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Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 3, by G.R.S. Mead, [1906], at sacred-texts.com


p. v

Contents

I. EXCERPTS BY STOBÆUS

Ex. I. Of Piety and True Philosophy

3

     Commentary

12

Ex. II. Of the Ineffability of God

14

     Commentary

15

Ex. III. Of Truth

17

     Commentary

23

Ex. IV. God, Nature and the Gods

24

     Commentary

25

Ex. V. Of Matter

26

Ex. VI. Of Time

28

Ex. VII. Of Bodies Everlasting and Bodies Perishable

30

     Commentary

33

Ex. VIII. Of Energy and Feeling

34

     Commentary

43

Ex. IX. Of the Decans and the Stars

45

     Commentary

54

Ex. X. Concerning the Rule of Providence, Necessity and Fate

55

     Commentary

57

Ex. XI. Of Justice

58

     Commentary

59

Ex. XII. Of Providence and Fate

60

Ex. XIII. Of the Whole Economy

61

Ex. XIV. Of Soul, I.

63

Ex. XV. Of Soul, II.

65

     The Embryonic Stages of Incarnation

68

Ex. XVI. Of Soul, III.

72

Ex. XVII. Of Soul, IV.

75

Ex. XVIII. Of Soul, V.

77

     Commentary

79

Ex. XIX. Of Soul, VI.

80

     Commentary

82

Ex. XX. The Power of Choice

84

     Commentary

86

Ex. XXI. Of Isis to Horus

87

     Commentary

87

Ex. XXII. An Apophthegm

88

Ex. XXIII. From “Aphrodite”

89

     Commentary

90

Ex. XXIV. A Hymn of the Gods

91

     Commentary

92

Ex. XXV. The Virgin of the World, I.

93

Ex. XXVI. The Virgin of the World, II.

125

Commentary

     Argument

134

     Sources?

146

     The Direct Voice and the Books of Hermes

147

     Kamephis and the Dark Mystery

149

     Kneph-Kamephis

151

     Hermes I. and Hermes II.

152

     The Black Rite

155

     Black Land

158

     The Pupil of the World’s Eye

159

     The Son of the Virgin

160

     The Mystery of the Birth of Horus

162

     “Ishon”

165

     The Sixty Soul-Regions

168

     Plutarch’s Yogin

169

     The Plain of Truth

171

     The Boundaries of the Numbers which Pre-exist in the Soul

173

     The Mysterious “Cylinder”

175

     The Eagle, Lion, Dragon and Dolphin

180

     Momus

182

     The Mystic Geography of Sacred Lands

184

Ex. XXVII. From the Sermon of Isis to Horus

188

Commentary

     Argument

204

     Title and Ordering

206

     The Books of Isis and Horus

207

     The Watery Sphere and Subtle Body

209

     The Habitat of Encarnate Souls

210

II. REFERENCES AND FRAGMENTS IN THE FATHERS

 

I. JUSTIN MARTYR

i.

The Most Ancient of Philosophers

215

 

The “Words of Ammon”

215

 

The Ineffability of God

216

ii.

Hermes and Asclepius Sons of God

217

iii.

Hermes the Word who brings Tidings from God

217

 

The Sons of God in Hellenistic Theology

218

 

An Unverifiable Quotation

218

 

 

II. ATHENAGORAS

220

 

III. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

i.

Many Hermeses and Asclepiuses

221

ii.

The Apotheosis of Hermes and Asclepius

222

iii.

The Books of Hermes

222

 

The General Catalogue of the Egyptian Priestly Library

225

 

 

IV. TERTULLIAN

i.

Hermes the Master of all Physics

226

ii.

Hermes the Writer of Scripture

227

iii.

Hermes the First Preacher of Reincarnation

227

iv.

Hermes on Metempsychosis

 

Frag. I.

228

 

 

V. CYPRIAN

 

God is beyond all Understanding

229

 

 

VI. ARNOBIUS

 

The School of Hermes

230

 

 

VII. LACTANTIUS

i.

Thoyth-Hermes and his Books of the Gnosis

231

 

Frag. II.

233

 

The Historical Origin of the Hermetic Tradition

233

ii.

Uranus, Cronus and Hermes, Adepts of the Perfect Science

234

iii.

Divine Providence

235

iv.

