{"collection":"Gnosticism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/gno/th2/th230.htm","path":"gno/th2/th230.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/gno/th2/th230.htm","text":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 2, by G.R.S. Mead, [1906]\nFabricius, in his Bibliotheca Gr\u00e6ca, 2 says that the title should be \u201cOn the Nature of the All,\u201d and that he has recovered it from Cyril, C. Jul., ii., but I cannot verify this statement.\nThe form of this treatise is different from any of the\npreceding, being that of a letter. It evidently belongs to the Asclepius-Tat type of tradition, as in C. H., x. (xi.): \u201cMy yesterday\u2019s discourse I did devote to thee, Asclepius, and so \u2019tis only right I should devote to-day\u2019s to Tat.\u201d\nThe distinction drawn between Tat and Asclepius is of interest; Tat is the younger,\u2014who has only \u201cjust come to Gnosis of the teaching on each single point.\u201d Can this mean that he has only just been permitted to share in the \u201cExpository Sermons\u201d or \u201cDetailed Discourses\u201d? It is probable, for C. H., x. (xi.) 1, continues: \u201cAnd this the more because \u2019tis the abridgment (epitome) of the General Sermons which he has had addressed to him.\u201d\nAsclepius is older, and already \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2\u2014well-versed in the study of Nature.\nWhat may be the exact significance underlying these personifications it is very difficult to say; but the same facts, whatever they may have been, are clearly referred to in K K. (Stob., Ecl., i. 49; p. 386, 24 W.); especially the later accession of \u201cAsclepius\u201d to the School, and the fact that \u201cTat,\u201d because of his too great \u201cyouth,\u201d could not have handed on to him the tradition of the complete or all-perfect contemplation (\u1f41\u03bb\u03bf\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u1f74\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03c1\u03af\u03b1)\u2014that is, of the math\u0113sis or gn\u014dsis, or, in other words, the \u201clearning of the things that are, the contemplating of their nature and the knowing God\u201d (C. H., i. 3); or the \u201cbeing taught the nature of the all and the Supreme Vision\u201d (ibid., 27).\nThis view of the tradition of the School seems to clash entirely with the other view set forth in C. H., xiii. (xiv.), where Tat has handed on to him the \u201cmanner of Rebirth,\u201d but a probable explanation has already been attempted in the \u201cProlegomena,\u201d chap, xvi.: \u201cThe Disciples of Thrice-greatest Hermes.\u201d\nThe treatise itself requires little commentary; the similarity of its doctrine, however, with that of the \u201cMind unto Hermes\u201d is remarkable. For instance, compare the last sentence of \u00a7 7 of our treatise with C. H., xi. (xii.) 14: \u201cFor that indeed He hath no other one to share in what He works, for working by Himself, He ever is at work, Himself being what He doth.\u201d\nCompare also the first sentence of \u00a7 8 with C. H., xi. (xii.) 20: \u201cBehold what power, what swiftness thou dost have! And canst thou do all of these things, and God not do them?\u201d\nWith the Good Husbandman \u201cimage\u201d (\u00a7 10) compare:\n\u201cCome unto me, Good Husbandman, Good Daimon, Harpocrates, Chnouphis . . . who rollest down the stream of Nilus, 1 and minglest with the Sea . . . as man with woman.\u201d 2\nAnd in the Alchemical literature:\n\u201c[Come then], and coming contemplate, enquire of Acharantus (?), the Husbandman, and learn of Him, what is it that is sown, and what that which is reaped; and thou shalt learn that he who soweth corn shall reap corn also, and he who soweth barley shall in like manner reap barley.\u201d 3\nSo also Zosimus in the \u201cBook Concerning the Logos\u201d:\n\u201cAnd that I tell thee truth, I call to witness Hermes, when he says: Go unto Achaab (?), the Husbandman, and thou shalt learn that he who soweth corn gives birth to corn.\u201d 4\n263:2 Ed. Harles (4th ed.), vol. i. lib. i. cap. vii.\n265:1 The Heavenly River of fructifying essence.\n265:2 Abhandl. d. Berl. Akad. (1865), p. 120, 26; R. 143.\n265:3 Berthelot, p. 30.\n265:4 Berthelot, p. 89.","title":"Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 2: I. Corpus Hermeticum: Commentary","type":"page"}