7407054 Hermes Trismegistusstobaei Hermetica Vi

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Hermes Trismegistus

STOBI HERMETICUM VIThe Mead Translation and Commentary

The sixth excerpt from the Hermetica preserved by the fifth-century MacedonianJohannes of Stobi is identified only as Hermou ek tn pros Tat; in his Latintranslation, Cardinal Patrizzi suggested Of the Stars, and later Mead offered theless ambiguous Of the Decans and the Stars.

The following is the English translation of 1906 by G.R.S. Mead, the Theosophist,prolific esoteric scholar, and founder of the Quest Society.

--Adam Forrest

[Stobi Hermeticum, Libellus VI]Of [the Decans and] the Stars

(Patrizzi (p. 38b) does not give the first third of the text ( 1-5) and his title, Ofthe Stars, is evidently incomplete; it is followed by To the Same [i.e. Tat].Text: Stob., Phys., xxi, 9, under the heading: of Hermes from the [Sermon] to Tat,pp. 184-90; M. 129-33; W. i, 189-94.

Mnard, Livre IV, No. vi of Fragments from The Books of Hermes to His Son


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Tat, pp. 242-7, under the sub-heading, Of the Decans and the Stars.)

1. Tat. Since in thy former General Sermons (Logoi), [father,] thou didst promiseme an explanation of the Six-and-thirty Decans, explain, I prithee, nowconcerning them and their activity.

Her. Theres not the slightest wish in me not to do so, O Tat, and this shouldprove the most authoritative sermon (logos) and the chiefest of them all. Soponder on it well.

We have already spoken unto thee about the Circle of the Animals, or the Life-giving one, of the Five Planets, and of Sun and Moon, and of the Circle of each

one of these.

2. Tat. Thou hast done so, Thrice-greatest one.

Her. Thus would I have thee understand as well about the Six-and-thirtyDecanscalling the former things to mind, in order that the sermon on the lattermay also be well understood by thee.

Tat. I have recalled them, father, [to my mind].

Her. We said, [my] son, there is a Body which encompasses all things. Conceiveit, then, as being in itself a kind of figure of a sphere-like shape; so is the universeconformed.

Tat. Ive thought of such a figure in my mind, just as thou dost describe, Ofather [mine].

3. Her. Beneath the Circle of this [all-embracing] frame are ranged the Six-and-thirty Decans, between this Circle of the Universe and that one of the Animals,determining the boundaries of both these Circles, and, as it were, holding that ofthe Animals aloft up in the air, and [so] defining it. They share the motion of thePlanetary Spheres, and [yet] have equal powers with the [main] motion of theWhole, crosswise the Seven. Theyre checked by nothing but the All-encirclingBody, for this must be the final thing in the [whole grades of] motionitself byits own self. But they speed on the Seven other Circles, because they move with aless rapid motion than the [Circle] of the All.

Let us, then, think of them as though of Watchers stationed round [and


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watching] over both the Seven themselves and oer the Circle of the Allorrather over all things in the Worldholding together all, and keeping the goodorder of all things.

4. Tat. Thus do I have it, father, in my mind, from what thou sayst.

Her. Moreover, Tat, thou shouldst have in thy mind that they are also free fromthe necessities laid on the other Stars. They are not checked and settled in theircourse, nor are they [further] hindered and made to tread in their own stepsagain; nor are they kept away from the Suns light--[all of] which things theother Stars endure. But free, above them all, as though they were inerrantGuards and Overseers of the whole, they night and day surround the universe.

5. Tat. Do these, then, also, further exercise an influence upon us?

Her. The greatest, O [my] son. For if they act in them, how should they fail to acton us as wellboth on each one of us and generally?

Thus, O [my] son, of all those things that happen generally, the bringing intoaction is from these; as for exampleand ponder what I saydownfalls ofkingdoms, states rebellions, plagues [and] famines, tidal waves [and] quakingsof the earth; no one of these, O son, takes place without their action.

Nay, further still, bear this in mind. If they rule over them, and we are in ourturn beneath the Seven, dost thou not think that some of their activity extends to

us as well--[who are] assuredly their sons, or [come into existence] by theirmeans?

6. Tat. What, [then,] may be the type of body that they have, O father [mine]?

Her. The many call them daimones; but they are not some special class ofdaimones, for they have not some other kind of bodies made of some specialkind of matter, nor are they moved by means of soul, as we [are moved], butthey are [simple] operations of these Six-and-thirty Gods.

Nay, further, still, have in thy mind, O Tat, their operationsthat they cast inthe earth the seed of those whom [men] call Tanes, some playing the part ofsaviours, others being most destructive.

7. Further the Stars in heaven as well do in their several [courses] bear themunderworkers; and they have ministers and warriors too. And they in[everlasting] congress with them speed on their course in ther floating, full-filling [all] its space, so that there is no space above empty of stars.


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They are the cosmic engine of the universe, having their own peculiar action,which is subordinate, however, to the action of the Thirty-sixfrom whomthroughout [all] lands arise the deaths of [all] the other lives with souls, andhosts of [lesser] lives that spoil the fruit.

8. And under them is what is called the Bearjust in the middle of the Circle ofthe Animals, composed of seven stars, and with another corresponding [Bear]above its head.

Its energy is as it were an axles, setting nowhere and nowhere rising, butstopping [ever] in the self-same space, and turning round the same, giving itsproper motion to the Life-producing Circle, and handing over this wholeuniverse from night to day, from day to night.

And after this there is another choir of stars, to which we have not thought itproper to give names; but they who will come after us, in imitation, will givethem names themselves.

