God is blameless, we the cause of evils — and the long ascent to the One
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Hermes — τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων, ὦ Τάτ, τὰ μὲν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῖν τε ὑπῆρξε καὶ ὑπάρξει· τὰ δὲ ἀφ' ἡμῶν ἀκολουθησάτω καὶ μὴ ὑστερήσατω· ἐπεὶ ὁ μὲν θεὸς ἀναίτιος, ἡμεῖς δὲ αἴτιοι τῶν κακῶν, ταῦτα προκρίνοντες τῶν ἀγαθῶν. ὁρᾷς, ὦ τέκνον, πόσα ἡμᾶς δεῖ σώματα διεξελθεῖν, καὶ πόσους χοροὺς δαιμόνων καὶ συνέχειαν καὶ δρόμους ἀστέρων ἵνα πρὸς τὸν ἕνα καὶ μόνον σπεύσωμεν; ἀδιάβατον γὰρ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἀπέραντον καὶ ἀτελές, αὐτῷ δὲ καὶ ἄναρχον, ἡμῖν δὲ δοκοῦν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν τὴν γνῶσιν.
These things being so, O Tat: the things from God have belonged to us and will belong; but the things from us — let them follow, and not fall short. For God is blameless, but we are the causes of evils, preferring them to the good. Do you see, child, how many bodies we must pass through, how many choruses of daemons, and the continuity and courses of the stars, that we may hasten toward the One and only? For the Good is untraversable and infinite and without end, and to itself also without beginning, though to us it seems to have a beginning — knowledge.
These things being so, O Tat: the things from God have belonged to us and will belong; but the things from us — let them follow, and not fall short. For God is blameless, but we are the causes of evils, preferring them to the good. Do you see, child, how many bodies we must pass through, how many choruses of daemons, and the continuity and courses of the stars, that we may hasten toward the One and only? For the Good is untraversable and infinite and without end, and to itself also without beginning, though to us it seems to have a beginning — knowledge.
Hermes turns from doctrine to exhortation, and states the Corpus's theodicy in one balanced line: 'God is blameless, but we are the causes of the evils (ὁ… θεὸς ἀναίτιος, ἡμεῖς δὲ αἴτιοι τῶν κακῶν).' The interlinear keeps ἀναίτιος against αἴτιοι — 'not-cause' against 'causes' — because the whole ethics rests on that opposition: evil has a human author, never a divine one, and it is defined precisely as a mis-ranking, 'preferring these to the good things (ταῦτα προκρίνοντες τῶν ἀγαθῶν).' Sin is bad prioritising. God's gifts 'have belonged and will belong' to us; our task is only that our response 'follow and not fall short.'
Then a vista of the ascent that anticipates the great vision-treatises to come: 'how many bodies must we pass through (πόσα… σώματα διεξελθεῖν), how many choruses of daemons (χοροὺς δαιμόνων), and the courses of the stars (δρόμους ἀστέρων)' — the soul's long climb through embodiments, spirit-ranks, and planetary spheres toward 'the One and only.' It is the itinerary of CH I's ascent through the seven zones, seen now as the distance still to run. And the goal is described in a rush of alpha-privatives that the interlinear lines up: the Good is ἀδιάβατον (untraversable), ἀπέραντον (infinite), ἀτελές (without end), ἄναρχον (without beginning) — a via negativa piled four deep. Yet it grants us one foothold: what is beginningless in itself 'seems to us to have a beginning — knowledge (ἀρχὴν… τὴν γνῶσιν).' Gnosis is where the infinite becomes enterable. That is the thread IV.9 picks up: grasp that beginning, and journey.
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Corpus Hermeticum CH4.8 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/hermetica/CH4.8/