the penalty of vanity
and imposture coupled with impiety and indecency : *
Death coming swift on them, like smoke they rose and fell6
And now like runaway [slaves] that can be lawfully
1 The capital, presumably, of the mythical island of Panchsea,
which was supposed to be somewhere on the southern coast of
Asia, and to which Evemerus pretended he had sailed on a voyage
down the Red Sea.
2 King notes : " The common title of the Sassanean kings was
' Masdesin ' — ' servant of Ormazd.' "
3
4 A bold thing to write in an age of Emperor- divinising.
6 Apparently from an otherwise unknown poet. See Bergk,
iii. 637.
298 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
taken, torn from the temples and altars, they have
naught but their tombs and graves.
3. Wherefore Antigonus the Elder, when a certain
Hermodotus, in his poems, proclaimed him " Son of the
Sun and God," remarked : " My night-stool boy has not
so exalted an opinion of me."
And with reason also did Lysippus, the sculptor,
blame Apelles, the painter, for putting a thunderbolt
in Alexander's hand when painting his portrait ; whereas
he himself gave him a spear-head, — from which not
even time itself shall take away the glory, for it is true
and really his.
THE THEORY OF THE DAIMONES
XXV.1 1. They, therefore, [do] better who believe
that the things related about Typhon and Osiris and
Isis are passions neither of gods nor of men, but of
mighty daimones, who — as Plato and Pythagoras and
Xenocrates and Chrysippus say, following the theologers
of bygone days — have been born more manful than
men, far surpassing us in the strength of their nature,
yet not having the divine unmixed and pure, but pro-
portioned with the nature of soul and sense of body,
susceptible of pleasure and pain and all the passions,
which as innate to such metamorphoses trouble some
[of them] more and others less.
2. For the Gigantic and Titanic [Passions] sung of
among the Greeks, and certain lawless deeds of Kronos
and antagonisms of Python against Apollo, and fleeings
of Dionysus, and wanderings of Demeter, in no way fall
behind the Osiric and Typhonic [Passions], and others
which all may hear unrestrainedly spoken of in myth.
And all these things which, under the veil of mystic
1 This chapter is quoted by Eusebius, Prcep. Ev., V. v. 1.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 299
sacred rites and perfectionings, are carefully kept from
being spoken of to, or being allowed to be seen by, the
multitude, have a similar reason (logos).1
XXVI. 1. Moreover, we hear Homer also on every
occasion calling the good variously "godlike" and
" equal to gods," and as " having directions 2 from gods " ;
whereas he employs epithets connected with the
daimones to both worthy and unworthy in common :
Draw nigh them daimonian ! Why so fearest the Argives ? 3
And again :
But when indeed for the fourth time he charged, a daimon's
equal.4
And:
0 thou daimonian ! what so great ills do Priam now
And Priam's sons to thee, that thou dost hotly rage
Troy's well-built town to rase?6
— as though the daimones possessed a mixed and an
unbalanced nature and propensity.
2. For which reason Plato 6 refers unto the God
upon Olympus' height things " right " and " odd," 7 and
to the daimones those that respond to these.8
3. Moreover, Xenocrates9 thinks that the nefast
days, and all the holy days on which are strikings or
beatings or fastings or blasphemies or foul language,
have nothing to do with honours paid to gods or to
beneficent daimones; but that there are natures in
1 Sc. to the mysteries of the Egyptians.
2 ufa* — also meaning mrilia.
3 II, xiii. 810. 4 II, v. 438.
6 II, iv. 31 f. • Legg., 717 A.
7 Pythagorean technical terms.
8 ret avriQwva. — the meaning seeming to be rather that of
" concord " than of " discord."
a An immediate pupil of Plato's.
300 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the circumambient,1 mighty and powerful indeed, but
difficult to turn and sullen, who take pleasure in such
things, and when they get them turn to nothing worse.
4. The beneficent and good ones, again, Hesiod also
calls " holy daimones " and " guardians of men " —
"wealth-givers and possessors of this sovereign pre-
rogative." 2
5. Plato s again gives to this race the name of
hermeneutic and of diaconic4 'twixt Gods and men,
speeding up thitherwards men's vows and prayers,
and bringing thence propaetic answers hither wards
and gifts of [all] good things.
6. Whereas Empedocles 6 says that the daimones have
to amend whatever faults they make, or discords they
may atrike :
"For aether's rush doth chase them seawards; sea
spews them on land's flat ; and earth into the beams of
tireless sun ; and he casts [them again] into the swirls
of aether. One takes them from another, and all abhor
[them] " 6 — until after being thus chastened and purified
they regain their natural place and rank.
XXVII. 1. Born from the self-same womb as these
and things like them, they say, are the legends about
Typhon : how that he wrought dire deeds through envy
and ill-will, and after throwing all things into confusion
and filling the whole earth and sea as well with ills,
he afterwards did make amends.
1 The air or ether that surrounds the earth.
2 Op, et Dies, 126. 3 Symp., 202 E.
4 That is, " interpretative and ministering."
6 E. flourished 494-434 B.c.
6 Stein, 377 S. ; Karsten, 16 ff. ; Fairbanks, p. 204. The
quotation appears to me inapposite, for Empedocles seems to be
speaking of " any who defile their bodies sinfully " and not of
daimones ; but perhaps the " received " recombination of the
fragments is at fault.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 301
2. But the sister- wife1 of Osiris who upheld his
honour, after she had quenched and laid to rest
Typhon's frenzy and fury, did not allow forgetfulness
and silence to overtake the struggles and trials he had
endured, and her own wanderings and many [deeds] of
wisdom, and many [feats] of manliness ; but inter-
mingling with the most chaste perfectionings images
and under-meanings and copies of the passion she then
endured, she hallowed at one and the same time a
lesson of religion and a consolation to men and women
placed in like circumstances/'
3. And she and Osiris, being changed through virtue
from good daimones into gods 2 — as [were] subsequently
Heracles and Dionysus — possess the dignities of gods
and daimones at one and the same time, fitly combined
everywhere indeed but with the greatest power among
those above earth and under earth.
CONCERNING SARAPIS
4. For they say that Sarapis is no other than Pluto,
and Isis Persephassa, as Archemachus of Eubrea has
said,3 and Heracleides of Pontus, when he supposes that
the seat of the oracle at Canopus is Pluto's.
XXVIII. 1. And Ptolemy the Saviour4 saw in a
dream the gigantic statue of Pluto — though he had not
previously seen or known what form it was — ordering
him to bring it to Alexandria.
1 See the note on " sister- wife " in comment on Mariamne
(Hipp., Philos. — Introd.) in chapter on " Myth of Man." — Prolegg.,
p. 147, n. 7.
2 That is to say, according to this theory the myth represented
the degree of initiation by which a man passed from the stage of
daimon into the state of god, or from super-man to christ.
3 Muller, iv. 315.
4 The first Greek King of Egypt, 324-285 B.C.
302 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
2. And when he did not know and had no idea
where [the statue] was set up even after he had
described his vision to his friends, there was found a
man, a great traveller, by name Sosibius, who said he
had seen at Sinope just such a colossus as the King
seemed to have seen.
3. He [Ptolemy] accordingly sent Soteles and Dio-
nysius, who, after expending much time and pains, not,
however, without the help of God's providence, removed
it secretly and brought it away.
4. And when it had been brought [to Alexandria]
and set up publicly, the assistants of Timotheus, the
intrepreter, and of Manethos, the Sebennyte, coming to
the conclusion that it was a statue of Pluto — judging
by its cerberus and huge serpent — convinced Ptolemy
that it was that of no other of the Gods than Sarapis ;
for it did not come from Sinope with this designation,
but after it had been brought to Alexandria it received
the Egyptian name for Pluto, namely, Sarapis.
5. And yet people sink into the opinion of Heracleitus
the physicist, when he says : " Hades l and Dionysus
are the same, for whomsoever they rage and riot."
For those who postulate that Hades means the body,
because the soul is as it were deranged and drunken
in it, put forward a [too] meagre interpretation.
6. But [it is] better to identify Osiris with Dionysus,
and Sarapis2 with Osiris, so designated after he had
changed his nature.3 Wherefore " Sarapis " is common
to all,4 just as, you know, those who share in the
sacred rites know that " Osiris " is.
1 That is, Pluto.
2 Sar-apis — a combination of Osiris and Apis, the soul of
Osiris ; cf. xxix. 5. In Eg. Asar-Hapi.
3 Presumably from that of a daimon to that of a god.
4 That is, apparently, a common principle in all men.
THE MYSTERIES OP ISIS AND OSIRIS 303
XXIX. 1. For it is not worth while paying attention
to the Phrygian writings, in which Isis is said to have
been the daughter of Charops,1 son of Heracles, and
Typhon [son] of ^Eacus,2 [also] son of Heracles.
2. Nor [is it worth while] refraining from disregarding
Phylarchus,3 when he writes that "it was Dionysus
who first brought two oxen from India to Egypt, of
which the name of one was Apis, and of the other
Osiris ; and Sarapis is the name of Him who orders [or
adorns] the universe from sairein ['sweep,' 'clean'],
which some say [means] ' beautifying ' and ' adorning ' " ;
— for these [remarks] of Phylarchus are absurd.
3. But still more so are those of them who say that
Sarapis is not a god, but that the coffin of Apis4 is
thus named, and that certain brazen gates at Memphis,
called " Gates of Oblivion and Wailing," open with a
deep mournful sound, when they bury Apis, and that
therefore at every sounding of brass 5 we are plunged
into oblivion.
4. More moderate are they who claim that the
1 Lit. " Bright- (or Glad-) eyed."
2 Lit., " Wailer."
3 A historian ; flourished c. 215 B.C.
4 "AiriSos ffApov — another word-play, "sor-apis."
5 7Jx°1~"/T<)* • • • xaAK«fyxaToj. This has, nevertheless, pre-
sumably some mystic meaning. In the myths, cymbals were said
to have been used to protect the infant Bacchus, and infant Zeus,
and to keep off the Titans— so, presumably, plunging them into
oblivion. Compare also 1 Corinth, xiii. 1, where Paul, speaking
of the exercise of the " gift of tongues " (glossalaly) without love
(aydin)), uses precisely the same term, when saying : " I am
become. as sounding brass (XOA.K&J iix&v) or tinkling cymbal" — the
latter being, perhaps, a reference to the sistrum, while the former
is perhaps a metaphor, derived from the hardness and colour
(" red ") of brass, or rather bronze or copper, referring to a state
of mind which plunges us into oblivion of our better part —
namely, spiritual love.
304 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
simultaneous motion of the universe is thus called [sc.
Sarapis], from seuesthai and sousthai l [" speed "].
5. But the majority of the priests say that " Osiris "
and " Apis " have been woven together into the same
[name], explaining and teaching that we should look
on the Apis as an en-formed image of the soul of Osiris.
6. If, however, the name of Sarapis is Egyptian, I
for my part think it denotes " Good Cheer " and
" Delight," — finding a proof in the fact that Egyptians
call the feast " Delights " — Sairei.
And, indeed, Plato says that Hades has been so called
as being " sweet " 2 and gentle to those with him.
7. And with Egyptians both many other of their
names are logoi,3 and they call subterrene space, to
which they think the souls depart after death, Amenthe
— the name signifying "the [space] which takes and
gives." 4
8. But whether this, too, is one of the names that
left Hellas long ago and have been brought back again,5
we will examine later on ; for the present, let us continue
with the remaining [points] of the belief we have in
hand.
CONCERNING TYPHON
XXX. 1. Osiris and Isis have, then, changed from
good daimones into gods. While as for the dimmed
and shattered power of Typhon, though it is at the last
1 A contracted form of the former — from V'Fe or V<r«f> with
idea of " swiftness." (?) Serapis — sev-a-this — sevesthai.
2 aSovffiov — unknown to the lexicons. I suggest that it may
be connected with ^Soi, from \/arPaS of avSdvw — hence " sweet."
3 Presumably "words of deep meaning" — another technical
use of this Proteus-like term.
4 Budge (op. cit., ii. 200) says : " The Egyptian form of the
word is Amentet, and the name means 'hidden place."'
6 How very Greek ! Cf. Ixi. 4.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 305
gasp and in its final death-throes, they still appease
and soothe it with certain feasts of offerings.
2. Yet, again, every now and then at certain festivals
they humiliate it dreadfully and treat it most despite-
fully, — even to rolling red-skinned men in the mud,
and driving an ass over a precipice (as the Koptos folk),
because Typhon was born with his skin red and ass-like.
While the Busiris folk and Lycopolitans do not use
trumpets at all, as they sound like an ass [braying].
3. And generally they think that the ass is not clean,
but a daimonic animal, on account of its resemblance to
that [god] ; and making round-cakes for feasts of offer-
ings on both the month of Payni and that of Phaophi,1
they stamp on them an " ass tied." 2
4. And on the Feast of Offerings of the Sun, they
pass the word to the worshippers not to wear on the
body things made of gold nor to give food to an ass.3
5. The Pythagorics also seem to consider Typhon a
daimonic power ; for they say that Typhon was produced
on the six-and-fiftieth even measure ; and again that
the [power 4] of the equilateral triangle is that of Hades
and Dionysus and Ares ; that of the square is that of
Ehea and Aphrodite and Demeter and Hestia (that is,
Hera) ; that of the dodecagon, that of Zeus ; and that of
the fifty-six angled [regular polygon], that of Typhon —
as Eudoxus relates.6
1 Copt. Paoni and Paopi — corr. roughly with June and October.
2 Svov SfSffjityov. Cf. Matt. xxi. 2 : tvov StSe^eVrji' ; cf. also 1. 3,
where it is a hippopotamus.
3 That is, presumably, not to weigh down their minds with the
superfluity of riches, nor to feed up the stupid and lustful energies
of their souls.
* A "power" in Pythagorean technology is the side of a
square (or, perhaps, of any equilateral polygon) in geometry ; and
in arithmetic the square root, or that which being multiplied into
itself produces the square.
5 Eudoxus seems to have been Plutarch's authority for his
VOL. i. 20
306 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
XXXI. 1. And, as Egyptians believe that Typhon was
born red-skinned,1 they offer in sacrifice even the red
ones of the oxen [only] after making the scrutiny so close,
that if [the beast] has even a single hair black or white,
they consider it ought not to be offered ; for if it were
sacrificed, it would not be an acceptable offering to the
gods, but the contrary, [as are] all those animals which
have seized on the souls of impure and unrighteous men
in the course of their transformation into bodies other
[than human].
2. Wherefore after uttering imprecations on the head
of the victim,2 and cutting off its head, they used to
cast it into the river in olden days, but nowadays
they give it to strangers.
3. But as to the one that is to be sacrificed, those of
the priests who are called Sealers, set a mark upon it —
the seal (as Kastor 3 relates) having the impression of a
man forced down on one knee with his hands drawn
round behind him, and a sword sticking in his throat.4
4. And they think that the ass also has the distinction
of its resemblance [to Typhon], as has been said, owing
to its aversion to being taught and to its wantonness,
no less than on account of its skin.5
5. For which cause also since they especially detested
statements regarding Pythagorean doctrine ; cf. vi., lii., Ixii. The
Typhonic figure might be generated by " sevening " the interior
angles of a regular octagon and producing the radii to the circum-
ference of the circumscribed circle, or by " eighting '' the interior
angles of a regular heptagon.
1 Or " fire-coloured."
2 Compare the Ritual of Azazel (the scape-goat), one of the
two goats set apart on the Great Day of Atonement among the
Jews (Lev. xvi. 8 ff.).
3 Of. also Plut., Mtia Romana, x. Castor was a Greek historian
who was a contemporary of Cicero and Julius Caesar.
4 The ox was, therefore, the vicarious atonement of the man.
6 It was a red ass, then, which symbolised the Typhonic power.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 307
Ochus l of [all] the Persian kings as being blood-polluted
and abominable, they gave him the nickname of " Ass."
But he, with the retort : " This Ass, however, will
make a fine feast off your Ox " — slaughtered the Apis,
as Deinon has told us.2
6. Those, however, who say that Typhon's flight from
the fight on an ass lasted seven days, and that after
reaching a place of safety he begat sons — Hierosolymus
and Judaeus — are instantly convicted of dragging Judaic
matters into the myth.3
THE THEORY OF THE PHYSICISTS
XXXII. I.4 The above [data] then afford [us] such
and such suggestions. But from another start let us
consider the simplest of those who seem to give a more
philosophical explanation.
2. These are those who say that, just as the Greeks
allegorise time as Kronos, and air as Hera, and the
changes of air into fire as the generation of Hephsestus,
so, with the Egyptians, Osiris uniting with Isis (earth)
is Neilos, and Typhon is the sea, into which Neilos
falling vanishes and is dispersed, except such part [of
him] as the earth takes up and receives, and so becomes
endowed with productiveness by him.
3. And there is a sacred dirge made on Kronos 5 — and
it laments " him who is born in the left-hand and died
in the right-hand parts."
1 Qf. xi. 4.
2 Muller, ii. 95. Deinon was a contemporary of Alexander the
Great, and wrote a history of Persia.
3 This item of ancient scandal would almost seem to have come
from the pen of an Apion ; it is an interesting specimen of theo-
logical controversy in story-form.
4 This paragraph and the next is quoted by Eusebius, Prcep.
Ev.,lII. iii. 11. 6 That is Nile.
308 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
4. For Egyptians think that the eastern [parts] of
cosmos are " face," the northern " right hand," and the
southern " left hand."
5. The Nile, accordingly, since it flows from the
southern [parts] and is consumed by the sea in the
northern, is naturally said to have its birth in the left
hand and its death in the right hand.
6. Wherefore the priests both pronounce the sea
expiate and call salt " Typhon's foam " ; and one of the
chief prohibitions they have is: "Not to set salt on
table." And they do not give greeting to sailors,1
because they use the sea, and get their living from it.
And for this cause chiefly they accuse fish of being a
cause of offence, and write up : " Hate fish ! "
7. At anyrate at Sais, in the entrance of the temple
of Athena, there used to be chiselled up " babe," " old
man," and after that " hawk," then " fish," and last of all
" hippopotamus."
8. This meant in symbols : " 0 ye who are being
born and are dying, God hates shamelessness."
9. For " babe " is the symbol of birth, and " old man "
of death, and by " hawk " they mean God, and by " fish "
hatred — as has been said on account of the sea — and
by "hippopotamus" shamelessness, for it is fabled that
after it has killed its sire it violates its dam.
10. Moreover, what is said by the Pythagorics,
namely, that the sea is the tears of Kronos, would seem
to riddle the fact of its not being pure and cognate
with itself.
11. Let these things then be stated from outside
sources as matters of common information.
XXXIII. 1. But the more wise of the priests call not
only the Nile Osiris, and the sea Typhon ; but [they
1 Lit., " pilots " ; but presumably here used in a more general
sense.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 309
call] without exception every source and power that
moistens, Osiris — considering [him] cause of generation
and essence of seed, and Typhon everything dry and
fiery, and of a drying nature generally and one hostile
to moisture.
2. And for this cause also, as they think he [Typhon]
was born with a reddish-yellow body, somewhat pale,
they do not by any means readily meet or willingly
associate with men that look like this.
3. On the other hand, again, they say in the language
of myth that Osiris was born black, because all [Nile]
water blackens both earth and garments and clouds
when mixed [with them], and [because] moisture in
the young makes their hair black, whereas greyness
comes on those past their prime, as though it were a
turning pale owing to its drying up.
4. The spring, too, is blooming and productive and
balmy; but autumn, through lack of moisture, is
inimical to plants and baneful to animals.
5. And the ox that is kept at Sun-city which they
call Mnevis — sacred to Osiris, while some also consider
it sire of Apis — is black [also] and has second honours
after Apis.
6. Moreover, they call Egypt, since it is especially
black-soiled, just like the black of the eye, Chemia, and
liken it to a heart ; for it is warm and moist, and is
mostly confined in, and adjacent to, the southern part
of the civilised world, just like the heart [is] in man's
left-hand side.
XXXIV. 1. Moreover, they say that sun and moon
do not use chariots for vehicles, but sail round in boats
— [thus] riddling their being nourished by and being
born in the " Moist."
2. And they think that Homer also, like Thales, set
down Water as source and birth of all things, after
310 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
learning [it] from Egyptians ; for that Oceanus is Osiris,
and Tethys * Isis, as nursing all things and rearing them
all up together.
3. For Greeks also call " emission of seed " cnr-ovariav
and "intercourse" (rvv-ov<riav, and "son" (viov) from
" water " (vSaros) and " moisten " (vcrai) ', 2 and [they
call] Dionysus Hues, as lord of the Moist Nature, in
that he is no other than Osiris.
4. In fact, Hellanicus3 seems to have heard Osiris
called Hu-siris by the priests ; for he persists in thus
calling the god, presumably from his nature and power
of invention.*
CONCERNING OSIRIS AND DIONYSUS
XXXV. 1. That, however, he is the same as Dionysus
— who should know better than thou thyself, 0 Klea,
who art Archi-charila 5 of the Thyiades at Delphi,
1 As connected with TfiOi), the Nurse of all, and identified by
some with the Primal Earth ; and so signified by the word-play
TijBuv and n0r;»'-oujieVi?»/ ("nursing").
2 The word-play runs : ap-ows-ia, sun-ows-ia, hu-ion, hud-atos,
/ius-ai.
3 The most eminent of the Greek logographers ; fl. 553-504 B.C.
4 tvpfffKos — probably another word-play, heuresis and husiris.
6 The text reads apxut\a — an apparently impossible collection
of letters. As no one has so far purged the reading, I would
suggest xdpt\av or a.pxi-x&piKa.v. Stending (in Roscher, s.v.)
reminds us of the myth of the orphan maid Charila, who during
a famine begged alms at the gate of the palace of the King of
ancient Delphi ; the King not only refused her, but drove her
away slapping her face with his shoe. Whereupon the little
maid for shame hanged herself. After the famine was over the
Oracle decreed an atonement for her death. And so every
nine years an effigy made to represent Charila was done to
death, and then carried oft7 by the leader of the Thyiades (or
priestesses of Bacchus), and buried, with a rope round its neck,
in a gorge. Cf. Harrison (Jane E.), Prolegomena to the Study of
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 311
and wast dedicated to the Osiriaca before thou.
wert born ? 1
But if for the sake of others we must quote testi-
monies, let us leave the things that must not be spoken
of in their proper place.
2. The rites, however, which the priests perform in
burning the Apis, when they transport its body on a
raft, in no way fall short of a Bacchic Orgy. For they
put on fawn-skins and carry thyrsuses,2 and shout and
dance just like those inspired at celebrations of the
Mysteries of Dionysus.
3. Wherefore many of the Greeks make Dionysus
also bull-formed; while the women of the Eleians
invoke him praying "the god with the bull's foot to
come " to them.
4. The Argives, moreover, give Dionysus the epithet
of " bull-born," and they call him up out of the water
with the sound of trumpets, casting a lamb into the
abyss for the Gate-keeper.3 The trumpets they hide
in thyrsi, as Socrates has said in his " [Books] on
Rites."4
5. The Titanic [Passions] also and the [Dionysian]
Night-rites agree with what we are told about the
tearings-in-pieces and revivings and palingeneses of
Osiris ; and similarly the [stories] of the burials.
Greek Religion (Cambridge, 1903), p. 106. As Klea was leader of
the Thyiades, this office fell to her ; it may, therefore, even be
that her name is some play on Charila.
1 Lit., " from father and mother."
2 Symbolic wands, generally cane-like or knotted like a
bamboo, and sometimes wreathed in ivy and vine leaves, with a
pine-cone at top.
3 rip irv\adx<f.
4 Mliller, iv. 498. This was probably Socrates of Cos, who is
known to have been the author of a work entitled 'EirtK\-f)fftts 0twv
(e.g. Dion. Lae'rt., ii. 4), meaning either " Prayers to the Gods,"
or " Surnames of the Gods."
312 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
6. For both Egyptians point to tombs of Osiris
everywhere, as has been said,1 and [also] Delphians
believe the relics of Dionysus are deposited with them
by the side of the Oracle, and the Holy Ones offer an
offering, of which we must not speak, in the fane of
Apollo, when the Thyiades awake "Him of the
winnowing fan."
7. And that Greeks consider Dionysus to be lord and
prince not only of wine, but of every moist nature,
Pindar witnesses sufficiently when he sings :
May gladsome Dionysus make the pasturage of trees to grow —
Pure light of autumn.2
8. For which cause also they who give worship to
Osiris are forbidden to destroy a cultivated tree or to
stop up a water-source.
THE THEORY OF THE PHYSICISTS RESUMED
XXXVI. 1. And they call not only the Nile, but also
without distinction all that is moist, " Osiris' efflux " ;
and the water-vase always heads the processions of the
priests in honour of the God.
2. And with "rush"3 they write "king" and the
"southern climate" of the cosmos; and "rush" is
interpreted as "watering" and "conception" of all
things, and is supposed to resemble in its nature the
generative member.
3. And when they keep the feast Pamylia, which is
phallic, as has been said,4 they bring out and carry
round an image having a phallus three times the size
of it.
1 Cf. xx. 5. 2 Bergk, i. 433.
3 Optov — confounded by King (in loc.) with 0Pw, "fig leaf"
(perhaps connected with rpJj, from the three lobes of the leaf) ;
the " rush " is presumably the papyrus. 4 Cf. xii.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 313
4. For God is source, and every source by the power
of generation makes manifold that which comes from
it. And "many times" we are accustomed to call
" thrice," as, for instance, " thrice-blessed," and " three
times as many, endless, bonds"1 — unless, indeed,
" three fold " was used in its authentic meaning by
those of old ; for the Moist Nature, as being source and
genesis of all, moved from the beginning the first three
bodies — earth, air, and fire.
5. For the logos that is superadded to the myth-
how that Typhon cast the chief part of Osiris into the
river, and Isis could not find it, but after dedicating an
object answering to it, and having made it ready, she
commanded them to keep the Phallephoria in its honour
— comes to this : namely, an instruction that the
generative and spermatic [powers] of the G-od had
moisture as their first matter, and by means of moisture
were immingled with those things which have been
produced to share in genesis.
6. But there is another logos of the Egyptians — that
Apophis, as brother of the Sun, made war on Zeus, and
that when Osiris fought on his [Zeus'] side and helped
him to conquer his foe, Zeus adopted him as his son
and called him Dionysus.
7. Moreover, the mythical nature of this logos goes
to show that it connects with the truth about nature.
For Egyptians call [Cosmic] Breath2 Zeus — to which
Dry and Fiery is hostile ; this [latter] is not the Sun,
but it has a certain kinship with him. And Moisture,
by quenching the excess of Dryness, increases and
strengthens the exhalations by which the Breath
nourishes itself and waxes strong.
XXXVII. 1. Moreover, both Greeks consecrate the
1 Bernardakis gives the references as II., vi. 154 and viii. 340,
but I am unable to verify them. 2 Or " Spirit " (iri/«S/ia).
314 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
ivy to Dionysus and [also] among Egyptians it is said
to be called chen-osiris — the name meaning, they say,
" Osiris-plant."
2. Further, Ariston, who wrote Colonies of the
Athenians, came across some Letter or other of Alex-
archus's,1 in which it is related that Dionysus, as son
of Osiris and ]sis, is not called Osiris but Arsaphes by
the Egyptians — ([this is] in Ariston's first book) — the
name signifying " manliness."
3. Hermseus also supports this in the first book of
his Concerning the Egyptians, for he says that " Osiris "
is, when translated, " Strong." 2
4. I disregard Mnaseas,3 who associated Dionysus
and Osiris and Sarapis with Epaphos ; 4 I also disregard
Anticleides,5 who says that Isis, as daughter of Pro-
metheus,6 lived with Dionysus ; for the peculiarities
which have been stated about the festivals and offerings
carry a conviction with them that is clearer than the
witnesses [I have produced].
XXXVIII. 1. And of the stars they consider Sirius
to be Isis's7 — as being a water-bringer. And they
honour the Lion, and ornament the doors of the
temples with gaping lions' mouths ; since Nilus over-
flows:
When first the Sun doth with the Lion join.8
1 Ariston and Alexarchus and Hermseus (c/. xlii. 7) seem to be
otherwise unknown to fame.
2 (!/i)3f)jjuos = oj8pj/toy — strong, virile, manly. Of. the Eleusinian
sacred name Brimos for lacchos.
3 Flourished latter half of 3rd century B.C.
4 Son of Zeus and lo, born in the Nile, after the long wander-
ings of his mother. He is fabled by the Greeks to have been
subsequently King of Egypt and to have built Memphis. Hero-
dotus (ii. 153 ; iii. 27, 28) says that Epaphos = Apis.
6 A Greek writer subsequent to the time of Alexander the Great.
6 Cf. iii. 1. 7 But c/. Ixi. 5. 8 Aratus, Phcenom., 351.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 315
2. And as they hold the Nile to be " Osiris's efflux,"
so too they think earth Isis's body — not all [of it], but
what the Nile covers, sowing [her] with seed and
mingling with her ; and from this intercourse they
give birth to Horus.
3. And Horus is the season (wpa) and [fair] blend of
air that keeps and nourishes all in the atmosphere —
who, they say, was nursed by Leto in the marshes
round Buto ; for the watery and soaked-through earth
especially nourishes the exhalations that quench and
abate dryness and drought.
4. And they call the extremities of the land, both on
the borders and where touching the sea, Nephthys;
for which cause they give Nephthys the name of
" End," l and say she lives with Typhon.
5. And when the Nile exceeds its boundaries and
overflows more than usual, and [so] consorts with the
extreme districts, they call it the union of Osiris with
Nephthys — proof of which is given by the 'springing
up of plants, and especially of the honey-clover,2 for it
was by its falling [from Osiris] and being left behind
that Typhon was made aware of the wrong done to his
bed. Hence it is that Isis conceived Horus in lawful
wedlock, but Nephthys Anubis clandestinely.
6. In the Successions of the Kings,3 however, they
record that when Nephthys was married to Typhon,
she was at first barren ; and if they mean this to apply
not to a woman but to their Goddess, they enigmatically
refer to the utterly unproductive nature of the land
owing to sterility.
XXXIX. 1. The conspiracy and despotism of Typhon,
moreover, was the power of drought getting the
mastery over and dispersing the moisture which both
generates the Nile and increases it.
1 Of. xii. 6. 2 Qf. xiv. 6. 3 Cf. xi. 4.
316 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
2. While his helper, the ^Ethiopian queen,1 riddles
southerly winds from ^Ethiopia. For when these prevail
over the Annuals2 (which drive the clouds towards
Ethiopia), and prevent the rains which swell the Nile
from bursting, — Typhon takes possession and scorches ;
and thus entirely mastering the Nile he forces him out
into the sea, contracted into himself through weakness
and flowing empty and low.
3. For the fabled shutting-up of Osiris into the
coffin is, perhaps, nothing but a riddle of the occultation
and disappearance of water. Wherefore they say that
Osiris disappeared in the mofeth of Athyr,3 — when,
the Annuals ceasing entirely, the Nile sinks, and the
land is denuded, and, night lengthening, darkness
increases, and the power of the light wanes and is
mastered, and the priests perform both other melan-
choly rites, and, covering a cow made entirely of gold 4
with a black coat of fine linen as a mask of mourning
for the Goddess — for they look on the "cow" as an
image of Isis and as the earth — they exhibit it for
four days from the seventeenth consecutively.
4. For the things mourned for are four: first, the
Nile failing and sinking ; second, the northern winds
being completely extinguished by the southern gaining
the mastery ; third, the day becoming less than the
night; and, finally, the denudation of the earth,
together with the stripping of the trees which shed
their leaves at that time.
5. And on the nineteenth, at night they go down to
the sea ; and the keepers and priests carry out the
1 Aso ; cf. xiii. 3.
2 The " Etesian " winds, which, in Egypt blew from the N.W.
during the whole summer.
3 Copt. Hathor — corr. roughly with November.
* Cf. " the golden calf " incident of the Exodus story.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 317
sacred chest, having within it a small golden vessel,
into which they take and pour fresh water ; and shouts
are raised by the assistants as though Osiris were found.
6. Afterwards they knead productive soil with the
water, and mixing with it sweet spices and fragrant
incense, they mould it into a little moon-shaped image
of very costly stuffs. And they dress it up and deck
it out, — showing that they consider these Gods the
essence of earth and water.
XL 1. And when again Isis recovers Osiris and
makes Horus grow, strengthened with exhalations and
moist clouds, — Typhon is indeed mastered, but not
destroyed.
2. For the Mistress and Goddess of the earth did
not allow the nature which is the opposite of moisture to
be destroyed entirely, but she slackened and weakened
it, wishing that the blend should continue ; for it was
not possible the cosmos should be perfect, had the fiery
[principle] ceased and disappeared.
3. And if these things are not said contrary to proba-
bility, it is probable also that one need not reject that
logos also, — how that Typhon of old got possession of the
share of Osiris ; for Egypt was [once] sea.1
4. For which cause many [spots] in its mines and
mountains are found even to this day to contain shells ;
and all springs and all wells — and there are great
numbers of them — have brackish and bitter water, as
though it were the stale residue of the old-time sea
collecting together into them.
5. But Horus in time got the better of Typhon, —
that, is, a good season of rains setting in, the Nile driving
out the sea made the plain reappear by filling it up
again with its deposits, — a fact, indeed, to which our
1 Another proof of the common persuasion that there had been
a Flood in Egypt.
318 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
senses bear witness ; for we see even now that as the
river brings down fresh mud, and advances the land
little by little, the deep water gradually diminishes,
and the sea recedes through its bottom being heightened
by the deposits.
6. Moreover, [we see] Pharos, which Homer l knew
as a day's sail distant from Egypt, now part [and parcel]
of it; not that the [island] itself has sailed to land,2
or extended itself shorewards, but because the inter-
vening sea has been forced back by the river's reshaping
of and adding to the mainland.
7. These [explanations], moreover, resemble the theo-
logical dogmas laid down by the Stoics, — for they also
say that the generative and nutritive Breath [or Spirit]
is Dionysus ; the percussive and separative, Heracles ;
the receptive, Ammon [Zeus]; that which extends
through earth and fruits, Demeter and Kore ; and that
[which extends] through sea, Poseidon.3
THE THEORY OF THE MATHEMATICI
XLI. 1. Those, however, who combine with the
above [considerations] of the Physicists some of the
Mathematic [doctrines] derived from star-lore, think that
the solar cosmos is called Typhon and the lunar Osiris.4
2. For [they think] that the Moon, in that its light
is generative and moistening, is favourable both for
breedings of animals and sproutings of plants ; whereas
the Sun, with untempered and harsh fire, burns and
1 n., iv. 355.
2 A play on the "day's sail" (Sp^nov) and ava-tya/uoDo-w.
3 It is, of course, a very poor interpretation of the myth to talk
only about floods and desert, sea and rain, etc. These are all
facts illustrating the underlying truth, but they are not the real
meaning.
4 This is a worse guess than even that of the Physicists. Of. li. 5.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 319
withers up [all] that are growing and blowing, and
with fiery heat renders the major part of the earth
entirely uninhabitable, and in many places utterly
masters the Moon.
3. For which cause Egyptians always call Typhon
Seth,1 — that is, " that which oppresses and constrains
by force."
4. And they have a myth that Heracles is settled in
the Sun and accompanies him in his revolutions, while
Hermes does the same with the Moon.
