commit aba17503a90abe529dd930ddec0cc1edbe141f25 Author: Tobias Eidelpes Date: Wed Nov 2 09:53:54 2022 +0100 Initial commit diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ead461 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1,200 @@ +## Core latex/pdflatex auxiliary files: +*.aux +*.lof +*.log +*.lot +*.fls +*.out +*.toc +*.fmt +*.fot +*.cb +*.cb2 +.*.lb + +## Intermediate documents: +*.dvi +*.xdv +*-converted-to.* +# these rules might exclude image files for figures etc. +*.ps +*.eps +*.pdf + +## Generated if empty string is given at "Please type another file name for output:" +.pdf + +## Bibliography auxiliary files (bibtex/biblatex/biber): +*.bbl +*.bcf +*.blg +*-blx.aux +*-blx.bib +*.run.xml + +## Build tool auxiliary files: +*.fdb_latexmk +*.synctex +*.synctex(busy) +*.synctex.gz +*.synctex.gz(busy) +*.pdfsync + +## Build tool directories for auxiliary files +# latexrun +latex.out/ + +## Auxiliary and intermediate files from other packages: +# algorithms +*.alg +*.loa + +# beamer +*.nav +*.pre +*.snm +*.vrb + +# changes +*.soc + +# glossaries +*.acn +*.acr +*.glg +*.glo +*.gls +*.glsdefs +*.lzo +*.lzs +*.slg +*.slo +*.sls + +# uncomment this for glossaries-extra (will ignore makeindex's style files!) +# *.ist + +# gnuplot +*.gnuplot +*.table + +# gnuplottex +*-gnuplottex-* + +# hyperref +*.brf + +# listings +*.lol + +# makeidx +*.idx +*.ilg +*.ind + +# minitoc +*.maf +*.mlf +*.mlt +*.mtc[0-9]* +*.slf[0-9]* +*.slt[0-9]* +*.stc[0-9]* + +# minted +_minted* +*.pyg + +# nomencl +*.nlg +*.nlo +*.nls + +# pax +*.pax + +# pdfpcnotes +*.pdfpc + +# tcolorbox +*.listing + +# TikZ & PGF +*.dpth +*.md5 +*.auxlock + +# titletoc +*.ptc + +# todonotes +*.tdo + +# vhistory +*.hst +*.ver + +# xcolor +*.xcp + +# xmpincl +*.xmpi + +# xindy +*.xdy + +## Editors: +# LyX +*.lyx~ + +# auto folder when using emacs and auctex +./auto/* +*.el + +# Makeindex log files +*.lpz + +# Emacs stuff +*~ +\#*\# +/.emacs.desktop +/.emacs.desktop.lock +*.elc +auto-save-list +tramp +.\#* + +# flymake-mode +*_flymake.* + +# eshell files +/eshell/history +/eshell/lastdir + +# elpa packages +/elpa/ + +# reftex files +*.rel + +# AUCTeX auto folder +/auto/ + +# cask packages +.cask/ +dist/ + +# Flycheck +flycheck_*.el + +# server auth directory +/server/ + +# projectiles files +.projectile + +# directory configuration +.dir-locals.el + +# network security +/network-security.data diff --git a/corpus-hermeticum.tex b/corpus-hermeticum.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..160f5a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/corpus-hermeticum.tex @@ -0,0 +1,683 @@ +\documentclass[a5paper,10pt,twoside,openany]{memoir} +\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} +\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} +\usepackage{hyperref} +\usepackage{fancyhdr,lastpage,changepage} +\usepackage{indentfirst} +\usepackage[english]{babel} +\usepackage[final,babel=true]{microtype} +\usepackage{libertine} +\usepackage{csquotes} + +\chapterstyle{chappell} + +\setlrmarginsandblock{1in}{0.75in}{*} +\setulmarginsandblock{1in}{1in}{*} +\checkandfixthelayout + +\begin{document} + +\begin{titlingpage} + \thispagestyle{empty} + \fontfamily{pbk}\selectfont + \centering + \vspace*{2\baselineskip} + {\Huge The Corpus Hermeticum} \\[4em] + {\large\emph{--- Translation and Commentary by ---}} \\[2em] + {\LARGE G. R. S. Mead} \par + \vspace*{5\baselineskip} + \vspace*{5\baselineskip} + \vspace*{5\baselineskip} + {\Large The Theosophical Publishing Society}\\[1em] + {\Large\scshape 1906}\par + \vspace*{2\baselineskip} +\end{titlingpage} + +\chapter{Pœmandres, The Shepherd of Men} + +1. It chanced once on a time my mind was meditating on the things that +are\footnote{περὶ τῶν ὄντων.}, my thought was raised to a great +height, the senses of my body being held back---just as men who are +weighed down with sleep after a fill of food, or from fatigue of body. + +Methought a Being more than vast, in size beyond all bounds, called +out my name and saith: What wouldst thou hear and see, and what hast +thou in mind to learn and know? + +2. And I do say: Who art thou? + +He saith: I am Man-Shepherd\footnote{Ποιμάνδρης.}, Mind of +all-masterhood\footnote{ὁ τῆς αὐθεντίας νοῦς. The αὐθεντία was the + \emph{summa potestas} of all things; see R. 8, n. 1; and § 30 + below. Cf. also C. H., xiii. (xiv.) 15.