On Mortal and Immortal Sight

 

Frag. III.

235

v.

Man made after the Image of God

236

vi.

Hermes the First Natural Philosopher

237

vii.

The Daimon-Chief

237

viii.

Devotion in God-Gnosis

 

Frag. IV.

238

ix.

The Cosmic Son of God

 

Frag. V.

239

x.

The Demiurge of God

240

xi.

The Name of God

 

Frag. VI.

241

xii.

The Holy Word about the Lord of All

 

Frag. VII.

241

xiii.

His Own Father and Own Mother

242

xiv.

The Power and Greatness of the Word

242

xv.

The Fatherless and Motherless

242

xvi.

Piety the Gnosis of God

243

xvii.

The Only Way to Worship God

243

xviii.

The Worthiest Sacrifice to God

 

Frag. VIII.

244

xix.

Man made in the Image of God

244

xx.

Contemplation

245

xxi.

The Dual Nature of Man

 

Frag. IX.

245

 

Wonder the Beginning of Philosophy

246

xxii.

The Cosmic Restoration

 

Frag. X.

247

xxii.

Of Hermes and his Doctrine Concerning God

247

xxiv.

A Repetition

248

xxv.

Plato as Prophet follows Trismegistus

248

 

 

VIII. AUGUSTINE

i.-iii.

Three Quotations from the Old Latin Version of the “Perfect Sermon”

249

 

 

IX. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA

i.

Cyril’s Corpus of XV. Books

251

ii.

The Incorporeal Eye

 

Frag. XI.

253

iii.

The Heavenly Word Proceeding Forth

 

Frag. XII.

254

 

The Pyramid

 

Frag. XIII.

254

 

The Nature of God’s Intellectual World

 

Frag. XIV.

255

 

The Word of the Creator

 

Frag. XV.

256

iv.

Mind of Mind

 

Frag. XVI.

257

 

He is All

 

Frag. XVII.

258

 

Concerning Spirit

 

Frag. XVIII.

258

 

The “To Asclepius” of Cyril’s Corpus

259

v.

From “The Mind”

260

vi.

Osiris and Thrice-greatest Agathodaimon

 

Frag. XIX.

261

 

“Let there be Earth!”

 

Frag. XX.

262

 

The Generation of the Sun

 

Frag. XXI.

262

 

“Let the Sun be!”

 

Frag. XXII.

263

vii.

The Firmament

 

Frag. XXIII.

263

viii.

From the “To Asclepius”

264

ix.

The Sole Protection

265

x.

The Supreme Artist

 

Frag. XXIV.

266

xi.

An Unreferenced Quotation

 

Frag. XXV.

266

 

 

X. SUIDAS

 

Hermes speaks of the Trinity

268

 

An Orphic Hymn

269

 

 

XI. ANONYMOUS

270

III. REFERENCES AND FRAGMENTS IN THE PHILOSOPHERS

I. ZOSIMUS

On the Anthrōpos-Doctrine

273

The Processions of Fate

273

“The Inner Door”

274

Against Magic

Frag. XXVI.

275

Thoth the First Man

276

The Libraries of the Ptolemies

277

Nikotheos

278

From the Books of the Chaldæans

279

Man the Mind

Frag. XXVII.

280

The Counterfeit Daimon

281

His Advice to Theosebeia

283

 

II. JAMBLICHUS

Abammon the Teacher

285

Hermes the Inspirer

286

Those of the Hermaïc Nature

288

The Books of Hermes

289

The Monad from the One

291

The Tradition of the Trismegistic Literature

291

Bitys

294

Ostanes-Asclepius

296

From the Hermaïc Workings

297

The Cosmic Spheres

299

 

III. JULIAN THE EMPEROR

The Disciples of Wisdom

303

 

IV. FULGENTIUS THE MYTHOGRAPHER

Frag. XXVIII.

305

IV. CONCLUSION

An Attempt at Classifying the Extant Literature

306

Of Hermes

306

To Tat

308

To Asclepius

310

To Ammon

311

Of Asclepius

312

Of Isis

312

From the Agathodaimon Literature

313

Of Judgments of Value

314

The Sons of God

316

Concerning Dates

319

The Blend of Traditions

321

Of Initiation

323

A Last Word

325

V. INDEX


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