5. For the [revolutions] of the Moon resemble works
of reason (logos) and super-abundant wisdom, while
those of the Sun are like penetrating strokes [given]
with force and power.2
6. Moreover, the Stoics say that the sun is kept
burning and nourished from the sea,3 whereas to the
Moon the waters of springs and lakes send up a sweet
and mild exhalation.
XLII. 1. The Egyptian myth runs that the death of
Osiris took place on the seventeenth, when the full-
moon is most conspicuously at the full
2. Wherefore the Pythagoreans call this day also
" Interception," 4 and regard this number as expiable.
3. For the " sixteen " being square and the " eighteen "
oblong 5 — which alone of plane numbers happen to have
their perimeters equal to the areas contained by them °
— the mean, " seventeen," coming between them, inter-
cepts and divorces them from one another, and divides
1 Cf. Ixii. 2 et al
2 Cf. the Stoic attributes of Heracles in xl. 7.
3 If this is intended for the Great Sea of Space, it would be
credible. 4 avTitf>pa^y.
6 Square and Oblong were two of the fundamental " pairs of
opposites " among the Pythagoreans. Cf. xlviii. 5.
320 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the ratio of "nine" to "eight"1 by being cut into
unequal intervals.
4. And eight-and-twenty is the number of years
which some say Osiris lived, and others that he reigned ; 2
for this is the number of the lights of the Moon, and it
rolls out its own circle in this number of days.
5. And at what they call the Burials of Osiris they
cut the tree-trunk and make it into a crescent-shaped
coffin, because the Moon, when it approaches the Sun,
becomes crescent-shaped and hides itself away.
6. And the tearing of Osiris into fourteen pieces
they refer enigmatically to the days in which the
luminary wanes after full-moon up to new-moon.
7. And the day on which it first appears, escaping
from his beams and passing by the Sun, they call
" Imperfect Good."
8. For Osiris is "Good-doer." The name, indeed,
means many things, but chiefly what they call " Might
energising and good-doing." And the other name of
the God, — Omphis, Hermseus 3 says, means [also] when
translated, " Benefactor."
XLIII. 1. Moreover, they think that the risings of the
Nile have a certain analogy with the lights of the
Moon.
2. For the greatest [rising], about Elephantine, is
eight-and-twenty cubits, the same number as are the
lights and measures of its monthly periods ; and the
least, about Mendes and Xoi's, is of six cubits,
[analogous] to the half -moon; while the mean, about
Memphis, when it is the right quantity, [is] of fourteen
cubits, [analogous] to the full-moon.
1 The sesquioctave. In areas 8 is half of 16, and 9 of 18 ;
while in a proportional measuring- rod or canon of 27 units, inter-
vals of 8, 9, and 10 units succeeding one another complete the 27.
Cf. xiii. 8, 9. 3 Of. xnviii. 2.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 321
3. And [they consider] the Apis the animated image
of Osiris, and that he is conceived whenever generative
light from the Moon fastens on a cow in heat.
4. For which cause also many of the markings of
the Apis — lights shading off into darks — resemble the
configurations of the moon.
5. Moreover, on the new-moon of the month
Phamenoth l they keep festival, calling it " Entrance " 2
of Osiris into the Moon, as it is the beginning of
spring.
6. By thus placing the power of Osiris in the Moon,
they mean that Isis consorts with him while being [at
the same time] the cause of his birth.3
7. For which cause also they call the Moon Mother
of the cosmos, and think that she has a male-female
nature, — for she is filled by the Sun and made pregnant,
and again of herself sends forth and disseminates into
the air generative principles.
8. For [they say] she does not always overmaster
the destruction wrought by Typhon;4 but, though
frequently mastered, even when bound hand and foot
she frees herself again by her generative power, and
fights the way through to Horus.
9. And Horus is the cosmos surrounding the earth —
not entirely exempt from destruction either, nor yet
from generation.
XLIV. 1. Some, moreover, make out of the myth a
riddle of the phenomena of eclipses also.
2. For the Moon is eclipsed at the full, when the
Sun has the station opposite it, she entering the shadow
of the earth, — just as they say Osiris [entered] the
1 Copt, the same — roughly corr. to March.
2 fH&affiv — or perhaps "Embarking."
3 That is, is both wife and mother.
4 Typhon being the Sun according to this theory.
VOL. I. 21
322 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
coffin. And she again conceals the Sun and causes
him to disappear, on the thirtieth [of the month],
though she does not entirely destroy him, as neither
did Isis Typhon.
3. And when Nephthys conceives Anubis, Isis adopts
him. For Nephthys is that which is below the earth
and non-manifest, while Isis [is] that which is above the
earth and manifest.
4. And the circle just touching them and called
" Horizon," as being common to both of them, has been
called Anubis, and is likened to a dog for its character-
istic; for the dog has the use of its sight both by
day and nightalike.
5. And Anubis seems to possess this power among
Egyptians — just as Hecate with Greeks — being at one
and the same time chthonian and olympian.1
6. Some, however, think that Anubis is Kronos;2
wherefore as he breeds all things out of himself and
conceives (KIXDV) [all] in himself, he got the name of Dog
(KVMV).
7. There is, then, for the worshippers of Anubis some
[mystery] or other that may not be spoken of.3
8. In olden times, indeed, the dog enjoyed the
highest honours in Egypt; but seeing that when
Cambyses 4 slew the Apis and cast it out, no [animal]
approached or touched its carcase but only the dog, he
[thus] lost the [distinction of] being first and most
honoured of the rest of the animals.
9. There are some, however, who call the shadow of
the earth into which they think the Moon falls and is
eclipsed, Typhon.
1 That is, infernal and celestial. 2 In the sense of Time.
3 This seems to suggest that Plutarch, though he faithfully
records what "people say," by no means wishes his readers to
believe them. 4 But see xi. 4 and xxxi. 4.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 323
THE THEORY OF THE DUALISTS
XLV. 1. From [all of] which it seems not unreasonable
to conclude that no simple [explanation] by itself gives
the right meaning, but that they all collectively do so.
2. For neither drought nor wind nor sea nor dark-
ness is the essential of Typhon, but the whole hurtful
and destructive [element] which is in nature.
3. For we must neither place the principles of the
whole in soulless bodies, as [do] Democritus and Epi-
curus, nor yet assume one Reason (Logos) [only] and
one Providence that prevails over and masters all
things as demiurge [or artificer] of quality-less matter,
as [do] the Stoics.
4. For it is impossible either that anything at all of
no worth should exist where God is cause of all, or of
worth where [He is cause] of nothing.
5. For " reciprocal " [is] cosmos' " harmony, as that
of lyre or bow," according to Heracleitus,1 and ac-
cording to Euripides:
There could not be apart good things and bad,
But there's a blend of both so as to make things fair.2
6. Wherefore this exceedingly ancient doctrine also
comes down from the theologers and law-givers to poets
and philosophers — [a doctrine] that has its origin set
down to no man's name, and yet possessed of credit,
strong and not so easy to efface, surviving in many
places not in words or voices 3 only, but also in [secret]
1 Mullach, i. 319 ; Fairbanks (45), p. 37. The whole logos of
Heracleitus runs : " They know not how differing agrees with
itself, — back-flying (iraxivTovos) harmony as though of lyre or
bow." That is, as a stretched string flies back again to its original
position. 2 Nauck, p. 294.
3 That is, presumably, " in logoi and voices from heaven."
324 THKICE-GREATEST HERMES
perfectionings and [public] offerings, both non-Greek
and Greek [ones] — that neither does the universe mind-
less and reason-less and guidance-less float in "That
which acts of its own will," nor is there one Reason
[only] that rules and guides, as though with rudder as
it were and bits obedient to the reins ; but that [the
universe] is many things and these a blend of evil
things and good.
7. Or, rather, seeing that Nature produces nothing,
generally speaking, unmixed down here, it is not that
from two jars a single mixer, like a tavern-keeper,
pouring things out like drinks, mixes them up for us,
but that from two opposite principles and two antago-
nistic powers — the one leading [things] to the right
and on the straight [road], the other upsetting and
undoing [them] — both life has been made mixed,
and cosmos (if not the whole, at anyrate this [cosmos]
which surrounds the earth and comes after the Moon)
irregular and variable, and susceptible of changes of
every kind.
8. For if nothing has been naturally brought into
existence without a cause, and Good cannot furnish
cause of Bad, the nature of Bad as well as Good must
have a genesis and principle peculiar to itself.
XL VI.1 1. And this is the opinion of most of the
most wise.
2. For some think there are two craft-rival Gods, as
it were, — one the artificer of good [things], the other of
[things] worthless. Others call the better " God " and
the other " Daimon," as Zoroaster the Mage, who, they
tell us, lived five thousand years before the Trojan
War.
1 For a criticism and notes on this chapter and the following,
see Cumont (F.), Textes et Monuments Figures relatifs aux My stores
de Mithra (Bruxelles, 1896), ii. 33-35.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 325
3. Zoroaster, then, called the one Oromazes, and the
other Areimanios, and further announced that the one
resembled light especially of things sensible, and the
other, contrariwise, darkness and ignorance, while that
between the two was Mithres ; wherefore the Persians
call Mithres the Mediator.
4. He taught them, moreover, to make offerings of
gladsome prayers to the one, and to the other of
melancholy de-precations.
5. For bruising a certain plant called " moly " * in a
mortar, they invoke Hades and Darkness ; then mixing
it with the blood of a wolf whose throat has been cut,
they carry it away and cast it into a sunless spot.
6. For they think that both of plants some are of
the Good God and others of the Evil Daimon ; and of
animals, dogs, for instance, and birds2 and hedgehogs
of the Good, and water-rats of the Bad; wherefore
they consider fortunate the man who kills the largest
number [of the last].
XLVII. 1. Not that they also do not tell many mythic
stories about the Gods ; such as are, for example, the
following :
Oromazes, born from the purest light, and Areimanios,
of the nether darkness, are at war with one another.
2. And the former made six Gods : the first of good
mind, the second of truth, the third of good order, and
of the rest, one of wisdom, one of wealth, and the producer
of things sweet following things fair ; while the latter
[made] craft-rivals as it were to those equal in number.
3. Then Oromazes having tripled himself, removed
himself from the sun so far as the sun is distant from
the earth, and adorned the heaven with stars ; and he
1 Thought by some to be the Cappadocian equivalent of the
haoma or soma plant.
2 That is " cocks."
326 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
established one star above all as warder and look-out,
[namely] Sirius.
4. And having made four-and-twenty other gods, he
put them into an egg.
Whereupon those that were made from Areimanios,
just the same in number, piercing through the egg . . -1
— whence the bad have been mingled with the good.
5. But a time appointed by Fate will come when
Areimanios's letting loose of pestilence and famine
must be utterly brought to an end, and made to vanish
by these [good gods], and the earth becoming plane and
level, there must ensue one mode of life and one way of
government for men, all being happy and one-tongued.2
6. Theopompus, however, says that, according to the
Magi, for three thousand years alternately one of the
Gods conquers and the other is conquered, and for yet
another three thousand years they fight and war, and
each undoes the work of the other.
7. But that in the end Hades fails, and men shall be
happy, neither requiring food nor casting shadow ; 3
while the God who has contrived these things is still
and at rest for a time — not otherwise long for a God,
but proportionate to a man's sleeping.
8. The style of myth among the Magi, then, is some-
what after this manner.
1 A lacuna occurs here in the text.
2 This may refer to the consciousness of the spiritual life.
3 There are thus three thousand years in which Ahura Mazda
has the upper hand, three thousand in which Ahriman is
victorious, three thousand in which the forces are balanced, and
in the tenth thousand years comes the Day of Light. Of. Pistis
Sophia, 243: "Jesus answered and said unto Mary: 'A Day
of Light is a thousand years in the world, so that thirty-six
myriads of years and a half myriad of years of the world make a
single Year of Light.' " The not casting of a shadow was supposed
to he a characteristic of souls not attached to body; but it refers
here rather to those who are " straight " with the Spiritual Sun.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 327
XLVIII. 1. Moreover, Chaldseans declare that of the
planets — which they call birth -presiding gods — two are
good workers, two ill-doers, while three are inter-
mediates and common.
2. As for the dogmas of the Greeks, they are, I take
it, plain to all, ascribing as they do the good allotment
to Olympian Zeus, and that which has to be averted to
Hades.
3. Moreover, they have a myth that Harmony is the
child of Aphrodite and Ares, the latter of whom is
harsh and strife-loving, while the former is gentle and
a lover of love-striving.
4. For Heracleitus plainly calls " War " — " father and
king and lord of all," 1 and says that Homer, when he
prays " that strife and hatred cease from gods as well," 2
forgets that he is imprecating the means of birth of
all, in that they have their genesis from conflict and
antipathy; that:
" Sun will not o'erstep his proper bounds, for if he do,
Furies, Eight's bodyguard, will find him out. " 3
5. The Pythagorics [also], in a list of names, set
down the predicates of Good as — One, Finite, Abiding,
Straight, Odd, Square, Equal, Right, Light ; and of
Bad as — Two, Infinite, Moving, Curved, Even, Oblong,
Unequal, Left, Dark, — on the ground that these are the
underlying principles of genesis.
6. Aristotle [also predicates] the former as Form and
the latter as Privation.
7. While Plato, though in many passages disguising
himself and hiding his face, calls the former of the
opposite principles Same and the latter Other.
1 Fairbanks, (44) pp. 34, 35.
2 Cf. II, xviii. 107 ; Fairbanks, (43) pp. 34, 35.
3 Fairbanks, (29) pp. 32, 33.
328 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
8. But in his Laws, being now older, no longer in
riddles and in symbols, but with authentic names, he
says l cosmos is moved not by one soul, but probably
by several, in any case not less than two, — whereof the
one is good-doing, the other the opposite to this and
maker of things opposite.
9. He leaves out, however, a certain third inter-
mediate nature, neither soul-less nor reason-less nor
motion-less of itself, as some think,2 but depending on
both of them, and for ever longing for and desiring and
following after the better, as the following [passages]
of the argument (logos),3 combining as it does for the
most part the theology of the Egyptians with their
philosophy, show.
XLIX. 1. For though the genesis and composition of
this cosmos has been blended from opposing, though
not equal-strengthed, powers, the lordship is neverthe-
less that of the Better [one].
2. Still it is impossible the Worse should be entirely
destroyed, as it is largely innate in the body and largely
in the soul of the universe, and ever in desperate
conflict with the Better.
3. In the Soul [of cosmos], then, Mind and Season
(Logos), the guide and lord of all the best in it, is
Osiris ; and so in earth and air and water and heaven
and stars, that which is ordered and appointed and in
health, is the efflux of Osiris, reflected in seasons and
temperatures and periods.
4. But Typhon is the passionate and titanic and
reasonless and impulsive [aspect] of the Soul, while of
1 This is a very brief summary of the argument in Legg., x.
896 ff. (Jowett, v. 282 ff.).
2 Of. xlv. 6.
3 This "argument" is Plutarch's own treatise and not Plato's
dialogue, as King supposes.
THE MYSTERIES OP ISIS AND OSIRIS 329
its corporeal [side he is] the death-dealing and
pestilent and disturbing, with unseasonable times and
intemperate atmospheres and concealments of sun and
moon, — as though they were the charges and oblitera-
tions of Typhon.
5. And the name is a predicate of Seth, as they call
Typhon ; for [Seth] means " that which oppresses and
constrains by force ; " l it means also, frequently,
" turning upside down," and, again, " overleaping."
6. Some, moreover, say that one of the companions
of Typhon was Bebon;2 while Manethos [says] that
Typhon himself was also called Bebon, and that the
name signifies "holding back" or "hindering," since
the power of Typhon stands in the way of things
going on their way and moving towards what they
have to.
L. 1. Wherefore also of domestic animals they ap-
portion to him the least tractable — the ass ; while
of wild ones, the most savage — the crocodile and
hippopotamus.
2. As to the ass, we have already given some ex-
planation. At Hermes-city, however, as image of
Typhon, they show us a hippopotamus on which stands
a hawk3 fighting a snake, — indicating by the hippo-
potamus Typhon, and by the hawk power and rule, of
which Typhon frequently possessing himself by force,
ceases not from being himself in and throwing [others]
into a state of disorder by means of evil.
3. Wherefore also when they make offerings on the
seventh of the month Tybi,4 — which [day] they call
1 Cf. xli. 2.
2 Bf&cava, but perhaps rather £ej8«j/a — and so 0ej8<2$, a play on
" steadying " or " straining." In Eg. Bebi or Baba ; cf.
Budge, op. cit., ii. 92.
3 Cf. li. 2. 4 Copt. Tobi — corr. roughly to January.
330 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" Arrival of Isis from Phoenicia," they mould on the
cakes a bound hippopotamus.1
4. And at Apollo-city it is the custom for absolutely
everyone to eat a piece of crocodile. And on one
[particular] day they hunt down and kill as many [of
them] as they possibly can, and throw them down
right in front of the temple, saying that Typhon
escaped Horus by turning himself into a crocodile, —
considering as they do that all animals and plants and
experiences that are evil and harmful are Typhon's
works and parts and movements.
LI. 1. Osiris, again, on the other hand, they write
with " eye " and " sceptre," 2 the former of which [they
say] shows his providence, and the latter his power ;
just as Homer, when calling him who is ruler and king
of all " Zeus supreme counsellor,"3 seems by " supreme "
to signify his supremacy, and by " counsellor " his good
counsel and providence.
2. They frequently write this god with " hawk " 4 as
well ; for it excels in tension of sight and swiftness of
flight, and can naturally support itself on the smallest
quantity of food.
3. It is said, moreover, to hover over the bodies of
the unburied dead and to cast earth upon them.5 And
when it drops down on the river to drink, it sets its
wings upright, and after drinking it lowers them again,
— by which it is evident it saves itself and escapes
from the crocodile, for if it is caught its wings remain
fixed as they were set.6
1 Cf. " bound ass " above, xxx. 3.
2 Cf. x. 6.
3 II., viii. 22 ; xvii. 339.
4 Cf. 1. 2. Compare the Eagle of Zeus.
5 More of the " Physiologus."
6 "In the crocodile's gullet," comments King, "and so pre-
vents him gulping down the bird." We are, however, inclined
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 331
4. And everywhere they exhibit a man-shaped image
of Osiris, — ithyphallic, because of his generative and
luxuriant [nature].
And they dress his statue in a flame-coloured robe,
— since they consider the sun as body of the power of
the Good, as it were a visible [sign] of an essence that
mind only can conceive.
5. Wherefore also we should pay no attention to
those who assign the sphere of the sun to Typhon,1 — to
whom nothing light or salutary, neither order nor
genesis, nor any motion that has measure and reason,
belongs, but [rather] their contraries.
6. And we should not set down drought which
destroys many of the animals and plants, as the sun's
work, but [rather as that] of the breaths and waters
in earth and air not being seasonably blended when
the principle of disorderly and unbounded power makes
discord and quenches the exhalations.
LIT. 1. And in the sacred hymns to Osiris, they in-
voke him who is hidden in the Arms of the Sun ; 2 and
on the thirteenth of the month of Epiphi 3 they keep
with feast the Birthday of the Eye of Horus, when moon
and sun are in the same straight line ; as they think
that not only the moon but also the sun is eye and light
of Horus.
2. And on the eighth of the waning [half] of Paophi *
they keep the Birthday of the Sun's Staff, after the
autumnal equinox, — signifying that he needs an under-
prop, as it were, and strengthening, deficient as he is
to think that Plutarch is a bit of a humourist, and that there is
no necessity for commenting seriously on his on dits.
1 Cf. xli. 1 ; also § 9 below.
2 That is the Sun's Rays.
3 Copt. Epep — corr. roughly with July.
4 Copt. Paopi — corr. roughly with October.
332 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
in heat and light, declining and moving obliquely
from us.
3. Moreover, just after the winter solstice they carry
the Cow round the shrine [seven times], and the circuit
is called the Seeking for Osiris, as in winter the
Goddess longs for the " water " of the Sun.
4. And she goes round this number of times, because
he completes his passing from the winter to the summer
solstice in the seventh month.
5. Moreover, Horus, son of Osiris, is said to have
been the first of all to make offerings to the Sun on the
fourth of the waxing moon, as is written in the [books]
entitled Birthdays of Horus.
6. Though indeed every day they offer incense to
the Sun in three kinds — resin at his rising, myrrh at
mid-heaven, and what is called " kuphi " at his setting ;
the reason for each of which I will explain later on.1
And with all these they think to make the Sun pro-
pitious to them and to do him service.
7. But what need is there to collect many such
indications ? For there are those who say point-blank
that Osiris is Sun and is called Sirius by Greeks — though
with Egyptians the addition of the article has caused
the name to be mistaken 2 — and who declare Isis to be no
other than Moon ; whence also [they say] that the horned
ones of her statues are representations of her crescent,
while by the black-robed ones are signified the occulta-
tions and overshadowings in which she follows Sun
longing after him.
8. Accordingly they invoke Moon for affairs of love ;
and Eudoxus 3 says that Isis decides love-affairs.
1 Gf. Ixxix., Ixxx.
2 That is o fftipios=S<rtpis — an absurd contention, of course,
though flattering to Greek vanity.
3 Of. vi., x., xxx., Ixii., Ixiv.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 333
9. And these [explanations] have in a modified way
some share of plausibility; whereas it is not worth
while even listening to those who make the Sun Typhon.
10. But let us ourselves again take up the proper
reason (logos).
The PROPER REASON ACCORDING TO PLUTARCH
LIIL 1. For Isis is the feminine [principle] of Nature
and that which is capable of receiving the whole of
genesis ; in virtue of which she has been called " Nurse "
and " All-receiving " by Plato,1 and, by the multitude,
" She of ten - thousand names," through her being
transformed by Eeason (Logos) and receiving all forms
and ideas [or shapes].
2. And she hath an innate love of the First and
Most Holy of all things (which is identical with the
Good), and longs after and pursues it. But she flees
from and repels the domain of the Bad, and though she
is the field and matter of them both, yet doth she ever
incline to the Better of herself, and offers [herself] for
him to beget and sow into herself emanations and
likenesses, with which she joys and delights that she is
pregnant and big with their generations.
3. For Generation is image of Essence in Matter and
Becoming copy of Being.
LIV. 1. Hence not unreasonably do they say in the
myth that [while] the Soul of Osiris is eternal and
indestructible, Typhon often tears his Body in pieces
and makes it disappear, and that Isis seeks it wandering
and puts it together again.
2. For the Eeal and Conceivable-by-the-mind-alone
and Good is superior to destruction and change; but
the images which the sensible and corporeal imitates
1 Timreus, 51 A.
334 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
from it, and the reasons (logoi) and forms and likenesses
which it receives, just as seal-impressions in wax, do
not last for ever, but are seized upon by the disorderly
and turbulent [elements], expelled hither from the field
above, and fighting against the Horus whom Isis brings
forth as the sensible image of that cosmos which mind
alone can conceive.
3. Wherefore also [Horus] is said to have a charge
of bastardy brought against him by Typhon — of not
being pure and unalloyed like his sire, Eeason (Logos),
itself by itself, unmixed and impassible, but bastardized
with matter on account of the corporeal [element].1
4. Nevertheless, Horus gets the best of it and wins,
through Hermes — that is, the Eeason (Logos) 2 — bearing
witness and showing that Nature reflects the [true]
Cosmos by changing her forms according to That-which-
mind-alone-can-conceive.3
5. For the genesis of Apollo 4 from Isis and Osiris 5
that took place while the Gods were still in the womb
of Ehea, is an enigmatical way of stating that before this
[sensible] cosmos became manifest, and Matter was
perfected by Eeason (Logos), Nature, proving herself
imperfect, of herself brought forth her first birth.
6. Wherefore also they say that that God was lame 6
in the dark, and call him Elder Horus ; for he was not
cosmos, but a sort of image and phantasm of the world
which was to be.7
1 Of. G. H., x. (xi.) 10 ; Lack, iv. 6 (Frag. v.).
2 This shows that in one tradition Hermes and Osiris were
identified.
3 Cf. xix. 4. * Sc. Horus.
5 The sequel I think shows that " and Osiris " is a gloss ; but see
xii. 8.
6 Cf. Ixii.
7 These two paragraphs are, in my opinion, of the utmost value
for the critical investigation of the sources of the famous Sophia-
THE MYSTEKIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 335
LV. 1. But this Horns [of ours] is their Son,1
horizoned 2 and perfect, who has not destroyed Typhon
utterly, but has brought over to his side his efficacy
and strength ; hence they say it is that the statue
of Horus at Coptos grasps in one hand Typhon's
virilia.
2. Moreover, they have a myth that Hermes cut out
the sinews of Typhon and used them for lyre strings, —
[thus] teaching [us] how Eeason (Logos) brought the
universe into harmony, and made it concordant out of
discordant elements. He did not destroy the destruc-
tive power but lamed it.
3. Hence while weak and ineffective up there, down
here, by being blinded and interwoven with the passible
and changeable elements, it is cause of shakings and
tremors in earth, of droughts and tempests in air, and
again of lightnings and thunderings.
4. Moreover, it infects waters and winds with pesti-
lences, and shoots up and rears itself as far as the
moon, frequently blurring and blackening its light, as
Egyptians think.
mythus of Gnosticism. The imperfect birth (Abortion) of the
Sophia (Wisdom, Nature, Isis), as the result of her effort to bring
forth of herself, without her consort, or syzygy, while still in the
Pleroma (Womb of Rhea), paves the way for the whole scheme
of one of the main forms of Gnostic cosmology and subsequent
soteriology, the Creator Logos and Saviour having to perfect
the imperfect product of Nature. This is, I believe, the first
time that the above passage of Plutarch has been brought into
connection with the Sophia-mythus, and all previous trans-
lations with which I am acquainted accordingly make havoc of
the meaning. See F. F. F., pp. 339 ff.; and for the Pauline use
of the technical term "Abortion," D. J. L., pp. 355 ff.; for
" Balaam the Lame Man " (? a by-name for Jeschu-Horus), see
ibid., p. 201. Reitzenstein (pp. 39, 40) quotes these two chapters,
and adds some parallels from the Trismegistic literature.
1 Adopting the suggestion of Bernardakis — 6 vlbs for aMs.
2 Or " defined," wpiffpfvos — a play on
336 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
5. And they say that Typhon at one time strikes
the Eye of Horus, and at another takes it out and
swallows it. By "striking" they refer enigmatically
to the monthly diminution of the moon, and by
"blinding" to its eclipse, which the sun remedies by
immediately shining on it after it has passed out of the
shadow of the earth.1
LVI. 1. Now the better and diviner Nature is from
these : — [to wit] the Intelligible and Matter, and that
from them which Greeks call Cosmos.
2. Plato,2 indeed, was wont to call the Intelligible
Idea and Model and Father ; and Matter Mother and
Nurse — both place and ground of Genesis; and the
offspring of both Genesis.
3. And one might conjecture that Egyptians [also
revered3] the fairest of the triangles, likening the
nature of the universe especially to this ; for Plato
also, in his Republic,* seems to have made additional
use of this in drawing up his marriage scheme.6
4. And this triangle has its perpendicular [side] of
" three," its base of " four," and its hypotenuse of
" five " ; its square being equal to the [sum of the]
squares on the containing sides.6
5. We must, accordingly, compare its perpendicular
to male, its base to female, and its hypotenuse to the
offspring of both ; and [conjecture] Osiris as source,
Isis as receptacle, and Horus as result.
1 All this according to the Mathematici, presumably ; the
" eye " of Horus would rather signify " mentality."
2 Timceus, 50 C.
3 There is a lacuna in the text.
4 Rep., 545 D ff. See also Adam (J.), The Nuptial Number of
Plato : its Solution and Significance (London, 1891).
5 That is to say, that in Plutarch's opinion Platp derived the
idea originally from Egypt.
6 That is, 9 + 16 = 25.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 337
6. For the " three " is the first " odd " x and perfect ; 2
while the " four " [is] square from side " even " two ; 3
and the " five " resembles partly its father and partly
its mother, being composed of "three " and " two."
7. And panta [all] is only a slight variant of pente
[five] ; and they call counting pempasasthai [reckoning
by fives].
8. And five makes a square equal to the number of
letters among Egyptians,4 and a period of as many years
as the Apis lives.
9. Thus they usually call Horus also Min 5 — that is,
" being seen " ; for cosmos is a sensible and see-able
thing.
10. And Isis is sometimes called Muth,6 and again
Athyri 7 and Methyer. And by the first of the names
they mean " Mother " ; by the second, " Cosmic House "
of Horus, — as also Plato [calls her] " Ground of Genesis "
and " She who receives " ; and the third is compounded
from "Full" and "Cause,"— for Matter is full of
1 " One " being reckoned neither odd nor even.
'2 That is, divisible by itself and " one " only.
3 rerpdywvos airit irXevpay aprlov TTJJ SvdSos.
* That is, the Egyptian alphabet consisted of 25 letters.
6 In the Eitual (chap. xvii. 30), the deceased is made to say :
" I am the God Amsu (or Min) in his coming forth ; may his
two plumes be set upon my head for me." And in answer to
the question : " Who, then, is this ? " — the text goes on to say :
" Amsu is Horus, the avenger of his father, and his coming
forth is his birth. The plumes upon his head are Isis and
Nephthys when they go forth to set themselves there, even as
his protectors, and they provide that which his head lacketh ;
or (as others say), they are the two exceeding great uraei which are
upon the head of their father Tern, or (as others say), his two
eyes are the two plumes which are upon his head." (Budge, op.
ait., ii. 258.)
6 Eg. Mut, the syzygy of Amen. Mut means " Mother " ; she
was the World-mother. See Budge, op. tit., ii. 28 ff.
7 Cf. Ixix. 4, " Athyr " probably meaning Hathor.
VOL. i. 22
338 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Cosmos, and consorts with the Good and Pure and
Ordered.
LVIL 1. And Hesiod l also, when he makes all the
first [elements to be] Chaos and Earth and Tartarus and
Love, might be thought to assume no other principles
than these, — if at anyrate in substituting the names we
assign to Isis that of Earth, to Osiris that of Love, and
to Typhon that of Tartarus ; for his Chaos seems to be
subsumed as ground and place of the universe.
2. Our data also in a way invite as witness Plato's
myth which Socrates details in the Symposium 2 about
the Birth of Love, — telling [us how] that Poverty wanting
children lay down by the side of sleeping Means, and
conceiving by him brought forth Love of a mixed nature
and capable of assuming every shape, in as much, in-
deed, as he is the offspring of a good and wise father
and one sufficient for all, but of an incapable mother
and one without means,3 who on account of her need is
ever clinging to some one else and importuning some
one else.4
3. For his Means is no other than the First Beloved
and Desirable and Perfect and Sufficient ; and he calls
Matter Poverty, — who is herself of herself deficient of
the Good, but is ever being filled by Him and longing
for and sharing in [Him].
4. And the Cosmos, that is Horus, is born from these ;
and Horus, though neither eternal nor impassible nor
indestructible, but ever-generable, continues by means
of the changes and periods of his passions to remain ever
young and ever to escape destruction.
LVIII. 1. Now, we should make use of the myths not
1 Theog., 116-122.
2 Symp., 203 B ; Jowett, i. 573 ff.
3 air6pov — a play on irSpos.
4 Cf. Iviii. 6, last clause.
THE MYSTERIES OP ISIS AND OSIRIS 339
as though they were altogether sacred sermons (logoi),
but taking the serviceable [element] of each according
to its similitude [to reason].
2. When, then, we say Matter, we should not be
swept into the opinions of some philosophers, and
suppose some body or other of itself soul-less and
quality-less, and inert and inefficient; for we call oil
the " matter " of a perfume, [and] gold that of a statue,
though they are not destitute of every quality.
3. [Nay,] we submit the soul itself and [even] the
thought of man as the "matter" of knowledge and
virtue to the reason (logos) to order and bring into
rhythm.
4. Moreover, some have declared the mind [to be]
" region of ideas," and, as it were, the " impressionable
substance l of the intelligibles."
5. And some think that the substance of the woman 2
is neither power nor source, but matter and nutriment
of birth.
6. If, then, we attach ourselves to these, we ought
thus also to think of this Goddess as having eternally
her share in the First God, and consorting [with Him]
for love of the goodness and beauty that surround Him,
never opposed to Him, but, just as we say that a lawful
and righteous husband loves [his wife] righteously, and
a good wife though she has her husband and consorts
with him, still desires [him], so [should we] think of
Her as clinging to Him, and importuning Him,3 though
[ever] filled full with His supremest and purest parts.
LIX. 1. But where Typhon steals in, laying hold of
the last [parts, we should think of Her as] then seeming
to wear a melancholy countenance, and being said to
. Cf. Plat., Tim., 50 c ; Thseet., 191 c, 196 A.
2 rb o-ire'p/ta TTJS "ywaiK6s — lit., " the seed of the woman."
3 Cf. Ivii. 2.
340 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
mourn, and to be seeking after certain relics and frag-
ments of Osiris, and enfolding them in her robes,
receiving them when destroyed into herself, and
hiding them away, just as She also produces them
again when they are born, and sends them forth
from herself.
2. For while the reasons (logoi) and ideas and
emanations of the God in heaven and stars remain [for
ever], those that are disseminated into things passible —
in earth and sea and plants and animals — being
dissolved and destroyed and buried, come to light over
and over again and reappear in their births.
3. For which cause the myth says that Typhon lived
with Nephthys, but that Osiris had knowledge of her
secretly.
4. For the last parts of Matter, which they call
Nephthys and End, are mainly in possession of the
destructive power ; nevertheless the Generative and
Saving One distributes into them weak and faint seed
which is destroyed by Typhon, except so much as
Isis by adoption saves and nourishes and compacts
together.
LX. 1. But He is on the whole the Better one, as
both Plato and Aristotle suppose ; and the generative
and moving [power] of Nature moves to Him and towards
being, while the annihilating and destructive [moves]
from Him and towards non-being.
2. Wherefore they derive the name Isis from hastening
(lea-Oai) and coursing with knowledge, since she is
ensouled and prudent motion.
3. For her name is not foreign ; l but just as all the
Gods have a common name from two elements — " that
which can be seen" and "that which runs"2 — so we
1 That is, non-Greek — Qapl3aptK6i>. Cf. ii. 2.
2 The word-play being Otbs — Gturbs — 6eov.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 341
call this Goddess " Isis " from " knowledge," l and
Egyptians [also] call her Isis.2
4. And thus Plato also says the ancients signified the
" Holy 3 [Lady] " by calling her " Isia," — and so also
" Mental Perception " and " Prudence," in as much as
she is [the very] course and motion of Mind hastening 4
and coursing, and that they placed Understanding — in
short, the Good and Virtue — in things that flow 5 and
run.
5. Just as [he says] again, the Bad is railed at with
corresponding names, when they call that which hinders
nature and binds it up and holds it and prevents it
from hastening and going, "badness,"6 "difficulty,"7
" cowardice " 8 [and] " distress."
LXI. 1. And Osiris has had his name from a combina-
tion of ocn oy (holy) and te/oo? (sacred) ; for there is a
common Reason (Logos) of things in Heaven and of
things in Hades, — the former of which the ancients were
accustomed to call sacred, and the latter holy.
2. And the Reason that [both] brings [down] to light
the heavenly things and is [also] of things that are
1 Cf. ii. 3 for the word-play, and also for Ma. in the next
paragraph.
