NOTICES IN THE FATHERS. 145 



who I know not how investigated almost all Truth, often 

 described the Excellency and Majesty of The Word, as the 

 instance before mentioned declares, in which he acknow- 

 ledges that there is an ineffable and sacred Speech, the 

 relation of which exceeds the measure of man's ability." l 



Ibid., Dimn. Instit., Lib. iv. ch. 6. 



" But that there is a Son of The Most High God Who is 

 possessed of the greatest power, is shown not only by the 

 unanimous utterances of the prophets, but also by the 

 declaration of Trismegistus, and the predictions of the 

 Sibyls. Hermes in the book which is entitled ' The Per- 

 fect Word ' made use of these words : ' The Lord and 

 Creator of all things Whom we have thought right to call 

 God, since He made the Second God visible and sensible. 

 But I use the term sensible, not because He Himself per- 

 ceives (for the question is not whether He Himself per- 

 ceives), but because He leads (a) to perception and intel- 

 ligence. Since therefore He made Him First and alone 

 and One only, He appeared to Him beautiful and most full 

 of all good things, and He hallowed Him and altogether 

 loved Him as His own Son.' " 2 



Ibid., Dimn. Instit, v. ch. 65. 



"But Piety is nothing else but 'the Knowledge of God,' 

 as Trismegistus most truly defined it." 3 



(a) v'TTQirift'Trti. 



1 Poemandres, i. 3, 6-9; Parthey, 3, 5. 



2 This passage is found nearly verbatim in the Asclepius, ch. iv. 

 Lactantius gives the original Greek, which is not extant elsewhere. 

 But it is also to be found in the original Greek in Poemandres, ch. i. 

 6, 10, 12; Parthey's Edit., 3, 5, 6; whence it would seem that Ascle- 

 pius copied from Poemandres. See also Poemandres, ch. xiii. 4; 

 Parthey 's Ed., 117. This is also cited by Lactantius in the Epitome 

 of the Divin. Instit., ch. xlii. 



3 Poemandres, ix. 3, 4. 