}; I know what thou desirest +and I am with thee everywhere. + +3. [And] I reply: I long to learn the things that are, and comprehend +their nature, and know God. This is, I said, what I desire to hear. + +He answered back to me: Hold in thy mind all thou wouldst know, and I +will teach thee. + +4. Even with these words His aspect changed,\footnote{ἠλλάγη τῇ ἰδέᾳ.} +and straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, all things were opened to +me, and I see a Vision limitless, all things turned into +Light---sweet, joyous [Light]. And I became transported as I gazed. + +But in a little while Darkness came settling down on part [of it], +awesome and gloomy, coiling in sinuous folds, so that methought it +like unto a snake. + +And then the Darkness changed into some sort of a Moist Nature, tossed +about beyond all power of words, belching out smoke as from a fire, +and groaning forth a wailing sound that beggars all description. + +[And] after that an outcry inarticulate came forth from it, as though +it were a Voice of Fire. + +5. [Thereon] out of the Light [\dots] a Holy Word (Logos) descended on +that Nature. And upwards to the height from the Moist Nature leaped +forth pure Fire; light was it, swift and active too. + +The Air, too, being light, followed after the Fire; from out of the +Earth-and-Water rising up to Fire so that it seemed to hang therefrom. + +But Earth-and-Water stayed so mingled with each other, that Earth from +Water no one could discern. Yet were they moved to hear by reason of +the Spirit-Word (Logos) pervading them. + +6. Then saith to me Man-Shepherd: Didst understand this Vision what it +means? + +Nay; that shall I know, said I. + +That Light, He said, am I, thy God, Mind, prior to Moist Nature which +appeared from Darkness; the Light-Word (Logos) [that appeared] from +Mind is Son of God. + +What then?---say I. + +Know that what sees in thee and hears is the Lord's Word (Logos); but +Mind is Father-God. Not separate are they the one from other; just in +their union [rather] is it Life consists. + +Thanks be to Thee, I said. + +So, understand the Light [He answered], and make friends with it. + +7. And speaking thus He gazed for long into my eyes, so that I +trembled at the look of him. + +But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in +Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds, and +that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and +[now] subdued had come unto a stand. + +And when I saw these things I understood by reason of Man-Shepherd's +Word (Logos). + +8. But as I was in great astonishment, He saith to me again: Thou +didst behold in Mind the Archetypal Form whose being is before +beginning without end. Thus spake to me Man-Shepherd. + +And I say: Whence then have Nature's elements their being? + +To this He answer gives: From Will of God. [Nature] received the Word +(Logos), and gazing upon the Cosmos Beautiful did copy it, making +herself into a cosmos, by means of her own elements and by the births +of souls. + +9. And God-the-Mind, being male and female both, as Light and Life +subsisting, brought forth another Mind to give things form, who, God +as he was of Fire and Spirit, formed Seven Rulers who enclose the +cosmos that the sense perceives. Men call their ruling Fate. + +10. Straightway from out the downward elements God's Reason (Logos) +leaped up to Nature's pure formation, and was at-oned with the +Formative Mind; for it was co-essential with it. And Nature's downward +elements were thus left reason-less, so as to be pure matter. + +11. Then the Formative Mind ([at-oned] with Reason), he who surrounds +the spheres and spins them with his whorl, set turning his formations, +and let them turn from a beginning boundless unto an endless end. For +that the circulation of these [spheres] begins where it doth end, as +Mind doth will. + +And from the downward elements Nature brought forth lives reason-less; +for He did not extend the Reason (Logos) [to them]. The Air brought +forth things winged; the Water things that swim, and Earth-and-Water +one from another parted, as Mind willed. And from her bosom Earth +produced what lives she had, four-footed things and reptiles, beasts +wild and tame. + +12. But All-Father Mind, being Life and Light, did bring forth Man +co-equal to Himself, with whom He fell in love, as being His own +child; for he was beautiful beyond compare, the Image of his Sire. In +very truth, God fell in love with his own Form; and on him did bestow +all of His own formations. + +13. And when he gazed upon what the