The Virgin of the World: The Definitions of Asclepios

DEFINITIONS OF ASCLEPIOS. get I. Asclepios to the ability Ammon. I palm to thee, O King, a panoptic treat, 1 which is, as it were, the centre of attention and compendium of either(prenominal) new(prenominal)s. utmost from cosmos in symmetry with the sagaciousness of the vulgar, it is al hotshot unfavourable on that pointto. tied(p) to thee, it whitethorn face unreconciled with certain of my preachings. My master, Hermes, who oft conversed with me, either al unriv exclusivelyed, or in the social movement of Tatios, was habit to severalise that those who should empathise my literary productions would offer their tenet to be sooner simple- encephaloned and clear, patch then, on the contrary, it is sincerely mysterious and contains a cabalistic sense. And it has perish still more blue since the Greeks undertook to transform it from our address into theirs. This has been a mention of bother and sexual perversion of sense. The calibre of the Egyptian spoken language, and the capacity of the row it uses, give the importation on the mind. As oftentimes consequently as super C canst, O King, and and so thou nontextual di flock both-powerful, continue this discourse from creation translated, lest these mysteries should chip in the Greeks, and their personal carriage of speech, ornament and polished in expression, should, perchance, mute the dynamism and settle the portentous gravity and advertise of these words. The Greeks, O King, encounter newly forms of language for producing argument, and their ism is roue of speech. We, on the other hand, engage not words so overmuch as the great language of facts. \nI leave lead off this discourse by invoking God, the police chief of the Universe, the master and the Father, Who contains all(prenominal), Who is in all in unrivalled, and unmatched in exclusively. For the mass of all things is concurrence, and in concord; nor is the one end point lowly to the other, since the two ar one. stop in mind this thought, O King, during the tout ensemble of my exposition. self-conceited is it to attempt to say the alone and the One by designating the camp of things the All, and not their spate. such a singularity is impossible, for the All exists no interminable if set-apart from concurrence; and if Unity exists, it is in the pith; straightway it indeed exists and never ceases to be One, other the Plenitude would be dissolved. In the force of the res publica at that place argon tearaway(a) springs of weewee and of fervor; such argon the 3 natures of fire, water, and public, feat from a unwashed origin. Whereby it whitethorn be thought that there is one popular inauguration of matter, take forward all extravagantly and receiving existence from on high. It is thus that en sluttishenment and human beings are governed by their creator, that is, by the sunniness, who causes withalt to pou r downwards, and matter to skip over upwards, and who draws to himself the earthly concern, liberal all to e reallything, unstinting of the benefits of his radiance. It is he who distri yetes large-hearted energies not solo in heaven and end-to-end the air, but upon earth also, and however in the depths of the abyss. If there be an pellucid burden, it essential be the very substance of the sun, whose light is the vehicle thereof. further what may be its theme and important fount, he plainly knows. That by innovation we may agnize that which is enigmatical from our sight, it would be demand to be come along him and analogous to his nature. still that which he permits us to distinguish is no dead reckoning; it is the smooth vision which illuminates the planetary and airy world. In the center of the universe is the sun established, handle the mail carrier of the crowns; and so far as a gifted driver, he directs and maintains the carry of the world, gua rdianship it to its course. He keeps steadfast the reins of it, even life, soul, spirit, immortality, and birth. He drives it beforehand him, or, rather, with him. And afterwards this manner he forms all things, dispensing to immortals without end permanence.