The great reversals — waking by sleep, seeing by closed eyes
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ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τοῦ Ποιμάνδρου ἀνεγραψάμην εἰς ἐμαυτόν, καὶ πληρωθεὶς ὧν ἤθελον ἐξηυφράνθην. ἐγένετο γὰρ ὁ τοῦ σώματος ὕπνος τῆς ψυχῆς νῆψις, καὶ ἡ κάμμυσις τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀληθινὴ ὅρασις, καὶ ἡ σιωπή μου ἐγκύμων τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, καὶ ἡ τοῦ λόγου ἐκφορὰ γεννήματα ἀγαθῶν. τοῦτο δὲ συνέβη μοι λαβόντι ἀπὸ τοῦ νοός μου, τουτ’ έστι τοῦ Ποιμάνδρου τοῦ τῆς αὐθεντίας λόγου, ὅθεν θεόπνους γενόμενος τῆς ἀληθείας ἦλθον. διὸ δίδωμι ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ ἰσχύος ὅλης εὐλογίαν τῷ πατρὶ θεῷ.
And I wrote the benefaction of Poimandres into myself, and being filled with what I wished, I rejoiced greatly. For the body's sleep became the soul's sobriety, and the closing of the eyes true sight, and my silence pregnant with the good, and the bringing-forth of the word offspring of good things. This befell me, having received it from my Mind — that is, from Poimandres, the word of the sovereignty — whence, becoming God-inspired, I came to the truth. Therefore I give, from soul and whole strength, blessing to the Father-God.
Hermes records the benefaction of Poimandres within himself, and is filled with joy. He names the reversals the vision worked in him: the body's sleep became the soul's sobriety; the closing of the eyes, true sight; his silence pregnant with the good; his speech, offspring of good things. Having received this from his own Mind — Poimandres, the word of the sovereignty — he became God-inspired and came to the truth, and gives blessing to the Father with all his strength.
Before the closing hymn, Hermes states the epistemology of the whole book as a series of reversals, and the interlinear can hold each one intact: the body's sleep (ὕπνος) is the soul's waking (νῆψις); the shutting of the eyes is 'true sight'; silence is 'pregnant with the good'; and only then does speech come forth as 'offspring of good things.' Everything the ordinary world calls seeing, waking, speaking is inverted — one wakes by sleeping to the body, sees by closing the eyes, speaks by first falling silent.
And the source is named precisely: this came 'from my own Mind (νοῦς) — that is, from Poimandres.' The revealer was never external; Poimandres is the Nous within, 'the word of the sovereignty.' Having received it, Hermes becomes θεόπνους, God-breathed, and 'comes to the truth' (ἀλήθεια — literally the un-forgetting, the waking from the drunken sleep of I.27). The response is inevitable: blessing given 'from soul and whole strength.' The argument has done what the genre promised — risen into praise.
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Corpus Hermeticum CH1.30 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/hermetica/CH1.30/