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[then] such workmanship as this exist without a Worker? What depth of blindness, what deep impiety,
what depth of ignorance! See, [then] thou ne'er, son Tat, deprivest works of Worker!
Nay, rather is He greater than all names, so great is He, the Father of them all. For verily He is the Only
One, and this is His work, to be a father.
9. So, if thou forcest me somewhat too bold, to speak, His being is conceiving of all things and making
[them].
And as without its maker its is impossible that anything should be, so ever is He not unless He ever
makes all things, in heaven, in air, in earth, in deep, in all of cosmos, in every part that is and that is not
of everything. For there is naught in all the world that is not He.
He is Himself, both things that are and things that are not. The things that are He hath made manifest, He
keepeth things that are not in Himself.
10. He is the God beyond all name; He the unmanifest, He the most manifest; He whom the mind
[alone] can contemplate, He visible to the eyes [as well]; He is the one of no body, the one of many
bodies, nay, rather He of every body.
Naught is there which he is not. For all are He and He is all. And for this cause hath He all names, in that
they are one Father's. And for this cause hath He Himself no nome, in that He's Father of [them] all.
Who, then, may sing Thee praise of Thee, or [praise] to Thee?
Whither, again, am I to turn my eyes to sing Thy praise; above, below, within, without?
There is no way, no place [is there] about Thee, nor any other thing of things that are.
All [are] in Thee; all [are] from Thee, O Thou who givest all and takest naught, for Thou hast all and
naught is there Thou hast not.
11. And when, O Father, shall I hymn Thee? For none can seize Thy hour or time.
For what, again, shall I sing hymn? For things that Thou hast made, or things Thou hast not? For things
Thou hast made manifest, or things Thou hast concealed?
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How, further, shall I hymn Thee? As being of myself? As having something of mine own? As being
other?
For that Thou art whatever I may be; Thou art whatever I may do; Thou art whatever I may speak.
For Thou art all, and there is nothing else which Thou art not. Thou art all that which doth exist, and
Thou art what doth not exist - Mind when Thou thinkest, and Father when Thou makest, and God when
Thou dost energize, and Good and Maker of all things.
For that the subtler part of matter is the air, of air the soul, of soul the mind, and of mind God.
The Corpus Hermeticum
translated by G.R.S. Mead
VI. In God Alone Is Good And Elsewhere Nowhere
language of classical Greek philosophy - a point which some of Mead's translations tend to obscure.
"The Good," in Greek thought, is also the self-caused and self-sufficient, and thus has little in common
with later conceptions of "goodness," just as the Latin word virtus and the modern Christian concept of
"virtue" are very nearly opposites despite their etymological connection. The word "passion" here also
needs to be understood in its older sense, as the opposite of "action" (cf. "active" and "passive").
the more positive assessment found, for example, in the Poemandres (CH I) or in the Asclepius - a
reminder that these documents are relics of a diverse and not necessarily consistent school of thought. -
JMG>
1. Good, O Asclepius, is in none else save in God alone; nay, rather, Good is God Himself eternally.
If it be so, [Good] must be essence, from every kind of motion and becoming free (though naught is free
from It), possessed of stable energy around Itself, never too little, nor too much, an ever-full supply.
[Though] one, yet [is It] source of all; for what supplieth all is Good. When I, moreover, say [supplieth]
altogether [all], it is for ever Good. But this belongs to no one else save God alone.
For He stands not in need of any thing, so that desiring it He should be bad; nor can a single thing of
things that are be lost to him, on losing which He should be pained; for pain is part of bad.
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