Enformer had created in the +Father, [Man] too wished to enform; and [so] assent was given him by +the Father. + +Changing his state to the formative sphere, in that he was to have his +whole authority, he gazed upon his Brother's creatures. They fell in +love with him, and gave him each a share of his own ordering. + +And after that he had well learned their essence and had become a +sharer in their nature, he had a mind to break right through the +Boundary of their spheres, and to subdue the might of that which +pressed upon the Fire. + +14. So he who hath the whole authority over [all] the mortals in the +cosmos and over its lives irrational, bent his face downwards through +the Harmony, breaking right through its strength, and showed to +downward Nature God's fair form. + +And when she saw that Form of beauty which can never satiate, and him +who [now] possessed within himself each single energy of [all seven] +Rulers as well as God's own Form, she smiled with love; for it was as +though she hadd seen the image of Man's fairest form upon her Water, +his shadow on her Earth. + +He in turn beholding the form like to himself, existing in her, in her +Water, loved it and willed to live in it; and with the will came act, +and [so] he vivified the form devoid of reason. + +And Nature took the object of her love and wound herself completely +around him, and they were intermingled, for they were lovers. + +15. And this is why beyond all creatures on the earth man is twofold; +mortal because of body, but because of the essential man immortal. + +Though deathless and possessed of sway over all, yet doth he suffer as +a mortal doth, subject to Fate. + +Thus though above the Harmony, within the Harmony he hath become a +slave. Though male-female, as from a Father male-female, and though he +is sleepless from a sleepless [Sire], yet is he overcome [by sleep]. + +16. Thereon [I say: Teach on], O Mind of me, for I myself as well am +amorous of the Word (Logos). + +The Shepherd said: This is the mystery kept hid until this day. + +Nature embraced by Man brought forth a wonder, oh so wonderful. For as +he had the nature of the Concord of the Seven, who, as I said to thee, +[were made] of Fire and Spirit---Nature delayed not, but immediately +brought forth seven ``men'', in correspondence with the natures of the +Seven, male-female and moving in the air. + +Thereon [I said]: O Shepherd, \dots, for now I am filled with great +desire and long to hear; do not run off. + +The Shepherd said: Keep silence, for not as yet have I unrolled for +thee the first discourse (logoi). + +Lo! I am still, I said. + +17. In such wise than, as I have said, the generation of these seven +came to pass. Earth was as woman, her Water filled with longing; +ripeness she took from Fire, spirit from Aether. Nature thus brought +forth frames to suit the form of Man. + +And Man from Light and Life changed into soul and mind---from Life to +soul, from Light to mind. + +And thus continued all the sense-world's parts until the period of +their end and new beginnings. + +18. Now listen to the rest of the discourse (Logos) which thou dost +long to hear. + +The period being ended, the bond that bound them all was loosened by +God's Will. For all the animals being male-female, at the same time +with Man were loosed apart; some became partly male, some in like +fashion [partly] female. And straightway God spake by His Holy Word +(Logos): + +\begin{quote} + Increase ye in increasing, and multiply in multitude, ye creatures + and creations all; and man that hath Mind in him, let him learn to + know that he himself is deathless, and that the cause of death is + love, though Love is all. +\end{quote} + +19. When He said this, His Forethought did by means of Fate and +Harmony effect their couplings and their generations founded. And so +all things were multiplied according to their kind. + +And he who thus hath learned to know himself, hath reached that Good +which doth transcend abundance; but he who through a love that leads +astray, expends his love upon his body---he stays in Darkness +wandering, and suffering through his senses things of Death. + +20. What is the so great fault, said I, the ignorant commit, that they +should be deprived of deathlessness? + +Thou seemest, He said, O thou, not to have given heed to what thou +heardest. Did I not bid thee think? + +Yea do I think, and I remember, and therefore give Thee thanks. + +If thou didst think [thereon], [said He], tell me: Why do they merit +death who are in Death? + +It is because the gloomy Darkness is the root and base of the material +frame; from it came the Moist Nature; from this the body in the +sense-world was composed; and from this [body] Death doth the Water +drain. + +21. Right was thy thought, O thou! But how doth ``he who knows +himself, go unto Him'', as God's Word (Logos) hath declared? + +And I reply: the Father of the universals doth consist of Light and +Life, from Him Man was born. + +Thou sayest well, [thus] speaking. Light and Life is Father-God, and +from Him Man was born. + +If then thou learnest that thou art thyself of Life and Light, and +that thou [happenest] to be out of them, thou shalt return again to +Life. Thus did Man-Shepherd speak. + +But tell me further, Mind of me, I cried, how shall I come to Life +again \dots for God doth say: ``The man who hath Mind in him, let him +learn to know that he himself [is deathless].'' + +22. Have not all men then Mind? + +Thou sayest well, O thou, thus speaking. I, Mind, myself am present +with holy men and good, the pure and merciful, men who live piously. + +[To such] my presence doth become an aid, and straightway they gain +gnosis of all things, and win the Father's love by their pure lives, +and give Him thanks, invoking on Him blessings, and chanting hymns, +intent on Him with ardent love. + +And ere they give up the body unto its proper death, they turn them +with disgust from its sensations, from knowledge of what things they +operate. Nay, it is I, the Mind, that will not let the operations +which befall the body, work to their [natural] end. For being +door-keeper I will close up [all] the entrances, and cut the mental +actions off which base and evil energies induce. + +23. But to the Mind-less ones, the wicked and depraved, the envious +and covetous, and those who mured do and love impiety, I am far off, +yielding my place to the Avenging Daimon, who sharpening the fire, +tormenteth him and addeth fire to fire upon him, and rusheth upon him +through his senses, thus rendering him readier for transgressions of +the law, so that he meets with greater torment; nor doth he ever cease +to have desire for appetites inordinate, insatiately striving in the +dark. + +24. Well hast thou taught me all, as I desired, O Mind. And now, pray, +tell me further of the nature of the Way Above as now it is [for me]. + +To this Man-Shepherd said: When the material body is to be dissolved, +first thou surrenderest the body by itself unto the work of change, +and thus the form thou hadst doth vanish, and thou surrenderest thy +way of life, void of its energy, unto the Daimon. The body's senses +next pass back into their sources, becoming separate, and resurrect as +energies; and passion and desire withdraw unto that nature which is +void of reason. + +25. And thus it is that man doth speed his way thereafter upwards +through the Harmony. + +To the first zone he gives the Energy of Growth and 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 +Arrogance, [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 aggrandizement; and to the +seventh zone, Ensnaring Falsehood, de-energized. + +26. And then, with all the energisings of the harmony stript from him, +clothed in his proper Power, he cometh to that Nature which belongs +unto the Eighth, and there with those-that-are hymneth the Father. + +They who are there welcome his coming there with joy; and he, made +like to them that sojourn there, doth further hear the Powers who are +above the Nature that belongs unto the Eighth, singing their songs of +praise to God in language of their own. + +And then they, in a band, go to the Father home; of their own selves +they make surrender of themselves to Powers, and [thus] becoming +Powers they are in God. This the good end for those who have gained +Gnosis---to be made one with God. + +Why shouldst thou then delay? Must it not be, since thou hast all +received, that thou shouldst to the worthy point the way, in order +that through thee the race of mortal kind may by [thy] God be saved? + +27. This when He had said, Man-Shepherd mingled with the Powers. + +But I, with thanks and blessings unto the Father of the universal +[Powers], was freed, full of the power he had poured into me, and full +of what He had taught me of the nature of the All and of the loftiest +Vision. + +And I began to preach unto men the Beauty of Devotion and of