44 HERMES TEISMEGISTUS. 



is not capable (a) 1 , that on all sides restricted (5), by evil r 

 and labours, and griefs, and desires, and anger and errors, 

 and mindless opinions. And the worst of all, Asclepius ! 

 is that each of these the aforesaid is believed here to be 

 the greatest good. 2 That more than unsurpassable evil, 

 the gluttony (c), the error, the provider of all the evils, is 

 the absence here of the Good. / 



4. And I also give thanks to The God, to Him Who hath 

 instilled into my mind respecting the knowledge of The 

 Good; that it is impossible for that to be in the world. 

 For the world is the plenitude of the evil (d)f but The God 

 of the Good, or the Good (the plenitude) of The God. 

 For the excellencies of the beautiful are around this very 

 Essence, and perhaps these His Essences appear thus, both 

 more pure and more distinct. For we may dare to say, O 

 , Asclepius ! that the Essence of The God, if indeed He have 

 I Essence, is the Beautiful, but the Beautiful is also Good. No 

 good thing is to be comprehended among those in the world. 

 For all things falling under the eye are images, and as it 

 were adumbrations (e), and those who fall not under it, 4 

 and specially that of The Beautiful and of The Good. 

 And as the eye is not able to behold The God, so neither 

 The Beautiful nor The Good ; for these are integral parts of 

 The God, properties (/) of Himself only, familiars (g\ in- 

 separables, most lovely, which either God Himself loveth 

 or they love The God. 



(a) 6v %upkt. (&) KotvroQ 



(c) (ActKhov oii/vTrtpfi'hYiTQv q yoKrrpiptctp'yioi. 



(d) xofffto; 'Tc'hYiptofAu. rq$ xowc/otj. (e) tibu'hoc. 



.(/) /8/. (g) ofaftoi. 



1 " For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good 

 thing" (Rom. xx. 18). 



2 " For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the 

 sight of God" (Luke xvi. 15). 



3 " This present evil world " (heararos otiuvog irowpov, Greek) (Gal. 

 i. 4). "The whole world" (xo'o^oj 0X0?) "lieth in wickedness" 

 (1 John v. 19). " All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the 

 lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father " (ibid. iu 

 16), " but of the world" (Ix rov xoapov). 



4 Here is a lacuna in the text which mars the sense. 



