Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius: 3 (with quoted footnotes)
1. Nothing is inhabited by God, (36) for where heaven is, God is too, (37) and where the world is, heaven is too. I think (36a) that God is in heaven, and heaven in the world.
2. Many places are inhabited by humans; for where the world is, the earth is too, (38) but man is not on every earth. The sea is large as well as the earth, but heaven by itself is as much as both the sea and the earth. And he wanted to say that, by its magnitude, heaven is as much as both the earth and the sea, so large as the two of them may be, since taking everything into itself, it’s encompassed it and it contains it enclosed within itself. (39)
3. Heaven is larger than everything, and the sun than earth and sea, for it extends beyond both of them. However the earth is larger than the sea, because the sea comes from it. And in heaven are all the beings, for it contains the superior ones and it also contains the inferior, enclosing them from side to side.
4. God is the good which is precious to all the intelligible beings; God is the father of the intelligible; (40) heaven is the maker of the body. (41) The magnitude of the light of the sun is earth and sea; (42) the magnitude of heaven is the world; the magnitude of the world is God.
- Nothing is inhabited by God, (36: CH 5.10 “This is the god, greater than a name. He is unmanifest, yet He is most manifest; He can be perceived by Nous; He can be seen by the eyes. He is bodiless, yet he has many bodies, or rather every body. Nothing is which He is not. For He is all that exists and He has therefore all names, because all names come from one Father, and that is why He Himself has no name, for he is the Father of the all. How can you be praised to others or to yourself? And where shall I look to praise your above, below, inside or outside? For you there is no direction, no place, nor any other being. All is within you, all comes from you. You give everything and take nothing. For you have everything and there is nothing you do not have” -Salaman) for where heaven is, God is too, (37: Some manuscripts add: ‘and where is the world, God is too.’) and where the world is, heaven is too. I think (36a: The following is perhaps a gloss of the compiler) that God is in heaven, and heaven in the world.
- Many places are inhabited by humans; for where the world is, the earth is too, (38: or ‘heaven is too’ according to some manuscripts) but man is not on every earth. The sea is large as well as the earth, but heaven by itself is as much as both the sea and the earth. And he wanted to say that, by its magnitude, heaven is as much as both the earth and the sea, so large as the two of them may be, since taking everything into itself, it’s encompassed it and it contains it enclosed within itself. (39: Likely a gloss of the compiler)
- Heaven is larger than everything, and the sun than earth and sea, for it extends beyond both of them. However the earth is larger than the sea, because the sea comes from it. And in heaven are all the beings, for it contains the superior ones and it also contains the inferior, enclosing them from side to side.
- God is the good which is precious to all the intelligible beings; God is the father of the intelligible; (40: CH 2.5 “ If it is divine, it is something essential; but if it is god, it comes to be even without essence. Otherwise, it is something intelligible, and this is why: for us, god is the foremost intelligible entity, but not so for god himself what is intelligible falls within the awareness of one who thinks of it; thus for himself god is nit intelligible because he is not something distinct from the object of his thought, i.e., so as to be an object of thought for himself.”; CH 2.16 “All use the word ‘good’ in speaking, of course, but not, all understand what it can mean. For this reason god is not understood by all. For in their ignorance, they apply the name ‘good’ to the gods and to certain humans even though these beings are never able to be good or to become so. The good is inalienable and inseparable from god, since it is god himself. All other immortal gods are given the name ‘good’ as an honor, but god is the good by nature, not because of honor. God has one nature – the good. In god and the good together there is but one kind, from which come all other kinds. The good is what gives everything and receives nothing; god gives everything and receives nothing; therefore, god is the good, and the good is god.”)heaven is the maker of the body. (41: CH 6.2 “…This is how the cosmos is good, in that it also makes all things; thus,it is good with respect to the making that it does…”) The magnitude of the light of the sun is earth and sea; (42: CH 16.8 “In this way are all things crafted. The sun portions out eternal permanence to the immortals and feeds the immortal part of the cosmos with the rising light emitted from its other side, the one that faces heavenward. But, with the light held in confinement as it shines all around the inside the hollow of water and earth and air, the sun enlivens and awakens…”; FH 32 “[b] So much he says concerning earth. Concerning the sun he speaks in turn. Osiris said: ‘O thrice great Agathos Daimon, from what source did this great sun blaze forth?’ Then the great Agathos Daimon said: ‘Osiris, do you want us to recount how the sun was born and the origin of its shining? It shone forth by the providence of the master of all. This is the origin of the sun from the master of all, made through his holy crafting World.’”) the magnitude of heaven is the world; the magnitude of the world is God.
-Footnoted quotes from the CH and FH are by Copenhaver and Litwa unless specified.