Gnosis: + +O ye people, earth-born folk, ye who have given yourselves to +drunkenness and sleep and ignorance of God, be sober now, cease from +your surfeit, cease to be glamoured by irrational sleep! + +28. And when they heard, they came with one accord. Whereon I say: + +Ye earth-born folk, why have ye given yourselves up to Death, while +yet ye have the power of sharing Deathlessness? Repent, O ye, who walk +with Error arm in arm and make of Ignorance the sharer of your board; +get ye out from the light of Darkness, and take your part in +Deathlessness, forsake Destruction! + +29. And some of them with jests upon their lips departed [from me], +abandoning themselves unto the Way of Death; others entreated to be +taught, casting themselves before my feet. + +But I made them arise, and I became a leader of the Race towards home, +teaching the words (logoi), how and in what way they shall be saved. I +sowed in them the words (logoi) of wisdom; of Deathless Water were +they given to drink. + +And when even was come and all sun's beams began to set, I bade them +all give thanks to God. And when they had brought to an end the giving +of their thanks, each man returned to his own resting place. + +30. But I recorded in my heart Man-Shepherd's benefaction, and with my +every hope fulfilled more than rejoiced. For body's sleep became the +soul's awakening, and closing of the eyes---true vision, pregnant with +Good my silence, and the utterance of my word (logos) begetting of +good things. + +All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man-Shepherd, Word (Logos) of +all masterhood, by whom being God-inspired I came unto the Plain of +Truth. Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving give I +unto Father-God. + +31. Holy art Thou, O God, the universals' Father. + +Holy art Thou, O God, whose Will perfects itself by means of its own +Powers. + +Holy art Thou, O God, who willeth to be known and art known by Thine +own. + +Holy art Thou,who didst by Word (Logos) make to consist the things +that are. + +Holy art Thou, of whom All-nature hath been made an image. + +Holy art Thou, whose Form Nature hath never made. + +Holy art Thou, more powerful than all power. + +Holy art Thou, transcending all pre-eminence. + +Holy Thou art, Thou better than all praise. + +Accept my reason's offerings pure, from soul and heart for aye +stretched up to Thee, O Thou unutterable, unspeakable, Whose Name +naught but the Silence can express. + +32. Give ear to me who pray that I may never of Gnosis fail, [Gnosis] +which is our common being's nature; and fill me with Thy Power, and +with this Grace [of Thine], that I may give the Light to those in +ignorance of the Race, my Brethren, and Thy Sons. + +For this cause I believe, and I bear witness; I go to Life and +Light. Blessed art Thou, O Father. Thy Man would holy be as Thou art +holy, even as Thou gave him Thy full authority [to be]. + +\chapter{To Asclepius} + +1. \emph{Hermes}: All that is moved, Asclepius, is it not moved +\emph{in} something and \emph{by} something? + +Asclepius: Assuredly. + +\emph{H}: And must not that in which it's moved be greater than the moved? + +\emph{A}: It must. + +\emph{H}: Mover, again, has greater power than moved? + +\emph{A}: It has, of course. + +\emph{H}: The nature, furthermore, of that in which it's moved must be quite +other from the nature of the moved? + +\emph{A}: It must completely. + +2. \emph{H}: Is not, again, this cosmos vast, [so vast] that than it there +exists no body greater? + +\emph{A}: Assuredly. + +\emph{H}: And massive, too, for it is crammed with multitudes of other mighty +frames, nay, rather all the other bodies that there are? + +\emph{A}: It is. + +\emph{H}: And yet the cosmos is a body? + +\emph{A}: It is a body. + +\emph{H}: And one that's moved? + +3. \emph{A}: Assuredly. + +\emph{H}: Of what size, then, must be the space in which it's moved, and of +what kind [must be] the nature [of that space]? Must it not be far +vaster [than the cosmos], in order that it may be able to find room +for its continued course, so that the moved may not be cramped for +want of room and lose its motion? + +\emph{A}: Something, Thrice-greatest one, it needs must be, immensely vast. + +4. \emph{H}: And of what nature? Must it not be, Asclepius, of just the +contrary? And is not contrary to body bodiless? + +\emph{A}: Agreed. + +\emph{H}: Space, then, is bodiless. But bodiless must either be some godlike +thing