9. Again, below the Moon, are other stars, corruptible, deprived of energy,which hold together for a little while, in that theyve been exhaled out of theearth itself into the air above the earthwhich ever are being broken up, in thatthey have a nature like unto [that of] useless lives on earth, which come intoexistence for no other purpose than to diesuch as the tribe of flies, and fleas,and worms, and other things like them. For these are useful, Tat, neither to us

nor to the world; but, on the contrary, they trouble and annoy, being natures by-products, which owe their birth to her extravagance.

Just in the same way, too, the stars exhaled from earth do not attain the upperspace. They cannot do so, since they are sent forth from below; and, owing to thegreatness of their weight, dragged down by their own matter, they quickly aredispersed, and, breaking up, fail back again on earth, affecting nothing but themere disturbance of the air about the earth.

10. There is another class, O Tat, that of the so-called long-haired [stars],appearing at their proper times, and after a short time, becoming once againinvisible they neither rise nor set nor are they broken up. These are the brilliantmessengers and heralds of the general destinies of things that are to be. Theyoccupy the space below the Circle of the Sun.

When, then, some chance is going to happen to the world, [comets] appear, and,shining for some days, again return behind the Circle of the Sun, and stayinvisiblesome showing in the east, some in the north, some in the west, and


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others in the south. We call them Prophets.

11. Such is the nature of the stars. The stars, however, differ from the star-groups. The stars are they which sail in heaven; the star-groups, on the contrary,are fixed in heavens frame, and they are borne along together with the heaven

Twelve out of which we call the Zdia.

He who knows these can form some notion clearly of [what] God is; and, if oneshould dare say so, becoming [thus] a seer for himself, [so] contemplate Him,and, contemplating Him, be blessed.

12. Tat. Blessed, in truth, is he, O father [mine], who contemplateth Him.

Her. But tis impossible, O son, that one in body should have this good chance.

Moreover, he should train his soul beforehand, here and now, that when itreacheth there, [the space] where it is possible for it to contemplate, it may notmiss its way. But men who love their bodiessuch men will never contemplatethe Vision of the Beautiful and Good.

For what, O son, is that [fair] Beauty which hath no form nor any colour, norany mass?

Tat. Can there be aught thats beautiful apart from these?

Her. God only, O [my] son; or rather that which is still greaterthe [proper]name of God.

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Footnotesof G.R.S. Mead

Note 1.en tois emprothen genikois logois. Cf. C. H., x (xi), 1 and 7; xiii (xiv), 1; and Ex.xviii, 1.Note 2. These are the Horoscopes of P. S. A., xix, 3. Cf. also Origen, C. Cels.,viii, 58; R 225, n. 1.Note 3. Or energy.Note 4. The zodiac; peri tou zdiakou kyklou h zophorouof which thesecond member is probably a gloss; but see 8 below.Note 5. Or sphere.


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Note 25. Sc. the Decans.Note 26. hypoleitourgousa hapax legomenon. The term leitourgoi, however, isof frequent occurrence in the Askew and Bruce Codices. See, for instance PistisSophia (Schwartzes Trans.), p. 10: Atque dekanoi archontn eorumqueleitourgoi. 10. The Decans.

Note 27. stratitassoldiers; one of the most famous of the degrees of theMithriac mysteries was that of the Soldier. See Cumont (F.), Textes etMonuments Figurs relatifs aux Mystres de Mithra (Bruxelles; 1899), 1315, andespecially 1317, n. 1.Note 28. The Star-spheres.Note 29. The Decans.Note 30. thers.Note 31. synkosmountes to pan.Note 32. Or animals.Note 33. The Decans.

Note 34. The Great Bear. Compare Behold the Bear up there that circles roundthe Pole.Note 35. The zodiac.Note 36. The Little Bear.Note 37. Lit. energy.Note 38. Cf. 1 above.Note 39. Sc. the Bear.Note 40. Cf. P. S. A., xii, 3; xiv., 1.Note 41. That is, apparently, invent them out of their own heads haphazard.Note 42. Referring, presumably, to the phenomena of shooting stars.

Note 43. parakolouthmatasequellae.Note 44. See the same idea in Plutarch, De Is. et Os., iv, 5, concerning lice.Note 45. The cometstn kaloumenn kometn.Note 46. apotelesmatn.Note 47. Lit. below.Note 48. manteis, seers or diviners.Note 49. asteres de astrn diaphoran exousin. The asteres are the planets,aerolites and comets; the astra are the sidera, signs of the fixed stars orconstellations.Note 50. Or float (airoumenoi), lit. are raised aloft.Note 51. Or body.Note 52. The zodiac; lit. the animal signs, or signs of lives.Note 53. Cf. Ex. i, 6.Note 54. Or body.


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Commentary on Stobi Hermeticum IXby G.R.S. MeadThe earlier editors of Stobus (apparently following the mistake of Patrizzi)

have Asclepius instead of Tat as the second person of the dialogue, which isclearly wrong according to the text itself (see the first sentence given to Hermes,and 9 and 10).

The excerpt is from a sermon in the Collection to Tat. It belongs to the furtherexplanation of things referred to only generally in the General Sermons; it is,therefore, again probably from one of the Expository Sermons, in which seriesalready a sermon has been given on the Zodiacal Twelve and on the SevenSpheres. Seeing also that it is stated that this sermon is most authoritative andthe chiefest of them all, we must suppose that it came at the end of one of the

Books of the Expository Sermons.

We seem to have the beginning of the sermon, but not the end, for Stobusbreaks off in an aimless and provoking fashion in the midst of a subject. For a listof the Egyptian names of the Decans, with their Greek transcriptions andsymbols, see Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, ii, 304-8.

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Commentary Note 1. Mnard and Wachsmuth have Tat. For other changes of asimilar nature cf. Exx. i and viii, and C. H., ii (iii), and xvii.

7407054 Hermes Trismegistusstobaei Hermetica Vi

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