{"collection":"Gnosticism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/gno/th1/th135.htm","path":"gno/th1/th135.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/gno/th1/th135.htm","text":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1, by G.R.S. Mead, [1906]\nXLV. 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.\n2. For neither drought nor wind nor sea nor darkness is the essential of Typhon, but the whole hurtful and destructive [element] which is in nature.\n3. For we must neither place the principles of the whole in soulless bodies, as [do] Democritus and Epicurus, 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.\n4. 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.\n5. For \u201creciprocal\u201d [is] cosmos\u2019 \u201charmony, as that of lyre or bow,\u201d according to Heracleitus, 1 and according to Euripides:\nThere could not be apart good things and bad, \nBut there\u2019s a blend of both so as to make things fair. 2\n6. Wherefore this exceedingly ancient doctrine also comes down from the theologers and law-givers to poets and philosophers\u2014[a doctrine] that has its origin set down to no man\u2019s 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]\nperfectionings and [public] offerings, both non-Greek and Greek [ones]\u2014that neither does the universe mindless and reason-less and guidance-less float in \u201cThat which acts of its own will,\u201d 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.\n7. 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 antagonistic powers\u2014the one leading [things] to the right and on the straight [road], the other upsetting and undoing [them]\u2014both 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.\n8. 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.\nXLVI. 1 1. And this is the opinion of most of the most wise.\n2. For some think there are two craft-rival Gods, as it were,\u2014one the artificer of good [things], the other of [things] worthless. Others call the better \u201cGod\u201d and the other \u201cDaimon,\u201d as Zoroaster the Mage, who, they tell us, lived five thousand years before the Trojan War.\n3. Zoroaster, then, called the one \u014cromaz\u0113s, 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 Mithr\u0113s; wherefore the Persians call Mithr\u0113s the Mediator.\n4. He taught them, moreover, to make offerings of gladsome prayers to the one, and to the other of melancholy de-precations.\n5. For bruising a certain plant called \u201cmoly\u201d 1 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.\n6. 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 birds 2 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].\nXLVII. 1. Not that they also do not tell many mythic stories about the Gods; such as are, for example, the following:\n\u014cromaz\u0113s, born from the purest light, and Areimanios, of the nether darkness, are at war with one another.\n2. 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.\n3. Then \u014cromaz\u0113s 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\nestablished one star above all as warder and look-out, [namely] Sirius.\n4. And having made four-and-twenty other gods, he put them into an egg.\nWhereupon those that were made from Areimanios, just the same in number, piercing through the egg . . . 1\u2014whence the bad have been mingled with the good.\n5. But a time appointed by Fate will come when Areimanios\u2019s 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\n6. 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.\n7. 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\u2014not otherwise long for a God, but proportionate to a man\u2019s sleeping.\n8. The style of myth among the Magi, then, is somewhat after this manner.\nXLVIII. 1. Moreover, Chald\u00e6ans declare that of the planets\u2014which they call birth-presiding gods\u2014two are good workers, two ill-doers, while three are intermediates and common.\n2. 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.\n3. 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.\n4. For Heracleitus plainly calls \u201cWar\u201d\u2014\u201cfather and king and lord of all,\u201d 1 and says that Homer, when he prays \u201cthat strife and hatred cease from gods as well,\u201d 2 forgets that he is imprecating the means of birth of all, in that they have their genesis from conflict and antipathy; that:\n\u201cSun will not o\u2019erstep his proper bounds, for if he do, Furies, Eight\u2019s bodyguard, will find him out.