or God [Himself]. And by ``some godlike thing'' I mean no more the +generable [i.e., that which is generated] but the ingenerable. + +5. If, then, space be some godlike thing, it is substantial; but if +'tis God [Himself], it transcends substance. But it is to be thought +of otherwise [than God], and in this way. + +God is first ``thinkable'' for us, not for Himself, +for that the thing that's thought doth fall beneath the thinker's +sense. God then cannot be ``thinkable'' unto Himself, in that He's +thought of by Himself as being nothing else but what He thinks. But he +is ``something else'' for us, and so He's thought of by us. + +6. If space is, therefore, to be thought, [it should] not, [then, be +thought as] God, but space. If God is also to be thought, [He should] +not [be conceived] as space, but as energy that can contain [all +space]. + +Further, all that is moved is moved not in the moved but in the +stable. And that which moves [another] is of course stationary, for +'tis impossible that it should move with it. + +\emph{A}: How is it, then, that things down here, Thrice-greatest one, are +moved with those that are [already] moved? For thou hast said the +errant spheres were moved by the inerrant one. + +\emph{H}: This is not, O Asclepius, a moving with, but one against; they are +not moved with one another, but one against the other. It is this +contrariety which turneth the resistance of their motion into +rest. For that resistance is the rest of motion. + +7. Hence, too, the errant spheres, being moved contrarily to the +inerrant one, are moved by one another by mutual contrariety, [and +also] by the spable one through contrariety itself. And this can +otherwise not be. + +The Bears up there , which neither set nor +rise, think'st thou they rest or move? + +\emph{A}: They move, Thrice-greatest one. + +\emph{H}: And what their motion, my Asclepius? + +\emph{A}: Motion that turns for ever round the same. + +\emph{H}: But revolution---motion around same---is fixed by rest. For +``round-the-same'' doth stop ``beyond-same''. ``Beyond-same'' then, being +stopped, if it be steadied in ``round-same''---the contrary stands firm, +being rendered ever stable by its contrariety. + +8. Of this I'll give thee here on earth an instance, which the eye can +see. Regard the animals down here---a man, for instance, swimming! The +water moves, yet the resistance of his hands and feet give him +stability, so that he is not borne along with it, nor sunk thereby. + +\emph{A}: Thou hast, Thrice-greatest one, adduced a most clear instance. + +\emph{H}: All motion, then, is caused in station and by station. + +The motion, therefore, of the cosmos (and of every other hylic animal) will not be caused by things exterior to the cosmos, +but by things interior [outward] to the exterior---such [things] as +soul, or spirit, or some such other thing incorporeal. + +'Tis not the body that doth move the living thing in it; nay, not even +the whole [body of the universe a lesser] body e'en though there be no +life in it. + +9. \emph{A}: What meanest thou by this, Thrice-greatest one? Is it not +bodies, then, that move the stock and stone and all the other things +inanimate? + +\emph{H}: By no means, O Asclepius. The something-in-the-body, the +that-which-moves the thing inanimate, this surely's not a body, for +that it moves the two of them---both body of the lifter and the +lifted? So that a thing that's lifeless will not move a lifeless +thing. That which doth move [another thing] is animate, in that it is +the mover. + +Thou seest, then, how heavy laden is the soul, for it alone doth lift +two bodies. That things, moreover, moved are moved in something as +well as moved by something is clear. + +10. \emph{A}: Yea, O Thrice-greatest one, things moved must needs be moved in +something void. + +\emph{H}: Thou sayest well, O [my] Asclepius! For naught of things that are +is void. Alone the ``is-not'' is void [and] stranger to subsistence. For +that which is subsistent can never change to void. + +\emph{A}: Are there, then, O Thrice-greatest one, no such things as an empty +cask, for instance, and an empty jar, a cup and vat, and other things +like unto them? + +\emph{H}: Alack, Asclepius, for thy far-wandering from the truth! Think'st +thou that things most full and most replete are void? + +11. \emph{A}: How meanest thou, Thrice-greatest one? + +\emph{H}: Is not air body? + +\emph{A}: It is. + +\emph{H}: And doth this