Greater than a name — where shall I look to bless you? All are in you
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Hermes — οὗτος ὁ θεὸς ὀνόματος κρείττων, οὗτος ὁ ἀφανής, οὗτος ὁ φανερώτατος· ὁ τῷ νοῒ θεωρητός, οὗτος ὁ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρατός· οὗτος ὁ ἀσώματος, ὁ πολυσώματος, μᾶλλον δὲ παντοσώματος. οὐδέν ἐστιν οὗτος ὃ οὐκ ἔστι· πάντα γὰρ ἃ ἔστι καὶ οὗτός ἐστι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὀνόματα ἔχει ἅπαντα, ὅτι ἑνός ἐστι πατρός, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸς ὄνομα οὐκ ἔχει, ὅτι πάντων ἐστὶ πατήρ. Τίς οὖν σε εὐλογήσαι ὑπὲρ σοῦ ἢ πρὸς σέ; ποῦ δὲ καὶ βλέπων εὐλογήσω σε, ἄνω, κάτω, ἔσω, ἔξω; οὐ γὰρ τρόπος, οὐ τόπος ἐστὶ περὶ σέ, οὐδὲ ἄλλο οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων· πάντα δὲ ἐν σοί, πάντα ἀπὸ σοῦ. πάντα δίδως καὶ οὐδὲν λαμβάνεις. πάντα γὰρ ἔχεις, καὶ οὐδὲν ὃ οὐκ ἔχεις.
This is God, greater than a name — this the unseen, this the most manifest; the one contemplable by the mind, this the one visible to the eyes; this the bodiless, the many-bodied, rather the all-bodied. There is nothing he is not; for all things that are, he too is. And because of this he has all names, because he is of one father; and because of this he himself has no name, because he is father of all. Who, then, shall bless you, over you or to you? And where, looking, shall I bless you — above, below, within, without? For there is no way, no place about you, nor any other of the beings; but all things are in you, all things from you. All you give, and nothing you take; for you have all, and there is nothing you do not have.
This is God, greater than a name — this the unseen, this the most manifest; the one contemplable by the mind, this the one visible to the eyes; this the bodiless, the many-bodied, rather the all-bodied. There is nothing he is not; for all things that are, he too is. And because of this he has all names, because he is of one father; and because of this he himself has no name, because he is father of all. Who then shall bless you, over you or to you? And where shall I look to bless you — above, below, within, without? For there is no way, no place about you, nor any other of the beings; but all things are in you, all things from you. All you give, and nothing you take; for you have all, and there is nothing you do not have.
The treatise breaks into doxology, and the interlinear is built for its cascade of paradox. God is 'greater than a name (ὀνόματος κρείττων),' and then a series of coincident opposites, each introduced by the hammering οὗτος ('this one'): 'the unseen, the most manifest (ὁ ἀφανής… ὁ φανερώτατος); contemplable by mind, visible to the eyes; the bodiless (ἀσώματος), the many-bodied (πολυσώματος), rather the all-bodied (παντοσώματος).' The whole argument of CH V collapses into these pairs: the God who has no body wears every body, the God no eye can see is the one thing every eye sees.
From this comes the beautiful logic of the divine names: 'he has all names, because he is of one father, and he has no name, because he is father of all.' Having every name and no name are the same fact — he is the source, so everything is called after him and nothing can contain him in a word. Then the hymn turns to the second person, and prayer falters before omnipresence: 'where, looking, shall I bless you — above, below, within, without (ἄνω, κάτω, ἔσω, ἔξω)?' There is no direction to face because there is no place he is not: 'no way, no place is about you… all things are in you, all things from you (πάντα ἐν σοί, πάντα ἀπὸ σοῦ).' And it ends on the definition of the Good that has run through the whole Corpus (II.16, IV.1): 'all you give and nothing you take; for you have all, and there is nothing you do not have.' The unseen God of the opening is, at the last, the All in whom the worshipper already stands — which is why the only place to bless him from is inside him.
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