2 They, however, probably called her something resembling
Ast.
3 ryv 6ffid» — but Plutarch is mistaken, for in Cratylus, 401 c
it is a question of ovyuiv and to-idv and not of ixtiiv and ialav.
4 Ufufvov, picking up the Wflcu above in paragraph 2.
6 Cf. Crat., 415 D, where the word-play is dptrj? and dtt-ptrr^
(ever-flowing).
6 Cf. Crat., 415 C — where the play is KaK-ia, = naKws ibv (If van) —
badly going.
7 airop-la — the word-play being a (not) and irop-eiW0<u (going)
— ibid., c, D.
8 " Sft\ia signifies that the soul is bound with a strong chain
(8e<r/tbs), for \teu> means strength, and therefore Sei\la expresses
the greatest and strongest bond of the soul" (ibid.). See Jowett,
i. 359 f.
342 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
mounting upwards,1 is called Anubis, and sometimes
also Hermanubis,2 belonging in his former capacity to
things above and in his latter to things below [them].
3. Wherefore also they offer him in his former capacity
a white cock,3 and in his latter a saffron-coloured one,
— thinking that the former things are pure and the
latter mixed and manifold.
4. Nor ought we to be surprised at the manipula-
tion of the names back into Greek.4 For tens of
thousands of others that disappeared with those who
emigrated from Greece, continue unto this day and
sojourn with foreigners ; for recalling some of which
they blame the poets' art as " barbarising," — I mean
those who call such words "glosses."5
5. Further, they relate that in what are called the
" Books of Hermes," it is written that they call the
Power that rules the ordained revolution of the Sun,
Horus, while the Greeks [call it] Apollo ; and the Power
that rules the Breath [or Spirit], some [call] Osiris,
others Sarapis, and others Sothis in Egyptian.
6. The last means "conception" (Kvya-iv) or "con-
ceiving " (TO Kveiv)? Wherefore also, by inversion of
the name, the star [Sothis] which they consider the
special one of Isis, is called Dog (KVOOV) in Greek.
7. We should, however, least of all be jealous about
the names ; still if we were, I would sooner give up
1 That is, things in Hades (the Invisible) — not Tartarus.
2 Horus was endowed with many characteristics of other gods.
Thus with Anpu or Anubis he becomes Heru-em-Anpu, i.e.
Horus as Anubis, and is said to dwell in the " divine hall." This
is the Hermanubis of Plutarch. Cf. Budge, op. cit., i. 493.
3 " A cock to JEsculapius."
* Cf. xxix. 8.
5 7\<tfTToj — a technical term for obsolete or foreign words that
need explanation.
6 Cf. xxi. 2.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 343
" Sarapis " than " Osiris " ; for though I think the
former is a foreign one and the latter Greek, yet are
they both [names] of One God and One Power.
LXIL 1. The Egyptian [names] also resemble these
[Greek ones]. For they often call Isis by the name
of Athena, which expresses some such meaning as " I
have come from myself" — which is [again] indicative
of self-motive course.
2. While " Typhon," as has been said,1 is called Seth
and Bebon and Smu, — the names being intended to
signify a certain forcible and preventative checking,
opposition or reversing.
3. Moreover, they call the loadstone " Bone of
Horus," 2 and iron " [Bone] of Typhon," as Manethos
relates ; for just as iron often resembles that which
is attracted to and follows after the loadstone, and often
is turned away from it, and repelled to an opposite
direction, so the saving and good and reason-possessing
motion of the Cosmos both turns towards itself and
makes more gentle by persuasion that harsh and
typhonean [motion] ; and then again after raising it into
itself, it reverses it and plunges it into the infinitude.
4. Moreover, Eudoxus 3 says that the Egyptians tell
a myth about Zeus that, as in consequence of his having
his legs grown together,* he could not walk, for shame
he lived in solitude ; and so Isis, by cutting in two
and separating these limbs of his body, made his going
even-footed.5
5. By those things, moreover, the myth enigmatically
» Cf. xli., xlix. (end).
2 Cf. the "bone of the sea-hawk" in Hipp., Philo., v. 9 and 17 ;
and note to J., in " Myth of Man in the Mysteries," p. 189.
3 Cf. xxx., Ixix., et al.
4 The invisible serpent-form of the God.
5 Cf. Plat., Tim., 44 D and 45 A ; and liv. 5 above concerning
the birth of the Elder Horus.
344 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
hints that the Mind and Reason {Logos) of God after it
had progressed l in itself in the invisible and unmani-
fest, came forth into genesis by means of motion.
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SISTRUM
LXIII. 1. The sistrum (a-eltrrpov) also shows that
existent things must be shaken up (trelearOai) and never
have cessation from impulse, but as it were be wakened
up and agitated when they fall asleep and die away.
2. For they say they turn aside and beat off Typhon
with sistra, — signifying that when corruption binds
nature fast and brings her to a stand, [then] generation
frees her and raises her from death by means of motion.
3. Now the sistrum has a curved top, and its arch
contains the four [things] that are shaken. For the
part of the cosmos which is subject to generation and
corruption, is circumscribed by the sphere of the moon,
and all [things] in it are moved and changed by the
four elements — fire and earth and water and air.
4. And on the arch of the sistrum, at the top, they
put the metal figure of a cat with a human face, and at
the bottom, below the shaken things, the face some-
times of Isis and sometimes of Nephthys, — symbolis-
ing by the faces generation and consummation (for
these are the changes and motions of the elements), and
by the cat the moon, on account of the variable nature,2
night habits, and fecundity of the beast.
1 Or " walked," suggesting some idea of single motion in itself
— the motion of " sameness," symbolised by a serpent with its
tail in its mouth. The serpent was one of the most favourite
symbols of the Logos, and this perhaps accounts for the "legs
grown together."
2 rb iroiidKov. King translates this " pied colour," and deduces
that " the original colour of the cat was tabby " ; but, as the
school-boy says, I don't see it.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 345
5. For it is fabled to bring forth one, then two, and
[then] three, and four, and five [at a birth], and then
adds one by one until seven ;l so that in all she brings
forth eight-and-twenty, the number of lights of the
moon.
6. This, however, is probably somewhat too mythical ;
anyway, the pupils of its eyes seem to become full
and dilate at the full-moon, and to contract and shut
out the light during the wanings of that luminary.
7. And by the human face of the cat is signified the
intellectual and reasonable nature of the changes that
take place in connection with the moon.
THE TRUE " LOGOS," AGAIN, ACCORDING TO PLUTARCH
LXIV. 1. But, to speak concisely, it is not correct to
consider either water or sun or earth or heaven as Osiris
or Isis, or, again, fire or drought or sea as Typhon ; but
if we were to assign simply that [nature] to the latter
which is not subject to measure or rule owing to excesses
or insufficiencies, and should reverence and honour
that which has been subjected to order and is good
and beneficent, as the work of Isis, and the image
and copy and reason of Osiris, we should not miss the
mark.
2. Moreover, we shall make Eudoxus2 cease to dis-
believe and be perplexed, how it is neither Demeter
who has charge of love-affairs but Isis, nor Dionysus
who has the power either to make the Nile increase or
to rule over the dead [but Osiris].
1 More " Physiologus " ; or rather, there was a mystical theory
about other things which was adapted to a popular natural
history of the cat, and then the fable was cited as " proof " of the
original theory.
2 Cf. Ixii. et al.
346 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
3. For we think that by one Common Eeason (Logos) l
these Gods have been ordained over every domain of good;
and every fair and good thing possible for nature owes
its origin to their means, — [Osiris] giving [them] their
origins and [Isis] receiving and distributing [them].
AGAINST THE WEATHER AND VEGETATION GOD
THEORIES
LXV. 1. And we shall also get our hands on the dull
crowd who take pleasure in associating the [mystic
recitals] about these Gods either with changes of the
atmosphere according to the seasons, or with the genera-
tion of the corn and sowings and ploughings, and in
saying that Osiris is buried when the sown corn is
hidden by the earth, and comes to life and shows
himself again when it begins to sprout.
2. For which cause also [they declare] that Isis, on
feeling she is pregnant, ties an amulet round her [neck]
on the sixth day of the first half of the month Phaophi ;2
and that Harpocrates is brought forth about the winter
solstice imperfect and infant in the things that sprout
too early.3
3. For which cause they offer him first-fruits of
growing lentils, and they keep the days of thanks for
safe delivery after the spring equinox.
4. For they love to hear these things and believe
them, drawing conviction from things immediately at
hand and customary.
LXVI. 1. Still there is nothing to complain of if
1 Parallel to " Common Sense."
2 Copt. Paopi — corr. roughly with October.
3 Cf. Ixviii. 2, 3. Heru-p-Khart, Horus the Younger, or the
"Child,'' so called to distinguish him from Heru-ur, or Horus-
the Elder. Cf. Budge, op. cit., i. 468 f .
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 347
[only], in the first place, they cherish the Gods in common
with ourselves, and do not make them peculiar to Egyp-
tians, either by characterising Nile and only the land
that Nile waters by these names, or, by saying that
marshes and lotuses and god-making [are their mono-
poly], deprive the rest of mankind who have no Nile
or Buto or Memphis, of [the] Great Gods.
2. Indeed, all [men] have Isis and know her and the
Gods of her company ; for though they learned not long
ago to call some of them by names known among the
Egyptians, still they knew and honoured the power of
each [of them] from the beginning.
3. In the second place, and what is more important —
they should take very good heed and be apprehensive lest
unwittingly they write-off the sacred mysteries and
dissolve them into winds and streams, and sowing and
ploughings, and passions of earth and changes of seasons.
4. As those who [say] that Dionysus is wine and
Hephaestus flame, and Persephone, as Cleanthes says
somewhere, the wind that drives through the crops and
is killed ; and [as] some poet says of the reapers :
Then when they, lusty, cut Demeter's limbs.1
5. For these in nothing differ from those who regard
a pilot as sails and ropes and anchor, and a weaver as
yarns and threads, and a physician as potions and
honey-brew and barley-water ; nay, they put into men's
minds dangerous and atheistic notions, by transferring
names of Gods to natures and to things that have no
sense or soul, and which are necessarily destroyed by
men according to their need and use. For it is not
possible to consider such things in themselves as Gods.
LXVII. 1. For a God is not a thing without a mind
or soul, or one made subject to the hand of man ; but it
1 Cf. Ps. Plut., De Vita Homeri, § 23.
348 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
is from these things that we deduce that those who
bestow them on us for our use and offer them [to us] in
perpetual abundance, are Gods.
2. Not different [Gods] for different peoples, not
non-Greek and Greek, not southern and northern
[Gods] ; but just as sun and moon and earth and sea
[are] common to all [men], though they are called by
different names by different peoples, so of the Reason
(Logos) that orders all things, and of one Providence
that also directs powers ordained to serve under her for
all [purposes], have different honours and titles been
made according to their laws by different [nations].
3. And there are consecrated symbols, some obscure
ones and others more plain, guiding the intelligence
towards the mysteries of the Gods, [though] not without
risk.
4. For some going entirely astray have stepped into
superstitions, while others, shunning superstition as a
quagmire, have unwittingly fallen into atheism1 as
down a precipice.
LXVIII. 1. Wherefore especially with regard to such
things, should we, taking with us Reason (Logos) as our
mystic guide out of philosophy, reverently meditate
upon each of the things said and done ; in order that,
[we may avoid what] Theodorus said, [namely] that
when he offered his words with his right hand some of
his hearers took them with their left, — and so not miss
the mark by taking in another sense what laws on
offerings and feasts have well ordained.
2. For that all [these things] must be referred to the
Reason (Logos), we may learn from themselves also.
For on the nineteenth of the first month,2 when they
1 King again, erroneously in my opinion, refers this to the
Christians.
2 Copt. Thoth — corr. roughly with September.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 349
keep a feast to Hermes, they eat honey and figs, saying
when so doing, " Truth is sweet." And the amulet of
Isis which the myth says she put round her [neck] l is,
when interpreted, " True Voice."
3. And we should not consider Harpocrates either
as an imperfect or infant god, or a [god] of pulse,2 but
as protector and chastener of the babyish and imperfect
and inarticulate reason that men have about Gods. For
which cause he has his finger laid upon his lips as a
symbol of reticence and silence.
4. And in the month of Mesore3 when they make
offerings of pulse, they say : " Tongue [is] fortune ;
tongue is daimon."
5. And they say that of the trees in Egypt the persea
especially has been made sacred to the Goddess, because
its fruit resembles a heart and its leaf a tongue.
6. For of all man's natural possessions nothing is
more godlike than logos [word or reason], and especially
that concerning the Gods, nor is there anything that
decides more weightily for happiness.
7. Wherefore we commend him who goes down to
consult the Oracle here 4 to think religiously and speak
reverently. But the many act ridiculously when, after
they have in the processions and feasts made proclama-
tion to speak reverently, they subsequently speak and
think the most irreverent things about the Gods
themselves.
LXIX. 1. What use, then, must one make of those
melancholy and laughterless and mournful sacrifices, if
it is not right either to omit the rites of custom, or to
confound our views about Gods and throw them into
confusion with absurd suspicions ?
1 Cf. Ixv. 2. 2 Cf. ibid.t 3.
8 Copt. Mesore — corr. roughly with August.
* Sc. at Delphi.
350 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
2. Yea, among Greeks, too, many things are done,
just about the same time also, similar to those which
Egyptians perform in the sacred [rites].
3. For instance, at Athens, the women fast at the
Thesmophoria, sitting on the ground. While Boeotians
move the palace of Achsea,1 giving that festival the
name of Epachthe [the Grief-bringing], as though
Demeter were in grief (a'x^et) on account of the Descent 2
of Kore.
4. And this month is the one for sowing when the
Pleiades rise, which Egyptians call Athyr,3 Greeks
Pyanepsion, and Boeotians Damatrios.4
5. Moreover, Theopompus 6 tells us that the Western
peoples6 consider and name the winter Kronos, the
summer Aphrodite, and the spring Persephone; and
[say] that all things are born from Kronos and
Aphrodite.
6. While the Phrygians, thinking that the God sleeps
in winter, and wakes in summer, celebrate in his
honour the Orgies of his " Going to sleep " at one time,
and at another of his " Waking up " ; while the
Paphlagonians pretend that he is bound hand and foot
and imprisoned in winter, and in spring is set in
motion and freed from his bonds.
LXX. 1. And the season of the year suggests that the
appearance of mourning is assumed at the hiding away
of grains [in the earth], — which the ancients did not
1 A surname of Demeter, by which she was worshipped at
Athens by the Gephyrseans who had emigrated thither from Bo3otia
(Herod., v. 61).
2 Sc. into Hades.
3 Copt. Hathor — corr. roughly to November, or rather last half
of October and first of November. Cf. also Ivi. 10.
4 That is, the month of Demeter.
6 Miiller, i. 328. T. nourished 2nd half of 4th century B.C.
8 That is, presumably, the Celts.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 351
consider gods, but gifts of the Gods, indispensable
[indeed] if we are to live otherwise then savagely and
like the brutes.
2. And at the season when, you know, these
[ancients] saw the [fruits] entirely disappearing from
the trees and ceasing, and those they had sown them-
selves still scanty and poor, — in scraping away the
earth with their hands, and pressing it together again,
and depositing [the seed] in uncertainty as to whether
it would come up again and have its proper consumma-
tion, they used to do many things similar to those who
bury and mourn.
3. Then, just as we say that one who buys Plato's
books " buys Plato," and that one who presents the
creations of Menander " acts Menander," so did they not
hesitate to call the gifts and creations of the Gods by
the names of the Gods — honouring them and reverencing
them by use.
4. But those [who came] after, receiving [these names]
like boors and ignorantly misapplying what happens1
to the fruits to the Gods [themselves], and not merely
calling but believing the advent and hiding away of the
necessaries [of life] generations and destructions of gods,
filled their heads with absurd, indecent, and confused
opinions, although they had the absurdity of their un-
reason before their eyes.
5. Excellent, however, was the view of Xenophanes 2
of Colophon that Egyptians don't mourn if they believe
in Gods and don't believe in Gods if they mourn ; nay,
that it would be ridiculous for them in the same breath
to mourn and pray for the seed to appear again, in order
that it might again be consumed and mourned for.
1 TO, irdOn — lit., " the passions."
2 X. flourished about end of 6th and beginning of 5th
century B.C.
352 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
LXXI. 1. But such is not really the case; but,
while mourning for the grain, they pray the Gods,
the authors and givers [of it], to renew it again
and make other grow up in the place of that which
is consumed.
2. Whence there is an excellent saying among the
philosophers, that those who do not learn how to hear
names rightly, use things wrongly. Just as those of the
Greeks who have not learned or accustomed themselves
to call bronzes and pictures and marbles images in
honour of the Gods, but [call them] Gods, [and] then
make bold to say that Lachares stripped Athena, and
Dionysius cut off Apollo's golden curls, and that
Capitoline Zeus was burnt and perished in the Civil
Wars, — these without knowing it find themselves drawn
into adopting mischievous opinions following [directly]
on the [abuse of] names.
3. And this is especially the case of Egyptians with
regard to the honours they pay to animals. For in this
respect, at any rate, Greeks speak rightly when they
consider the dove as the sacred creature of Aphrodite,
and the dragon of Athena, and the raven of Apollo, and
the dog of Artemis, as Euripides [sings] :
Thou shalt be dog, pet of torch-bearing Hecate.1
4. Whereas most of the Egyptians, by the service
and cult they pay to the animals themselves as though
they were Gods, have not only covered their sacred
rites entirely with laughter and ridicule — which is the
least evil of their fatuity ; but a dangerous way of
thinking grows up which perverts the weak and simple
to pure superstition, and, in the case of the shrewder
and bolder, degenerates into an atheistic and brutal
rationalism.
1 Nauck, p. 525.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 353
5. Wherefore, also, it is not unfitting to run through
the conjectures about these things.1
CONCERNING THE WORSHIP OF ANIMALS, AND
TOTEMISM
LXXII. 1. As for the [theory] that the Gods out
of fear of Typhon changed themselves into these
animals — as it were hiding themselves in the bodies
of ibises and dogs and hawks — it beats any juggling or
story-telling.
2. Also the [theory] that all the souls of the dead
that persist, have their rebirth2 into these [animals]
only, is equally incredible.
3. And of those who would assign some reason
connected with the art of government, some say that
Osiris upon his great campaign,8 divided his force
into many divisions — (they call them companies and
squadrons in Greek) — and gave them all ensigns
of animal figures, and that each of these became
sacred and venerated by the clan of those banded
together under it.
4. Others [say] that the kings after [Osiris], in order
1 Dr Budge (op. cit., i. 29) writes : " Such monuments and
texts as we have . . . seem to show that the Egyptians first
worshipped animals as animals, and nothing more, and later as
the habitations of divine spirits and gods ; but there is no reason
for thinking that the animal worship of the Egyptians was
descended from a system of totems and fetishes as Mr J. F.
M'Lennan (Fortnightly Review, 1869-1870) believed." I believe
myself that the Egyptian animal-cult depended chiefly on the
fact that life flowed differently in different animal forms, corre-
sponding with the life-currents in the invisible forms or aspects
of the A-nimal-Soul of the Cosmos.
2 •xa\ryytvtfftav.
3 Sc. for civilising the world.
VOL. i. 23
354 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
to strike terror into their foes, used to appear dressed
in wild beasts' heads of gold and silver.
5. While others tell us that one of the clever and
crafty kings, on learning that, though the Egyptians
were fickle by nature and quick for change and innova-
tion, they nevertheless possessed an invincible and
unrestrainable might owing to their numbers when in
agreement and co-operation, showed them and implanted
into their minds an enduring superstition, — an occasion
of unceasing disagreement.
6. For in as much as the beasts — some of which he
enacted some [clans] should honour and venerate
and others others — are hostile and inimical to one
another, and as each one of them by nature likes
different food from the others, each [clan] in protecting
its own special [beasts] and growing angry at their
being injured, was for ever unconsciously being drawn
into the enmities of the beasts, and [so] brought into
a state of warfare with ihe others.
7. For even unto this day the people of Wolf-town
are the only Egyptians who eat sheep, because the
wolf, whom they regard as god, [does so].
8. And the people of Oxyrhynchus-town, in our
own day, when the folk of Dog-town ate the oxyrhyn-
chus l fish, caught a dog and sacrificing it as a sacred
victim, ate it ; and going to war because of this, they
handled one another roughly, and subsequently were
roughly handled by the Eomans in punishment.2
LXXIII. 1. Again, as many say that the soul of
Typhon himself was parted among these animals, the
myths would seem enigmatically to hint that every
irrational and brutal nature is born from a part of the
1 Lit., "sharp-snout."
2 And such things occur "even to this -day" in India under
the British Raj.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 355
Evil Daimon, and that to appease and soothe him they
pay cult and service to them.
2. But if he fall upon them mighty and dire, bringing
on them excessive droughts, or pestilent diseases, or
other unlooked-for strange mischances, then the priests
lead away at dark in silence quietly some of the
venerated [beasts], and threaten and try to scare
away the first [one] of them ; if, however, it stops, they
consecrate and sacrifice it, as though, I suppose, this
were some kind of chastisement of the Dairnon, or
some specially great means of purification in the
greater [emergencies].
3. For in the Goddess-of -child-bed-town l they used
to burn living men to ashes, as Manethos has told us,
calling them Typhoneian ; and the ashes they win-
nowed away and scattered.2
4. This, however, was done publicly, and at one
special time, in the Dog-days ; whereas the consecrat-
ings of the venerated beasts, which are never spoken of
and take place at irregular times, according to the
emergencies, are unknown to the multitude, except
when they have burials, and [the priests] bringing out
some of the others, cast them in [to the grave with
them] in the presence of all, — in the belief that they
annoy Typhon in return and curtail what gives him
pleasure. For only the Apis and a few other [animals]
seem to be sacred to Osiris; while they assign the
majority to him [Typhon].
5. And if he [Osiris] is really Reason (Logos), I
think that the object of our enquiry is found in the
case of these [animals] that are admitted to have common
honours with him, — as, for instance, the ibis, and hawk,
and dog-headed ape; [while] Apis himself [is his
1 (V fl\(i6vlas ir6\(t.
2 Over the fields ?
356 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
soul . . .j,1 for thus, you know, they call the goat at
Mendes.
LXXIV. 1. There remain of course the utilitarian and
symbolical [reasons], of which some have to do with
one of the two [Gods], but most [of them] with both.
2. As for the ox and sheep and ichneumon,2 it is
clear they paid them honours on account of their
usefulness and utility, — just as Lemnians crested larks
which seek out and break the eggs of locusts, and
Thessalians storks, because when their land produced
multitudes of snakes, they came and destroyed them all —
(wherefore they made a law that whoever killed a stork
should be banished3) — so with the asp and weasel and
scarab, because they discerned in them certain faint
likenesses of the power of the Gods, as it were [that]
of the sun in water-drops.
3. For as to the weasel, many still think and say
that as it is impregnated through the ear and brings
forth by the mouth, it is a likeness of the birth of
reason (logos).*
4. Again [they say] the species of scarab has no
female, but all, as males, discharge their seed into the
stuff they have made into balls,6 which they roll along
by pushing, moving [themselves] in the opposite
direction, just as the sun seems to turn the heaven
round in the opposite direction, while it is [the heaven]
itself that moves from west to east.6
1 A lacuna occurs here which I have partially filled up,
conjecturally, as above.
2 An Egyptian animal of the weasel kind which was said to
hunt out crocodiles' eggs ; also called " Pharaoh's rat."
3 Cf. Arist., Mirab., xxiii.
* Cf. xxii. 1 — " Physiologus " again. For a criticism of this
legend, see R. 43. " 6 Cf. x. 9.
6 Budge (op. at., ii. 379 f .) writes : " The beetle or scarabaeus . . .
belongs to the family called Scarabacidae (Coprophagi), of which
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 357
5. And the asp, because it does not age, and moves
without limbs with ease and pliancy, they likened to
a star.
LXXV. 1. Nay, not even has the crocodile had honour
paid it without some show of credible cause, for it
alone is tongue-less.1
For the Divine Keason (Logos) stands not in need
of voice, and :
" Moving on a soundless path with justice guides [all]
mortal things." 2
2. And they say that it alone, when it is in the water,
has its eyes covered by a smooth and transparent mem-
brane that comes down from the upper lid,3 so that they
see without being seen, — an attribute of the First God.4
3. And whenever the female lays her eggs on the land,
it is known that this will be the limit of the Nile's
the Scarabseus sacer is the type. ... A remarkable peculiarity
exists in the structure and situation of the hind legs, which are
placed so near the extremity of the body, and so far from each
other as to give the insect a most extraordinary appearance when
walking. This peculiar formation is, nevertheless, particularly
serviceable to its possessors in rolling the balls of excrementitious
matter in which they enclose their eggs. . . . These balls are at
first irregular and soft, but, by degrees, and during the process of
rolling along, become rounder and harder ; they are propelled by
means of the hind legs. Sometimes these balls are an inch and a
half, or two inches in diameter, and in rolling this along the
beetles stand almost upon their heads, with the heads turned from
the balls." The scarabseus was called kheprera in Egyptian, and
was the symbol of Kheperd the Great God of creation and resurrec-
tion ; he was the " father of the gods," and the creator of all things
in heaven and earth, self -begotten and self-born ; he was usually
identified with the rising sun and new-birth generally.
1 " Physiologus " again, doubtless ; it might, however, be said
that its tongue is rudimentary.
2 Euripides, Tro., 887.
3 Lit., "brow."
4 That is, the First-born Reason.
358 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
increase. For as they cannot lay in the water, and fear
to do so far from it, they so accurately fore-feel what
will be, that they make use of the rise of the river for
laying their eggs and hatching them, and yet keep them
dry and beyond the danger of being wetted.
4. And they lay sixty [eggs] and hatch them out in
as many days, and the longest-lived of them live as
many years, — which is the first of the measures for those
who treat systematically of celestial [phenomena].1
5. Moreover, of those that have honours paid them for
both [reasons]2 — of the dog, we have already treated
above.3
6. As for the ibis, while killing the death-dealing of
the reptiles,4 it was the first to teach them the use of
me Ucinal evacuation, when they observed it being thus
rinsed out and purged by itself.5
7. While those of the priests who are most punctilious
in their observances, in purifying themselves, take the
water for cleansing from a place where the ibis has
drunk ; for it neither drinks unwholesome or poisoned 6
water, nor [even] goes near it.
8 Again, by the relative position of its legs to one
another, and [of these] to its beak, it forms an equilateral
triangle ; and yet again, the variegation and admixture
of its black with its white feathers suggest the gibbous
moon.7
9. Nor ought we to be surprised at Egyptians being
so fond of meagre likenesses ; for Greeks too in both their
1 That is, presumably, either the 60 of the Chaldseans, or the
3 x 4 x 5 of the " most perfect " triangle of the Mathematici.
2 Namely, the utilitarian and symbolical ; cf. Ixxiv. 1.
3 Cf. xiv. 6.
4 Cf. Rawlinson's Herodotus, ii. 124, 125.
5 There is a similar legend in India, I am told.
8 May also mean "bewitched."
7 That is, the moon in its third quarter.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 359
pictured and plastic resemblances of Gods use many
such [vague indications].
10. For instance, in Crete there was a statue of Zeus
which had no ears, — for it behoves the Euler and Lord
of all to listen to no one.
11. And Pheidias used the serpent in the [statue] of
Athena, and the tortoise in that of Aphrodite at Elis,
— because on the one hand virgins need protecting, and
on the other because keeping-at-home and silence are
becoming to married women.
12. Again, the trident of Poseidon is a symbol of the
third region, which the sea occupies, assigned [to him]
after the heaven and air. For which cause also they
invented the names Amphi-trite and Trit-ons.1
13. And the Pythagoreans have embellished both
numbers and figures with appellations of Gods.
For they used to call the equilateral triangle Athena
— Head-born and Third-born2 — because it is divided
by three plumb-lines 3 drawn from the three angles.
14. And [they called] " one " Apollo, from privation
of multitude,4 and owing to the singleness5 of the
monad; and "two" Strife and Daring, and "three"
Justice [or Eightness], — for as wronging and being
wronged were according to deficiency and excess, right-
ness [or justice] was born to equality between them.6
1 From rpirbs, " third."
2 Kopv^ayewTj Kal rptToyfvdav, — that is, Koryphagennes and
Tritogeneia.
3 rptffl (cafleTois, — a Kfi6*Tos (sc. ypufjifn-fi) is generally a perpen-
dicular ; but here the reference must be to this appended figure :
4 That is, presumably, a-ir4\\av, from d (priv.) and
(many).
5 5«' air\<$T7jTa, — the play being apparently d-iroA. (ITA.O)-TIJJ.
6 Lit., in the midst.
360 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
15. And what is called the Tetraktys, the six-and-
thirty, was [their] greatest oath (as has been said over
and over again), and is called Cosmos, — which is produced
by adding together the first four even and [the first]
four odd [numbers].1
LXXVI. 1. If, then, the most approved of the philo-
sophers, when they perceived in soulless and bodiless
things a riddle of the Divine, did not think it right to
neglect anything or treat it with disrespect, still more
liking, I think, we should then have for the peculiarities
in natures that are endowed with sense and possess soul
and passion and character, — not paying honour to these,
but through them to the Divine ; so that since they are
made by Nature into mirrors clearer [than any man
can make], we should consider this as the instrument
and art of God who ever orders all things.
2. And, generally, we should deem that nothing
soulless is superior to a thing with soul, nor one with-
out sense to one possessing it ; not even if one should
bring together into one spot all the gold and emeralds
in the world.
3. For that which is Divine does not reside in
colours or shapes or smoothnesses; nay, all things
that either have no share or are not of a nature to
share in life, have a lot of less value than that of
dead bodies.2
4. Whereas the Nature that lives and sees, and
has its source of motion from itself, and knowledge of
things that are its and those that are not, has appro-
1 The Tetraktys was ordinarily considered to be the sum of the
first four numbers simply, that is 1+2 + 3 + 4=10; but here we
have it given as 1+3 + 5 + 7 16, and 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 20, and 16 +
20 = 36. The oath is said to have been: "Yea, by Him who
did bestow upon our soul Tetraktys, Ever-flowing Nature, Source
possessing roots" — the "roots" being the four elements.
2 Sc. which have at least been the vehicle of life.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 361
priated both an " efflux of the Good," l and a share of
the Thinker "by whom the universe is steered," as
Heraeleitus says.2
5. For which cause the Divine is not less well
pourtrayed in these [sc. animals] than by means of
works of art in bronze and stone, which while equally
susceptible of decay and mutilations,3 are in their
nature destitute of all feeling and understanding.
6. With regard to the honours paid to animals, then,
I approve this view more highly than any other that
has been mentioned.
CONCERNING THE SACRED EOBES
LXXVII. 1. Now as to robes : those of Isis [are]
variegated in their dyes, for her power [is] connected
with matters producing all things and receiving [all] —
light darkness, day night, fire water, life death, beginning
end ; while the [robe] of Osiris has neither shade nor
variegation, but one single [property] — the light-like,4
for the Source is pure and the First and Intelligible
unmixed.
2. Wherefore when they have once and once only
received this [robe],5 they treasure it away and keep it
from all eyes and hands ; whereas they use those of Isis
on many occasions.
3. For it is by use that the things which are sensible
and ready to hand, present many unfoldings and views
of themselves as they change now one way now another ;
1 Plat., Phcedr., 251 B.
2 Mullach, i. 328.
3 Beading iri)pco<reis.
* rb <t><aroft5es. Of. the better -known term ri> ctvyoe&ts, " the
ray -like " (augoeides).
6 Presumably in the initiation symbolising the investiture with
the Kobe of Glory.
362 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
whereas the intelligence of the Intelligible and Pure
and Single, shining through the soul, like lightning-
flash, once and once only perchance allows [us] to
contact and behold [It].
4. For which cause both Plato1 and Aristotle call
this part of philosophy " epoptic," 2 from the fact that
they who transcend by the reason (logos) these mixed
and multiform things of opinion, are raised unto that
Primal [One], Simple and Matter-less, and [so] contact-
ing in its singleness the pure truth concerning It, they
think philosophy has as it were [its] perfect end.
LXXVIII. 1. The fact, moreover, which the present
priests cautiously hint at by expiatory sacrifices and
covering their faces — [namely] that this God is ruler
and king of the dead, being no other than him who is
called Hades and Pluto among Greeks — in that they
do not know how it is true, confuses the multitude, who
suppose that the truly sacred and holy Osiris lives on
earth and under earth, where the bodies of those who
seem to have [reached their] end are hidden [away].
2. But He Himself is far, far from the earth, un-
spotted and unstained, and pure of every essence that
is susceptible of death and of decay. Nor can the souls
of men here [on the earth], swathed as they are with
bodies and enwrapped in passions, commune with God,
except so far as they can reach some dim sort of a
dream [of Him], with the perception of a mind trained
in philosophy.
3. But when [their souls] freed [from these bonds]
pass to the Formless and Invisible and Passionless and
Pure, this God becomes their guide and king, as though
they hung on Him, and gazed insatiate upon His Beauty,
1 Symp., 210 A.
2 In its highest sense — that is, intelligible or spiritual " seership,"
not the symbolic " sight " in the formal Greater Mysteries.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 363
and longed after it — [Beauty] that no man can declare
or speak about.
4. It is with this the ancient tale (logos) makes Isis
e'er in love, and, by pursuit [of it], and consort [with
it], makes [her] full-fill all things down here with all
things fair and good, whatever things have part in
genesis.
5. Thus, then, these things contain the reason (logos)
that's more suitable to God.
CONCERNING INCENSE
LXXIX. 1. And must I also speak of the daily incense-
offerings, as I promised,1 the reader should first of all
have in mind the fact, that not only have men [in
general] always paid most serious attention to things
that conduce to health, but that especially in sacred
ceremonies and purifications and prescribed modes of
life " healthy " is not less important than " holy " ; for
they did not think it right to render service to the Pure
and perfectly Harmless and Unpolluted with either
bodies or with souls festering and diseased.
2. Since, then, the air — of which we make most use,
and with which we have most to do — does not always
keep the same disposition and blend, but at night is
condensed, and weighs down the body, and brings the
soul into a desponding and anxious state, as though it
had become mist-like and heavy ; [therefore] as soon as
they get up they incense with pine resin, sanifying
and purifying the air by its 2 disintegration, and fanning
up again the [fire of the] spirit connate with body3
1 a/. Hi. 5.
2 Sc. the resin's.
3 That is, presumably, what was called the " bodily or animal
spirits" — the ethers or pr ana's.
364 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
which had died down, — since its perfume possesses a
vehement and penetrating [force].
3. And, again, at mid-day, perceiving that the sun
draws from the earth by force an exceedingly large and
heavy exhalation, and commingles it with the air, they
incense with myrrh.1 For its heat dissolves and dis-
perses the turbid and mud-like combination in the
atmosphere.
4. And, indeed, physicians seem to relieve sufferers
from plague by making a great blaze, as though it
cleared the air. But it clears it better if they burn
fragrant woods, such as [those] of cypress, juniper, and
pine.
5. At any rate, they say that at Athens, at the time
of the Great Plague, Akron the physician became
famous through ordering them to keep fires burning by
the side of the sick, for he [thus] benefitted not a few.
