{"collection":"Gnosticism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/gno/th1/th122.htm","path":"gno/th1/th122.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/gno/th1/th122.htm","text":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1, by G.R.S. Mead, [1906]\nX. 1. And the most wise of the Greeks also are witnesses\u2014Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, and, as some say, Lycurgus as well\u2014through coming to Egypt and associating with her priests.\n2. And so they say that Eudoxus was hearer of Chonouphis 3 of Memphis, and Solon of Sonchis of Sa\u00efs, and Pythagoras of \u0152nuphis of Heliopolis.\n3. And the last especially, as it appears, being contemplated and contemplating, 4 brought back to the\nmemory of his men their 1 symbolic and mysterious [art], containing their dogmas in dark sayings.\n4. For most of the Pythagoric messages leave out nothing of what are called the hieroglyphic letters; for instance: \u201cEat not on what bears two\u201d; 2 \u201cSit not down on measure\u201d; 3 \u201cPlant not ph\u0153nix\u201d; 4 \u201cStir not fire with knife 5 in house.\u201d\n5. And, for myself at least, I think that his men\u2019s calling the monad Apollo, 6 and the dyad Artemis, and the hebdomad Athena, and the first cube 7 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].\n6. For they write the King and Lord, Osiris, 1 with \u201ceye\u201d and \u201csceptre.\u201d 2 But some interpret the name also as \u201cmany-eyed,\u201d since in the Egyptian tongue os means \u201cmany,\u201d and iri \u201ceye.\u201d\n7. And they write Heaven, as unageing through eternity, 3 with \u201cheart,\u201d [that is] spirit, 4 [rising] from \u201caltar\u201d 5 underneath.\n8. 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,\u2014seeing that Justice neither gives nor takes gift, and is not worked on.\n9. And for the warriors, \u201cscarab\u201d was their seal-emblem;\u2014for 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.\n274:3 That is, presumably, Knouph or Knef.\n274:4 \u03b8\u03b1\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b8\u03b1\u03c5\u03bc\u03ac\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2, passive and active of the verb of \u03b8\u03b1\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1, generally translated \u201cwonder,\u201d but meaning radically \u201clook at with awe\u201d; hence contemplate religiously (the art of \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03c1\u03af\u03b1), and hence the Platonic (? Pythagorean) saying: \u201cThe beginning of philosophy is wonder.\u201d Compare the variants of the new-found Jesus logos (\u201cLet not him who seeks,\u201d etc.), which preserve both \u03b8\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03b7\u03b8\u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 and \u03b8\u03b1\u03c5\u03bc\u03ac\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2.\n275:1 That is, to the men of Greece the art of the Egyptians.\n275:2 \u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03b4\u03af\u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd (= \u03b4\u03b9-\u03c6\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd)\u2014variously translated \u201coff a chair,\u201d \u201cin a chariot,\u201d hence \u201con a journey.\u201d \u201cThat which bears two\u201d 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.\n275:3 The \u03c7\u03bf\u1fd6\u03bd\u03b9\u03be was a dry measure, the standard of a man\u2019s (slave\u2019s) daily allowance of corn. Hence, perhaps, in one sense the symbol may mean: \u201cBe not content with your \u2018daily bread\u2019 only\u201d; yet any meaning connected with \u201cthat which measures\u201d would suit the interpretation, such as, \u201cBest not on measure, but move in the unimmeasurable.\u201d\n275:4 \u03c6\u03bf\u1fd6\u03bd\u03b9\u03be means a \u201cPh\u0153nician\u201d (as opposed to an Egyptian), a \u201cdate palm\u201d (as opposed to a \u201cpine\u201d), and a \u201cph\u0153nix\u201d; in colour this was \u201cpurple red,\u201d \u201cpurple,\u201d or \u201ccrimson.\u201d The ph\u0153nix proper rose again from its ashes; its colour was golden. \u03c6\u03c5\u03c4\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd means \u201cplant,\u201d but also \u201cengender,\u201d \u201cbeget.\u201d\n275:5 \u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1 was, in Homeric times, the technical term for the sacred sacrificial knife\u2014the knife that kills and divides the victim\u2019s 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, \u201cDo not provoke an angry man,\u201d but this leaves out of consideration the concluding words \u201cin house.\u201d\n275:6 Cf. lxxv. 14.\n275:7 Presumably the ogdoad or eight.\n275:8 Or \u201cwritten\u201d or \u201cengraved.\u201d\n276:1 Eg. \u0226s\u0227r.\n276:2 Generally a \u201cthrone\u201d in the hieroglyphs. But for the numerous variants, see Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, ii. 113. Cf. li. 1 below.\n276:3 \u1f00\u03ca\u03b4\u03b9\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u2014lit., form-(or idea-) less-ness; transcending all forms.\n276:4 \u03b8\u03c5\u03bc\u1f78\u03bd, one of the most primitive terms of Greek psychology\u2014spirit or soul, or more generally life-principle.\n276:5 \u1f10\u03c3\u03c7\u03ac\u03c1\u03b1, an altar for burnt offerings; here probably symbolising Earth as the syzygy of Heaven.\n276:6 It is to be remembered that the \u201cmark\u201d of the warriors was their manliness (ix. 1).\n276:7 Matter (\u1f55\u03bb\u03b7) being the Nurse, \u201caccording to Plato.\u201d The legend was that the scarab beetle deposited its seed into dung which it first made into balls (lxxiv. 5).","title":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1: IX. Plutarch: Concerning ...","type":"page"}