HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, 



PAET II. 



EXCERPTS MADE BY STOB^US (STH OR 

 GTH CENTURY) FROM THE WORKS OF 

 HERMES. 



L_OF TEUTH. 



FROM THE THINGS TO TAT (Florilegium, xi. 23; 

 MeineJce, i. 248). 



" RESPECTING Truth, O Tat ! it is impossible for Man, 

 being an imperfect being, and composed of imperfect mem- 

 bers, and the tabernacle (a) consisting of various bodies 

 and many, to speak with boldness. But what is possible 

 and just that I affirm, that Truth is in eternal (&) bodies 

 only, of which also the bodies themselves are true. Eire 

 is very fire, and nothing else ; Earth very earth itself, and 

 nothing else ; Air itself air, and nothing else ; Water very 

 water, and nothing else ; but these bodies of ours are con- 

 stituted of all these ; for they have of fire, they have also 

 of earth, they have also of water, also of air; and it is 

 neither fire, nor earth, nor water, nor air, nor anything 

 true ; but if, at the beginning, the constitution (c) of us 

 had not Truth, how then can it either see or speak Truth ? 

 but only to understand if God will. All things, then, 



(a) TO <rxijyo. (6) ettbtoii* (c) avarocaig. 