6. And Aristotle says that the sweet-smelling odours,
given off by perfumes and flowers and meadows, conduce
no less to health than to enjoyment ; because by their
warmth and softness they diffuse themselves gently
through the brain, which is naturally cold and as though
congested.
7. And if, moreover, they call myrrh bal among
Egyptians — and in translation this comes pretty near
to meaning the dispersion of silly talk — this also affords
some evidence for the reason why [they use it].
LXXX. 1. And [finally] kuphiz is a mixture com-
posed of sixteen ingredients : — of honey, and wine,
and raisins, and cyperus;3 of pine-resin, and myrrh,
1 The resinous gum of an Arabian tree ; probably a kind of
acacia.
2 This was also used as a medicine.
3 Kvirdpov, — Cyperus comosus, an aromatic plant used in embalm-
ing, a sweet-smelling marsh plant. Cf. F. cyptore and E. cypres.
THE MYSTERIES OP ISIS AND OSIRIS 365
and aspalathus,1 and seseli ; 2 and further of mastich,8
and bitumen,4 and nightshade,5 and sorrel ; and in
addition to these of both junipers 6 (of which they call
the one the larger and the other the smaller), and
cardamum, and sweet-flag.7
2. And these are not compounded in a haphazard
way, but with the sacred writings being read aloud 8 to
the perfume-makers when they mix them.
3. And as to their number, — even though it has all
the appearance of square from square, and [that too]
the only one of equally equal numbers that has the
power of making the perimeter equal to the area,9 it
must be said that its serviceableness for this purpose
at least is of the slightest.
4. But the majority of the ingredients, as they possess
aromatic properties, liberate a sweet breath and healthy
exhalation, by which both the air is changed, and the
body being gently and softly moved by the vapour,
falls asleep 10 and loosens the distressing strain of the
day's anxieties, as though they were knots, [and yet]
without any intoxication.
1 amra\d8ov, — a prickly shrub yielding a fragrant oil ;
mentioned in the Apocrypha and in some old herbalists. Of.
"I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus" — Ecclus.
xxiv. 15. It was not the Genista acanthoclada.
2 <rffff\ea>s, — the Tordylium offidnale', formerly called in
English also " cicely."
3 ffxbov, — or may be " squill."
* acr<p<i\Tov.
6 Optov, — or may be " rush."
6 Lit., juniper-berries.
7 K<£AO/*OV, — probably Acorus calamus (cf. Ex. xxx. 23 et al.).
It is to be noticed that the ingredients are arranged in four sets of
four each.
8 That is to the sound of mantrdh, as a Hindu would say.
9 Cf. xlii. 2 and figure in note.
10 The kuphi being used at sundown.
366 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
5. Moreover, they polish up the image-making and
receptive organ of dreams like a mirror, and make it
clearer, no less than the playing on the lyre which the
Pythagoreans used to use before sleep, thus charming
away and sanifying the passionate and reason-less
nature of the soul.
6. For things smelt call back the failing sense, and
often, on the other hand, dull and quiet it by [their]
soothing [effect], when their exhalations are diffused
through the body ; just as some of the physicians say
that sleep is induced when the vaporisation of the
food, as it were creeping gently round the inward parts
and groping about, produces a kind of tickling.
7. And they use kuphi both as draught and mixture ;
for when it is drunk it is thought to purge the intestines,
[but when applied externally l] to be an emollient.
8. And apart from these [considerations], resin is a
work of the sun ; and myrrh [comes from] the exuda-
tion of the trees under the sun-heat; while of the
ingredients of kuphi, some flourish more at night, like
all things whose nature it is to be nourished by cool
breezes and shade and dew and damp.
9. Seeing that the light of day is one and single, and
Pindar tells us that the sun is seen "through empty
aether";2 while air is a blend and mixture of many
lights and properties, as it were of seeds dropped from
every star into one [field].
10. Naturally, then, they use the former as incenses
by day, as being single and having their birth from the
sun ; and the latter when night sets in, as being mixed
and manifold in its qualities.
1 A lacuna of 8 or 9 letters occurs here in E.
2 Olymp., i. 6.
THE MYSTERIES OP ISIS AND OSIRIS 367
AFTERWORD
So ends this exceedingly instructive treatise of
Plutarch, which, in spite of the mass of texts and monu-
ments concerning Asar and Ast which have already been
deciphered by the industry of Egyptologists, remains
the most complete account of the root mystery-myth of
ancient Egypt. The myth of Osiris and Isis goes back
to the earliest times of which we have record, and is
always found in the same form. Indeed the " Ritual,"
the " Book of the Dead," which should rather be called
the "Book of the Living," might very well be styled
" The Gospel of Osiris."
It would be out of place here to seek for the
historical origin of this Great Mystery ; certainly Osiris
was originally something greater than a " water sprite,"
as Budge supposes. Osiris and Isis were and are
originally, as I believe, cosmic or super-cosmic beings;
for the Elder and Younger Horus, regarded macrocos-
mically, were the Intelligible and Sensible Worlds, and,
regarded microcosmically, pertained to the mystery of
the Christ-stage of manhood.
It may, of course, be denied that the ancient Egyp-
tians were capable of entertaining any such notions;
we, however, prefer the tradition of our Trismegistic
tractates to the " primitive-culture " theories of anthro-
pological speculation. That, however, such views were
entertained in the first centuries is incontrovertible, as
may be seen from a careful study of Philo of Alexandria
alone. Thus to quote one passage out of many with
regard to the two Horoi :
" For that this cosmos is the Younger Son of God, in
that it is perceptible to sense. The Son who's older
than this one, He hath declared to be no one [perceptible
by sense], for that he is conceivable by mind alone.
368 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
But having judged him worthy of the Elder's rights,
He hath determined that he should remain with Him
alone." 1
When, moreover, we speak of the Christ-stage of
manhood, we mean all that mystery that lies beyond the
normal stage of man, including both the super-man
stage and that of the Christ.
In any case, Plutarch is of the greatest service for
understanding the atmosphere and environment in
which the students of the Trismegistic tradition moved,
and we have therefore bestowed more care upon him
than perhaps the general reader may think necessary.
1 Quod Deus Jm., § 6 ; M. 1, 277, P. 298 (Ri. ii. 72, 73).
X
"HERMAS" AND "HERMES"
AN ANTICIPATION
Chapter X: 'Hermas' and 'Hermes'
Church document The Shepherd of Hermas, in con-
nection with the ancient and mysterious Book of Mxai,
which, according to Epiphanius, circulated among the
Essenes, Nazorenes, Ebionites, and Sampsseans, I wrote
as follows :
" It is also of very great interest to notice the many
intimate points of contact between the contents of
the Apocalyptic Hermas and the teaching of the Early
1 Shepherd of Men ' tractate of the mystic school who
looked to Hermes the Thrice-Greatest as their inspirer,
that is to say, the earliest deposit of the Trismegistic
literature. But that is another story which has not
yet been told."
At the same time, all unknown to me, Reitzenstein
must have written, or have been writing, his learned
pages on " Hermas and Poimandres," coming to practi-
cally the same conclusion as I had in cruder form
expressed several years earlier, when commenting on
Hilgers' theory 2 that the " Shepherd of Men " was
1 Did Jesus Live 100 B.C. ? — An Enquiry into the Talmud Jesus
Stories, the Toldoth Jeschu, and Some Curious Statements of
Epiphanius (London, 1903), pp. 365 ff.
2 See Hilgers (J.), De Hermetis Trismegisti Poimandro Com-
nientatio (Bonn, 1855).
VOL. I. 369 24
370 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
written in opposition to the "Shepherd of Hermas,"
and suggesting that if there were any dependence of
one on the other, it was in exactly the reverse sense
to that of Hilger's assumption.1
THE HIGHER CRITICISM OF " THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS "
Like all the other extant extra-canonical documents
of the Early Church, and especially the Antilegomena,
as Eusebius calls them, that is to say books disputed
in his day but earlier admitted by wide circles into the
canon, The Shepherd of Hermas has been submitted to
the most searching analysis by modern criticism.
Though its unity is still strenuously defended by some
scholars, the majority are convinced of its composite
nature ; and I follow Hilgenfeld,2 who detects in the
present form of this document three elements, or, so to
say, three deposits : (i.) The Apocalyptic — Viss. i.-iv. ;
(ii.) The Pastoral — Vis. v.-Sim. vii. ; (iii.) The Secondary,
or appendix of the latest redactor — Simm. viii.-x.
" Hermas i." and " Hermas ii." cite nothing from any of
the canonical books of the New Testament, and this
should be, for most scholars, a striking indication of
their early date.
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE "PASTORAL HERMAS"
" Hermas ii.," the " Pastoral Hermas," begins as
follows : 3
1. " Now when I had prayed in my house, and sat me
1 See The Theosophical Review, xxiv. 302, 303 (June 1899).
1 Hilgenfeld (A.), Hernia Pastor (2nd ed. : Leipzig, 1881).
3 *AiroKaA.t»iJ<is e, — the fifth revelation or vision of our composite
document, which for all we know may have stood first in some
earlier " source."
" HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 371
down upon my couch, there entered a man of glorious
appearance, in the guise of a Shepherd, clad in a white
skin,1 with a wallet on his shoulders, and a staff in
his hand. And he embraced me, and I embraced him.2
2. " And straightway he sat down by my side. He
saith to me : I am sent by the most Sovereign
Angel, that I may dwell with thee for the rest of the
days of thy life.
3. "I thought that he had come to tempt me ; 3 and I say
unto him : Who art thou ? For I do know (say I) into
whose charge I have been given. He saith to me : Dost
thou not know ? Nay — answer I. I am (saith he) the
Shepherd 4 into whose charge thou hast been given.
4. " E'en as he spoke, his aspect changed, and I knew
him, that it was he to whom I had been given in
charge."
COMPARISON WITH OUR " PCEMANDRES "
If we now compare the Greek text of this interesting
passage with that of the introductory paragraphs of the
" Poemandres," it will be found impossible to refer their
striking similarities merely to a common type of ex-
pression; the verbal agreements are too precise, and
1 Presumably a sheep's skin of white wool.
2 Compare the Story of the Spirit Double who came down unto
Jesus when a boy, as told by Mary the Mother, in the Pistis Sophia,
121 : " He embraced thee and kissed thee, and thou also didst kiss
him ; ye became one." Compare this with the common mystic
belief of the time in the possibility of union with such a spiritual
presence ; and also the possession by a daimon (\rjifw Saipovos),
which is treated of at length by Keitzenstein, and particularly
referred to this pasage in Hermas (R. 230).
3 Compare Pistis Sophia, 120 : "I was in doubt and thought it
was a phantom tempting me."
4 On this Gebhardt and Harnack, in their edition (Leipzig,
1877), can only comment : " In visionibus angelicus pastor nusquam
memoratur."
372 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
stand out convincingly at the first glance, without need-
ing the assistance of the large type in which Eeitzenstein
(pp. 11, 12) has had them printed in his reproduction
of the texts.
Most remarkable of all, however, is the similarity of
ideas ; for " Hermas " as for " Hermes " the Shepherd
is not only a shepherd but a " shepherd of men," even
as in a different connection but in the same circle of
ideas Peter and others were to become " fishers of men." l
Now, not only on general grounds is it difficult for
any one who has carefully studied the two documents,
to believe that the writer of the philosophic-mystical
treatise not only had the Christian apocalyptic writing
before him but took it as his point of departure ; but,
even if we are still strongly dominated by what has
hitherto been the traditional view in all such questions,
and cling to the theory that when there is similarity
the Christian scripture must necessarily have been first
in the field, it is very difficult to believe that a copier
of " Hermas " should have left no traces of an acquaint-
ance with the very distinctive feature of the robe and
staff and wallet of the shepherd, and of the conversation
which follows in what, on this theory, would be the
presupposed original.
THE POPULAR SYMBOLIC EEPRESENTATION OF
THE SHEPHERD
The mystical representation and thought-atmosphere
of the writer or redactor of our present " Poemandres "
are far removed from any direct traces of contact with
the folk-consciousness, in which the appurtenances men-
tioned by " Hermas " were the typical literary description
1 Compare the interesting inscription from Sakkara quoted
from Erinan (note, below).
" HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 373
of a shepherd since the time of Theocritus ; l not only
so, but this was the symbolic representation of the
" Shepherd of Men " in the general Hellenistic religious
consciousness. Indeed, we find unquestionable proofs
that Hermes was pre-eminently regarded as the " Good
Shepherd," and a figure of him with staff and wallet and
single robe was a great favourite in the popular cult.12
In one passage 3 in which mention is made of this
wallet and staff, further details are given showing that
these simple symbols were well understood. The right
hand is raised, and the left holds staff and wallet.
Moreover, the staff has a serpent entwined round it,
and Hermes is clad in a single robe. Like Isis, he
stands upon the world-sphere, which has also a serpent
twined round it. Hermes here represents the Mind or
Logos, the father-mother (staff and wallet) force of
nature ; with the " left " he brings into generation, with
the " right " he leads souls out of genesis, either to death,
or regeneration. In this prayer, Hermes (as the sun) is
called " the Shepherd who hath his fold in the West." 4
It is to be further remarked that Hermes is in the
dress of the " Poor,"5 and of the " Naked."6
1 R. 11, n. 3.
2 Compare Wessely, Denkschr. d. K. K. Akad. (1888), 103, 2359 ff.
3 Ibid., 104, 2373.
4 Erman (Agypten, 515) refers to an inscription from Sakkara,
in which a mystical shepherd saya to his flock : " Your Shepherd
is in the West with the fishes," — an interesting conjunction of
ideas for students of archaic Christian symbolism. The idea is
also Babylonian, the Star-flocks of the Gods being fed beyond the
Ocean in the West.
5 Compare the dress of the Essenes, and the account of the send-
ing forth of the disciples, Matt. x. 9 Mark vi. 8 Luke ix. 3.
The direct contradiction of the account in Mark to the statements
in Matthew and Luke, makes it exceedingly probable that not only
the one robe, and staff, but also the wallet, were the typical signs
of those who went forth to " raise the dead."
6 He is clad in the irtpifana, the working dress (or apron),
374 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
THE NAME "HERMAS"
But to return to Hermas. Why " Hermas " of all
names in the world in this connection? We have a
large literature in which " Hermes " plays the part of
seer, and prophet, and revealer, and writer of sacred
scriptures ; in it, moreover, he figures as the beloved
disciple of the Heavenly Mind, the Shepherd of Men.
But what have we in Christian tradition to explain the
name " Hermas " ? Nothing, absolutely nothing, but
contradictory hypotheses which try to discover a
historic Hermas so as to authenticate the provenance
of what is manifestly, like nearly every similar
document of the time, pseudepigraphic. In my
opinion, indeed, the very name Hermas betrays more
clearly than anything else the " Hermes " source of
the Christian writer's setting of part of his most
interesting apocalyptic. " Hermas " is because of
" Hermes," rather than " Hermes " in answer to
"Hermas," as Hilgers would have it.
AN EARLY FORM OF THE "PCEMANDRES"
This, however, does not mean to say that " Hermas "
took the setting of the introduction of his Pastoral
apocalypses from precisely the same text of the
" Poemandres " which now lies before us, for our
present text is manifestly the redaction of an earlier
form ; so that if we could recover the other form we
should in all probability find some additional verbal
agreement of " Hermas " with " Hermes."
in which men were said to work "naked" (nudus, yvfavis) — that
is, clad in one robe. See also note on the sentence : " And naked
I sought the Naked," in treating of the Gymnosophists (or Naked
Philosophers), in my Apollonius of Tyana (London, 1901), p. 100.
" HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 375
That the ideas of the " Poemandres " treatise were
the mystical and philosophical side of much that
appears in the popular cult of the time, may be seen
by an inspection of the prayers from the Magic Papyri
which we have translated.1 In them the Mind, as the
Shepherd of Men, and the Revealer of the Light, is
clearly set forth. Keitzenstein's view (p. 32), ac-
cordingly, is that the Christian writer must have taken
his description of the Shepherd from what originally
was a fuller text of the " Poemandres " than the one
preserved to us, and that this will account for several
features which would otherwise be peculiar to " Hennas."
This text was in closer verbal agreement with the
general language of the popular Hermes religion as
preserved to us in the Hermes-Prayers.2
THE HOLY MOUNT
But the direct points of contact between " Hermas "
and the Trismegistic literature are not confined to the
" Poemandres " document. As the original writer of
" Hermas " was dependent on " Hermes " for the setting
of the introduction to his Pastoral apocalypses, so also
it is highly probable that the redactor was influenced
by a lost treatise referred to in the introduction of
" The Sacred Sermon on the Mountain," 0. H., xiii. (xiv.).
In this treatise reference is made to one of the now
lost " General Sermons," 3 the scene of which also took
1 See "The Popular Theurgic Hermes Cult in the Greek
Magic Papyri."
2 Compare Hermas, Vis. v. 2 : "I am sent . . . that I may
dwell with thee for the rest of the days of thy life," with Prayer
i. 10 : " for all the length of my life's days " ; and v. 3 : "I know
into whose charge I have been given," with Prayer ii. 7 : "I
know thee, Hermes."
3 fv rels •ytvtK.o'is.
376 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
place on a mountain. For in connection with it
mention is made by Tat of his passing over a moun-
tain, or ascending a mountain, at the beginning of his
noviciate, when he became a " suppliant " ; l while it is
further stated by Tat that at that stage the doctrine
was not clearly explained, but rather hidden in riddles ;
for that as yet he was not sufficiently purified, and
made " a stranger to the world-illusion."
Now, it is remarkable that " Hermas," in the appendix
to the book (Sim. ix.), tells us that after these revela-
tions the Shepherd came to him again, and told him
that much had not been explained because of his
"weakness in the flesh"; but now that he has been
strengthened by the Spirit, the Shepherd will explain
all " with greater clearness." He then takes him away
into Arcadia (a very unexpected locality for a Chris-
tian writer in Home to choose), to a " breast-like moun-
tain," where he has the further teaching revealed
to him.
But, strangely enough, it was precisely in Arcadia
that the chief Hellenic cult of Hermes existed, as stated
by Lactantius, basing himself on the common belief at
Eome ; 2 and from Arcadia it was that Hermes, according
to a tendency-legend that even at Eome went back at
least to the second century B.C., set forth to teach the
Egyptians.
"GNOSTIC" ELEMENTS
Moreover, " Hermas " is throughout strongly tinged
with " Gnostic " elements. As I wrote in my last
book,3 it is practically one of the very numerous
1 A term used by Philo as a synonym of Therapeut.
2 Div. Institt., i. 6— as cited among Evidences from the Fathers,
where see my note on Pheneus.
3 Op. sup. cit., p. 365.
" HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 377
permutations and combinations of the Sophia-mythus
— one of the many settings-forth of the mystic lore and
love of the Christ and the Sophia, or Wisdom, of the Son
of God and His spouse or sister, the Holy Spirit, of the
King and Queen, of the Lord and the Virgin Church.
In its most instructive series of visions are depicted the
mystic scenes of the allegorical drama of man's inner
nature — the mystery-play of all time.
But when we say "Gnostic" we mean much that is
also Hellenistic mysticism, and therefore much that is
also " Hermetic," for in the Trismegistic literature there
is set forth a Gnosis of a far simpler type than in any
of the Christian systems technically called " Gnostic."
THE VICES AND VIRTUES
A striking example of the similarity of ideas of this
nature is found in comparing the list of twelve vices
and ten (seven and three) virtues, given in C. H., xiii.
(xiv.) 7-1 0,1 with "Hermas," Sim. ix. 15, 1-3, where
twelve " virgins," each bearing the name of a virtue, are
set over against twelve " women clothed in black," each
bearing the name of a vice ; and with " Hermas," Vis. iii.
8, 7, where seven women, each in turn the mother of
the other, are called by the names of seven virtues.
"We need not, of course, necessarily suppose any direct
contact in this case, though it is curious that the list
of virtues occurs precisely in the sermon "On the
Mountain :> ; but both writers clearly move in, or are
influenced by, the same circle of ideas, and that, too,
ideas of a very special nature.
The above points are sufficient for our purpose, and
throw a most interesting light on one element in the
1 The very treatise to which we have previously referred in
connection with the " mountain."
378 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
composition of the very ancient Christian document
whose exclusion from the canon, after enjoying for so
many years practically canonical authority, is to be
regretted.
THE EARLY DATE OF THE ORIGINAL " HERMAS "
Now, " Apocalyptic Hermas " is distinctly " anti-
Pauline," and perhaps this more than anything else
accounts for the final exclusion of the book from the
canon ; it is therefore in vain to seek in it quotations
from any of the Pauline Letters. But what is still more
remarkable, neither it nor the " Pastoral Hermas " quote
from any of the Canonical Gospels. This argues a very
early date.
If, then, we are inclined to accept the statement of
the writer of the Muratorian Fragment (c. 170 A.D.)
that " Hermas " was written at Rome during the bishop-
ric of Pius (140-c. 155 A.D.), this must refer to the
completed work of the last redactor who is held re-
sponsible for "Hermas iii.," and who was acquainted
with several books of the canon. The "Pastoral
Hermas" may thus be fairly pushed back to the be-
ginning of the first century.
We have also to remember — a point which Reitzen-
stein does not seem to have taken into consideration —
not only that the Greek original of our form of
" Hermas " is lost, but that the Old Latin version has
also disappeared, and that we possess only a Greek
retranslation from the Latin.1 Under these circum-
stances, it is still more surprising that such strong traces
of direct literary dependence on the original form of
the " Poemandres " introduction should still remain in
our " Hermas."
1 See Gebhardt and Harnack, op. rit., Prolegg. xi. n. 2.
HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 379
THE DEPENDENCE THEORY TO BE USED WITH
CAUTION
It would, however, in my opinion be a grave mistake
to push the theory of literary dependence too far, and
to seek to account for the main content of " Hermas "
on any theory of direct borrowing from allied sources,
or even solely of direct external conditioning by the
mystical and theological ideas of the time. There is
no A priori reason against the high probability that
the original writer was recording some genuine inner
experiences, however much, as was the fashion of the
time, and of other times and climes, they may have been
expanded, interpolated, and polished by literary art.
It is true that all such inner experiences would be
strongly conditioned by the prior conceptions, thought-
tone, and theological beliefs of the writer, and by the
current and traditional types of such experiences known
in his day. Indeed, it is very difficult anywhere to meet
with the record of visions or apocalyptic utterances
which are not so conditioned. The Buddhist seer, sees
in the mode of traditional Buddhist conceptions of the
unseen ; the Hellenic mantis and sibyl find themselves
in an invisible world of the familiar nature known to
them from the mythologists, and poets, and mystery-
traditions; the Egyptian prophet moves amid the
familiar topography and schematology of the Amenti
of his nation ; even an Ezekiel sees in the symbols of
the Babylonian cultus; while the Christian mystic
invariably finds himself in the conventional heaven of
the saints and the hell of the sinners.
It is not, therefore, necessary to follow Eeitzenstein
(pp. 8-11) in detail, when he seeks to show the strong
influence of heathen mystical literature on the early
380 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Christian document we are discussing, and to point to
striking parallels between the setting of the first four
visions of "Hermas," and the visions of Zosimus, as
preserved in the fragments of his " Acts," l or the " Visit
to Hades" of Setme and Si-Osiri, and their passing
through the Seven Halls,2 as partially preserved in the
Demotic " Tales of Khamuas." 3
It is true that Zosimus, who nourished towards
the end of the third century, was a member of the
Poemandres community, and, therefore, what he has
to say is of great interest to us, for doubtless his
visions were strongly conditioned by the Trismegistic
tradition and especially by the Isis-type of its literature,
and the cognate Egyptian " Books of Hermes " ; but
the points on which Eeitzenstein lays stress seem
somewhat too general to allow of our drawing any
direct conclusion with regard to " Hermas " and
" Hermes."
There is a certain similarity; but our information
is too scanty to permit of any precise drawing of
general conclusions. There is, however, a valuable
piece of information which prevents us from attribut-
ing all the similarities which may be noticed purely
to the general thought-atmosphere of the times. In
one particular at least, we can be more definite.
THE VISIONS OF CRATES
Zosimus is not the only follower of Thrice-greatest
Hermes whose visions are still on record. Crates also
1 The texts are given by Berthelot (M. P. S.), Les Akhimistes
grecs.
2 See The Book of the Dead, cxliv., cxlvii.
3 Griffith (F. LI.), Stories of the High Priests of Memphis (Oxford,
1900), pp. 45 tf.
" HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 381
has left an account of his mystic experiences, though
unfortunately transmitted to us only in Arabic transla-
tion from the original Greek.1
Crates leaves his body and enters the unseen world.
"While I was praying," he writes, "I felt myself
suddenly carried into the airs [of heaven], following the
same path as the sun and moon." Here he meets with
Thrice-greatest Hermes in the guise of " an old man,
the most beautiful of men, seated on a chair ; he was
clad in white raiment, and held a book in his hand
resting on the arm of the chair."
Compare this with " Hennas " (Vis. ii. 2, 2) : "I see
opposite me a chair, and on it a covering of wool white
as hail ; 2 then came there an old woman, in shining
white raiment, having a book in her hand, and sat
down alone."
After this revelation, and when the "old woman"
had ceased reading from the book, four young men
came and carried off the chair, and departed with it to
the East (ibid., 4, 1).
Here again it is of interest to compare this with the
introduction to a magical " light-ritual," where the seer
has a vision of four men with crowns on their heads
who bring in the " throne of the god. " 3
Crates is taught from the book and bidden to write
what he is told. " Make thy book according to the
instructions which I have given ; and know that I am
with thee and will never leave thee till thou hast
accomplished all."
So also " Hermas " ; compare also the last sentence
1 Berthelot (M. P. S.), La (Jhimie au Moyen Age, iii. 44 ff., 268,
n. 1 ; R. 361.
2 According to the Ethiopic translation. See The Apostolic
Fathers, p. 325, n. 4, in the "Ante-Nicene Christian Library,"
vol. i. (Edinburgh, 1867).
3 Kenyon (F. G.), Greek Pap. Cat., p. 65 ; E. 280, n. 3.
382 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
with the phrase in the Introduction to the " Pastoral
Hermas " : "I am sent . . . that I may dwell with
thee for the rest of the days of thy life."
In another vision, Crates is instructed in a dialogue
which strongly reflects the style and substance of our
Trismegistic sermons. And in yet another he moves in
the psychic reflection of the setting of the now for the
most part lost Isis-type of the literature, which has a more
strongly Egyptian colouring. He is transported to yet
another heaven and firmament, and there sees the temple
of Ptah (Hephaestus), and the statue of Venus (Isis),
which holds converse with him.
He was then evidently saturated with the Tris-
megistic tradition, and had access to treatises which
are now, unfortunately, lost to us, for it is just this type
of the literature which shows signs of the more direct
influence of Egyptian ideas, and the mention of the
temple of Ptah is a striking confirmation that Eeitzen-
stein is on the right track in his analysis of the oldest
deposit of the " Pceinandres," which he connects with
the Ptah-tradition.
That the end and aim of the later Egyptian religion,
and of all Hellenistic religious circles in general,
was a Gnosis, or definite mystical experience in the
form of visions and apocalypses, is manifest on all
sides ; and that this also was the chief interest of very
numerous circles in the Early Church is a fundamental
fact in the study of Christian origins which should not
be impatiently brushed on one side, or minimised
almost to extinction as of no real importance, but
which should be restored to the first rank in seeking
" HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 383
an explanation of the many obscure problems of these
early days which no purely objective considerations
will solve.
That the General Christian of these days, as of all
subsequent centuries, had naturally much to learn in
these matters from the trained Mystic, whether of his
own faith or of another, is saying nothing to his dis-
credit, for he naturally belonged to the " many " who
were striving to become the "few." General Chris-
tianity, however, spread so rapidly that the definite
cultivation of the spiritual faculties practised by the
early contemplatives of the faith soon gave place to a
fanatical enthusiasm for a misunderstood monkdom,
which swamped the monasteries with a flood of the
" many," who were often without any true vocation for
the holy life, and not unfrequently quite ignorant of
the elements of contemplation.
We need not speak of the wild fanaticism of warrior
monkdom let loose with pick and hatchet and fire-brand
to destroy the treasures of religious art throughout the
beautiful Hellenic world, but even among the quiet
and peaceable brethren there was much ignorance.
How unknowing some of these good folk were, we may
learn from a naive story, the very simplicity of which
convinces the reader of its genuineness.
Perhaps some one may here interject : But this has
nothing to do with " Hermas " ! Perhaps not ; but it
has a great deal to do with a proper understanding of
the history of the development of General Christianity
and its relationship to the deeper religious conscious-
ness of the first centuries. When, then, I read the
Greek text of this simple story, as reproduced by
Eeitzenstein,1 I thought that some who could not read
1 R. 34 — from Apophthegmata Patrum, in Cotelerius' Ecclesice
Graces Monumenta, i. 582.
384 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Greek, but who take a very deep interest in such
matters, might like to hear it, and so I have set it down
in English.
THE STORY OF ABBOT OLYMPIUS
The story runs as follows :
" Abbot Olympius l said that one day a priest of the
[Heathen] Greeks came down to Scetis ; 2 he came to
my cell and passed the night there.
" Seeing the manner of life of the monks, he saith to
me : ' Living in this way, do ye not enjoy visions from
your God ? ' ' Nay ! ' I answer.
" Then saith the priest to me : ' So long as we duly
serve our God with holy deeds, he hideth nought
from us, but revealeth unto us his mysteries. And
ye, in spite of all your great labours — watchings, keep-
ing silence, disciplines — sayest thou, ye see nought ?
Assuredly, then, if ye see nought, ye have let evil
reasonings come into your hearts which shut you from
your God ; and 'tis for this cause his mysteries are not
revealed to you.'
" And I went and told the elder [brethren] the
words of the priest ; and they were astonished and
agreed that so it was. For impure reasonings do shut
off God from man."
I do not exactly understand what is the precise
meaning of Xoytoyxou?, which usually means " reason-
1 I do not know who this Olympius was, unless, perchance,
he may have been the monk referred to by Nilus (ii. 77), the
famous ascetic of Sinai, who flourished in the first quarter of the
fifth century.
2 Again, I can find no information about this place ; it was,
however, presumably in the Nitriote nome south of the Delta —
for the priest " came down.''
" HERMAS " AND " HERMES " 385
ings," and seems on the face of it to suggest that the
monks' intellectual grasp of the matter was at fault.
It may, however, mean simply that their " thoughts "
were impure. But this is not any more satisfactory,
for the monks must have known already that impure
thoughts were to be driven out.
What is clear is that the " priest of the Greeks " had
personal experience of these pious exercises, and came
from a circle where such things were normally
practised ; he, moreover, knew what was the reason for
the monks' non-success in contemplation. He knew
that it all depended on thought, and that, too, on " good
thought," so that the " Good " might descend on the
"good," as the Hermes-Prayer (i. 9, 13) says. But he
knew more than this; he knew that there was also
need of " right thought," of Gnosis as well as of faith,
of the proper use of the intelligence and the driving
out of erroneous ideas with regard to the nature of
God.
A FINAL WORD
But for a final word on "Hennas." This early
document was written at Rome ; so all are agreed. It
would, then, seem necessary to allow of sufficient time
for a wide circulation of the older form of the " Pcem-
andres," before it could reach Rome from Egypt. This
time could not have been short, for it must be reckoned
not by geographical considerations, which are hardly of
any consequence in this connection, but by the fact
that the " Pcemandres " was the gospel of a school that
laid the greatest possible stress on secrecy. How, then,
could a Christian writer have got possession of a copy ?
Had the pledge of secrecy already by this time been
removed ? This is not credible, for later Trismegistic
documents still lay the greatest stress upon it.
VOL. i. 25
386 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Were, then, the early Christian mystical writers in
intimate relationship with such circles as the Pceman-
dres-community ? Some Gnostics undoubtedly were ;
was the writer of " Hermas " ? Was there once friend-
ship where subsequently was bitter strife ?
Such and many other most interesting questions
arise, but there is little hope that any satisfactory answer
will be given them until the work on the mystical
religious environment of the time has been pushed
forward to such a point, that men may gradually become
accustomed to the view that much of the secret of the
Origins lies concealed in that very environment.
In any case, the way is cleared for pushing back the
earlier " Poemandres " document well into the first cen-
tury, and for ranking it, therefore, as at least con-
temporary with the earliest of the New Testament
writings.
XI
CONCERNING THE ^ON-DOCTRINE
Chapter XI: Concerning the Aeon-Doctrine
Mon ; Cosmos ; Time ; Becoming." — 0. H., xi. (xii.) 1.
THE SCOPE OF OUR ESSAY
While rigidly excluding any consideration of the
amazing elaboration of Christo-Gnostic seonology, it
may not be unserviceable to offer a "few notes in
connection with the simpler idea of the ^Eon. The
subject really requires a treatise in itself, but that would,
of course, be too lengthy an undertaking for these
Prolegomena.1
Let us, then, first turn to a striking passage which
purports to give us the Orphic tradition of the Genesis
of the World-Egg, and of the relation of its Glorious
Progeny to the ^Eon.
The passage is of great interest for us in our present
enquiry, for if it is not a direct quotation from Apion,
the Alexandrian savant, and bitter opponent of the
Jews and of Philo, during the first half of the first
1 From Prof. Montet's report (Asiatic Qr. Rev., Oct. 1904) of
the " Proceedings of the Second International Congress of the
History of Religions " (Bale), Aug. 20-Sept. 2, 1904, I see that
Reitzenstein presented a monograph on the "Aion" to the
Congress. I do not, however, know whether this has yet been
published.
387
388 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
century A.D., it at anyrate represents the view of the
Hellenistic theology of that period.
The passage is found in one of the sources of the
composite and overworked document known -as the
Clementine Homilies} and runs as follows :
THE ORPHIC TRADITION OF THE GENESIS OF THE
WORLD-EGG
III. " There was when naught was but Chaos and an
indistinguishable mixture of unordered elements still
jumbled all together ; both Nature herself being wit-
ness to it, and great men having thought it must be so.
" And as witness, I will bring forward for you the
greatest of the great in wisdom, Homer himself,
speaking about the original con-fusion:
" But may you all become water and earth 2 —
— meaning that thence all things have had their genesis,
and that after the dissolution of their moist and earthy
essence they are all restored again to their first nature
— which is Chaos.
" And Hesiod, in his Theogony, says :
" In truth Chaos came into being the very first.3
2fe"
" And by ' came into being ' he evidently means that
1 Clement. Horn., VI. iii. ff. ; ed. A. Schwegler (Stuttgart,
1847), pp. 168 ff. ; ed. P. de Lagarde (Leipzig, 1865), pp. 74 ff.
See also Lobeck, Aglaophamus, pp. 475, 478 ; and my Orpheus,
pp. 156 and 162, 163. For the latest critical view on the Apion-
speeches, see Waitz (H.), Die Pseudoklementinen Homilien und
Rekognitionen (Texte und Untersuchungen, Neue Folge, Bd. X.
Hft. IV.), pp. 251-256, " Der Dialog des Klemens mit Appion
uber die heidnische Mythologie."
2 II., vii. 99. Cf. the Earth-and- Water of CO-ff., i. 5.
3 Theog., 116.
CONCERNING THE .EON-DOCTRINE 389
it was generated as are things generable, and not that
it for ever was as are things ingenerable.