\u201d\u00a03 \n5. The Pythagorics [also], in a list of names, set down the predicates of Good as\u2014One, Finite, Abiding, Straight, Odd, Square, Equal, Right, Light; and of Bad as\u2014Two, Infinite, Moving, Curved, Even, Oblong, Unequal, Left, Dark,\u2014on the ground that these are the underlying principles of genesis.\n6. Aristotle [also predicates] the former as Form and the latter as Privation.\n7. While Plato, though in many passages disguising himself and hiding his face, calls the former of the opposite principles Same and the latter Other.\n8. But in his Laws, being now older, no longer in riddles and in symbols, but with authentic names, he says 1 cosmos is moved not by one soul, but probably by several, in any case not less than two,\u2014whereof the one is good-doing, the other the opposite to this and maker of things opposite.\n9. He leaves out, however, a certain third intermediate 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.\nXLIX. 1. For though the genesis and composition of this cosmos has been blended from opposing, though not equal-strengthed, powers, the lordship is nevertheless that of the Better [one].\n2. 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.\n3. In the Soul [of cosmos], then, Mind and Reason (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.\n4. But Typhon is the passionate and titanic and reasonless and impulsive [aspect] of the Soul, while of\nits corporeal [side he is] the death-dealing and pestilent and disturbing, with unseasonable times and intemperate atmospheres and concealments of sun and moon,\u2014as though they were the charges and obliterations of Typhon.\n5. And the name is a predicate of S\u0113th, as they call Typhon; for [S\u0113th] means \u201cthat which oppresses and constrains by force;\u201d 1 it means also, frequently, \u201cturning upside down,\u201d and, again, \u201coverleaping.\u201d\n6. Some, moreover, say that one of the companions of Typhon was Beb\u014dn; 2 while Maneth\u014ds [says] that Typhon himself was also called Beb\u014dn, and that the name signifies \u201cholding back\u201d or \u201chindering,\u201d since the power of Typhon stands in the way of things going on their way and moving towards what they have to.\nL. 1. Wherefore also of domestic animals they apportion to him the least tractable\u2014the ass; while of wild ones, the most savage\u2014the crocodile and hippopotamus.\n2. As to the ass, we have already given some explanation. At Hermes-city, however, as image of Typhon, they show us a hippopotamus on which stands a hawk 3 fighting a snake,\u2014indicating by the hippopotamus 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.\n3. Wherefore also when they make offerings on the seventh of the month Tybi, 4\u2014which [day] they call\n[paragraph continues] \u201cArrival of Isis from Ph\u0153nicia,\u201d they mould on the cakes a bound hippopotamus. 1\n4. 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,\u2014considering as they do that all animals and plants and experiences that are evil and harmful are Typhon\u2019s works and parts and movements.\nLI. 1. Osiris, again, on the other hand, they write with \u201ceye\u201d and \u201csceptre,\u201d 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 \u201cZeus supreme counsellor,\u201d 3 seems by \u201csupreme\u201d to signify his supremacy, and by \u201ccounsellor\u201d his good counsel and providence.\n2. They frequently write this god with \u201chawk\u201d 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.\n3. 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,\u2014by 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\n4. And everywhere they exhibit a man-shaped image of Osiris,\u2014ithyphallic, because of his generative and luxuriant [nature].\nAnd they dress his statue in a flame-coloured robe,\u2014since 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.\n5. Wherefore also we should pay no attention to those who assign the sphere of the sun to Typhon, 1\u2014to whom nothing light or salutary, neither order nor genesis, nor any motion that has measure and reason, belongs, but [rather] their contraries.\n6. And we should not set down drought which destroys many of the animals and plants, as the sun\u2019s 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.