{"collection":"Gnosticism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/gno/th1/th115.htm","path":"gno/th1/th115.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/gno/th1/th115.htm","text":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1, by G.R.S. Mead, [1906]\nIII. 1. Yet many have set down that she is Hermes\u2019 daughter, and many [that she is] Prometheus\u2019s,\u2014I holding the latter as discoverer of wisdom and foreknowledge, and Hermes of the art of letters and the Muses\u2019 art.\n2. Wherefore, in Hermes-city, they call the foremost of the Muses Isis, as well as Righteousness, 4 in that she\u2019s\nwise, 1 as has been said, 2 and shows 3 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. 4\n3. 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 it 5\u2014in 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.\n4. Wherefore when the initiates of Isis at their \u201cdeath\u201d are adorned in these [robes], it is a symbol that this Reason (Logos) is with them; and with Him and naught else they go there. 7\n5. For it is not the growing beard and wearing cloak that makes philosophers, O 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\ndone concerning these Gods, and meditates upon the truth in them.\n263:4 \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd, or Justice (Ma\u0101t), that is, the \u201cpower of the Judge,\u201d 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\u2014that is to say, macrocosmically instead of cosmically.\n264:1 Or, perhaps, the reading should be \u201cWisdom.\u201d\n264:2 Cf. ii. 1.\n264:3 \u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03ba\u03bd\u03cd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd\u2014probably a play on \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b7\u03bd.\n264:4 \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2. Plutarch by his \u201cwith truth and justice\u201d 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.\n264:5 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2, which also means componere\u2014that is, to lay out a corpse and so to bury.\n264:6 \u03bf\u1f30\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2 = \u03b4\u03cc\u03be\u03b7\u03c2, appearance, seeming\u2014that is, the public myth; as opposed to \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 = \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03bc\u03b7, knowledge or reality.\n264:7 Or \u201cwalk there\u201d\u2014that is, in \u201cHades.\u201d Or, again, the \u201cdeath\u201d is the death unto sin when they become Alive and walk among the \u201cdead\u201d or ordinary men.\n264:8 That is, when the initiation is a lawful one, or really takes effect; when a man\u2019s karma permits it, that is, after passing the proper tests.","title":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1: IX. Plutarch: Concerning ...","type":"page"}