" Orpheus also likens Chaos to an Egg in which was
the con-fusion of the primordial elements.1
"This is what Hesiod supposes by Chaos, what
Orpheus calls an Egg — a thing generable, projected
from the infinity of Matter (Hyle), and brought into
being as follows :
IV. " Both fourfold Matter 2 being ensouled and the
whole Infinitude being as though it were a Depth
(BufloV), flowing perpetually and indistinguishably
moving, and over and over again pouring forth
countless imperfect mixtures, now of one kind and
now of another, and thereby dissolving them again
owing to its lack of order, and engulphing so that it
could not be bound [together] to serve for the genera-
tion of a living creature — it happened that the infinite
Sea itself, being driven round3 by its own peculiar
nature, flowed with a natural motion in an orderly
fashion from out of itself into itself, as it were a
vortex,4 and blended its essences, and thus involuntarily
the most developed part of all of them,6 that which
was most serviceable for the generation of a living
creature, flowed, as it were in a funnel, down the
middle of the universe, and .was carried to the bottom
1 Orpheus apparently does nothing of the kind, but draws a
distinction between Chaos and the Egg.
2 Of. the Pythagorean Tetraktys, in the famous oath— "The
Fourfold Root of Ever-flowing Nature."
3 Or impelled or pushed in every direction.
4 Thus forming the Vortex Atom of the Cosmos.
5 The text reads : ical oSrus t£ aitovffrov ruv trkvieoiv rb
yoffTintararov. As e'£ a.Kovffrov has hitherto proved insoluble for
all editors, I would suggest «f£ aKovffiov. As to voffnutiararov, L.
and S. are of little assistance unless it is taken in the sense of
" ripest." Sophocles gives " essential, valuable, perfect, the best
part of any thing."
390 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
by means of the vortex that swept up everything, and
drew after it the surrounding Spirit,1 and so gathering
itself together as it were into the most productive
[form of all], it constituted a discrete state [of things].
" For just as a bubble is made in water, so a sphere-
like hollow form gathered itself together from all sides.
" Thereupon, itself being impregnated in itself,
carried up 2 by the Divine Spirit that had taken it to
itself as consort, it thrust forth its head (TrpoeKv\fsev)
into the Light — this, the greatest thing perchance that's
ever been conceived, as though it were out of the Infinite
Deep's universe a work of art had been conceived and
brought to birth, an ensouled work [in form] like unto
the circumference of eggs, [in speed] like to the swiftness
of a wing.4
V. "I would therefore have you think of Cronus
(KpoVoy) as Time (X/ooW 6), and of Ehea (*Pea) as the
flowing (TO pe'ov) of the Moist Essence ; for the whole
of Matter being moved in Time brought forth, as it
were, an Egg, the whole surrounding sphere-like Heaven
('Qvpavos), which in the beginning was full of the pro-
ductive marrow,6 so that it might be able to bring
forth elements and colours of all kinds ; and yet the
1 This probably means the Spirit that ensouled Matter ; or to
use a more familiar expression, the Spirit of God which " brooded
over the Deep."
2 Sc. out of the Depth of Matter or Darkness, on to the surface
of it, where was the Light.
3 Of. G. H., i. 14 : " bent his face downwards " (irapfKvtytv), and
note thereon.
4 According to Basilides the " wings " of the Sonship are the
Holy Spirit. This symbolism is presumably to be connected with
the Egyptian " Winged Globe." See F. F. F., p. 26.
6 A very ancient word-play.
6 Sometimes used for brain. Of. C.H., x. (xi.) 11, and the Jewish
Commentator in the Naassene Document. This is the Spermatic
Essence of the Logos.
CONCERNING THE .EON-DOCTRINE 391
manifold appearances which it was ever presenting, all
came from One Essence and One Colour.
" For just as in the product of the peacock, although
the colour of the egg seems to be one, it has neverthe-
less potentially in it the countless colours of the bird
that is to be brought to perfection, so also the Ensouled
Egg conceived from Infinite Matter, when it is set in
motion from the perpetually flowing Matter below it,1
exhibits changes of all kinds.
" For from within the circumference a certain male-
female Living Creature is imaged out by the Fore-
knowledge of the Divine Spirit that indwells in it,
whom 2 Orpheus doth call Manifestor (&dvw — Phanes),
because when he is manifest (0ai/e/9) the universe shines
forth from him, through the lustre of Fire, most
glorious of elements, perfected in the Moist [Element].
" Nor is this incredible, for in the case of glow-worms,
for example, Nature allows us to see a c moist light.'
VI. "Accordingly the First Egg that was ever pro-
duced being gradually warmed by the Living Creature
within it, breaks open, and then there takes shape and
comes forth some such thing as Orpheus says :
" When the skull-like 3 wide-yawning Egg did break [etc.].4
"So by the mighty power of Him who came forth
and who made Himself manifest, ' the shell ' 5 receives
its articulation 6 and obtains its orderly arrangement ;
1 It is thought of as floating in this Matter.
2 The Living One.
3 Kpavaiov — an otherwise unknown word. Many emendations
have been suggested ; but it does not seem to be necessary to go
beyond Kpavtov, especially as we have seen (for instance, in the
Naassene Document) that this was a favourite symbol of the
Heaven.
4 Unfortunately, the rest of the Orphic quotation is not given.
6 Or body — the matter in the Egg.
- its fitting together, or harmony.
392 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
while He Himself presides as though it were upon a
throne on Heaven's height, and in the [realms] ineffable
sends forth His light all round upon the Boundless
.Eon."
COMMENTARY
This is evidently the Logos — the God from the Egg,
and the God from the Rock ; for the Primal Firmament
was symbolised as Eock, as Adamant; just as in
physical nature, the life-spark appears from the mineral
kingdom.
The Logos presides in highest heaven, in the ineffable
spaces, whence He sends out His rays upon the Mon,
that Bound of Bounds which is itself Boundless. .For
the Egg may be thought of as the Boundary of some
special universe or system ; whereas the Mon is the
Boundary of all universes.
The information given in this quotation purports to
be the Orphic tradition of cosmogony; with this cos-
mogony all Hellenistic theologians would be familiar,
and therefore we are not surprised to find many points
of contact between it and the general ideas in our
" Poemandres " cosmogenesis, which, though doubtless
having an original nucleus of Egyptian tradition in it,
is nevertheless strongly overworked by minds that were
also saturated with the mingled traditions of Plato,
Pythagoras, and Orpheus.
Indeed, both "Plato" and "Pythagoras," on their
mystical side, are strongly tinged with "Orpheus."
Now, Orphicism was the revival of pre-Hesiodic Orphism
initiated by Onomacritus under the Peisistratidse.
Original Orphism was, in my opinion, a blend of Hellenic
Bardic lore with " Chaldsean " elements. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, that when the " Books of the Chal-
dseans," collected for the Alexandrian Library, were
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 393
turned into Greek, great interest should have been
taken in them by Hellenistic scholars, who found therein
a confirmation of the Greek Wisdom of Orpheus, little
suspecting that that Wisdom was in origin partially
from the same source.
THE SETHIAN GNOSIS
In illustration of this Chaldseo-Orphic symbolical
cosmogony as " philosophised " in a Hellenistic Gnostic
environment, we will quote from a system ascribed by
Hippolytus to the Sethians (a name indicating an
Egyptian environment), and brought by him into the
closest connection with those whom he calls the
Naassenes — that is to say, with what he considers to be
one of the earliest forms of the Christian. Gnosis, but
which, as we have shown, is a form of the pre-Christian
Gnosis overworked in Christian terms about the middle
of the second century. Of these Sethians, Hippolytus l
tells us as follows :
" They think that there are Three Principles 2 of the
universals having certain definite boundaries, and yet
that each of these Principles possesses boundless
potentialities.
" Now, the Essences of these Principles (he says) are
Light and Darkness ; and in the midst of these is pure
Spirit.
" The Spirit, however, that is set in the midst of the
Darkness that is below and of the Light that is above,
is not a spirit [or breath] like a blast of wind or some
light breeze that can be felt; but is as it were the
delicate scent of unguent or of incense compounded and
1 Philos., v. 19 ; ed. C., p. 209 ff.; ed. D. and S., pp. 198 ff. ; ed.
M., 138 ff.
2 apxds — sources or beginnings.
394 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
prepared, — a force of fragrance that travels with a
motion so rapid as to be quite inconceivable and far
beyond the power of words to express.
" Now, since Light is above and Darkness below, and
Spirit in some such way as I have said between them,
— the Nature of the Light is that it shines forth from
above, like a ray of the sun, into the Darkness beneath,
while that of the fragrance of the Spirit, which has the
middle rank, is, contrary wise, that it extends itself and
is carried in every direction ; just as in the case of in-
cense on a fire, we see its fragrance carried in every
direction.
" And such being the Power of the triply divided
[Principles], the combined Power of the Spirit and Light
descends into the Darkness which is set beneath them.
" And the Darkness is an awesome Water into which
the Light together with the Spirit is drawn down and
transferred.
"The Darkness, however, is not without under-
standing, but quite intelligent, and it knows that if
Light were taken from Darkness, Darkness would
remain isolated, unmanifest,1 splendourless, powerless,
ineffectual, strengthless.
" Wherefore is it constrained with all its intelligence
and understanding to hold down to itself the lustre and
spark of the Light together with the fragrance of the
Spirit.
"And one can see an image of the nature of the
latter in a man's face — [namely] the pupil of the eye,2
which is dark because of the waters underlying it, yet
illumined by Spirit.
"As, therefore, the Darkness contends for the
Splendour, in order that it may make a slave of the
1 &<f>aves — the opposite of Phanes.
2 Have we here any further clue to the title K<fpij
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 395
Light-spark and see, so also the Light and the Spirit
contend for their own Power ; they strive to raise
and bring back to themselves those powers which
are mingled with the dark and awesome Water
beneath.
" Now all the powers of the three Principles, being
infinitely infinite in number, are sagacious and intelli-
gent each according to its own essence. And though
they are countless in multitude, yet, being sagacious
and intelligent, as long as they remain by themselves,
they are all at peace.
" If, however, one power is brought into contact with
another power, the dissimilarity in their juxtaposition
brings about a certain motion and energy that takes
its shape from the concurrent motion of the juxta-
position of the contacting powers.1
" For the con-currence of the powers constitutes as
it were the impression (TUTTO?) of a seal struck off by
concussion2 so as to resemble the [die] that stamps
the substances brought into contact with it.
" Since then the powers of the three Principles are
infinite in number, and from the infinite powers are
infinite concurrences, images of infinite seals are of
necessity produced.
"These images, then, are the forms (iSeat) of the
different kinds of living creatures.
"Now from the first mighty concurrences of the
three Principles there resulted a mighty type of seal —
Heaven and Earth.
" And Heaven and Earth have a configuration
1 I may be mistaken, but the ideas involved in this exposition
seem to be precisely the same as those involved in the most
modern dynamic theories of atomicity, except that the atoms or
rather monads of our Gnostics are intelligent.
2 Lit., con-currence.
396 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
resembling a Womb, with the embryo l in the middle ;
and if (he says) one would bring this to the test of
sight, let him scrutinise scientifically the gravid womb
of whatsoever living creature he wishes, and he will
find the model of Heaven and Earth and of all things
between them lying before him without any alteration.
" So the configuration of Heaven and Earth was such
that it resembled a Womb as it were, according to the
first concourse [of the three Principles].
" And again in the midst of Heaven and Earth infinite
concourses of powers occurred, and every single con-
course effected and expressed the image of nothing else
but a seal of Heaven and Earth — a thing resembling a
Womb.
" And in the Earth itself there developed from the
infinite seals of different kinds of living creatures,
[living things] still more infinite.
" And into all this infinity below the Heaven in the
different kinds of living creatures, the fragrance of the
Spirit from above together with the Light was sown
and was distributed.2 . . .
"Accordingly there arose out of the Water a first-
born source — Wind vehement and boisterous — and
cause of all genesis.
"For by making a certain seething3 in the waters
it 4 raises up waves from the waters.
" And the genesis of the waves, being as it were a
1 Lit., navel ; but the word stands metaphorically for anything
like a navel — e.g. the boss of a shield, a knob of any kind ; hence
any centre, or nucleus.
2 Hippolytus here seems to have omitted some important
section of his source from his summary ; in any case the text of
that which follows is very corrupt, and in some important details
demonstrably imperfect, as may be seen by comparing the
Epitome, X. iv.
3 Or ferment. « Sc. Wind.
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 397
certain pregnant l impulse, is the source of the produc-
tion of man or mind, whenever [this motion] quickens
under the impulse of the Spirit.
"And whenever this wave, raised from the Water by
the Wind, and rendering nature pregnant, receives in
itself the power of production of the female, it keeps
down the Light from above that has been sown into it
together with the fragrance of the Spirit, — that is to
say, mind that takes forms in the various types ; that
is a perfect god, brought down from the Ingenerable
Light from above and Spirit into a human nature, as
into a temple, by the course of Nature and motion of
the Wind, generated from Water, commingled and
blended with bodies, as though he were the salt of
existing things and the light of the Darkness, struggling
to be freed from bodies, and unable to find liberation
and the way out of himself.
"For as it were a very minute spark . . . like a
ray 2 . . . .
" Every thought and care of the Light above, there-
fore, is how and in what way mind may be liberated
from the Death of the evil and dark Body,3 from the
Father below, who is the Wind that in ferment and tur-
moil raised up the waves and brought to birth perfect
mind, son -of himself, and yet not his own in essence.
" For he was a ray from above, from that Perfect Light,
overpowered in the sinuous 4 and awesome and bitter 5
1 lyKvuwv — a play on /cD/ua, which means embryo as well as wave.
2 The text is here destroyed beyond hope of conjecture.
3 Sc. Darkness.
4 ffito\i$. Cf. the ano\iS>s of C. H., i. 4.
5 Cf, the Naassene Hymn : " She seeks to flee the bitter
Chaos " ; and compare Jacob Bohme's " Bitterness," and also his
" three Principles," with those of our system. The analogies are
striking, and yet Jacob could not possibly have known this
system physically.
398 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
and blood-stained Water ; and that Light is the Spirit
of Light borne upon the water.1 . . .
" But the Wind, being both boisterous and vehement
in its rush, is in its whistling 2 like unto a Serpent— a
winged one.
" From the Wind, that is from the Serpent, the
source of generation arose in the way that has been
said; all things receiving together the beginning of
generation.
" When then (he says) the Light and the Spirit have
been received down into the impure and disorderly
Womb of manifold suffering, the Serpent — the Wind of
the Darkness, the First-born of the Waters — entering
in generated man, and the impure Womb neither loves
nor recognises any other form.8
" And so the Perfect Logos of the Light from above
having made Himself like unto the Beast, the Serpent,
entered into the impure Womb, having deceived it4
through His similitude to the Beast ; in order that
He may loose the bonds that are laid upon the per-
fect mind that is generated in the impurity of the
Womb by the First-born of the Water — Snake, Wind,
Beast.
" This (he says) is the Servant's Form ; 5 and this is
1 The following lines are destroyed beyond the power of
reconstruction.
2 In the case of a serpent this would be " hissing " ; fftptyna,
however, is properly the sound of a pipe, and puts us in mind of
the Syriktes of the Naassene Document.
3 Sc. than that of the Serpent.
4 Sc. the Womb.
6 Cf. Philipp., ii. 7 : " But He emptied Himself, taking on the
Servant's Form, being made in the likeness of men." The
"emptying" or KfVaxm was the change from the vK^put^a. or
Fullness of Light to the Kevoifta. or Emptiness of Darkness. Paul
(or the writer of the Epistle, whoever he was) is here using the
technical language of the Qnosis.
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 399
the necessity of the Descent of the Logos of God into
the Womb of the Virgin.
" But it is not sufficient (he says) that the Perfect
Man, the Logos, has entered into the Womb of the
Virgin and loosed the pains that are in that Darkness ;
nay, but after entering into the foul mysteries in the
Womb, He washed Himself and drank the Cup of
Living Water bubbling-forth — a thing that everyone
must do who is about to strip off the Servant-Form and
put on the Celestial Garment."
There can be little doubt but that the main ideas
in the background of this system of the Gnosis are
closely connected with general Orphic and Chaldaean
ideas, and also with the main schematology of our
" Poemandres " tractate.
From the Orphic tradition handed on by Apion we
have seen that the ^Eon is the Circle of Infinitude and
Eternity illumined by the Logos.
THE " MITHRIAC ,<EON"
The whole of this Orphic lore (in other words, the
Chaldsean wisdom-teaching) seems to me to be summed
up in one division of the symbolism of the Mithra-cult,
as may be seen by an inspection of the monuments
reproduced by Cumont, and especially those of the
mysterious figure which he calls " la dimnite l&mto-
cdphale," and the birth of the God from the Eock ; this
seems to point, as we might very well suspect, to a
strong Chaldsean element in the Mithriac tradition.
Cumont1 tells us that although some scholars have
rejected the name of " Mithriac ^Eon," which was
1 Textes et Monuments Figures relatifs aux Mysteres de Mithra
(Bruxelles, 1899), i. 76 ff., where all the references are given.
400 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
given by Zoega to this awe-inspiring mystic figure,1
in his opinion (and he knows more of the subject
than any other authority) it may very well have
been actually called -<Eon in the sacred books of the
mysteries.
If, however, this was the case, the mystic meaning,
says Cumont, was of such a nature that it was concealed
from the profane.
Our classical authorities inform us that the Magi
expressed the name of the Supreme God, which was in
reality ineffable, by various substitutes. The general
name for the Mystery Deity was Cronus, and Cronus
in the sense of Time.
"The Mithriac Cronus is a personification of Time,
and this fact, which is now fairly established, permits
us immediately to determine the identity of this pseu-
donymous God.
" There is only one Persian divinity which he can
possibly represent, and that is Zervan Akarana, Infinite
Time, whom, from the time of the Achemenides, a sect
of the Magi placed at the origin of things, and from
whom they would have both Ormuzd and Ahriman to
have been born.
" It was this God that the adepts of the mysteries
placed at the head of the celestial hierarchy, and con-
sidered as the first principle ; or, to put it differently,
it was the Zervanist system that the Mazdseans of Asia
Minor taught to the Western followers of the Iranian
religion."
This all seems to me to point not to a Persian origin
1 A Being with lion's head, and eagle's wings, and brute's
feet, and human body, enwrapped with a serpent, standing
on a globe and holding the keys of life and death in its
two hands. There are many variants, however, all of them highly
instructive, as pourtraying the Autozoon, or Living Creature in
itself, the summation of all forms of life, including man.
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 401
of the Mon, as Cumont supposes, but to a Chaldaean
element dominating the Mithriac form of the Magian
tradition.1
PROBABLE DATE OP ORIGIN OF THE HELLENISTIC
- DOCTRINE
Now the Chaldaean and Egyptian wisdom-cultures
had many root-ideas in common (were they not
regarded by the Greeks as the wisdom-traditions par
excellence ?) ; we are not therefore surprised to find
that Egypt, with its ever-recurring grandiose mystery-
phrases of enormous time-periods, such as " He of the
millions of years," had on its own soil a highly de-
veloped idea of Eternity and of Eternities — that is, of
the -5Uon and of the ^Eons; and indeed the strongly
Egyptian forms of the Gnosis, which we have preserved
to us under Christian overworking, are involved in the
most complex seonology.
It seems, however, almost as though the evidence
suggests that this Egyptian element had been revivified,
and rescued from the oblivion in which it had been
buried in a decadent age, in the symbolism of an almost
forgotten past, by a stream of Chaldaean ideas that
poured into Hellenistic circles in the early Alexandrian
period. When precisely the -.^Eon-idea forced itself
upon the philosophic mind of Alexandrian thinkers
as an unavoidable mystic necessity, it is difficult
to say with any certainty. It can, however, be said
without fear of serious contradiction that it may
have done so from early Ptolemaic times, and with
certainty that it did so in the first century B.C. as
truly as in the first century A.D.
That the term ^Eon was in frequent use in the
1 Reitzenstein (p. 276) is also of this opinion.
VOL. i. 26
402 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
popular Hermes -cult may be seen in Hermes -Prayer
v. 4, where Thoth is characterised as the "^Eon of the
^ons who changes himself into all forms in visions."
So also in Prayer viii. 2, the Good Daimon, who has
different names given him in the different hours, is
called "Wealth-giving ^Eon." So also with Isis, who
is called Wisdom and Mon in the Papyri.1
In conclusion, we may glance at what Eeitzenstein
(pp. 272 ff.) has to say concerning this "Aionenlehre."
ABRAXAS
The name Abraxas, which consisted of seven elements
or letters, was a mystery-designation of the God who
combined in himself the whole power of the Seven
Planets, and also of the Year of 365 days, the sum of
the number-values of the letters of Abraxas working
out to 365. This mysterious Being was the " Year " ;
but the Year as the Eternity, also conceived of in a
spatial aspect, as the Spirit or Name that extends from
Heaven to Earth, the God who pervades and full-fills
the Seven Spheres, and the Three Hundred and Sixty-
five Zones, the Inner God, " He who has His seat within
the Seven Poles— AEHIOYQ," as the Papyri have it,
and also without them, as we shall see.
The mysterious formula "the Name of which the
figure is 365 " meets us in such connections, that it
cannot be taken to mean simply the " Year-God," but
is a synonym of the Highest God, a secret, mysterious
Being. In brief it was, as we have seen, no other than
the Lion-headed God, called in Greek ^Eon.
Indeed, we know from Philo of Byblos 2 that, at least
in his day, the second half of the first century A.D. (and,
1 K. 270.
2 Ap. Euseb., Prsep. Evang., I. 10, 7 ; 34 B.
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 403
for all we know, prior to it), there were in Phoenicia
communities of the ^Eou — of the Highest and Super-
celestial One.
THE FEAST OF THE ^EON
The first dated use of the word in a religious sense is
found in Messala (who was Consul, 53 B.C.), as Johannes
Lydus tells us.1 Moreover, Lydus informs us that the
Ancients (01 TraXat) celebrated a Feast of the Mon on
January 5th.2 This can be no other than the Feast of
which Epiphanius gives us such interesting details in
treating of the Epiphany, when he writes, after de-
scribing the festival in the Koreion at Alexandria : 3
" And if they are asked the meaning of this mystery,
they answer and say : To-day at this hour the Maiden
(Kore), that is the Virgin, has given birth to the MOIL." 4
In the next paragraph Epiphanius designates this
^Eon as the Alone-begotten. Here, then, we have
striking evidence that in its Egyptian environment the
cult of the ^Eon was associated with mystery-rites
reminding us strongly of the symbolism of the Christ-
mystery.
THE QUINTESSENCE AND THE MONAD
Moreover, Messala5 tells us of this ^Eon, that He
" who made all things and governs all things, joined
1 De Mens.} iv. (ed. Wiinsch, p. 64, 6).
2 Or rather 6th. Reitzenstein's (p. 274) gloss (*•/>& flSuv) to
M rrjs ire'/MTTijr, is erroneous, for this would make the date
January llth.
3 For a translation of the passage, see the Commentary on the
K. K. Excerpts in treating of the term " Virgin of the World."
4 Epiphanius, Haer., li. 22 ; ed. Dindorf, ii. 483. Cf. D. J. L.t
pp. 410 f., " The Crucifixion and Resurrection Mystery- Rite."
6 Quoted by Macrobius, Saturnal., I. ix.
404 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
together by means of the surrounding Heaven the
power and nature of Water and Earth, heavy and
downward, flowing down into the Depth, and that of
Fire and Spirit, light and rushing upward to the
measureless Height. It is this mightiest power of
Heaven that hath bound together these two unequal
powers."
Lydus (ibid.) furthermore tells us that the idea of
the Mon was associated by the Pythagoreans with the
idea of the Monad ; indeed, they seem to have derived
the word aion from id, the Ionic form of /x/a (one).
Any attempt to refer this Pythagorean identification
to the earlier Pythagoreans would be at once rejected
by the majority of scholars, but I believe myself that
the original Pythagoreans were far too close to the
Borderland between mythology and philosophy not
to have personified or at least substantiated their
"Numbers" and the Source of them. At anyrate it
is highly instructive to find Plato himself writing in
the Timceus:
THE Mow IN PLATO
" And when the Father who begot it [the Cosmos] saw
that by its motion and its life it had become a likeness
of the Everlasting Gods, He marvelled, and in delight
determined further to make it still more like its
Original.1 And as the latter is an Everlasting Living
Being, He sought to make this [Sensible] Universe as
far as possible like it.
"Now the nature of the Living Being was eternal
(cueoj/to? — seonian) ; but to bestow this quality entirely
on a generable creature was not possible.
" Accordingly He determined to make a moving
1 That is, the Ideal Cosmos.
CONCERNING THE .EON-DOCTRINE 405
image of Eternity (Attoi/o?); and so in setting the
Heaven in order He makes it an everlasting (aiwviov)
image, moving according to number, of Eternity (Ateoj/o?)
that rests in One — an image which we have, you know,
called Time." l
Here it is very plain that ^Eon is not Time, but the
Paradigm thereof — Eternity. It is the Consummation
of the Eternal Gods — namely, the Pleroma, the Monad
par excellence. We, therefore, find already in Plato the
idea of the JE,on fully developed. Did Plato " invent "
it ? Or did he put an already existing idea into philo-
sophical terms? He presumably found it already
existing. Was it then Orphic (Pythagorean), or did he
learn of it in Egypt ? Who shall say precisely ?
CONCERNING THE HELLENISTIC ORIGIN OF ^ONOLOGY
Seeing, however, that we find the idea of the
fully developed in Plato, and seeing that Plato was, so
to speak, scripture for our Hermetic writers, it is
exceedingly puzzling that we should find it apparently
introduced at a certain stage into the Trismegistic
literature as a new doctrine.
It may be, however, that those who had followed
Plato on purely philosophical lines had hitherto paid
little attention to the idea of the ^Eon, except as an
ultimate principle beyond the reach of speculation.
When, however, the enthusiastic seership of mysticism
dared to soar beyond heaven into the Heaven of heavens,
and so to divide the Simplicity into an Infinitude of
Multiplicity, the term Mon came to be used no longer
for a transcendent unity but as the connotation of
a grade of Being.
., 37c,D.
406 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
It may then have been that our Hermetic writers
reasserted the use of the term in its simpler philosophic
meaning as a check to over-enthusiastic speculation.
But even if it were a reaction against a too great
luxury of speculation, it must have been contem-
poraneous with the development of seonology ; so that
in any case C. H. xi. (xii.) must be dated from this point
of view.
When seonology arose we cannot say precisely ; but
seonology in the Gnostic sense of the term was, as we
have seen, to some extent at least existing as early as
the earliest Christian documents.
THE JSoN THE LOGOS
Now though the Trismegistic tractate C. H., xi. (xii.)
is evidently in literary contact with the Timceus,1 it
nevertheless purports to give more " esoteric," or at any
rate more precise, instruction than is to be found in
Plato's famous cosmogonical treatise. It does not
follow Plato, but hands on an instruction that has
already been formulated in a precise and categorical
fashion. The ladder of existence is God, Mon, Cosmos,
Time, Genesis ; — each following one from the other.
JEon is the Power of God (§ 3), whereas Cosmos is
God's creation and work (§§ 3, 4). The ^Eon, standing
between God and Cosmos, is the Paradigm, and so also
the Son of God (§15), and the final end of man is that
he should become Mou (§ 20) — that is, Son of God. Mon
is thus evidently the Logos of God, or the Intelligible
Cosmos, as distinguished from the Sensible Cosmos. This
1 Gf. § 1 : "As many men say many things, and these diverse
about the All and Good " ; and Tim., 29 c : " If then, 0 Socrates,
since many men say many things about the Gods and the
genesis of the All."
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 407
is the Fullness in which all things move, and
chiefly the Seven Cosmoi (§ 7).
THE ROMAN S^ICULUM-CULT DERIVED FROM EGYPT
Now, Eeitzenstein (pp. 274 ff.) shows very clearly
that the Cult of the Saeculum or Mon was strongly
developed in Koman theology in at least the first
century B.C. This is too early a date for us to assign this
development to the influence of the Mithras- cult. Can
it then be that Eome was influenced by Egypt ? Such
at anyrate is Reitzenstein's opinion (p. 277), who points
to the fact that Messala, who is fully imbued with the
^Eon-idea, was a contemporary of Nigidius, the most
learned of the Romans after Varro, and a Pythagorean
philosopher of high attainments. Now it is remarkable
that in his work, De Sphcera Barbarica, Nigidius treats
of the Egyptian Sphere.
THE vEoNic IMMENSITIES OF EGYPT
Egypt, as we have already remarked, at a very early
date arrived at the idea of eternal or at anyrate of
enormously long periods of time, and had symbolised
this conception in a primordial syzygy or pair of Gods.
Indeed, the names of the primordial Time-pair, Hhw
(IJehu) and 5ht (IJehut), are immediately derived from
" Hh," generally translated "Million," but byBrugsch and
others as JEon.1 All the Egyptian Gods were Lords of
the Eternity or of the Eternities. But not only so, the
1 Budge (op. cit., i. 285) writes : " According to the late Dr
Brugsch (Religion, p. 132), the name Heh is connected with the
word which indicates an undefined and unlimited number, i.e.
heh ; when applied to time the idea suggested is ' millions of years,'
and Heh is equivalent to the Greek a'uav."
408 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
term " eternity " was used in connection with definite
time-periods ; for instance, " in a million (or eternity) of
thirty year periods." And again : " Thy kingdom will
have the lastingness of eternity and of infinitely many
hundred-and- twenty-year periods ; ten millions of thy
years, millions of thy months, hundred- thousands of
thy days, ten-thousands of thine hours." x
Here we must remark the numbers 120 (that is
12 x 10) and 30 ; all essential numbers of the Gnostic
Pleroma of ^Eons.
It is also of interest in connection with the Time-pair,
to note that Horapollo, the Alexandrian grammarian,
tells us that the Egyptians when they desire to express
the idea of ^Eon write " sun and moon " 2 (i. 1), and
when they want to write " year " they draw " Isis,"
that is " woman " (i. 3).
We thus see that in Egypt there were jEons of
Periods or Years, and Years of vEons. Above all these
ruled the God of the ^Eons, the highest God of many a
mystic community.
A SONG OF PRAISE TO THE ^EON
And so we read the following song of praise to the
Mon, inscribed on a " secret tablet " by some unknown
Brother of a forgotten Order :
1. " Hail unto Thee, O thou All-Cosmos of aethereal
Spirit! Hail unto Thee, 0 Spirit, who doth extend
from Heaven to Earth, and from the Earth that's in
the middle of the orb of Cosmos to the ends of the
Abyss !
2. " Hail unto Thee, 0 Spirit who doth enter into me,
who clingeth unto me or who doth part thyself from
1 Brugsch, Worterbuch, vi. 839.
2 The xisual symbols for " everlasting."
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 409
me, according to the Will of God in goodness of His
heart !
3. "Hail unto Thee, O thou Beginning and thou
End of Nature naught can move ! Hail unto thee
thou vortex of the liturgy1 unweariable of [Nature's]
elements !
4. " Hail unto Thee, O thou Illumination of the solar
beam that shines to serve the world. Hail unto Thee,
thou Disk of the night-shining moon, that shines un-
equally ! Hail, ye Spirits all of the sethereal statues
[of the Gods]!
5. " Hail to you [all], whom holy Brethren and holy
Sisters ought to hail in giving of their praise !
6. " 0 Spirit, mighty one, most mighty circling and
incomprehensible Configuration of the Cosmos, celestial,
aethereal, inter-sethereal, water-like, earth-like, fire-like,
air-like, like unto light, to darkness like, shining as
do the stars, — moist, hot, cold Spirit !
7. " I praise Thee, God of gods, who ever doth restore
the Cosmos, and who doth store the Depth away 2 upon
its throne of settlement no eye can see, who fixest
Heaven and Earth apart, and coverest the Heaven
with thy golden everlasting (aitovicui) wings, and
makest firm the Earth on everlasting thrones !
8. "Thou who hangest up the ^Ether in the lofty
Height, and scatterest the Air with thy self-moving
blasts, who mak'st the Water eddy round in circles !
9. " 0 Thou who raisest up the fiery whirlwinds, and
makest thunder, lightning, rain, and shakings of the
earth, 0 God of ^Eons ! Mighty art thou, Lord God, 0
Master of the All ! " 3
1 Or service — \firovpyia.
2 eriffavpiffas — or treasure away.
3 Wessely, Denkschr. d. K. K. Akad. (1888), p. 72, 11. 1115 ff. ;
R. 277, 278.
410 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Here there is no separation of God as intra-cosmic
and extra-cosmic ; He is both the one and the other.
He is both the Fullness of the Godhead and also the
Fullness of Cosmos. He is both the Cosmos, and He
who is above the Cosmos and below the Cosmos.1
THE DEMIURGIC
Eeitzenstein (p. 278), referring to our Trismegistic
tractate, C. H., xi. (xii.), points to the distinction made
between JE>on and God on one side and JEon and
Cosmos on the other. This, he thinks, shows signs of
the influence of a fundamental trait of Hellenistic
theology which makes the Demiurge the Second
God.
However this may be, there certainly was a distinc-
tion drawn between the Creative, or rather Formative,
God and the Supreme Deity, in many a Christian
Gnostic System, and not unfrequently of a very dis-
paraging nature to the former. Already in Jewish
mystic and philosophic (Gnostic) circles a distinction
had had to be drawn between the idea of God as the
Creator God, and the idea of God as the Ineffable
Mystery of Mysteries. This had been necessitated
by the contact of the Jewish Gnostics with the old
wisdom-ideas and with the fundamental postulates of
Greek philosophy.
THE Mox IN THEURGIC LITERATURE
Many examples could be given,2 but we prefer to
follow Eeitzenstein (p. 279) in his references to the
Magic Papyri, or Apocryphal literature of the same class,
1 Gf. R. 28 ; Hermes-Prayer, vii. 1.
2 See my Fragments of a Faith Forgotten.
CONCERNING THE ^EON-DOCTRINE 411
and append the translation of two striking quotations,
as opening up an entirely novel side of the subject.
Thus in the eighth Book of Moses, we find the
following passage in which the Jewish Creator God is
placed in the second rank as compared with the
Egyptian Supreme Principle.
" And God, looking down unto the earth, said : IAO !
And all stood still, and then came into being from His
Voice a Great God, most mighty, who is Lord of all
things, who caused to stand the things that shall be ;
and no longer was there any thing without order in the
aethereal realms." l
So also in an invocation to an unknown God, most
probably to the Spirit to whom the Brother of the
unknown community addressed his praise-giving as
given above — we meet with the same distinction.
"Thee, the only and blest Father of the ^Eons, I
invoke with prayers like unto Cosmos ! 2
" Come unto me who fillest the whole Cosmos with
thy Breath, and dost hang up on high the Fire out of the
Water,3 and dost from out the Water separate the
Earth. . . . The Lord bore witness to thy Wisdom,
that is the ^Eon, and bade thee to have strength as He
Himself hath strength." *
And, later on, the Theurgist exclaims :
" Eeceive my words as shafts of fire, for that I am
God's Man, for whom was made the fairest plasm of
spirit, dew 5 and earth."
He is a Man whose words are effective and bring all
1 Dieterich, Abraxas, 184-99.
2 That is, presumably, " offerings of the reason," as our tractates
have it ; or prayers that put the mind in sympathy with the true
order of things.
3 The Heaven Ocean.
* Wessely, Denkschr. d. K. K. Akad. (1888), p. 73, 11. 1168 ff.
