The mindless like beasts — the Mind-bearers become immortal, and hasten to the One
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Hermes — αἱ δὲ αἰσθήσεις τούτων ταῖς τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων παραπλήσιαι, καὶ ἐν θυμῷ καὶ ὀργῇ τὴν κρᾶσιν ἔχοντες, οὐ θαυμάζοντες οὐ τὰ θέας ἄξια, ταῖς δὲ τῶν σωμάτων ἡδοναῖς καὶ ὀρέξεσι προσέχοντες, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα τὸν ἄνθρωπον γεγονέναι πιστεύοντες. ὅσοι δὲ τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ δωρεᾶς μετέσχον, οὗτοι, ὦ Τάτ, κατὰ σύγκρισιν τῶν ἔργων ἀθάνατοι ἀντὶ θνητῶν εἰσι, πάντα ἐμπεριλαβόντες τῷ ἑαυτῶν νοΐ, τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς, τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ εἴ τί ἐστιν ὑπὲρ οὐρανόν· τοσοῦτον ἑαυτοὺς ὑψώσαντες, εἶδον τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἰδόντες συμφορὰν ἡγήσαντο τὴν ἐνθάδε διατριβήν· καταφρονήσαντες πάντων τῶν σωματικῶν καὶ ἀσωμάτων ἐπὶ τὸ ἓν καὶ μόνον σπεύδουσιν.
And the senses of these are like those of the irrational animals; having their temperament in passion and anger, they wonder at nothing worth the seeing, but attend to the pleasures and appetites of bodies, believing man was born for these. But as many as partook of the gift from God — these, O Tat, judged by comparison of their works, are immortal instead of mortal: embracing all things with their own mind, the things on earth, the things in heaven, and whatever is above heaven. Having so exalted themselves, they saw the Good; and seeing it, they counted their sojourn here a misfortune, and, despising all things bodily and incorporeal, they hasten toward the One and only.
The senses of the mindless are like those of the irrational animals; having their temperament in passion and anger, they wonder at nothing worth the seeing, but attend to the pleasures and appetites of bodies, believing man was born for these. But as many as partook of the gift from God — these, O Tat, judged by their works, are immortal instead of mortal: embracing all things with their own mind, the things on earth, the things in heaven, and whatever is above heaven. Having so exalted themselves, they saw the Good; and seeing it, they counted their sojourn here a misfortune, and, despising all things bodily and incorporeal, they hasten toward the One and only.
The great division of IV.4 — perfect men versus the merely rational — is now drawn as two ways of living. The mindless are described almost clinically: their senses are 'like those of the irrational animals (τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων παραπλήσιαι),' their temperament fixed 'in passion and anger,' their attention wholly on 'the pleasures and appetites of bodies.' Their error is not just appetite but a false belief — 'that man was born for these.' The interlinear keeps ἄλογος ('irrational,' literally 'without logos') in view: those who never drank Mind sink even below the reason they do possess, living as beasts.
Against them stand those who 'partook of the gift (τῆς… δωρεᾶς μετέσχον).' Their transformation is described in the boldest terms the Corpus offers: 'by comparison of their works they are immortal instead of mortal (ἀθάνατοι ἀντὶ θνητῶν).' Mind makes a mortal into an immortal. And it does so by expansion — they 'embrace all things with their own mind (πάντα ἐμπεριλαβόντες τῷ ἑαυτῶν νοΐ),' earth, heaven, and what lies beyond heaven; the nous that received the divine now contains the cosmos, exactly as CH II.12 said Mind is 'container of all.' The climax is a vision and a turning-away: 'they saw the Good (εἶδον τὸ ἀγαθόν),' and having seen it, 'counted the sojourn here a misfortune,' hastening 'toward the One and only (ἐπὶ τὸ ἓν καὶ μόνον).' The reveal layer lets the reader watch gnosis do its work — sight of the Good reorders all values, so that even the incorporeal is despised beside the One. It is the mystical ascent in miniature, and the reason the herald's bowl matters.
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