Would that we too could see — the knowledge of the Good is divine silence
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Hermes — ἧς οἱ δυνάμενοι πλέον τι ἀρύσασθαι τῆς θέας κατακοιμίζονται πολλάκις δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος εἰς τὴν καλλίστην ὄψιν ᾧπερ Οὐρανὸς καὶ Κρόνος, οἱ ἡμέτεροι πρόγονοι, ἐντετυχήκασιν.
Tat — Εἴθε καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὦ πάτερ.
Hermes — Εἴθε γάρ, ὧ τέκνον· νῦν δὲ ἔτι ἀτονοῦμεν πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν καὶ οὔπω ἰσχύομεν ἀναπετάσαι ἡμῶν τοὺς τοῦ νοῦ ὀφθαλμούς, καὶ θεάσασθαι τὸ κάλλος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐκείνου τὸ ἄφθαρτον, τὸ ἄληπτον. τότε γὰρ αὐτὸ ὄψει, ὅταν μηδὲν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἔχῃς εἰπεῖν. ἡ γὰρ γνῶσις αὐτοῦ καὶ θεία σιωπή ἐστι καὶ καταργία πασῶν τῶν αἰσθήσεων.
Of which those able to drink in something more of the vision are often lulled to sleep, away from the body, into the fairest sight — which very sight Uranus and Cronus, our ancestors, have attained. — Would that we too could, O father! — Would that indeed, O child; but as it is we are still too weak for the sight, and not yet strong enough to open wide the eyes of our mind and behold the beauty of that Good, the imperishable, the ungraspable. For then you will see it, when you have nothing to say about it; for the knowledge of it is both a divine silence and a stilling of all the senses.
Those able to drink in more of the vision, Hermes says, are often lulled asleep, carried out of the body into the fairest sight — the very sight Uranus and Cronus, our ancestors, attained. Tat: 'Would that we too could, father!' Hermes: 'Would that indeed, child — but as it is we are still too weak for the sight, not yet strong enough to open wide the eyes of the mind and behold the beauty of that Good, the imperishable, the ungraspable. For you will see it only when you have nothing to say about it; for the knowledge of it is a divine silence and the stilling of all the senses.'
The vision, pressed further, becomes ecstasy in the strict sense — a standing-outside the body. Those who 'drink in more (πλέον ἀρύσασθαι)' are 'lulled to sleep (κατακοιμίζονται), away from the body, into the fairest sight.' The mention of 'Uranus and Cronus, our ancestors (οἱ ἡμέτεροι πρόγονοι)' places the Hermetic seer in a lineage of the old gods — not worshipped here but treated as forerunners who reached the vision first. Tat's longing ('Would that we too, father!') and Hermes's reply ('Would that indeed, child') are among the most human exchanges in the corpus: even the master confesses 'we are still too weak (ἔτι ἀτονοῦμεν),' 'not yet strong enough to open wide the eyes of the mind (ἀναπετάσαι… τοὺς τοῦ νοῦ ὀφθαλμούς).' Gnosis is a capacity that must be grown into; the teacher does not pretend to have arrived.
And then the treatise's deepest single sentence about the Good: 'you will see it when you have nothing to say about it (ὅταν μηδὲν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἔχῃς εἰπεῖν); for the knowledge of it is a divine silence and the stilling of all the senses (ἡ γὰρ γνῶσις αὐτοῦ… θεία σιωπή ἐστι καὶ καταργία πασῶν τῶν αἰσθήσεων).' This is apophatic mysticism at its purest, centuries before Pseudo-Dionysius will systematize it: the highest knowing is not a fuller speech but the ceasing of speech, not sharper perception but the switching-off of the senses. The 'imperishable and ungraspable (τὸ ἄφθαρτον, τὸ ἄληπτον)' cannot be caught in a word because words are the wrong instrument; it is known only when the grasping stops. The book that calls itself 'The Key' locates the last door in silence.
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