5 Or pure water.
412 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
things to pass ; for his " words " are compelling " acts,"
or "theurgic."
Other passages are brought forward by Eeitzenstein
(pp. 280-286) to show that the idea of the Logos or
^Eon as Second God was a fundamental conception in
Hellenistic theology.
This may very well have been the case in general
Hellenistic theology; but in philosophical circles, as
we have pointed out in treating of the Logos-idea in
Philo, the distinction was formal and not essential. So
also in our Trismegistic treatises, which are saturated
with transcendental pantheistic or monistic, or rather
panmonistic, conceptions, if the Logos or Mon is
momentarily treated of as apart from Supreme Deity,
it is not so in reality ; for the Logos is the Season of
God, God in His eternal Energy, and the ^Eon is the
Eternity of Deity, God in His energic Eternity, the
Kest that is the Source of all Motion.
For the fullest exposition of the ^Eon - doctrine in
our Trismegistic tractates, see The Perfect Sermon,
xxx.-xxxii., and my commentary thereon.
XII
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIE
CHAKACTEEISTICS
Chapter XII: The Seven Zones and their Characteristics
Waning; unto the second zone, Device of Evils now
de-energized ; unto the third, the Guile of the Desires
de-energized ; unto the fourth, his Domineering Arro-
gance also de-energized ; unto the fifth, unholy Daring
and the Rashness of Audacity de-energized ; unto the
sixth, Striving for Wealth by evil means deprived of
its aggrandisement ; and to the seventh zone, Ensnaring
Falsehood de-energized." — C. JET., i. 25.
MACROBIUS ON "THE DESCENT OF THE SOUL FROM
THE HEIGHT OF COSMOS TO THE DEPTHS OF EARTH"
Let us first turn to the commentary of Macrobius on
the famous " Dream of Scipio," which Cicero introduces
into his Republic (Bk. VI.), just as Plato appends the
Vision of Er to his. Macrobius devotes the twelfth
chapter of his First Book to a consideration of " The
Descent of the Soul from the Height of Cosmos to the
Depths of Earth," and professes to base himself on
Pythagorean and Platonic traditions. His dissertation
covers more ground than the precise subject of the
zones with which we are more immediately concerned ;
but as the whole scheme is of interest to our present
413
414 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
studies, we will append a translation of practically the
whole chapter.
" [According to Pythagoras] when the Soul descends
from the Boundary where the Zodiac and Galaxy [or
Milky Way] meet, from a spherical form, which is the
only divine one, it is elongated into a conical one x by
its downward tendency.
" Just as the line is born from the point and proceeds
into length out of the indivisible, so the soul from its
point, that is 'monad,' comes into 'dyad' — its first
production [or lengthening].
" And this is the essence which Plato in the Timceus,
speaking about the construction of the World-Soul,
describes as indivisible yet at the same time divisible.
"For just as the Soul of the World so also the soul
of an individual man will be found in one respect
incapable of division — if it is regarded from the stand-
point of the simplicity of its divine nature — and in
another capable [of division] — since the former is diffused
through the members of the world, and the latter
through those of a man.
"When then the soul is drawn towards body — in
this first production of it — it begins to experience a
material agitation, matter flowing into it.2
" And this is remarked by Plato in the Phcedo [when
he says] that the soul is drawn to body staggering with
recent intoxication, — meaning us to understand by this
a new draught of matter's superfluity, by which it
becomes defiled and gravid and so is brought down.
" A symbol of this mystic secret is that Starry Cup
(Crater) of Father Bacchus placed in the space between
1 Not into a mathematical cone, but into an egg-shaped or
elliptical form resembling that of a pine-cone.
2 This shows that the soul was thought of as being without or
outside body of every kind, and body was taken into it.
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 415
Cancer and Leo1 — meaning that intoxication is there
first experienced by souls in their descent by the influx
of matter into them. From which cause also forget-
fulness, the companion of intoxication, then begins
secretly to creep into souls.
"For if souls brought down to body memory of
the divine things of which they were conscious in
heaven, there would be no difference of opinion among
men concerning the divine state. But all, indeed, in
their descent drink of forgetfulness — some more, some
less.
"And for this cause on earth, though the truth is not
clear to all, they nevertheless have all some opinion
about it ; for opinion arises when memory sinks. Those,
however, are greater discoverers of truth who have
drunk less of forgetfulness, because they remember
more easily what they have known before in that
state.
" Hence it is that what the Latins call a ' lecture
(lectio) the Greeks call a ' re-knowing ' (repetita cog-
nitio 2), because when we give utterance to true things,
we re-cognize the things which we knew by nature
before the influence of matter intoxicated our souls in
their descent into body.
" Now it is this Matter (Hyle) which, after being im-
pressed by the [divine] ideas, fashioned every body in
the cosmos which we see. Its highest and purest
nature, by means of which the divinities are either
sustained or consist,3 is called Nectar, and is believed to
be the drink of the gods ; while its lower and more
1 Cf. Pistis Sophia, pp. 371 and 367.
2 That is, presumably, avdyvtaa-nn — a philosophical discourse, or
sacred sermon.
3 As distinguished from "exist." Latin, however, is but a
poor medium for the expression of philosophical distinctions.
416 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
turbid nature is the drink of souls. The latter is what
the Ancients called the River of Lethe [or Forgetfulness].
"The Orphic [initiates], however, suppose that
Dionysus himself is to be understood as 'Hylic
Nous'1 — [that Mind] which after its birth from the
Indivisible [Mind] is itself divided into individual
[minds].
"And it is for this reason that in their Mystery-
tradition Dionysus is represented as being torn limb
from limb by the fury of the Titans, and, after the
pieces have been buried, as coming together again
whole and one ; for Nous — which, as we have said, is
their term for Mind — by offering itself for division from
its undivided state, and by returning to the undivided
from the divided, both fulfils the duties of the cosmos
and also performs the mysteries of its own nature.
"The soul, therefore, having by means of this first
weight [of matter] fallen down from the Zodiac and
Galaxy into the series of spheres that lie below them,
in continuing its descent through them, is not only
enwrapped in the envelope of a luminous body,2 but
also develops the separate motions which it is to
exercise.
" In the sphere of Saturn [it develops] the powers
of reasoning and theorizing3 — which [the Greeks] call
TO \oyia-TiKov and TO OeooprjriKov ; in that of Jupiter,
the power of putting into practice — which they call TO
irpaKTiKov ; in that of Mars, the power of ardent
vehemence — which they call TO OU/ULIKOV ; in that of the
Sun, the nature of sensing and imagining — which they
call TO al<rQr}TiKov and TO <j>avTa<mKov ; in that of
Venus, the motion of desire — which they call TO
2 The augoeides.
3 Or of contemplative reason, synthesis as opposed to analysis.
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 417
€7ri6v/uLt]TiKov ', in the sphere of Mercury, the power of
giving expression to and interpretation of feelings —
which they call TO epw vevriKov ; on its entrance into
the sphere of the Moon it brings into activity TO QVTIKOV
— that is, the nature of making bodies grow and of
moving them.
" And this [soul], though the last thing in the divine
series, is nevertheless the first thing in us and in all
terrestrial beings ; just as this body [of ours], though
the dregs of things divine, is still the first substance of
the animal world.
" And this is the difference between terrene bodies and
supernal — I mean those of the heaven and stars and of
the other elements1 — that the latter are summoned
upwards to the abode of the soul, and are worthy of
immunity from death from the very nature of the space
in which they are and their imitation of sublimity.
" The soul, however, is drawn down to these terrene
bodies, and so it is thought to die when it is imprisoned
in the region of things fallen and in the abode of death.
Nor should it cause distress that we have so often
spoken of death in connection with the soul, which we
have declared to be superior to death. For the soul is
not annihilated by [what is called] its death, but is
[only] buried for a time; nor is the blessing of its
perpetuity taken from it by its submersion for a time,
since when it shall have made it worthy to be cleansed
clean utterly of all contagion of its vice, it shall once
more return from body to the light of Everlasting Life
restored and whole." 2
The characteristics of the spheres given by Macrobius
are according to their simple energies; there is no
1 That is, the elements other than those of earth.
2 Ed. Eyssenhardt (F.), pp. 531 S. (Leipzig, 1893).
VOL. I. 27
418 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
question of good or bad ; it is the " thinking " of the
soul that conditions the use of these energies for
beneficent or maleficent ends.
THE TRADITION OF SERVIUS
Servius, however, in his Commentary on Virgil's
jflneid, vi. 714, hands on another tradition, in which
the Spheres were regarded as inimical to the good of
the soul, its evil propensities being ascribed to their
energies. Some scholars are of opinion that Virgil in
his famous Sixth Book is largely dependent on the
ideas of popular Egyptian theology ; 1 however that
may be, Servius writes as follows :
" The philosophers tell us what the soul loses in its
descent through the separate spheres. For which
cause also the Mathematici imagine that our body
and soul are knit together by the powers of the
separate divinities, on the supposition that when souls
descend, they bring with them the sluggishness of
Saturn, the passionateness of Mars, the lustfulness of
Venus, the cupidity of Mercury, and the desire for rule
of Jupiter. And these things perturb souls, so that
they are unable to use their own energy and proper
powers."
It is to be noticed that the characteristics of the Sun
and Moon are omitted, and this points to a doctrine in
which Sun and Moon were treated as distinct from
" the five." So also in the " Books of the Saviour "
appended to the Pistis Sophia document we find
(pp. 360, 366 ff.) mention of only five planets. The
1 Of., for instance, Maass (E.), Die Tagesgotter in Rom und den
Provinzen, p. 33. See R. 53, n. 1.
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 419
tradition of this doctrine is exceedingly obscure,1 and
does not immediately concern us, as our text works on a
"seven" basis.
CRITICISM OF THE EVIDENCE
I have done my best to discover some consistent
scheme by which the contradictory data in Macrobius,
Servius, and Hermes might be reconciled, but the
tabularising of their indications only makes confusion
worse confounded.
It is evident, however, that the main thing that
Macrobius hands on, and which he attributes to
Orphic -Pythagorean -Platonic tradition, contains in
itself no suggestion that these philosophers attributed
any evil tendencies to the characteristics of the spheres
in themselves. The tradition of Macrobius is as
follows :
Saturn
Jupiter
Mars
Sun
Venus
Mercury
Moon
TO
TO
TO
TO
TO
TO
\oyi(TTlKOV
TTpCtKTlKOV
Ov/JLlKOV
<f>avTa<rriKov
e7Tl6vfJLr}TlKOV
TO
TO (fiVTlKOV
intelligentia.
ratiocinatio.
vis agendi.
ardor animositatis.
natura sentiendi.
natura opinandi.
motus desiderii.
f vis pronuntiandi
•< et interpretandi
\ quce sentiantur.
f natura plantandi
( et agendi corpora.
The confusion between the " vis agendi " of Jupiter
and that of the Moon may be resolved by supposing
that the former was the application of the reasoning
1 For references, see R. 53, n. 2.
420 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
faculty to the practical things of life, while the latter
was the power of moving one's own physical body, if
indeed the " et agendi " is not a gloss of Macrobius.
Servius, on the contrary, is following a tradition in
which the spheres were regarded as the sources of evil
tendencies; ethical considerations dominate the whole
conception. Seeing, however, that it is a fivefold dis-
tribution, we are unable to equate it with the doctrine
of Hermes, which is sevenfold. Nevertheless, there are
some parallels.
The lustfulness (libido) of Servius is to be paralleled
with the " guile of the desires " or " lustful error "
(fi eTriOvfjitrriKrj aTraTri) of Hermes. This is ascribed to
the third zone by Hermes, and to Venus by Servius,
Venus further coming third in Macrobius.
The " desire of rule " (desiderium regni) of Servius is
clearly the " domineering arrogance " (17 ap^ovriKrj
TrpcHpavia) of Hermes. In Hermes this belongs to the
middle zone (fourth); in Servius it is ascribed to
Jupiter, presumably as the ruler of the age — the ruler
of the previous age being Saturn, who has been deprived
of his energy and so rendered " torpid."
The " passion " or " wrathf ulness " (iracundia) of
Servius is also to be paralleled to some extent with the
" unholy daring " of Hermes. It is ascribed to the
fifth zone by Hermes and to Jupiter by Servius, Mars
also coming fifth in Macrobius.
Finally, the " love of gain " (lucri cupiditas) of Servius
may be paralleled by the " striving for wealth by evil
means " (at a0o/>yuat at KaKai TOV TT\OVTOV) of Hermes.
Hermes attributes this to the sixth zone, and Servius to
Mercury.
The remaining quality mentioned by Servius, " torpor,"
which he ascribes to Saturn, equates with nothing in
Hermes, unless we can persuade ourselves that the
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 421
" ensnaring falsehood " or " falsehood that lies in wait "
(TO eveSpevov \frevSo?) of Hermes has some connection
with it.
The scheme of Hermes is septenary, and connected
with the ideas of the ascent of the soul through seven
zones, which we must locate as seven superimposed
atmospheres extending from the surface of the earth
to the moon's orbit. There is no question here of the
Celestial Spheres proper of the Philosophers, the charac-
teristics of the energies of which are neither good
nor evil in themselves ; nor is there apparently any
question of the " animal soul " proper, for the " passions
and desires " are said to withdraw into the " nature
which is void of reason." Though nothing more is said
about this nature in this connection, in the general
belief of the time its dominion was thought of as located
below the earth-surface — as a Tartarus of seven zones,
corresponding to those above, in which the " animal
soul " or " vehicle of desire " was thought of as being
gradually disintegrated, its energies finally going back
to their source in the Depths of the Darkness, while
the process of such disintegration or metamorphosis
produced a parallel consciousness of chastisements and
horrors. The seven zones of our text, however, are
apparently the region of purification of the lower
energies of the human soul; the mental energies led
into error by the animal passions.
THE "OPHITE" HEBDOMAD
Now if we turn to Salmon's article on the "Heb-
domad, " l and to his discussion of the tradition of the
" Ophites " — a mysterious medley of chaotic elements,
which have not yet been analysed in any satisfactory
1 Smith and Wace's D. of Christ. Biog., ii. 849-851.
422 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
fashion, but which have their roots in pre-Christian
traditions of a very varied nature within the general
characteristic of a syncretic Gnosticism — we find that
after treating of the Celestial Hebdomad, he continues
as follows :
" Besides the higher hebdomad of the seven angels,
the Ophite system told of a lower hebdomad. After
the serpent in punishment for having taught our first
parents to transgress the commands of laldabaoth was
cast down into this lower world, he begat himself six
sons,1 who with himself form a hebdomad, the counter-
part of that of which his father laldabaoth is chief.
These are the seven demons, the scene of whose activity
is this lower earth, not the heavens ; and who delight
in injuring the human race on whose account their
father had been cast down. Origen (Adv. Gels., vi. 30)
gives their names and forms from an Ophite Diagram ;
Michael in form as a lion, Suriel as an ox, Raphael as a
dragon, Gabriel as an eagle, Thautabaoth as a bear,
Erataoth as a dog, Onoel as an ass."
Here, I think, we are on the track of one aspect of
a general mystery-tradition that Hermes has "philo-
sophized." I say one aspect, for the " Ophite " tradi-
tion is not a single form of tradition, but a medley of
traditions containing a number of forms ; it is a com-
plex or syncretism of Chaldsean, Persian, and Egyptian
elements, patched together, or " centonized," if we may
use the term, with Jewish industry.
1 In Irenseus (C. Hear., I. xxx. 5 ; ed. Stieren, i. 266) this
sevenfold serpent is the son of laldabaoth (the Creative Mind),
and is said to be " mind," also " crooked mind," coiled up like
a serpent.
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 423
THE SIMPLER FORM OF THE TRISMEGISTIC GNOSIS
The wealth of symbolism and profusion of mysterious
personifications with which these systems of subjective
imagery were smothered, could exercise only a partial
fascination on the clear-thinking, philosophical mind
which had been trained in the method of Plato. If
such a mind was combined with the mystic temperament,
as was indubitably the case with the writer of our
" Poemandres " treatise, his main effort would be to
simplify and categorize in the terms of philosophy at the
expense of apocalyptic detail ; nevertheless, when a man
lived in the midst of such ideas, and was presumably in
intimate relations with mystics and seers of all sorts,
he could not but be strongly affected by the main
presuppositions of all such apocalyptic, and the general
notions of the schematology of the Unseen World, which
all students of such matters at that period seem to
have accepted in common.
We thus find that our Trismegistic literature, though
dealing throughout with the Gnosis, treats it in a far
more simple way than any other known system of the
time. Nevertheless, even the complex imagery of the
Ophite schools is occasionally summed up in a few graphic
general symbols, and these, too, representing probably
the oldest elements in them.
CONCERNING LEVIATHAN AND BEHEMOTH
From the confused description by Origen1 of the
famous but exceedingly puzzling Ophite Diagram that
both Celsus and Origen had before them, though in
different forms, we can make out with certainty only
1 C. Gels., VI. xxv. ff.
424 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
that this chart of the Unseen Spaces was divided into
three main divisions — Upper, Middle, and Lower. The
Middle Space contained a geometrical diagram of a
group of ten circles surrounded by one great circle.
This Great Circle was called Leviathan, and the grouping
of circles within it was apparently divided into a three
and a seven. The Lower Space had in it a grouping of
seven circles, the circles of the seven ruling daimones
(xxx.) — elsewhere called Archontics — and the whole
group was apparently called Behemoth (xxv.).
Celsus, quoted by Origen (xxvii.), tells us that the
doctrine was that on the death of the body two groups
of angels range themselves on either side of the soul,1
the one set being called " Angels of Light " and the
other " Archontics " — evidently intended for " Angels of
Darkness." Thus the evil soul was thought to be led
away by the Daimones to Behemoth, and the pure soul
to Leviathan.
We cannot enter into the endless discussions con-
cerning these two Great Beasts, mentioned together in
Job xl. 15-24, and separately in Isaiah and Psalms ;
the most recent research comes to the conclusion that
" it would seem that Leviathan was regarded as lord of
the ocean and Behemoth of dry land." 2
But in our diagram Leviathan is Lord of the Heaven-
Ocean or Great Green or Cosmic Air, and Behemoth
Lord of the Cosmic Earth.
Indeed, in the Book of Enoch? the apocalyptic writer
associates these two monsters with precisely the same
eschatological considerations which Origen tells us were
the purpose of the Diagram, only " Enoch " speaks of
1 Plainly a conflation of Persian and Chaldaean ideas.
2 Cheyne's article, " Behemoth and Leviathan," in the Encyclo-
paedia Biblica.
3 Charles' Trans., Ix. 7 ff. (Ethiop. V., p. 155).
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 425
the Last Day, while the Ophite writer has in view the
ascent of the soul of an initiate after death.
At the final separation of Righteous and Unrighteous,
" Enoch " tells us, these Great Creatures, which before
were united, will be parted. That is to say, at death
there is a metamorphosis of the soul.
From what is said in " Enoch," moreover, I deduce that
the Upper Space of the Ophite Diagram was intended
to represent the Celestial Paradise, that is the state of
the Pure Mind or of the Righteous.
Leviathan and Behemoth are figured in IV. Esdras
vi. 49-52, as Devourers of the Unrighteous; while
general Jewish apocalyptic in both Apocrypha and
Talmud believed that these monsters would in their
turn become the food of the Righteous in Messianic
times.1
From all these indications we deduce that Behemoth
was the Great Beast and Leviathan the Great Fish
The animal soul, intensified by contact with the human
mind, then goes back to its source the Great Beast, and
is devoured by it, and reabsorbed by it, its energies
returning to the sum total of energies of the Great
Animal Group-Soul, the whole energy and experience
of which shall eventually become the "food" of the
perfected man ; that is to say, presumably, he will in
his turn devour and so transmute these energies ; the
perfected man will thrive by transmuting the Body of
the Great Beast into the Body of the Great Man.
The Great Fish, however, would seem to symbolize
the higher energies of the soul, which also require
transmutation. In being born into the stature of the
Great Man, the Son of Man must needs pass " three
days" in the Belly of the Whale. This Great Fish is
of the nature of knowledge ; for does not Oannes come
1 See Charles, op. cit., p. 155, n. 7.
426 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
out of the Ocean in fish-form to teach,1 in the Assyrian
Mystery-tradition, and does not the Ophite tradition in
another of its phases2 derive the inspiration of the
great prophets of Israel, in their several degrees, from
this same Group of Angels which the Diagram calls
Leviathan ?
It is also of interest to notice that Leviathan and
Behemoth were believed to have once formed one
monster, which was subsequently divided into male
and female, Behemoth being male and Leviathan
female. This reminds one of the primaeval Water-
Earth of Hermes, which was subsequently divided into
Water and Earth, just as the animals were first of all
male-female, and subsequently were separated. More-
over, in the Vision of Er the arcs of the journeyings of
the ascending and descending souls end in two orifices
above in the sky and two below in the earth, as though
they were the ends of a once great hollow ring or circle
that had been divided, or as it were two serpents arched
above and below, with mouths and tails as orifices ; and,
curiously enough, in the Pistis Sophia the souls of the
unrighteous enter by the mouth of the Lower Dragon
and depart by the tail.
Now, Leviathan being female and Behemoth male,
and both forming together as it were the circumference
of the Great Wheel of Necessity, the Wheel of Genesis,
the attribution of the gestation, so to speak, of the
1 Cannes also comes to teach from the Waters of the Euphrates ;
the Jewish overwriter of the Naassene Document (see "Myth
of Man in the Mysteries " ) equates Euphrates with Great Jordan,
and this with the Stream of Ocean ; and, curiously enough, Origen
(xxviii.) ascribes the Ophite teaching to a certain Euphrates, of
whom no one else has ever heard. It is, however, a common
error of the Church Fathers to mistake a principle of the Qnosis
for the founder of a heresy.
2 See Salmon, loc. sup. rit.
THE SEVEN ZONES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 427
virtues of the soul to the one and the digesting of its
vices to the other, is not so surprising. Further, they
could be regarded as the right-hand or left-hand arcs
or hemispheres of the Wheel, or Sphere, or Egg, accord-
ing to celestial topography ; whereas in Egyptian
terrestrial parallelism the right hand was to the north
and the left hand the south, upper and lower Egypt.
Curiously enough, in Isa. xxx. 6, Behemoth is called the
monster " of the south land." x
Whether or no the writer of the " Poemandres " was
directly influenced by the precise forms of tradition to
which we have referred, is impossible to determine;
but that he was influenced by the general ideas as
symbolized is indubitable, and that he understood the
esoteric meaning of the "hippopotamus" and "croco-
dile" symbols in Egyptian mysticism is highly probable.
THE " FENCE OF FIRE "
Origen (xxxi.), moreover, tells us that, according to
the Ophites, the consciousness of the soul after passing
through the domain of the animal -formed Kulers,
broke through what was called the " Fence of Iniquity,"
and so turned towards the higher spheres, through
which it also had to pass. In the seventh and highest
of them, over which ruled the Virtue which was
called Horaeus,2 it addresses the Euler thereof with an
apology or defence of its own innocence, beginning with
the words : " O thou who hast transcended the ' Fence
of Fire ' without fear ! "
This Fence of Fire was symbolised in the form of the
Diagram which Origen (xxxiii.) had before him, as a
1 According to Cheyne's rendering in the above-quoted article.
2 That is, presumably, the Horus-like ; thus showing traces of
an Egyptian element.
428 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
circle of fire with a flaming sword lying across its dia-
meter. This must then have been intended to represent
the Sphere of Fire, or Angel or Guardian of the Gate,
which had to be passed before the Celestial Paradise
could be entered, for the flashing, circling blade is said
to have guarded the " Tree of Gnosis and of Life."
The same idea of a typical Boundary or Fence meets
us in the " Poemandres." It is Man who breaks
through the seven spheres and also their enclosing
Sphere, the Might or Power that circumscribed the
Fire. The root idea is the same. The point of view
of Hermes, however, like that of the Ophite Gnostics,
is not the passage round the Circle of Necessity of the
souls of the unregenerate, as in the Vision of Er, but of
the Straight Ascent of the soul of the initiate, his
breaking through the spheres. It is the ascent of a
soul who has reached the Hermes-stage, or Thrice-
greatest grade, the final stage of winning its freedom,
the Ascent after the last compulsory birth — the Ascent
" as now it is for me " (§ 25).
XIII
PLATO: CONCEKNING METEMPSYCHOSIS
Chapter XIII: Plato: Concerning Metempsychosis
who hath no knowledge of the things that are, or
knowledge of their nature, or of Good, is blinded by
the body's passions and tossed about.
"This wretched soul, not knowing what she is,
becomes the slave of bodies of strange form in sorry
plight, bearing the body as a load ; not as the ruler, but
the ruled."— a H., x. (XL) 8.1
For the better understanding of this passage, we
may appropriately refresh the memory of our readers
with the Platonic doctrine of the transmigration of
souls, as given in the Phcedrus, 248 ff., using for this
purpose the best translation we have in English, namely,
that of Stewart,2 as a basis, but often departing from it
for greater clearness.
THE SOUL AND HER MYSTERIES IN THE " PHJEDRUS "
" This is the life of the Gods. Of the other Souls,
whosoever followeth God best, and is being made most
like unto Him, keepeth the Head3 of her Charioteer
1 See commentary thereon.
2 Stewart (J. A.), The Myths of Plato (London, 1905), pp.
313 ff. ; cf. also Jowett (Oxford, 1892), i. 454 ff. ; and Taylor
(London, 1804), iii. 325 ff.
3 Cf. G. H., x. (xi.) 11 : "Since Cosmos is a sphere — that is to
say, a head."
429
430 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
lifted up into the Space without the firmament ; so she
is carried round with the circuit thereof, yet being
[still] troubled with the Horses,1 and hardly beholding
the Things-which-are ; so she is now lifted up, now
sinketh down, and because of the compulsion of the
Horses, seeth some of the Things-which-are, and some
she seeth not.
" And the rest of the Souls, you must know, follow
all striving after that which is above, but unable [to
reach it], and so are carried round together and sink
below it,2 trampling upon one another, and running
against one another, and pressing on for to outstrip one
another, with mighty great sound of tumult and sweat.
"And here by reason of the unskilf ulness 3 of the
Charioteers, many Souls are maimed, and many have
many feathers [of their wings] broken ; and all, greatly
travailing, depart without initiation in the Sight of
That-which-is, and departing betake them to the food
of Opinion.
"Now this is why there is so great anxiety to see
the Space where is the Plain of Truth, — both because
the pasture suited to the Best Part of the Soul groweth
in the Meadow there, and the power of wing, whereby
the Soul is lightly carried up, is nourished by it, and
that the law of Adrasteia is that whatsoever Soul by
following after God hath seen somewhat of the true
things, shall be without affliction till its next journey
round; and if she can always do this,4 she shall be
without hurt alway.
1 Cf. 246 B : " For 'tis a Yoke of Horses that the Charioteer of
Man's Soul driveth, and, moreover, of his Horses the one is well
favoured and good and of good stock, the other of the contrary
and contrary."
2 Lit., under water.
3 Lit., evil — that is, ignorance.
4 Viz., behold the truth.
PLATO : CONCERNING METEMPSYCHOSIS 431
" But when through incapacity to follow [God] she
doth not see, and, overtaken by some evil chance, filled
with forgetfulness and wickedness, she is weighed down,
and, being weighed down, she sheds the feathers of her
wings and falls on to the Earth, — then is the law not
to plant her l in her first birth in a beast's nature ; but
to implant the Soul that hath seen most into the seed
of one who shall become a Wisdom-lover, or a lover of
the Beautiful, or a man who truly loves the Muses ; the
Soul that hath seen second best, into the seed of one
who shall become a king that loveth law, and is a
warrior and a true ruler ; the Soul that hath seen third,
unto the seed of one who shall become busied in civic
duties, or in some stewardship, or in affairs ; the one
that hath seen fourth, into the seed of one who shall be
a hardship-loving master of the body's discipline or
skilled in healing of the body ; the Soul that hath seen
fifth, into that which shall have a life connected with
the oracles .or mystic rites some way ; 2 unto the sixth
a life poetic shall be joined, or that of some one or of
another of the tribe of copiers ; unto the seventh, the
life of workman or of husbandman ; unto the eighth,
that of a sophist or a demagogue ; unto the ninth, that
of a tyrant.
" In all these lives, whoever lives them righteously
obtains a better fate ; he who unrighteously, a worse.
" Now to the selfsame state from which each Soul hath
come, she cometh not again for some ten thousand
years. For sooner than this period no Soul [re-]gains
1 Sc. as a germ or seed.
2 It is low down in the scale, indeed, that Plato places the
soothsayers and hierophants ; he is, however, " ironical," for he
places poets even lower down, and still lower sophists and tyrants,
all in keeping with his well-known views about these people as
known in his own time.
432 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
its wings, except the Soul of him who has loved wisdom
naturally or contrary to nature.1
" Such Souls in the third period of a thousand years,
if they have chosen thrice this life successively, thus
getting themselves wings, depart in the three thou-
sandth year.2
"But the other Souls, when they have ended their
first life, are brought to judgment ; and being judged,
some go to places of correction below the Earth and
pay the penalty, while others are rewarded by being
raised unto a certain space in Heaven where they live
on in a condition appropriate unto the life they lived in
a man's form.
" But in the thousandth year both classes come to
the lottery of lives, and each doth make choice of its
second life, whatever it may choose.3
"And now is it that a Soul that once had had a
man's life doth pass into a brute's life,4 and from a
1 % vaiSfpaffr-fiffavrof /terefc <pi\offo<pias — Stewart, " Of loved his
comrade in the bonds of wisdom " ; Jowett, " or a lover who is not
devoid of philosophy " ; Taylor, " or together with philosophy has
loved beautiful forms.1' I fancy that Plato has used this graphic
expression simply to designate a man who has not true union
with wisdom, but is seeking for union though ignorantly.
2 " The numbers three and ten are called perfect ; because the
former is the first complete number, and the latter in a certain
respect the whole of number ; the consequent series of numbers
being only a repetition of the numbers which this contains. Hence ,
as 10 multiplied into itself produces 100, a plane number, and
this again multiplied by 10 produces 1000, a solid number ; and
as 1000 multiplied by 3 forms 3000, and 1000 by 10, 10,000 ;
on this account Plato employs these numbers as symbols of the
purgation of the soul, and her restitution to her proper perfection
and felicity. I say, as symbols ; for we must not suppose that this
is accomplished in just so many years, but that the soul's restitution
takes place in a perfect manner." — Taylor, op. oit., iii. 325.
3 Cf. the "Vision of Er."
4 We must not understand by this that the soul of a man
PLATO : CONCERNING METEMPSYCHOSIS 433
brute, he who was once a man, passes again into a man ;
for that indeed the Soul that never hath seen truth,
will never come into this configuration.1
" For we must understand ' man,' in the sense of
form, as one proceeding from many sensations and
collected into a unit by means of ratiocination.2 But
this3 is recollection (avdfjwrjo-is) of those things which
our Soul once did see when she journeyed with God,4
and looked beyond the things we now call things that
are, by raising her face 5 to That-which-really-is.
" Wherefore of right, alone the understanding of the
Wisdom-lover hath got wings ; for he is ever engaged
upon those things in memory as far as he can be,
on being engaged at which, as being a God, he is
divine.
becomes the soul of a brute ; but that by way of punishment it is
bound to the soul of a brute, or carried in it, just as daemons
used to reside in our souls. Hence all the energies of the rational
soul are perfectly impeded, and its intellectual eye beholds naught
but the dark and tumultuous phantasms of a brutal life." — Taylor,
loc. tit.
1 Viz., the form of a man ; it is, however, also an astrological
term.
2 There seems to be no agreement among translators as to the
meaning of this sentence : Se7 yap bvQptnitov tyvifvat KO.\ elSos
\ty6fJ.tvc»>, fK iro\\tov Ibv a.lfff)4i<rt<av fls ev Koyiff^ tvvaipou/j.tvov.
Stewart translates : " Man must needs understand the Specific
Form which proceedeth from the perceiving of many things, and
is made one by Thought ; " Jowett : " For a man must have
intelligence of universals, and be able to proceed from the many
particulars of sense to one conception of reason ; " Taylor :
" Indeed it is necessary to understand man, denominated ac-
cording to species, as a being proceeding from the information
of many senses, to a perception contracted into one reasoning
power."
3 Sc. collecting into one.
4 That is to say, revolved in the Cosmos Order.
6 Cf. G. H., i. 14 : " So [Man] . . . bent his face downwards
through the Harmony."
VOL. I. 28
434 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
"The man then who doth make a right use of
memories such as these, ever being made perfect in
perfect perfectionings, alone becometh really Perfect.1
" But in as much as he eschews the things that men
strive after, and is engaged in the Divine [alone], he is
admonished by the many as though he were beside
himself,2 for they cannot perceive he is inspired by
God."
PLOTINUS ON METEMPSYCHOSIS
Let us now turn to the genuine disciples of the
master for further light on this tenet, and first of all to
Plotinus.
The most sympathetic notice of this tenet in Plotinus
is to be found in Jules Simon's Histoire de I'ficole
d'Alexandrie (Paris, 1845), i. 588 ff., based for the most
part on En., I. i. 12 ; II. ix. 6 ; IV. iii. 9 ; V. ii. 2 ; and
on Ficinus' Commentary (p. 508 of Creuzer's edition).
After citing some " ironical " passages from Plotinus
(in which the philosopher disguised the real doctrine
which in his day still pertained to the teachings of a
higher initiation), Jules Simon goes on to say :
" Even though admitting that this doctrine of metem-
psychosis is taken literally by Plotinus, we should still
have to ask for him as for Plato, whether the human
soul really inhabits the body of an animal, and whether
it is not reborn only into a human body which reflects
the nature of a certain animal by the character of its
passions.
" The commentators of the Alexandrian school some-
times interpreted Plato in this sense. Thus, according
1 All these are technical terms of the Mysteries.
2 Cf. G. H., ix. (x.) 4 : " For this cause they who Gnostic are
please not the many nor the many them. They are thought mad
and laughed at."
PLATO : CONCERNING METEMPSYCHOSIS 435
to Proclus, Plato in the PTicedriLs condemns the wicked
to live as brutes and not to become them, Karievai et?
fiiov Qripeiov, KOI OVK et? <r5)/j.a Orfpeiov (Proc., Comin.
Tim., p. 329). Chalcidius gives the same interpretation,
for he distinguishes between the doctrines of Plato and
those of Pythagoras and Empedocles, qui non naturam
modo feram, sed etiam formas.1 Hermes (Comm. of
Chalcidius on Timceus ; ed. Fabric., p. 350) declares in
unmistakable terms that a human soul can never return
to the body of an animal, and that the will of the Gods
for ever preserves it from such disgrace." 2
PROCLUS ON THE DESCENT OF SOULS INTO IRRATIONAL
NATURES
Again, Proclus in his Commentaries on the Timceus,
writes very definitely with reference to the following
passage of Plato :
" And if he still in these conditions did not cease from
vice, he would keep on changing into some brutish
nature according as he acted in a way resembling the
expression in genesis of such a mode of vicious living." 3
For he says :
"With reference to this descent of souls into
irrational animals, it is usual for men to enquire how
it is meant.
" And some think that what are called brute-like lives
are certain resemblances of men to brutes, for that it is
not possible for the rational essence to become the soul
of a brute.
