To be baptized, first hate the body — you cannot choose both ways
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Hermes — αὕτη, ὦ Τάτ, ἡ τοῦ νοῦ ἐστὶν ἐπιστήμη, τῶν θείων ἐντορία, καὶ ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ κατανόησις, θείου ὄντος τοῦ κρατῆρος.
Tat — Κἀγὼ βαπτισθῆναι βούλομαι, ὦ πάτερ.
Hermes — ᾿Εὰν μὴ πρῶτον τὸ σῶμά σου μισήσῃς, ὦ τέκνον, σεαυτὸν φιλῆσαι οὐ δύνασαι· φιλήσας δὲ σεαυτόν, νοῦν ἕξεις, καὶ τὸν νοῦν ἔχων καὶ τῆς ἐπιστήμης μεταλήψῃ.
Tat — Πῶς ταῦτα λέγεις, ὦ πάτερ;
Hermes — ᾿Αδύνατον γάρ ἐστιν, ὦ τέκνον, περὶ ἀμφότερα γίνεσθαι, περὶ τὰ θνητὰ καὶ τὰ θεῖα. δύο γὰρ ὄντων τῶν ὄντων, σώματος καὶ ἀσωμάτου, ἐν οἷς τὸ θνητὸν καὶ τὸ θεῖον, ἡ αἵρεσις θατέρου καταλείπεται τῷ ἑλέσθαι βουλομένῳ. οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἀμφότερα, ἐν οἷς τε ἡ ἐξαίρεσις καταλείπεται, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον ἐλαττωθὲν τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐφανέρωσεν ἐνέργειαν.
This, O Tat, is the science of Mind — the insight into divine things and the understanding of God, since the bowl is divine. — I too wish to be baptized, father. — Unless you first hate your own body, child, you cannot love yourself; but having loved yourself, you will have Mind, and having Mind you will also partake of knowledge. — How do you say this, father? — Because it is impossible, child, to be occupied with both, with the mortal things and the divine. For the things that are being two, body and incorporeal, in which the mortal and the divine reside, the choice of one of the two is left to the one who wishes to choose; for one cannot have both. And where the choosing is left, the one lessened reveals the working of the other.
This, O Tat, is the science of Mind — the insight into divine things and the understanding of God, since the bowl is divine. — I too wish to be baptized, father. — Unless you first hate your own body, child, you cannot love yourself; but having loved yourself, you will have Mind, and having Mind you will also partake of knowledge. — How do you say this, father? — Because it is impossible, child, to be occupied with both, with the mortal things and the divine. For the things that are being two, body and incorporeal — in which the mortal and the divine reside — the choice of one of the two is left to the one who wishes to choose; for one cannot have both. And where the choice is left, the one lessened reveals the working of the other.
Tat, hearing what the bowl is — 'the science of Mind, the understanding of God' — makes the response the whole scene was designed to provoke: 'I too wish to be baptized (κἀγὼ βαπτισθῆναι βούλομαι).' The disciple asks for the plunge. And Hermes' answer is the hard saying at the centre of Hermetic ethics: 'unless you first hate your body (τὸ σῶμά σου μισήσῃς), child, you cannot love yourself.' The paradox is precise, and the interlinear keeps μισέω against φιλέω to hold it: the self worth loving is not the body but the mind, so love of the true self begins as hatred of the flesh that eclipses it. Body-hatred here is not cruelty but reordering — only the soul that stops identifying with its body can 'have Mind, and having Mind partake of knowledge.'
The reason follows as a metaphysics of choice. Reality is two — 'body and incorporeal (σῶμα καὶ ἀσώματον),' the seats of 'the mortal and the divine' — and 'it is impossible to be occupied with both (ἀδύνατον… περὶ ἀμφότερα γίνεσθαι).' So 'the choice of one of the two (ἡ αἵρεσις θατέρου) is left to the one who wishes to choose.' This is the Hermetic version of the two ways (CH I had them too), and of the gospel 'no one can serve two masters.' The final clause is subtle and the interlinear earns its keep there: when you choose one, 'the other, being lessened, reveals the working of the other (τὸ ἕτερον ἐλαττωθὲν τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐφανέρωσεν ἐνέργειαν)' — diminishing the body throws the activity of the divine into relief. Choice is not loss but disclosure: turn down the mortal and the divine becomes visible. (One word here, ἐντορία, is a doubtful reading in Parthey and is glossed by sense, flagged for reconciliation.)
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