\nLII. 1. And in the sacred hymns to Osiris, they invoke 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.\n2. And on the eighth of the waning [half] of Pa\u014dphi 4 they keep the Birthday of the Sun\u2019s Staff, after the autumnal equinox,\u2014signifying that he needs an under-prop, as it were, and strengthening, deficient as he is\nin heat and light, declining and moving obliquely from us.\n3. 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 \u201cwater\u201d of the Sun.\n4. And she goes round this number of times, because he completes his passing from the winter to the summer solstice in the seventh month.\n5. 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.\n6. Though indeed every day they offer incense to the Sun in three kinds\u2014resin at his rising, myrrh at mid-heaven, and what is called \u201ckuphi\u201d 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 propitious to them and to do him service.\n7. 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\u2014though with Egyptians the addition of the article has caused the name to be mistaken 2\u2014and 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 occultations and overshadowings in which she follows Sun longing after him.\n8. Accordingly they invoke Moon for affairs of love; and Eudoxus 3 says that Isis decides love-affairs.\n9. 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.\n10. But let us ourselves again take up the proper reason (logos).\n323:1 Mullach, i. 319; Fairbanks (45), p. 37. The whole logos of Heracleitus runs: \u201cThey know not how differing agrees with itself,\u2014back-flying (\u03c0\u03b1\u03bb\u03af\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2) harmony as though of lyre or bow.\u201d That is, as a stretched string flies back again to its original position.\n323:2 Nauck, p. 294.\n323:3 That is, presumably, \u201cin logoi and voices from heaven.\u201d\n324:1 For a criticism and notes on this chapter and the following, see Cumont (F.), Textes et Monuments Figur\u00e9s relatifs aux Myst\u00e8res de Mithra (Bruxelles, 1896), ii. 33-35.\n325:1 Thought by some to be the Cappadocian equivalent of the haoma or soma plant.\n325:2 That is \u201ccocks.\u201d\n326:1 A lacuna occurs here in the text.\n326:2 This may refer to the consciousness of the spiritual life.\n326:3 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. Cf. Pistis Sophia, 243: \u201cJesus answered and said unto Mary: \u2018A 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.\u2019\u201d 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 \u201cstraight\u201d with the Spiritual Sun.\n327:1 Fairbanks, (44) pp. 34, 35.\n327:2 Cf. Il., xviii. 107; Fairbanks, (43) pp. 34, 35.\n327:3 Fairbanks, (29) pp. 32, 33.\n328:1 This is a very brief summary of the argument in Legg., x. 896 ff. (Jowett, v. 282 ff.).\n328:2 Cf. xlv. 6.\n328:3 This \u201cargument\u201d is Plutarch\u2019s own treatise and not Plato\u2019s dialogue, as King supposes.\n329:1 Cf. xli. 2.\n329:2 \u03b2\u03ad\u03b2\u03c9\u03bd\u03b1, but perhaps rather \u03b2\u03b5\u03b2\u1ff6\u03bd\u03b1\u2014and so \u03b2\u03b5\u03b2\u1ff6\u03c2, a play on \u03b2\u03b5\u03b2\u1ff6\u03bd, \u201csteadying\u201d or \u201cstraining.\u201d In Eg. Bebi or Baba; cf. Budge, op. cit., ii. 92.\n329:3 Cf. li. 2.\n329:4 Copt. Tobi\u2014corr. roughly to January.\n330:1 Cf. \u201cbound ass\u201d above, xxx. 3.\n330:2 Cf. x. 6.\n330:3 Il., viii. 22; xvii. 339.\n330:4 Cf. 1. 2. Compare the Eagle of Zeus.\n330:5 More of the \u201cPhysiologus.\u201d\n330:6 \u201cIn the crocodile\u2019s gullet,\u201d comments King, \u201cand so prevents him gulping down the bird.\u201d We are, however, inclined to think that Plutarch is a bit of a humourist, and that there is no necessity for commenting seriously on his on dits.\n331:1 Cf. xli. 1; also \u00a7 9 below.\n331:2 That is the Sun\u2019s Rays.\n331:3 Copt. Epep\u2014corr. roughly with July.\n331:4 Copt. Paopi\u2014corr. roughly with October.\n332:1 Cf. lxxix., lxxx.\n332:2 That is \u1f41 \u03c3\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 = \u1f44\u03c3\u03b9\u03c1\u03b9\u03c2\u2014an absurd contention, of course, though flattering to Greek vanity.\n332:3 Cf. vi., x., xxx., lxii., lxiv.","title":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1: IX. Plutarch: Concerning ...","type":"page"}