His essence is to conceive and make all — being and non-being alike are his
Read the full text in our reader
Hermes — εἰ δέ τί με καὶ τολμηρότερον ἀναγκάζεις εἰπεῖν, τούτου ἐστὶν οὐσία τὸ κύειν πάντα καὶ ποιεῖν καί, ὥσπερ χωρὶς τοῦ ποιοῦντος ἀδύνατόν ἐστι γενέσθαι τι, οὕτω καὶ τοῦτον ἀεὶ μὴ εἶναι, εἰ μὴ πάντα ἀεὶ ποιοῦντα, ἐν οὐρανῷ, ἐν ἀέρι, ἐν γῇ, ἐν βυθῷ, ἐν παντὶ τοῦ κόσμου, ἐν παντὶ τοῦ παντός, τῷ ὄντι καὶ τῷ μὴ ὄντι. οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἐν παντὶ ἐκείνῳ ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτός. ἔστιν οὗτος καὶ τὰ ὄντα αὐτὸς καὶ τὰ μὴ ὄντα. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὄντα ἐφανέρωσε, τὰ δὲ μὴ ὄντα ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῷ.
If you compel me to say something even bolder: this one's very essence is to conceive all things and to make them. And just as, without the maker, it is impossible for anything to come to be, so too he can never not be, unless he is always making all — in heaven, in air, in earth, in the deep, in every part of the cosmos, in every part of the whole, in what is and in what is not. For there is nothing in all that which he himself is not. He is both the things that are and the things that are not: the things that are he made manifest, and the things that are not he holds within himself.
If you compel me, Hermes says, to say something even bolder: this one's very essence is to conceive all things and to make them. And as, without a maker, it is impossible for anything to come to be, so too he cannot ever not be, unless he is always making all — in heaven, in air, in earth, in the deep, in every part of the cosmos, in every part of the whole, in what is and in what is not. For there is nothing in all that which he is not. He is both the things that are and the things that are not: the things that are he made manifest, and the things that are not he holds within himself.
Pressed by Tat, Hermes ventures 'something bolder (τολμηρότερον)' — and it is bold indeed: God's very essence (οὐσία) is 'to conceive all things and to make them (τὸ κύειν πάντα καὶ ποιεῖν).' The verb κύειν is a birth-word — to be pregnant, to gestate — so creation is not something God once did but what God eternally is: an unceasing conceiving and bearing of the world. The interlinear keeps κύειν beside ποιεῖν because together they make the claim: the Father is defined by fathering, always.
From this follows a striking mutual dependence, stated as a proportion: as nothing comes to be without a maker, so the Maker 'can never not be unless he is always making all (ἀεὶ μὴ εἶναι, εἰ μὴ πάντα ἀεὶ ποιοῦντα).' God's being and God's making are inseparable — he is because he creates. And his making is total: 'in heaven, in air, in earth, in the deep,' in every part of cosmos and whole, 'in what is and in what is not (τῷ ὄντι καὶ τῷ μὴ ὄντι).' The final antithesis is the boldest of all and the interlinear holds it clear: God 'is both the things that are and the things that are not' — 'the things that are he made manifest (ἐφανέρωσε), the things that are not he holds within himself (ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῷ).' The visible world is God shown; the not-yet and the never-shown are God kept in reserve. Being and non-being are not rivals to God but his outside and his inside — a vision of divine immanence so complete that nothing, actual or possible, falls outside him.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Corpus Hermeticum CH5.9 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
You are reading a page of the Corpus Hermeticum — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Corpus Hermeticum CH5.9 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/hermetica/CH5.9/