" Others allow that even this [human soul] may be
1 Who not only made the soul go into an animal nature but
into animal forms.
2 The last sentence of C. H., x. (xi.) being quoted textually by
Chalcidius.
3 Tim., 42 c.
436 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
immediately degraded to reason-less creatures, for that
all souls are of one and the same species, so that they
may become wolves and panthers and ichneumons.
" But the true reason (logos) asserts that though the
human soul may be degraded to brutes, it is [only] to
brutes which possess the life suited to such a purpose,
while the degraded soul is as it were vehicled on this
[life], and bound to it sympathetically.
" And this has been demonstrated by us at great
length in our lectures on the Phcedrus, and that this is
the only way in which such de-gradation can take place.
If, however, it is necessary to remind you that this
meaning (logos) is that of Plato, it must be added that
in the Republic1 he says that the soul of Thersites
assumed an ape [life], but not an ape's body, and in the
Phcedrus 2 that [the soul] descends into a brutish life,
and not into a brutish body, for the mode of life goes
with its appropriate soul. And in the passage [from
the Timceus] he says that it changes into a brute-like
nature ; for the brutish nature is not the body but the
life [principle] of the brute." 3
1 Lib. X. 620 c. 2 Phcedr., 249 B.
3 Comment, in Plat. Tim., 329 D ; ed. Schneider (Warsaw,
1847), pp. 800, 801. With all of this the views of Basilides
(F. F. F., 275 ff.) may be most instructively compared.
XIV
THE VISION OF EK
Chapter XIV: The Vision of Er
the envious and covetous, and those who murder do
and love impiety, I am far off, yielding my place to the
Avenging Daimon." — C. ff., i. 23.
ER SON OF ARMENIUS
To this Daimon it is that the " way of life " of the
man is surrendered at death (§ 24). In this connection
we may consider the Story or Vision of "Er Son of
Armenius," which Plato tells at the end of the last
book (X.) of his Republic (614B ff.), for the symbolism
is very similar to that of our tractate and the subject
is more or less the same.
This Er is said by Clement of Alexandria to have
been Zoroaster, "but no trace of acquaintance with
Zoroaster is found elsewhere in Plato's writings, and
there is no reason for giving him the name of Er the
Pamphylian. The philosophy of Heracleitus cannot
be shown to be borrowed from Zoroaster, and still less
the myths of Plato." *
What the source of the story is, scholarship has
so far been unable to discover; the vast majority of
scholars holding it to be an invention of Plato.
1 Jowett, Dialogues, iii. clxvi.
437
438 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
It is the story of a man "killed in battle," whose
body was brought home on the tenth day still fresh and
showing no sign of decomposition. On the twelfth
day, when laid on the funeral pyre, Er awakes and tells
a strange story of his experiences in the invisible world.
This story should be taken in close connection with
Plutarch's similar but fuller Vision of Aridaeus
(Thespesius), upon which I have commented at length
in my " Notes on the Eleusinian Mysteries." 1
FROM THE MYSTERIES
I there stated that the experiences of Aridseus were
either a literary subterfuge for describing part of the
instruction in certain Mysteries, or the Vision, in popular
story form, was considered so true a description of
what was thought to be the nature of the invisible
world and the after-death conditions of the soul, that
it required little alteration to make it useful for that
purpose.
I would now suggest that the Story of Er is also used
by Plato for a somewhat similar purpose. It is further
interesting to notice that one of the characters in the
Vision of Er is called Ardiaeus, while in Plutarch the
main personage is called Aridseus. The transposition of
a single letter is so slight as to make the names
practically identical, and the subject matter is so
similar that we are inclined to think that there must
be some connection between the Visions. Moreover,
Aridaeus is said to have been a native of Soli in Cilicia,
just as Er is said to have been a Pamphylian ; the
tradition of such stories would thus seem to have been
derived from Asia Minor, and the origin of them may
1 The Theosophical Review (April, May, June, 1898), xxii. 145 ft'.,
232 ff., 312 ff.
THE VISION OF ER 439
thus be hidden in the syncretism of that land — where
West and East were for ever meeting. It is, however,
much safer to assume that, in the Story of Er, Plato
is handing on the doctrines of Orphic eschatology ; l
whether or not the story already existed in some form,
and was worked up and elaborated by the greatest
artist in words of all philosophers, will perhaps never
be known. But to the story itself.
THE CYLINDER
614 c. — Er, in a certain daimonian or psychic plane
(TOTTO? rt? Satfjiovioi), is made a spectator of a turning-
point or change of course in the ascent and descent of
souls. He thus seems to have been in a space or state
midway between Tartarus and Heaven — presumably
the invisible side of the sublunary space.
The world-engine of Fate, or Karmic World-whorl,
is represented by seven spheres (surrounded by an
eighth) whose harmonious spinning is adjusted by the
three Fates, the Daughters of Necessity.
Jowett (loc. cit.) says that the heaven-sphere is
represented under the symbol of a " cylinder or box."
Where the " box " comes in I do not know ; the term
"cylinder" does not occur in the text, and even the
cylinder idea is exceedingly difficult to discover in any
precise sense. Indeed, it may be doubted whether the
" heaven-sphere " is to be so definitely interpreted ;
for then our discussion of the meaning of the term
" cylinder," which occurs definitely in our K. K. Frag-
ments, would be greatly simplified.
The matter is hard to understand, and Jowett's
1 And this I find to be the opinion of the last commentator on
the subject ; see Stewart (J. A.), The Myths of Plato (London,
1905), pp. 152 ff.
440 THRICE-ttREATEST HERMES
attempts at exposition are hazy and sketchy in the
extreme. Either Plato is talking nonsense, or Jowett
does not understand the elements of his idea. Stewart's
attempt, which makes use of the latest Platonic research,
is far more successful, but he also has to abandon many
points in despair.1 How difficult the solution of the
problem is may be seen from the text, which gives the
symbolism of the vision of the spheres somewhat as
follows :
THE VISION
616 B. — " Now when those in the meadow 2 had tarried
seven days, on the eighth they were obliged to proceed
on their journey upwards, and, on the fourth day after,3
he [Er] said they came to a region where they saw light
extended straight as a column from above through-
out the whole extent of heaven and earth, in colour
resembling the rainbow, only brighter and purer.
"Another day's journey brought them to it, and
there they saw the extremities of the boundaries of the
heaven extended in the midst of the light ; for this
light was the final boundary of the heaven — somewhat
like the under-girdings of ships — and thus confined its
whole revolution.
"From these extremities depended the spindle of
Necessity, by means of which all its revolutions are
made to revolve. The spindle's stalk 4 and its hook are
made of adamant,5 and the whorl of a mixture of
adamant and other kinds [of elements].
1 So also Dreyer (J. L. E.), History of the Planetary Systems
from Thales to Kepler (Cambridge, 1906), pp. 56 ff.
2 The daimonian region.
3 That is the eleventh day ; Er, it will be remembered, was
" unconscious " for twelve days.
4 Or shaft.
6 That which cannot be destroyed or changed.
THE VISION OF ER 441
"And the nature of the whorl is as follows. In
shape it was like that of the one down here ; but in
itself we must understand from his description that it was
somewhat as though in one great hollow whorl clean
scooped out there lay another similar but smaller one
fitted into it, as though they were jars x fitting into one
another. And so he said there was a third and a
fourth, and [also] four others. For in all there are
eight whorls set in one another — looking like circles
from above as to their rims,2 [but from below] finished
off into the continuous belly3 of one whorl round the
shaft, which is driven right through the eighth whorL
" The first and outermost whorl had the circle of its
rim first in width ; that of the sixth was second ; that
of the fourth, third ; that of the eighth, fourth ; that
of the seventh, fifth ; that of the fifth, sixth ; that of
the third, seventh ; that of the second, eighth.
617. — " And the circle of the largest was variegated ;
that of the seventh brightest ; that of the eighth had
its colour from the seventh shining on it ; those of the
second and of the fifth had [colours] somewhat like one
another, but yellower than the preceding; the third
had the whitest colour ; the fourth was reddish ; the
sixth was second in whiteness.4
1 The shape would thus approximate to an oblate spheroid.
3 To carry out the metaphor of the jars. 3 Lit., " back."
4 The names of the spheres may be deduced from Tim. 38, and
are as follows : 1. Fixed Stars (all-coloured) ; 2. Saturn (yellow) ;
3. Jupiter (whitish) ; 4. Mars (reddish) ; 5. Mercury (yellowish) ;
6. Venus (white) ; 7. Sun (light-colour) ; 8. Moon (light-colour
reflected). How the above statements as to " width of rim " and
colours are to be made to work in with the scheme of rates of
motions and numbers given in Tim. 36, I have not as yet been
able to discover from any commentator. And seeing that Er is
said to have seen this mystery from a region that transcended
even the daimonian region, it is perhaps out of place to insist on
a purely physical interpretation of the data.
442 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
"Now the spindle as a whole circled round at the
same rate in its revolution ; and within this revolution
as a whole the seven circles revolved slowly in a
contrary direction to the one as a whole ; of these the
eighth went the fastest of them ; the seventh, sixth,
and fifth came second [in speed, and at the same rate]
with one another ; the fourth, in a reversed orbit, as it
appeared to them, was third in speed ; the third was
fourth and the second fifth.
" The spindle revolved on the knees of Necessity ;
and on its circles above, on each of them, was a Siren
whom they carried round with them, singing a single
sound or tone; and from all eight of them a single
harmony was produced.
"And there were three others seated at equal
distances round about, each upon a throne, — the
Daughters of Necessity, the Fates, clothed in white
robes, with garlands on their heads, Lachesis and Clotho
and Atropos ; and they sang to the tune of the Sirens'
harmony, — Lachesis sang things that have been, Clotho
things that are, and Atropos things that shall be.
"And Clotho from time to time with her right
hand gave an extra turn to the outer spin of the
spindle ; Atropos, with her left, in like fashion to the
inner ones ; while Lachesis in turn touched the one
with one hand and the other with the other.
"Now when they [Er and the souls] arrived, they
had to go immediately to Lachesis. Accordingly a
prophet [a proclaimer] first of all arranged them in
their proper order, and taking from the lap of Lachesis
both lots l and samples of lives, he ascended a kind of
raised place and said :
" ' The word (logos) of the Virgin Lachesis, Daughter
of Necessity ! Ye souls, ye things of a day, lo the
1 Or number-turns.
THE VISION OF ER 443
beginning of another period of mortal birth that brings
you death. It is not your daimon who will have you
assigned to him by lot, but ye who will choose your
daimon. He who obtains the first turn let him first
choose a life to which he will of necessity have to
hold. As for Virtue, Necessity has no control over
her, but every one will possess her more or less just as
he honours or dishonours her. The responsibility is
the chooser's; God is blameless.'
" Thus speaking he threw the lots to all of them, and
each picked up the one that fell beside him, except Er,
who was not permitted to do so. So every one who
picked up a lot knew what turn he had got.
618. — " After this he set on the ground before them
the samples of the lives, in far greater number than
those present. They were of every kind; not only
lives of every kind of animal, but also lives of every
kind of man. There were lives of autocratic power
[lit., tyrannies] among them, some continuing to the
end, some breaking off half-way and ending in poverty,
exile, and beggary. There were also lives of famous
men, some famed for their beauty of form and strength,
and victory in the games, others for their birth and the
virtues of their forebears ; others the reverse of famous,
and for similar reasons. So also with regard to the
lives of women.
" As to the rank of the soul, it was no longer in the
power [of the chooser], for the decree of Necessity is
that its choosing of another life conditions its change
of soul-rank. As for other things, riches and poverty
were mingled with each other, and these sometimes
with disease and sometimes with health, and sometimes
a mean between these."
Thereupon Plato breaks into a noble disquisition on
what is the best choice, and how a man should take
444 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
with him into the world an adamantine faith in truth
and right ; and then continues :
61 9 B. — "And this is precisely what the messenger
from that invisible world reported that the prophet
said:
" ' Even for him who comes last in turn, if he but choose
with his mind, and live consistently, there is in store a
life desirable and far from evil. So let neither him
who has the best choice be careless, nor him who comes
last despair.'
"And when he had thus spoken, the one who
had the first choice, Er said, immediately went and
chose the largest life of autocratic power, but through
folly and greediness he did not choose with sufficient
attention to all points, and failed to notice the fate
wrapped up with it, of ' dishes of his own children ' l and
other ills. But when he had examined it at leisure, he
began to beat his breast, and bemoan his choice, not
abiding by what the prophet had previously told him ;
for he did not lay the blame of these evils on himself,
but on ill-luck and daimones, and everything rather
than himself. And he was one of those who came
from heaven, who in his former life had lived in a
well-ordered state, and been virtuous from custom
and not from a love of wisdom.2
"In brief, it was by no means the minority of
those who involved themselves in such unfortunate
choices who came from heaven, seeing that such souls
were unexercised in the hardships of life. Many of
those who came from earth, as they had suffered hard-
ships themselves, and had seen others suffering them,
did not make their choice off-hand.
1 A literary embellishment from the Tragic Muse of Greece,
and the mythical recitals of Thyestian banquets.
2 tdti &vtv <pi\offo<pla.s.
THE VISION OF ER 445
"Consequently many of the souls, independently
of the fortune of their turn, changed good for evil, and
evil for good. For if a man should always, whenever
he conies into life on earth, live a sound philosophic
life, and the lot of his choice should not fall out to him
among the last, the chances are, according to this news
from the other world, that he will not only spend his
life happily here, but also that the path which he will
tread from here to there, and thence back again, will
not be below the earth l and difficult, but easy and of a
celestial nature.
620. — "Yes, the vision he had, Er said, was well
worth the seeing, showing how each class of souls chose
their lives.2 The vision was both a pitiful and laughable
as well as a wonderful thing to see. For the most part
they chose according to the experience of their former life.
For Er said that he saw the soul that had once been
that of Orpheus becoming the life of a swan for choice,3
through its hatred of womankind, because owing to the
death of Orpheus at the hands of women, it did not
wish to come into existence by conception in a woman.
He further saw the soul of Thamyras 4 choose the life of
a nightingale. On the contrary, he saw also a swan
change to the choice of a human life, and other musical
animals in like fashion.
"The soul that obtained the twentieth lot chose
1 The Tartarean spheres of the invisible world, popularly
believed to be below the earth ; that is, philosophically, more
material than earth-life.
2 The vision (fo'a) was therefore typical.
3 The birds are typical of souls living in the air — that is, in
aery bodies and not in physical ones ; or types of intelligence.
4 Or Thamyris, an ancient Thracian bard ; it is said that in his
conceit he imagined he could surpass the Muses in song, in con-
sequence of which he was deprived of his sight and the power of
singing.
446 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
the life of a lion; it was the soul of Ajax, son
of Telamon, to avoid being a man, because it still re-
membered the [unjust] decision about the arms. The
next soul was Agamemnon's ; and it too, out of hatred to
the human race on account of its sufferings, changed
into the life of an eagle.1 The soul of Atalanta
obtained its lot in the middle, and letting her eye fall
on the great honours paid an ' athlete,' was unable to
pass it by, and took it. The soul of Epeius,2 son of
Panopeus, he saw pass into the nature of a woman
skilful in the arts. And far away among the last he
saw the soul of the buffoon Thersites putting on an ' ape.'
"By a stroke of luck also he saw the soul of
Odysseus, which had obtained the last lot of all, come
to make its choice. From memory of its former labours
it had given itself a rest from love of renown, and for
a long time went about to find the life of a man in
private life with nothing to do with public affairs, and
with great difficulty found one lying in a corner and
thus passed over by all the rest ; on seeing it, it de-
clared that it would have done the same even if it had
had first turn, and been glad to do it.
" And Er said that of the rest of the brutes also in
like fashion some of them passed into men, and some
into one another, the unrighteous ones changing into
wild ones, and the righteous into tame ; in fact, there
were intermixings of every kind.
"When, then, all the souls had chosen their lives
according to the number of their turn, they went in
order to Lachesis ; and she sent along with them the
daimon each had chosen, as watcher over his life and
bringer to pass of the things he had chosen. And
1 Notice the "lion "and "eagle" are selected as types — they
being typical sun-animals, as we have already seen.
2 The fabled engineer of the Trojan Horse.
THE VISION OF ER 447
the daimon first of all brought the soul to Clotho, set it
beneath her hand and the whirling of the spindle, thus
ratifying the fate each soul had chosen in its turn.
And after he had attached it to her, he brought it to
the spinning of Atropos, thus making its destinies1
irreversible.
621. — "Thence [Er] went, without turning, [down]
beneath the Throne2 of Necessity, and when he had
passed down through it, and the others had also done so,
they all passed on to the Plain of Forgetfulness (Lethe)
in a frightful and stifling heat ; for it was bare of trees
and vegetation of every kind.
" As it was now evening they camped by the River
Heedlessness whose water no vessel can hold.3 They
were all, however, compelled to drink a certain quantity
of its water ; those who are not safeguarded by prudence
drink more than their quantity, while he who keeps on
drinking it forgets everything.
"When they had fallen asleep and midnight had
come, there was thunder and earthquake, and thence
suddenly they were carried up into birth [genesis] some
one way some another, like shooting stars.
" Er, however, was prevented from drinking the water ;
but in what manner and by what means he got back
to his body he could not say, only, suddenly waking in
the morning, he found himself lying on the pyre."
1 ret tiriK\(ixr6fVTa. — a play on
2 This is probably a symbol of the heaven-plane.
3 o5 T)> S5o>p ayydov ovSh ffTfyttv. So this is usually translated ;
but as the souls drink of it, the appropriateness of the rendering
is not very apparent. On the other hand, artytiv is used of
things that are water-tight — e.g. houses and ships ; hence " whose
water no vessel can keep out." The " vessel " might thus stand
for the ship of the soul ; and if so, we are in contact with an
Egyptian idea. The River is in the Desert — the reverse of the
Nile and Egypt, of Osiris and Isis, their Typhonean counterparts.
448 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
COMMENTARY
The question that one naturally asks oneself is:
Did Plato conclude his great treatise on the Ideal State
with a popular legend in jest, or had he some deeper
purpose ? I cannot but think that he was jesting
seriously. Is it too wild a supposition that he is
hinting at things which he could not disclose because of
his oath ? Those who knew would understand ; those
who did not would think he was jesting simply, and so
the mysteries would not be disclosed.
In any case we have, I think, got a hint of the part
played by the Daimon in our treatise. Whether or not
Hermes " copied " the idea from Plato, or both derived
it from the same tradition, must be left to the fancy
and taste of individual scholars. The Daimon is the
watcher over the " way of life " (^#09) ; he is not
necessarily a Kakodaimon, but so to speak the Karmic
Agent of the soul, appointed to carry out the " choice "
of that soul, both good and ill, according to the Law of
Necessity.1 The choice is man's; Nature adjusts the
balance.
The Vision is of a typical nature, and the types are
mythologized in the persons of well-known characters
in Grecian story. The " way of life " the souls choose
becomes the garment of " habit " they are to wear, their
form of personality, or karmic limitation. Apparently
some souls, instead of choosing a reincarnation in a
human body, prefer to live the " lives " of certain animal
natures. Are we then to believe that Plato seriously
endorsed the popular ideas of metempsychosis ? Or is
it possible that he is referring to some state of existence
of souls, which was symbolized by certain animal types
1 For the more intimate teaching on this point, see G. #.,
x. (xi.) 16 ff.
THE VISION OF ER 449
in the Mysteries ; as was certainly the case with the
" lion " and " eagle," though the " swan " and " nightin-
gale" and "ape" are, as far as I am aware, never
mentioned in this connection? Can it be that Plato
here gives play to his imagination, basing his speculations
on some general idea he may have learned in Egypt ?
We know from the so-called " Diagram of the Ophites,"
which is still traceable in a fragmentary form in the
polemic of Origen against Celsus, that the "seven
spheres " of the lower psychic nature were characterised
by the names of animals : lion, bull, serpent, eagle, bear,
dog, ass. We also know how the whole subject of
animal correspondences preoccupied the attention of
the Egyptian priesthood. But not only can we now
make no reasonable scheme out of the fragmentary
indications that have come down to us, but we also
feel pretty well certain that if Plutarch's account of
the beliefs of the later Egyptians on the subject is
approximately reliable, the priests themselves of those
days had no longer any consistent scheme.
We may, therefore, conclude either that the whole
matter was a vain superstition entirely devoid of any
basis in reality ; or that there was a psychic science of
animal natures and their relationship to man which
was once the possession of the priesthood of the ancient
civilisation of Egypt, but that it was lost, owing to the
departure from amongst men of those who had the power
to understand it, and subsequently only fragments of
misunderstood tradition remained among the lesser folk
on earth. This at anyrate is the theory of our Tris-
megistic treatises.
VOL. i. 29
XV
CONCERNING THE CRATER OR CUP
Chapter XV: Concerning the Crater or Cup
down, joining a Herald [to it], to whom He gave
command to make this proclamation to the hearts of
men : Baptize thyself with this Cup's baptism," etc. —
C. H., iv. (v.) 4.
THE CRATER IN PLATO
Whence came this idea of a Crater or Cup into our
Trismegistic literature ? Most scholars will answer
unhesitatingly : From Plato. The Crater was the Cup
in which the Creator mixed the Elements of the World-
Soul ; for we read in Tiinceus (41 D), where Plato is
treating of the formation of human souls :
" Thus spake He, and once again into the Cup which
He had used in blending and mingling the Soul of the
Universe, He poured the remains of the Elements He
had employed, and mingled them in much the same
manner ; they were not, however, pure as before, but
in the second and third degree."
I am, however, not inclined to attribute the origin
of this symbolic expression simply to the imagery of
Plato's poetic mind, but am far more inclined to be-
lieve that Plato was using a familiar figure of " Orphic "
symbolism. The idea of not only an Ultimate Crater,
450
CONCERNING THE CRATER OR CUP 451
but of many subsidiary ones in the celestial and invisible
realms, is closely connected with the " Orphic " idea of
a Vortex.
IN "ORPHEUS," MACROBIUS, AND PROCLUS
Orpheus is said to have called the ./Ether the Mighty
Whirlpool.1 This forms the Egg or Womb of Cosmos ;
it is a modification of Chaos or Rhea, the Eternally-
flowing, the Mother of the Gods, the Great Container.
Thus Proclus, in speaking of Chaos, says :
" The last Infinity, by which also Matter (SXq) is
circumscribed, is the Container, the field and plane of
ideas. About her is ' neither limit, nor foundation, nor
seat, but excessive Darkness.' " 2
Plato, as we have seen, in his psychogony, speaks
openly of this Cup or Crater (Mixing Space, or Vortex)
in two aspects ; in it the Deity mixes the All-Soul of
universal nature from the purest Cosmic Elements, and
from it He also " ladles out " the souls of men, composed
of a less pure mixture of these Elements.
Further, Macrobius tells us that Plato elsewhere
indirectly refers to another aspect of this Cup.
" Plato speaks of this in the Phcedo, and says that
the soul is dragged back into body, hurried on by new
intoxication, desiring to taste a fresh draught of the
overflow of matter,3 whereby it is weighed down and
brought back [to earth]. The sidereal [astral] Crater of
Father Liber [Dionysus, Bacchus] is a symbol of this
mystery ; and this is what the Ancients called the
1 trt\<apiov xfop* (Simplicius, Ausc., iv. 123) ; magna vorago
(Syrianus, Metaph., ii. 33a). Of. Prolegg. ch. xi., " The Orphic
Tradition of the Genesis of the World-Egg."
2 Comment, in Tim., ii. 117. See my Orpheus, p. 154.
3 Gnostice, " the superfluity of naughtiness.'
452 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Eiver of Lethe, the Orphics saying that Father Liber
was Hylic Mind." x
We have here, therefore, a higher and lower Cup.
Proclus, moreover, speaks of several of such Craters,
when he writes :
" Plato in the Philebus hands on the tradition of the
Vulcanic Crater . . . and Orpheus is acquainted with
the Cup of Dionysus, and ranges many such Cups round
the Solar Table."2
Elsewhere, again, Proclus tells us that the Demiurge
is said "to constitute the psychical essences in con-
junction with the Crater " ; this " Crater is the peculiar
cause of souls, and is co-arranged with the Demiurgus
and filled from Him, but fills souls " ; thus it is called
the Fountain of Souls.3
If with these indications before us we might venture
to generalize, we might say that, according to Orpheo-
Pythagorean, Platonic, and Hermetic ideas, the " matter "
of every "plane" was thought of as proceeding from
such a Crater or Cup, from within without, and the
elements thereof as being refunded into such a Cup or
Centre or Eeceptacle — that is, from a more subtle,
simpler, and inner phase to a more gross, complex, and
outer phase, and vice versd. In other words, the Crater
is the "monadic" or "atomic" state of the matter of
any given phase or state of existence.
THE VISION OF ARHLEUS
With the above data before us, it will also be in-
structive to turn to the Vision of Aridseus (Thespesius)
1 Comment, in Som. Scip., XI. ii. 66.
2 Comment, in Tim., v. 316 (Taylor's trans.).
3 Taylor (T.), Theology of Plato, V. xxxi.
CONCERNING THE CRATER OR CUP 453
as related by Plutarch,1 a vision that may be com-
pared with profit with the Vision of Er as told
by Plato. Thespesius is being conducted through
Hades, or the Invisible World in contact with
earth-life, by a kinsman who has "passed over," as
Spiritists would say, and curiously enough he there
comes across a Chasm and a Crater — for part of the
story runs:
"After these explanations he was conducted by
his kinsman at great speed across an immense space,
as it seemed, nevertheless easily and directly as
though supported by wings of light-rays ; until having
arrived at a Vast Vortex (^acr/xa) extending down-
wards, he was abandoned by the power that sup-
ported him.
"He observed also that the same thing happened
to the rest of the souls there, for checking their
flight, like birds, and sinking down, they fluttered
round the Vortex in a circle, not daring to go straight
through it.
" Inside it seemed to be decked like Bacchic caves 2
with trees and verdure and every kind of foliage, while
out of it came a soft and gentle air, laden with
marvellous sweet scents, making a blend like wine for
topers, so that the souls feasting on the fragrance were
melted with delight in mutual embraces, while the
whole place was wrapt in revelry and laughter and the
spirit of sport and pleasure.3
" Thespesius' kinsman told him that this was the
Way by which Dionysus ascended to the Gods and
1 De Sera Numinis Vindicta, xxii. (ed. Bernardakis, iii. 454-
466).
2 Were the Bacchic Mysteries then celebrated in caves ?
3 This is clearly in correspondence with the " Astral Crater of
Father Liber " of Macrobius.
454 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
afterwards took up Semele ; l it was called the Place of
Lethe (Oblivion).2
" Wherefore he would not suffer Thespesius to stay
there, though he wished to do so, but forcibly dragged
him away, explaining how that the rational part of
the soul was melted and moistened 3 by pleasure, while
the irrational part, and that which is of a corporeal
nature, being then moistened and made fleshly, awakens
the memory of the body, and from this memory come
a yearning and a desire which drag down the soul into
1 His " mother," from the under- world ; referring to the
mysteries of generation and the indestructibility of life. Semele
in giving birth to Dionysus the Son of Zeus (the Creative Power),
is said to have been killed by the Power of her Lord, but she was
subsequently restored to life among the Gods by the Power of her
Son. In reincarnating, it is said that part of the soul in giving
birth to itself in this state " dies." The " child " then born may,
in his turn, in the case of one perfect, become the saviour of his
"mother," now become his spouse, and raise her, who is also
himself, to a higher state.
2 Compare Pistis Sophia (336, 337), which tells us how certain
karmic agencies " give unto the old soul [prior to reincarnation]
a Draught of Oblivion composed of the Seed of Iniquity, filled
with all manner of desire and all f orgetfulness. And the moment
that that soul drinketh of that Draught, it forgetteth all the
spaces [or regions] through which it hath travelled, and all the
chastisements through which it hath passed ; and that deadly
Draught of Oblivion becometh a body external to the soul, like
unto the soul in every way, and its perfect resemblance, and
hence they call it the 'counterfeit spirit."'
But in the case of the purified soul it is different ; for a higher
power " bringeth a Cup full of intuition and wisdom, and also
prudence, and giveth it to the soul, and casteth the soul into a
body which will not be able to fall asleep or forget, because of
the Cup of Prudence which hath been given unto it, but will be
ever pure in heart and seeking after the Mysteries of Light, until
it hath found them, by order of the Virgin of Light, in order
that [that soul] may inherit the Light for ever." (Ibid., 392,
" Books of the Saviour.")
3 Compare the " Moist Essence " of C. H., i. 4, and iii. (iv.) 1.
CONCERNING THE CRATER OR CUP 455
generation . . . the soul being weighed down with
moisture.
"Next Thespesius, after travelling another great
distance, seemed to be looking at a huge Cup,1 with
streams flowing into it ; one whiter than the foam of
the sea or snow, another like the purple which the
rainbow sends forth, while from a distance the
others were tinged with other colours, each having
its own shade.
" But when he came closer, the Cup itself (into which
they flowed) — the surroundings disappearing, and the
colours growing fainter — lost its varied colouring and
only retained a white brilliance."
Compare also the Hellenist writer in the Naassene
Document (§ 17 S.) : "The Greek theologi generally
call Him [the Logos] the " Heavenly Horn of Men,"
because he has mixed and mingled all things with all."
On this the Jewish Gnostic writer comments : " This
is the Drinking Vessel, — the Cup in which ' the King
drinketh and divineth.' "
It is, says the Hellenist commentator again, " the
Cup (of Anacreon) speaking forth speechlessly the
Ineffable Mystery."
The Jewish commentator was a contemporary of
Philo's, and the Hellenist was prior to him ; thus we
see that the Cup symbol was used in precisely the
same significance as in our text in at least the first
century B.C., and that the idea was referred to the
Greek theologers — in other words, the Orphics — and
not to Plato.
1 Kpar'fip — bowl or basin.
456 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
THE ORIGIN OF THE SYMBOL TO BE SOUGHT
IN ORPHIC TRADITION
With the above data before us, I think we may be
persuaded without difficulty that the idea of the Cup,
or Mixing-Bowl, did not owe its origin to any invention
of Plato's, but that the greatest of philosophers, when
he makes use of the symbol, does but employ a familiar
image well known to his audience — as, indeed, is very
apparent in the summary fashion in which he intro-
duces the figure. In other words, the symbol or
image was a commonplace of the Orphic tradition, and
doubtless, therefore, familiar to every Pythagorean.
Now, in our treatise it is noticeable that this Cup-
symbol is equated with the Monad1 or Oneness — a
technical Pythagorean term.
1 It is of interest to notice that one of the apocryphal Books of
Moses was called The Monad, and another The Key ; this argues
an early date and wide renown for our two treatises so entitled.
See R. 182, n. 3.
XVI
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST
HERMES
PTAII, SKKHKT AND I-EM-HETEP (ASCLEPIUS)
Chapter XVI: The Disciples of Thrice-Greatest Hermes
tells us that the Great Triad of Memphis consisted of
Ptah, Sekhet, and I-em-lietep.
Ptali, as we have seen, was the "Sculptor or
Engraver," the Demiurge par excellence. He is called
the "Very Great God who came into being in the
earliest time " ; " Father of fathers, Power of powers " ;
" Father of beginnings and Creator of the Egg[s] of the
Sun and Moon " ; " Lord of Maat [Truth], King of the
Two Lands, the God of the Beautiful Face . . . who
created His own Image, who fashioned His own Body,
who hath established Maat throughout the Two Lands" ;
" Ptalj the Disk of Heaven, Illuminer of the Two Lands
with the Fire of His Two Eyes." The " Workshop of
Ptalj " was the World Invisible.
It was Ptali who carried out the commands concern-
ing the creation of the universe issued by Thoth.
The Syzygy or female counterpart of Ptafr was
Sekhet, " who was at once his sister and wife, and the
mother of his son Nefer-Tem, and a sister-form of the
Goddess Bast" (op. cit., i. 514). She is called:
" Greatly Beloved One of Ptah, Lady of Heaven,
Mistress of the Two Lands " ; and one of her commonest
names is " Nesert," that is " Flame."
457
458 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
It was Thoth (Tekh) who, with his Seven Wise Ones,
planned the world (ib., 516). But if Ptah is the
executive power of Thoth and his Seven Wise Ones, so
is Thoth the personification of the Intelligence of Ptah.
It is in this way that Sekhet becomes identified with
Maat, the inseparable spouse of Thoth.
NEFER-TEM
The third member of the Memphite Triad is Nefer-
Tem, or the " Young Tern." In the Ritual (Ch. Ixxxi.,
version B) we read the " apology " : " Hail, thou Lotus,
thou type of the God Nefer-Tem ! I am he who
knoweth you, and I know your name among the Gods,
the Lords of the Underworld, and I am one of you."
Again, in Ch. clxxiv. 19, Nefer-Tem is compared with
" the Lotus at the nostrils of Ra " ; also, in Ch. clxxviii.
36, Nefer-Tem has the same title.
In the later texts Nefer-Tem is identified with
many Gods, all of them forms of Horus or Thoth
(ib., 522).
Here we are in contact with the Ptah-tradition of
Memphis which, we have seen, played an important
part in the heredity of the cosmogenesis of our
" Poemandres " tractate. In it the simultaneous identi-
fication and distinction of Thoth and Ptah and of Maat
and Sekhet are naturally explained, and the Son of
these Powers is the Young Tern, identified with the
Young Horus or Young Thoth who is to succeed his
Father. Are we here on the track of the ancestry of
our Tat ?
At Heliopolis (Amm) the Ancient God Tern was
equated with Ra. Tern was the Father-God, Lord of
Heaven, and Begetter of the Gods (op. cit., i. 92, 93).
Usertsen I. rebuilt the sanctuary of Heliopolis about
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 459
2433 B.C., and dedicated it to Ea in the two forms of
Horus and Temu (ib., 330).
"Tern was the first living Man-God known to the
Egyptians, just as Osiris was the first dead Man-God,
and as such was always represented in human form
and with a human head. . . .
" Tern was, in fact, to the Egyptians a manifestation
of God in human form. ... It is useless to attempt
to assign a date to the period when the Egyptians
began to worship God in human form, for we have no
material for so doing; the worship of Tern must,
however, be of very great antiquity, and the fact that
the priests of Ea in the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties united
him to their God under the name of Ea-Tem, proves
that his worship was wide-spread, and that the God
was thought to possess attributes similar to those of
Ka"(#., 349,350).
In the Trismegistic tradition in which Thoth holds
the chief place, the Young Tern would thus represent
the Young Thoth who succeeded to his Father when
that Father ascended to the Gods.
IMHOTEP-IMUTH-ASCLEPIUS
Moreover the Egyptian texts prove that besides
Nefer-Tem still another Son of Ptah was regarded as
the third member of the Memphitic Triad. This Son
was called I-em-hetep (or Imljotep), whom the Greeks
called Imouthes or Imuth, and equated him with their
Asclepius.
The name I-em-hetep means "He who cometh in
Peace," and is very appropriate to the God who brought
the knowledge of Healing to mankind ; but I-em-hetep,
though specially the God of medicine, was also the God
of study and learning in general.
460 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
"As a God of learning he partook of some of the
attributes of Thoth, and he was supposed to take the
place of this God in the performance of funeral cere-
monies, and in superintending the embalming of the
dead ; in later times he absorbed the duties of Thoth as
' Scribe of the Gods/ and the authorship of the words
of power which protected the dead from enemies of
every kind in the Underworld was ascribed to him "
(#., 522, 523).