body not pervade all things, and so, pervading, fill +them? And ``body''; doth body not consist from blending of the ``four'' +? Full, then, of air are all thou callest void; and if of +air, then of the ``four''. + +Further, of this the converse follows, that all thou callest full are +void---of air; for that they have their space filled out with other +bodies, and, therefore, are not able to receive the air +therein. These, then, which thou dost say are void, they should be +hollow named, not void; for they not only are, but they are full of +air and spirit. + +12. \emph{A}: Thy argument (logos), Thrice-greatest one, is not to be +gainsaid; air is a body. Further, it is this body which doth pervade +all things, and so, pervading, fill them. What are we, then, to call +that space in which the all doth move? + +\emph{H}: The bodiless, Asclepius. + +\emph{A}: What, then, is Bodiless? + +\emph{H}: 'Tis Mind and Reason (logos), whole out of whole, all +self-embracing, free from all body, from all error free, unsensible to +body and untouchable, self stayed in self, containing all, preserving +those that are, whose rays, to use a likeness, are Good, Truth, Light +beyond light, the Archetype of soul. + +\emph{A}: What, then, is God? + +13. \emph{H}: Not any one of these is He; for He it is that causeth them to +be, both all and each and every thing of all that are. Nor hath He +left a thing beside that is-not; but they are all from things-that-are +and not from things-that-are-not. For that the things-that-are-not +have naturally no power of being anything, but naturally have the +power of the inability-to-be. And, conversely, the things-that-are +have not the nature of some time not-being. + +14. \emph{A}: What say'st thou ever, then, God is? + +\emph{H}: God, therefore, is not Mind, but Cause that the Mind is; God is not +Spirit, but Cause that Spirit is; God is not Light, but Cause that the +Light is. Hence one should honor God with these two names [the Good +and Father]---names which pertain to Him alone and no one else. + +For no one of the other so-called gods, no one of men, or daimones, +can be in any measure Good, but God alone; and He is Good alone and +nothing else. The rest of things are separable all from the Good's +nature; for [all the rest] are soul and body, which have no place that +can contain the Good. + +15. For that as mighty is the Greatness of the Good as is the Being of +all things that are---both bodies and things bodiless, things sensible +and intelligible things. Call thou not, therefore, aught else Good, +for thou would'st imious be; nor anything at all at any time call God +but Good alone, for so thou would'st again be impious. + +16. Though, then, the Good is spoken of by all, it is not understood +by all, what thing it is. Not only, then, is God not understood by +all, but both unto the gods and some of the men they out of ignorance +do give the name of Good, though they can never either be or become +Good. For they are very different from God, while Good can never be +distinguished from Him, for that God is the same as Good. + +The rest of the immortal ones are nonetheless honored with the name of +God, and spoken of as gods; but God is Good not out of courtesy but +out of nature. For that God's nature and the Good is one; one os the +kind of both, from which all other kinds [proceed]. + +The Good is he who gives all things and naught receives. God, then, +doth give all things and receive naught. God, then, is Good, and Good +is God. + +17. The other name of God is Father, again because He is the +that-which-maketh-all. The part of father is to make. + +Wherefore child-making is a very great and a most pious thing in life +for them who think aright, and to leave life on earth without a child +a very great misfortune and impiety; and he who hath no child is +punished by the daimones after death. + +And this is the punishment: that that man's soul who hath no child, +shall be condemned unto a body with neither man's nor woman's nature, +a thing accursed beneath the sun. + +Wherefore, Asclepius, let not your sympathies be with the man who hath +no child, but rather pity his mishap, knowing what punishment abides +for him. + +Let all that has been said then, be to thee, Asclepius, an +introduction to the gnosis of the nature of all things. + +\end{document} +%%% Local Variables: +%%% mode: latex +%%% TeX-master: t +%%% TeX-engine: xetex +%%% End: \ No newline at end of file