In the " Kitual of Embalmment " l it is said to the
Deceased : " Thy soul uniteth itself to I-em-hetep
whilst thou art in the funeral valley."
The oldest shrine of the God was situated close to
Memphis, and was called the " Temple of I-em-hetep,
the Son of Ptah," which the Greeks called the
Asclepieion.
Under Ptolemy IV., Philopator (222-205 B.C.), a
temple was built to I-em-hetep on the Island of Philae,
and from the hieroglyphic inscriptions we learn that
the God was called : " Great One, Son of Ptah, the
Creative God, made by Thenen, begotten by him and
beloved by him, the God of divine forms in the temples,
who giveth life to all men, the Mighty One of wonders,
the Maker of times [?], who cometh unto him that
calleth upon him wheresoever he may be, who giveth
sons to the childless, the wisest and most learned one,
the image and likeness of Thoth the Wise." 2
Imhotep - Asclepius was thus the "image and
likeness of Thoth the Wise," even as Nefer-Tem was
1 See Maspero, op. dt., p. 80. Which of the numerous opp. citt.
of Maspero's this may be is not clear from Budge's reference.
2 Cf. Brugsch, Thesaurus, p. 783 ; Religion, p. 527. Sethe,
Imhotep, 1903 — so Budge ; but, more accurately, Sethe (K.),
Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und A Itertumskunde Agyptens, ii. 4
(" Imhotep, der Asklepios der Agypter ").
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 461
Young Thoth. Here we have precisely the distinction
drawn between Asclepius and Tat in our Trismegistic
literature ; Asclepius was trained in all philosophy, Tat
was young and as yet untrained.
" I-em-hetep," concludes Budge, " was the God who
sent sleep to those who were suffering and in pain, and
those who were afflicted with any kind of disease
formed his special charge ; he was the Good Physician
both of Gods and men, and he healed the bodies of
mortals during life, and superintended the arrangements
for the preservation of the same after death. . . . He was
certainly the God of physicians and of all those who
were occupied with the mingled science of medicine
and magic ; and when we remember that several of the
first Kings of the Early Empire are declared by
Manetho, whose statements have been supported by
the evidence of the papyri, to have written, i.e. caused
to be edited, works on medicine, it is clear that the
God of medicine was in Memphis as old as the archaic
period " (ib., 524).
So much for the more important information that
Budge has to offer us on the subject of Asclepius-Imuth
from the side of pure Egyptian tradition — if we can
use such a phrase of that tradition as strained through
the sieve of almost purely physical interpretation.1
THATH-TAT
And now let us turn to Eeitzenstein and his instruc-
tive Dissertation, " Hermes u. Schiller" (pp. 117 ff.).
1 For Asclepius among the Greeks, see Thraemer's article
"Asklepios" in Reseller's Lex. d. . . . Myihologie (Leipzig, 1884-
1900), i. 615-641 ; also the " Cornell Studies in Classical Philo-
sophy," No. III., The Cult of Asklepios, by Alice Walton, Ph.D.
(Ithaca, N.Y., U.S.A., 1894).
462 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Unquestionably the most general form of sermon
found in the remains of our Trismegistic literature is
that of instruction to Tat the " Son " of Hermes, who is
"Father" and Initiator. Of these instructions two
Corpora existed, namely, " The General Sermons " and
" The Expository Sermons."
The name Tat is, of course, a variant of Thoth (Tehut) ;
but whereas Hermes himself is always in such sermons
characterised as Thrice - greatest, Tat has not yet
reached to this grade of mastership ; he is still " Young."
The name " Tat " occurs in one of the prayers in the
Magic Papyri, part of which is undecipherable, and
can only be translated by following the conjecture of
Eeitzenstein (p. 117, n. 6).
" Show thyself unto me in thy prophetic power 0 God
of mighty mind, Thrice-great Hermes ! Let him who
rules the four regions of the Heavens and the four
foundations of the Earth appear. Be present unto me
0 thou in Heaven, be present unto me thou from the
Egg. . . . Speak, the Two Gods also are round thee, —
the one God is called Thath and the other Haf." *
Spiegelberg equates Haf with Hpj, the " Genius of
the Dead " who appears coupled with Thoth in a Coptic
Magic Papyrus of the second century A.D.,2 where Isis
speaks of " my father Ape-Thoth." This thus seems to
identify Haf with Anubis — that is, Harmanup or Horus
as Anubis. And Anubis, as Hermes-Tat, was considered
in Egyptian tradition to be a composer of sacred
scripture.3
1 Wessely, Denkschr. d. K. K. Akad. (1893), p. 38, 11. 550 ff. ;
Kenyon, Cat. of Ok. Pap., p. 102.
2 Griffith, in Zeitschr.f. ag. Sprache (1900), p. 90.
3 According to Manetho ; see Miiller, Manetho Fragm., 4.
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 463
THE INCARNATIONS OF THOTH
The prayer just cited appears to put us into contact
with the atmosphere of some inner mysteries of
spiritual instruction. The God or Spiritual Master
contains in himself his disciple, or a duad or triad
of disciples; the relationship of Master and disciple
is of the most intimate nature ; not only is it of that
of father to son, but of mother to child — for the
disciple is born in the womb of the Master Presence.
The disciple is as it were his lea.
Thus for the Egyptians, as Sethe and others have
pointed out, the wise priest, that is a priest truly
initiated into the Wisdom, was regarded as an incarna-
tion of Thoth, and such an one after the death of his
body was worshipped as Thoth.
And so we find at Medinet Habu the remains of a
shrine, erected in the time of Ptolemy IX. (Euergetes
II.)— 146-117 BC. — to a certain High Priest of
Memphis, Teos, who is called " Teos the Ibis," l that is
Thoth, and so identified with Thoth himself.
What we learn from the general tradition of this
belief in the " incarnation " of Thoth into the perfected
disciple of Wisdom, and the ascription of sacred
literature to similar though n^t identical God-names to
that of Thoth himself, is that there was on the one
1 Teephibis. Cf. Catal. Cod. Astral. Grcec., i. 167 : " Hermes
Phibi the Thrice-greatest." Sethe (op. sup. cit.) would equate this
Teephibis with Hermes of Thebes, in connection with the state-
ment of Clement of Alexandria (Strom., I. xxi. 134) : " Of those,
too, who once lived as men among the Egyptians, but who have
been made Gods by human opinion, are Hermes of Thebes and
Asclepius of Memphis." If this is correct, we have our Tris-
megistus nourishing as Teephibis at the end of the second
century B.C. But there seems to my mind to be nothing definite
in Sethe's contention.
464 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
hand a firm belief in the unity of the Thoth-tradition,
and on the other a necessary division of the sacred
literature into older and later periods. The Thoth of the
older period was regarded as a God, the Thoth of more
recent times as a God-man.1 And so we find Plato
in the famous passage of the Philebus, 18 B, uncertain
whether to speak of Thoth as God or man.
THE DISCIPLES OF LORD HERMES IN PETOSIRIS AND
NECHEPSO
In the known oldest references to the Thoth-Hermes
literature, there has so far not been discovered any-
thing that suggests the existence of a distinction
between Hermes [Thoth] and Tat [Thoth]; but the
absence of references proves little. Already, however,
Nechepso and Petosiris, in the second century B.C.,
make Hermes the teacher of the younger God-disciples
Anubis and Asclepius; in which connection it is of
interest to note the following passage from a horoscope
for the first year of the Emperor Antoninus Pius,2 set up
by the priests of Hermes at Thebes — the Greek of which
is very faulty and evidently written by " Barbari " :
" After enquiry based on many books, handed down
to us by the wise Ancients, the Chaldseans, — both
Petosiris,and especially King Necheus [sic; i.e. Nechepso],
in as much as they also took counsel of our Lord
Hermes and of Asclepius, that is of Imouthes, son of
Hephestus. . . . " 3
1 There is also an older and younger Isis in the K. K. extracts,
and also in both these and in P. S. A. an older and younger
Asclepius.
2 R. (p. 119) has " des Kaisers Antonius" ; hut I know of no
Emperor so called. The first years of Antoninus Pius would be
138-139 A.D.
3 Pap. du Louvre, 19 bis, Notices et Extraits, xviii. 2, 136.
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 465
From this we learn that in the second century A.D.
the writings of Petosiris and Nechepso, together with
the " Chaldaean Books," still formed part of the Temple
Library at Thebes ; moreover, that Petosiris and
Nechepso, in the second century B.C., based themselves
on these Books as well as on Books ascribed to both
Hermes and Asclepius. Moreover, from the Fragments
of Nechepso l we learn that he had before him a
sermon of Asclepius called Moirogenesis, concerning the
Genesis of Fate, and also Dialogues in which Hermes
instructs Asclepius and Anubis concerning the mysteries
of astrology. These Trismegistic works must thus be
dated prior to the beginning of the second century B.C.
Sethe, in his essay on Asclepius - Imhotep, has en-
deavoured to show that this Imuth was originally a
man, and that divine honours were first paid to him in
the reign of Amasis (Amosis — Aah-mes), about 1700 B.C.
TOSOTHRUS- ASCLEPIUS
Manetho, however, tells us another story, when he
writes of a certain king of the Third Dynasty (B.C.
3700) : " Toso[r]thrus reigned twenty-nine years. He
is called Asclepius by the Egyptians, for his medical
knowledge. He built a house of hewn stones, and
greatly patronised literature." 2
Tosothrus is Tcheser or Tcheser-sa (Doser), the
second king of the Third Dynasty from Memphis.
The " house of hewn stones " which he built, received
remarkable confirmation from the excavations which
were carried out by the Prussian General Minutoli
in 181 9,3 in the Step-Pyramid of Sakkara. This temple,
1 Riess, Fr. 25.
2 Cory, An. Frags., p. 100. Budge, A History of Egypt
(London, 1902), i. 218.
3 Reise zum Tempel des Jupiter Ammon, pp. 296 ff.
VOL. I. 30
466 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
says Budge (op. cit., i. 219) " is certainly the oldest of all
the large buildings which have successfully resisted the
action of wind and weather, and destruction by the
hand of man."
In the Inscription of the Seven Famine Years,1
moreover, belonging in its present form to the later
Ptolemaic period, but a copy of a far more ancient
record, we read, in Sethe's restored Greek text :
"Tosothrus, in whose days (lived) Imouthes. He
was considered by the Egyptians to be Asclepius
because of his knowledge of the healing art ; he dis-
covered the art of building with hewn stones, and,
moreover, occupied himself with literature."
We thus learn that long before Manetho's time there
was an Asclepian literature, and not only did this deal
with medicine but also with scripture in general and
with " masonry."
IMUTH- ASCLEPIUS THE MASTER MASON AND POET
That Asclepius was specially occupied with the
sacred building-art, may be seen from Sethe's study,
whose industry has discovered a book on Temple-build-
ing ascribed to Imuth, a " Book that came from Heaven
northwards from Memphis." It was according to this
Book that Ptolemy X. (Soter II.) and Ptolemy XI.
(Alexander I.) enlarged the building of their ancestors
at Edfu, " in agreement with the writing concerning
the plans of the Temple of Horus, which the chief
prelector of the priests, Imhotp, the son of Ptah, had
written."
There were also certain very ancient Sermons (or
Songs) of Imhotp, and a saying from one of these
1 A rock inscription found on the cataract island Sehel. R.,
p. 129.
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 467
Sermons, the " Song from the House of King Intf ," is
given by Sethe as follows :
" I have heard the words of Imhotp and Hardadaf ;
they are still much spoken of, but where are their
abodes ? "
Perhaps this explains the statement in S. H. I. (Stob.,
EC,, i. 49 ; W. p. 467, 4) that Asclepius-Imuth was the
inventor of poetry. Imuth was to the Egyptians what
Orpheus, Linus or Musaeus was to the Greeks.
And so Reitzenstein (p. 121) concludes that the
tradition of the old Egyptian and Hellenistic literature
is unbroken. In Hellenistic times this view of the
Divine Son of Ptah of Memphis and of his chief Shrine
at Memphis spread widely, and his cult was extended
to Thebes and even to Philae. At Thebes he appears
united with the Theban Thoth and his younger likeness
or image Amenhotep-— the twin-brother of Imhotep
(Asclepius) — Son of Hapu, who is said to have lived
as a man under King Amenophis III. (Amen-hetep),
1450 B.C., and who tells us himself how he became
acquainted with the " Book of God " and saw in vision
the " Pre-eminence of Thoth." l
The chief Temple of Asclepius at Memphis was still
honoured in later times, and even in the days of Jerome
its priesthood was renowned for its occult wisdom.2
.AESCULAPIUS THE HEALER
Of the Cult of ^Esculapius in Greece and of the wide-
spread influence of this ideal there is little need to remind
the student of the comparative history of religions ; we
cannot, however, refrain from appending a paragraph
1 R., p. 124. Cf. Sethe, JEgyptiaca, Festschrift fur G. Ebers,
pp. 106 ff.
2 Ammian. Marc., xxii. 14. 7 ; Vit, Hil, 21.
468 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
from a remarkable address recently delivered by the
Eev. J. Estlin Carpenter to the students of Manchester
College, Oxford,1 in which he says :
" Pass beyond the limits of Israel and its hopes, and
you enter a world of religious phenomena, so varied as
to be practically inexhaustible, and all the patient
labour of the last thirty years has only begun to exhibit
to us its contents. At every turn you are confronted
with beliefs resembling those which pervade our New
Testament, so that Prof. Cheyne has recently attempted
in a very remarkable little volume, Bible Problems, to
trace archseologically the roots of four great doctrines
associated with the person of Jesus — the Virgin Birth,
the Descent into Hades, the Eesurrection, and the
Ascension. The inscriptions reveal to you the very
language of Christianity in the making. The hymns
and liturgies of other faiths derive their strength from
similar ideas, and express similar aspirations. Does
Jesus, according to the Gospels, give sight to the blind,
and call the dead back to life ? So does ^Esculapius.
He, too, is wondrously born; he, too, is in danger in
his infancy. He, too, heals the sick and raises the dead,
till Zeus, jealous of this infringement of his preroga-
tives, smites him with his thunderbolt, and translates
him to the world above. But from his heavenly seat
he continues to exercise his healing power. His worship
spreads all through Greece. After a great plague in
Eome, in 291 B.C., it is planted on a sacred island in the
Tiber. In the first century of our era you may follow
it all round the Eastern Mediterranean. In Greece
alone Pausanias mentions sixty-three Asklepieia. There
were others in Asia Minor, Egypt, Sicily ; nearly two
hundred being still traceable. They were both sanc-
1 "Christianity in the Light of Historical Science," in The
Examiner (London), Oct. 21, 1905, pp. 668 ff.
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE- GREATEST HERMES 469
tuaries and medical schools. A number of inscriptions
relate details of cures, or consecrate the ex-votos, which
are still dedicated at Loretto or Lourdes. The temple
by the Tiber won special fame in the reign of Anto-
ninus Pius, for the restoration of the sight of a blind
man. ^sculapius himself bears the titles 'king' and
060? crwrrip, ' divine saviour.' He was even a-arrrjp TWV
o\<av, 'saviour of the universe.' In his cosmic signi-
ficance he was thus identified- with Zeus himself, and
on earth he was felt to be ' most loving to man ' (cp. Tit.
iii. 4). Harnack, in one of the fascinating chapters of
his Expansion of Christianity, has traced the action of
these influences on later Christianity conceived as a
religion of healing or salvation, medicine alike of body
and of mind. It must be enough now to remind you
that the god was believed to reveal himself to those
who sought his aid, and Origen affirms that a great
multitude, both of Greeks and barbarians, acknowledge
that they ' have frequently seen, and still see, no mere
phantom, but ^Esculapius himself, healing and doing
good, and foretelling the future/ "
But to pass on to the Trismegistic Asclepius.
ASCLEPIUS IN TRISMEGISTIC TRADITION
Asclepius comes forward in our literature as the type
of a disciple of Trismegistus already trained in philo-
sophy. This prior training must presumably be referred
to the Ptah-tradition — Ptah being himself a God of
Kevelation, that is of teaching by means of apocalypsis,
and Asclepius being originally his " son " and " priest."
But not only was Ptah a God of apocalypsis generally,
but also a God of medicine, as he must needs have been
for his son to have learned his wisdom from him.
470 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
This view is brought out in a Hellenistic text which
reads as follows :
" A Eemedy from the shrines of Hephaestus [Ptah] at
Memphis interpreted by the decision and owing to the
philanthropy, they say, of Thrice-greatest Hermes ; for
he decided that it should be published with a view to
man's saving. It was found on a golden tablet written
in Egyptian characters." l
The tradition of the date when Asclepius was admitted
to the Trismegistic discipline is given in K. K., 3
(Stob., Ec.t i. 49 ; W. p. 387, 1). After the ascension
of Hermes, we are told:
" To him succeeded Tat, who was at once his son and
heir unto these knowledges; and not long afterwards
Asclepius-Imuth, according to the will of Ptah who
is Hephaestus."
What precise historical worth this tradition may
contain, it is impossible to say ; all we can suppose is
that there was at some early date a union of two
schools of mystic discipline belonging respectively to
the Thebaic and Memphitic traditions. This union
may have been somewhat analogous to that of the
disciples of John the Baptist and of Jesus. What is
clear, however, from our Trismegistic writings, is that
there is no doubt whatever in the writer's mind that
the Trismegistic tradition is in possession of the higher
wisdom ; and, indeed, G. IT., xiii. (xiv.) distinctly
allows us to conclude that though. Tat was younger, in
so far as he had not the technical training of the
Asclepius-grade, it is nevertheless Tat, when he reaches
"manhood," and not Asclepius, who succeeds to the
mastership of the School.
Nevertheless we find a number of Trismegistic
writings, presupposed especially in " The Definitions of
1 Cod. Antinori 101, fol. 361.
THE DISCIPLES OP THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 471
Asclepius " and in " The Perfect Sermon," in which both
Tat and Asclepius share in a common instruction —
Asclepius appearing as the older and riper scholar.
This makes Eeitzenstein (p. 122) suppose that this
type of what we may call a company of two disciples
was invented by the Hermes priests at Thebes, and that
it was later on taken over by the Memphitic Ptah-
Asclepius priests and developed in their own interest.
This may be so if we must be compelled to speculate
on the dim shades of history which may be recovered
from these obscure indications.
CONCERNING AMMON
Of the Trismegistic writings of Asclepius, Lactantius
(D. I., ii. 15, 7) mentions a " Perfect Sermon " to the
King (Ammon),1 and also refers to a rich ancient
literature by Asclepius addressed to the same king.
Reitzenstein (p. 123), moreover, says that C. IT.,
(xvii.) presupposes writings addressed to the same
King Ammon by Tat ; but I gather that the persons
of the dialogue are really Asclepius and the King, and
not Tat, and that Tat has been substituted for
Asclepius by some copyist in error.
However this may be, there was a large literature
addressed by Hermes himself to Ammon, as we may
see from the distinct statement in P. S. A.t i. 2, and also
from Stobseus, Exx. xil-xix. The same tradition is
preserved in the presumably later Hermetic treatise,
latromathematica, which is also addressed to Ammon.2
1 Probably our 0. H. (xvi.).
2 Camerarius, Astrologica (Nurnberg, 1537) ; Hermetis latro-
tnath., ed. Hoeschel (1597) ; Ideler, Physici et Medici Grceci Minores,
i. 387 and 430. latromathematici were those who practised
medicine in conjunction with astrology, as was done in Egypt
(Procl., Paraph. Ptol., p. 24).
472 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
PROPHET AND KING
Here, then, we have another type of literature, and
that, too, very ancient, in which the wise Priest and
Prophet is set over against the King as teacher or
discoverer of hidden wisdom. This we have already
seen to have been the relationship between the Priest
and Prophet Petosiris and King Nechepso. But the
type goes still further back to pre-Greek times in
Egypt. It was, as we have learned from Plutarch, who
probably hands on the information direct from Manetho,
a necessity that the King, to be a true King, should be
initiated into the wisdom of the Priests.
As we have already seen, Imuth-Asclepius appears
in Manetho as an inventor, so also in the charming
story put into the mouth of Socrates by Plato in his
Phcedrus (274 c) about "the famous old God whose
name was Theuth," — Thoth is the inventories excellence.
In this story — which elicits the remark from Phsedrus :
" Yes, Socrates, you can easily invent tales of Egypt,
or of any other country " — Thoth takes his inventions
•to a certain King Thamus for his approval or dis-
approval, as to whether or no the Egyptians might
be allowed the benefit of them. This Thamus was
" King of the whole country of Egypt, and dwelt in
that great city of upper Egypt which the Hellenes call
Egyptian Thebes, and the God Himself is called by
them Ammon."
In Hecatseus, also, Osiris, King of Thebes, has all
inventions laid before him, and gives special honour to
Hermes whose inventions were far and wide renowned.1
In this connection it is to be noted that in the
Theban Thoth-cult, Thoth was regarded as the Repre-
1 Diodor., I. 15, 16.
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 473
sentative of the King and Light-God Ra (or Ammon).
And so we read on the tomb of Seti I. :
" Thou art in my place, my representative. Wherefore
are thou moreover called Thoth, Representative of the
Light-God Ra."1
From these and other indications it is quite possible
to conclude that Plato has used an ancient Egyptian
logos as the basis of his story, and that this logos at a
very early period found an echo in written instructions
given by Thoth to the King.
All this took place on purely Egyptian ground, and
hence the type of instruction from Thoth-Hermes to
Ammon was fairly established in tradition before it was
taken over by our Hellenistic Trismegistic writers.
AMENHOTKP-ASCLEPIUS
So far, however, I believe, no reference to books
written by Imhotep (Asclepius) to Ammon in the
pre-Greek period has been discovered. Sethe,2 how-
ever, tells us that a certain Amenhotep who lived as
early as the fifteenth century B.C., was a disciple and seer
of Thoth. This Amenhotep was famous as a teacher
of wisdom and discoverer of magic books; he was
probably also renowned for his own writings as well.
Gradually this Amenhotep became blended with
Imhotep- Asclepius as his twin-brother, and finally in
Ptolemaic times received divine honours at Thebes.
Here, then, we have the blending in of another tradition,
of a writer of books who was a disciple of Thoth, and
was gradually confounded with Asclepius-Imuth, son of
Ptah. And that there were two Asclepiuses, an older
and a later, we are told distinctly by P. S. A., xxxvii. 3.
1 Brugsch, Religion u. Myth. d. alt. Ag., p. 451.
2 Op. sup. cit., ibid.
474 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
Of the Sayings of this Asclepius a Greek porcelain l
gives us some idea. The first three Sayings, however,
are simply taken from the Sayings of the Seven Sages
of Greece ; the rest may be partially Egyptian. This
scrap of evidence, however, is of importance ; for already
in the third century B.C., Orphic Sayings are known to
have been worked up with Egyptian material, and here
we have Greek gnomic material blended with an
Egyptian Imuth-tradition of Sayings.
Perhaps still more careful research may reward us
with further side-lights on the development of this
Asclepius-literature prior to the Greek period, and in
its earliest Hellenistic forms. As it is, we are left with
the impression that the traces which have been already
discovered, justify the remarks made by the writer of
our Trismegistic "Definitions of Asclepius unto the
King " or " The Perfect Sermon of Asclepius unto the
King" — C. H., (xvi.) — as based upon a well-established
tradition in the School, concerning the change brought
about by putting the Egyptian forms of the Asclepian
writings, which were of a very mystical nature, into
the more precise forms of the Greek tongue.
THE SACRED GROUP OF FOUR
What, however, is clear in " The Perfect Sermon " of
Hermes himself, where he gives instruction to his three
disciples, Asclepius, Tat and Ammon, assembled in the
"holy place," is that the history of the matter is of
small moment to the writer of that Sermon. He is
dealing with the inner and more intimate side of the
teaching. Asclepius, Tat and Ammon are for him the
sacred triad, forming with the Master himself the
" sacred group of four " (P. S. A., i. 2).
1 Published by Wilcken in the " Festschrift fiir Ebers," pp. 142 ff.
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE- GEE ATEST HERMES 475
With this we may very well compare the group of
three made so familiar to us by the Evangelists — the
three who were always with the Master in the most
intimate moments of His inner life and exaltation —
James, John and Peter.
Now, if the reader will refer to my notes on the last
paragraph of Hippolytus' Introduction to the Naassene
document, he will see that Clement of Alexandria
expressly asserts that:
" The Lord imparted the Gnosis to James the Just, to
John and Peter, after His Kesurrection ; these delivered
it to the rest of the Apostles, and they to the Seventy."
JAMES, JOHN AND PETER
Here I would suggest that we have a similarity of
conception. Asclepius is the main subsequent teacher,
even as James is, in Christian tradition ; Peter is the
organiser, to whom the rulership over the Church is
given — he represents the king-power, and may be equated
with Ammon ; while John is the Beloved even as is Tat.
John understands the spirit of the teaching best of all ;
James is more learned on the formal side ; while Peter
is the organiser, and in many an apocryphal story is made
to display lack of control and want of understanding.
A most interesting scrap of Johannine tradition will
throw some further light on the fact that John
succeeded to the spiritual directorship, even as Tat, in
our sermons, succeeds to Trismegistus.
This scrap is an addition to John xvii 26, from a
Codex of the Fourth Gospel, preserved in the Archives
of the Templars of St John of Jerusalem in Paris : x
1 Given by Thilo, Godex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti (Leipzig,
1832), p. 880. Of. Pick (B.), The Extra-Canonical Life of Christ
(New York, 1903), p. 279.
476 THRICE-GREATEST HERMES
" Ye have heard what I said unto you : I am not of
this world, the Comforter is among you, teach through
the Comforter. As the Father has sent Me, even so
send I you. Amen, I say unto you, I am not of this
world ; but John shall be your father, till he shall go
with Me into Paradise. And He anointed them with
the Holy Spirit."
So also in an addition to John xix. 26-30, we read :
" He saith to His mother, Weep not ; I go to My
Father and to Eternal Life. Behold thy son! He
will keep My place. Then saith He to the disciple,
Behold thy mother ! Then bowing His head He gave
up the Ghost."
Here then at the Supreme Crisis the Master con-
stitutes John the spiritual Father of the School in His
place. So is it with Tat.
THE TRIAD OF DISCIPLES
The idea of triads and other groups (e.g. of five and
seven) united in the Presence of a Master, is familiar to
the student of Druidical mysticism. In our " Perfect
Sermon" we have such a triad, each disciple dis-
tinguished by strongly-marked characteristics ; the
tuning of these into one harmony, so that, to use
another and a familiar simile, the disciples may be as
the fingers of one hand, for the Master's use, is a matter
of enormous difficulty. One is characterised by Power,
another by Knowledge, and another by Love. All
three must sink their individually strongest character-
istic in a supreme sacrifice, where all blend together
into the Wisdom of the Master. This seems to me to
be the inner purport of our " Perfect Sermon," and
whatever may be the history of the evolution of the
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST-HERMES 477
forms of the literature, the eternal fact of the nature of
the intimate teaching of the Christ to the Three was
known to our writer.
CHNUM THE GOOD DAIMON
Let us now turn to the type of Trismegistic literature
in which Osiris and Isis came forward as disciples ; and
first of all let us take a glance at the God Chnum,
Chnubis, or Chnuphis (Knuphis), whose name occurs in
so many of the Abraxas and Abraxoid gems.
Chnum was for Southern Egypt precisely what Ptah
of Memphis was for Northern Egypt. He was the
Fashioner of men, even as a potter makes pots on a
wheel. Chnum was Demiurge and God of the heart.
The chief centre of his cult was at Syene and the Island
of Elephantine. Here he was regarded as the Father
of Osiris. And so we hear of astrological dialogues
between Chnum and Osiris, as, for instance, when we
are told :
"And all that Kouphis, who is with them [the
Egyptians], the Good Daimon, handed on, and his
disciple Osiris philosophized." l
These writings were grouped with those of Nechepso,
and also with our Trismegistic writings. Compare the
passage in Firmicus Maternus which runs :
" All things which Mercurius (Hermes) and Chnubis
[?] handed on to ^Esculapius (Asclepius), which Petosiris
discovered and Nechepso." 2
1 Cramer, Anecd. Ox., iii. 171, 20.
2 Fir. Mat., iv. procem. 5 (Skutsch and Kroll, p. 196, 21).
' The " and Chnubis " is the emendation of B. for the unintelligible
letters " einhnusuix."
478 THRICE-GREATEST-HERMES
OSIKIS DISCIPLE OF AGATHODAIMON THE
THRICE-GREATEST
The Patristic references to our Trismegistic literature
further imform us that Osiris was regarded as the dis-
ciple of Agathodaimon, who in them bears the name of
Thrice-greatest.1 There is, however, nothing to show
that Hermes himself appears in them as the disciple of
Chnubis, as Eeitzenstein says (p. 126). The intro-
ductory phrase of Lactantius to Frag. xix. runs : " But
I [L.] will call to mind the words of Hermes the Thrice-
greatest ; in the ' To Asclepius ' he says : ' Osiris said :
How, then, 0 thou Thrice-greatest, [thou] Good Daimon,
did Earth in its entirety appear ? ' "
Here we have a sermon of Hermes quoting from a
tradition in which Osiris appears as the disciple of
Agathodaimon, who is also called Trismegistus ; that is,
the Agathodaimou-Osiris Dialogue type was old, and
presumably pertained to one of the earliest forms of the
Trismegistic literature, probably contemporary with the
most ancient Pcemandres type. This type seems to have
borne impressions of the form of the " Books of the
Chaldaeans " type of cosmogenesis, which we have seen
to have strongly influenced Petosiris and Nechepso in
the early second century B.C.
Agathodaimon is to Osiris as Poemandres to Hermes.
LOGOS-MlND THE GOOD DAIMON
So also in the early Alchemical literature there is a
treatise of Agathodaimon addressed to Osiris, and in
it others are presupposed.2 These Alchemical teachings
of the Good Daimon are frequently in close contact with
1 Gf. Lactantius Fragg., xiv., xix., xxi., xxii.
2 Berthelot, Les Akhimistes grecs, Texte, p. 268.
THE DISCIPLES OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 479
our Trismegistic doctrines ; moreover, in the same litera-
ture, Hermes refers to Agathodaimon and appears to
regard himself as his disciple.1 It thus may be sup-
posed that it was from Chnum that was originally
derived the tradition of the Agathodaimonites. So
thinks Eeitzenstein ; but I do not think that we have
sufficient evidence as yet for so general a conclusion.
The term Agathodaimon is a very general one, it is true,
but the whole idea cannot be refunded into Chnum ; in
fact, Osiris is quite as much Agathodaimon as Chnum,
and in G. H., xii. (xiii.), which deals with the General
Mind, Good Mind, or Good Daimon, Agathodaimon is
taken in the most general sense, and in the three quota-
tions there made by Hermes from the " Sayings of the
Good Daimon" (§§ 1, 8, 13),2 we find that they are in
the words of Heracleitus as inspired by the Logos ; so
that in reality Agathodaimon must be equated with
Logos. The origin of Agathodaimon is then not solely
Chnum ; and Hermes therefore cannot be spoken of as
the disciple of Chnubis, unless we can cite texts in
which Thoth is so described.
In our Trismegistic literature the teaching is quite
simple and distinct ; as, for instance, in G. H.t x. (xi.) 23 :
" He [Mind] is the Good Daimon."
When, however, Eeitzenstein (p. 128) declares that
the sentence in § 25 of the same sermon, " For this
cause can a man dare say that man on earth is God
subject to death, while God in heaven is man from
death immune,"3 is a saying belonging to the Chnu-
1 Op. cit., pp. 125, 156-263.
2 We meet with a similar collection of Sayings, or Summaries
of the chief points of teaching, in the Stobsean Ex. i. 7 ff., belong-
ing to the Tat-literature, and also in (J. H.t x. (xi.), xiv. (xv.), and
(xvi.).
3 A very similar phrase occurs in Dio Cassius, Fr. 30 ; i. 87,
ed. Boiss.
480 THRICE-GREATEST-HERMES
phis-literature, we think he is going beyond the limits of
probable conjecture, unless we substitute for Chnuphis
the general term Agathodaimon in the sense of
Logos.
When again Reitzenstein (p. 129) says that the frag-
ments he has adduced show that Hermes was a later
addition in the Agathodaimon-literature, and gradually
pushed on one side Osiris the Son of the God of Revela-
tion, we are not convinced that we have correctly
recovered the " history " — for in the great Osiris-myth
it is Hermes who is always the teacher of wisdom and
not Osiris.
CHNUM GOOD MIND THE
Nevertheless that a wide-spread Chnuphis-literature,
in the Agathodaimonistic sense, existed prior to the
second century B.C., Reitzenstein has shown by a
number of interesting quotations (pp. 129-133). In
Hellenistic times the worship of Chnuphis as the Primal
Deity and God of Revelation was strongly established,
and, most interesting of all for us, his symbol was the
serpent. The symbol, then, of Agathodaimon as Logos
was the Serpent of Wisdom, and we are in contact with
the line of tradition of the Gnostic Ophites and Naas-
senes. And so also in Ptolemaic times we find his
syzygy, Isis, also symbolised as a serpent, and both of
them frequently as serpents with human heads ; they are
both " as wise as serpents." And as Horus was their son,
so we find the hawk-headed symbol of that God united
with a serpent body. So also we find Agathodaimon, in
his sun-aspect, symbolised as a serpent with a lion's
head.1 He is the
See the Nechepso Fragment 29 (Riess, p. 379).
THE DISCIPLES OP THRICE-GREATEST HERMES 481
Isis, LADY OF WISDOM, DISCIPLE OF THRICE-GREATEST
HERMES
In addition to the types of Hermes and his disciples,
and Agathodaimon and his disciples, we have also in
our Trismegistic literature another type — namely, Isis
and her disciples. Isis is the ancient Lady of all
wisdom, and Teacher of all magic. In the early Hellen-
istic period she is substituted for Hermes as Orderer of
the cosmos,1 while Plutarch calls her Lady of the Heart
and Tongue even as is Hermes.2 She " sees " the
teaching.
As her disciple, she has in the Stobsean Ex. xxxi.3 a
king, probably King Ammon.
In a Magic Papyrus she even appears as teacher of
Asclepius.4 But the more usual and natural type is
that of Isis as teacher of her son Horus, and so we find
Lucian speaking of Pythagoras visiting Egypt to learn
wisdom of her prophets, and saying that the sage of
Samos descended into the adyta and learned the
Books of Horus and Isis.6 To this type of literature
belongs our lengthy Stobaean Exx. xxv.-xxvii.
But in all of this Isis owes her wisdom to face
to face instruction by the most ancient Hermes, with
whom she gets into contact through spiritual vision. All
this I have discussed in the Commentaries to Exx. xxv.-
xxvii. ; the conclusion being that to the mind of the
Pcemandrists, no matter how ancient might be any line
of tradition, whether of Agathodaimon or Osiris or Isis,
the direct teaching of the Mind transcended it.
1 R., Zwei relig. Frag., 104 ff. 2 De Is. et Os., xlviii.
3 With heading : " Of Hermes from the [Sermon] of Isis to
Horus."
4 Wessely, Denkschr. d. K. K. Akad. (1893), p. 41, 1. 633.
5 Alectruon, 18.
VOL. I. 31