The world-sphere: matter shut in a cave, wrapped in immortality — dissolution is only restoration
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Hermes — Καὶ ὅσον ἦν τῆς ὕλης ἀποκείμενον ὑπ᾽ αὐτόν, τὸ πᾶν ὁ πατὴρ σωματοποιήσας καὶ ὀγκώσας ἐποίησε σφαιροειδὲς τοῦτο, αὐτῷ τὸ ποιὸν περιθείς, οὖσαν καὶ αὐτὴν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἔχουσαν ἀἰδιον τὴν ὑλότητα. πλήρης δὲ τῶν ἰδεῶν τὰ ποιὰ ὁ πατὴρ ἐγκατασπείρας τῇ σφαίρα ὥσπερ ἐν ἄντρῳ κατέκλεισε, πάσῃ ποιότητι κοσμῆσαι βουλόμενος τὸ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ποιόν· τῇ δὲ ἀθανασίᾳ περιβαλὼν τὸ πᾶν σῶμα, ἵνα μὴ ἡ ὕλη τῆς τούτου συστάσεως θελήσασα ἀποστῆναι διαλυθῇ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἀταξίαν. ὅτε γὰρ ἦν ἀσώματος ἡ ὕλη, ὦ τέκνον, ἄτακτος ἦν· ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἐνθάδε τὴν περὶ τὰ ἄλλα μικρὰ ποιὰ εἱλουμένην, τὸ τῆς αὐξήσεως καὶ τὸ τῆς μειώσεως, ὃν θάνατον οἱ ἄνθρωποι καλοῦσιν. αὕτη δὲ ἡ ἀταξία περὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια ζῶα γίνεται. τῶν γὰρ οὐρανίων τὰ σώματα μίαν τάξιν ἔχει, ἣν είληχεν ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν ἀρχήν· τηρεῖται δὲ αὕτη ὑπὸ τῆς ἑκάστου ἀποκαταστάσεως ἀδιάλυτος· ἡ δὲ ἀποκατάστασις τῶν ἐπιγείων σωμάτων σύστασις, ἡ δὲ διάλυσις αὐτὴ ἀποκαθίσταται εἰς τὰ ἀδιάλυτα σώματα, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι τὰ ἀθάνατα· καὶ οὕτω στέρησις γίνεται τῆς αἰσθήσεως, οὐκ ἀπώλεια τῶν σωμάτων.
And as much of matter as was laid up under him, the whole, the Father — having made it into a body and given it bulk — made spherical, setting quality round it, it too being immortal and having its materiality eternal. And full of the ideas, the Father, sowing the qualities into the sphere, shut them in as in a cave, wishing to adorn with every quality the quality that was with him; and wrapping the whole body in immortality, so that matter, wishing to stand away from this composition, should not be dissolved into its own disorder. For when matter was bodiless, O child, it was disordered; and it keeps even here the disorder wound about the other little qualities — that of growth and of diminution — which men call death. But this disorder happens among the earthly living beings; for the bodies of the heavenly ones keep one order, which it obtained by lot from the Father at the beginning, and it is kept indissoluble by the restoration of each. And the restoration of earthly bodies is composition, while their dissolution itself is restored into the indissoluble bodies — that is, the immortal ones; and thus there comes a privation of sense-perception, not a destruction of the bodies.
And as much of matter as was laid up under him, the whole, the Father — having made it into a body and given it bulk — made spherical, setting quality round it, it too being immortal and having its materiality eternal. And full of the ideas, the Father sowed the qualities into the sphere and shut them in as in a cave, wishing to adorn with every quality the matter that was with him; and wrapping the whole body in immortality, so that matter, wishing to stand away from this composition, should not dissolve into its own disorder. For when matter was bodiless, child, it was disordered; and it keeps even here the disorder wound about the other little qualities, that of growth and of diminution, which men call death. But this disorder happens among the earthly living beings; for the bodies of the heavenly ones keep one order, which they received by lot from the Father at the beginning, and it is kept indissoluble by the restoration of each. And the restoration of earthly bodies is their composition, while their dissolution is itself restored into the indissoluble bodies — that is, the immortal ones; and thus there comes a privation of sense-perception, not a destruction of the bodies.
The treatise now tells its cosmogony as a sealing of matter against its own nature. The Father took 'as much of matter as was laid up (ὅσον… τῆς ὕλης ἀποκείμενον),' made it into a body, and 'made it spherical (σφαιροειδές),' 'setting quality round it (τὸ ποιὸν περιθείς)' — form laid onto formlessness. Then the central image: 'full of the ideas (πλήρης… τῶν ἰδεῶν),' he 'sowed the qualities into the sphere and shut them in as in a cave (ὥσπερ ἐν ἄντρῳ κατέκλεισε).' The cave is Plato's — and the point is protective: 'wrapping the whole body in immortality (τῇ ἀθανασίᾳ περιβαλὼν τὸ πᾶν σῶμα), so that matter, wishing to stand away from this composition, should not dissolve into its own disorder (εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἀταξίαν).' Matter left to itself is ἀταξία, disorder; the cosmos is matter held in order by an imposed immortality, a sphere sealing chaos.
And from this the treatise resolves what death is. Matter's residual restlessness — 'the disorder of growth and diminution (τὸ τῆς αὐξήσεως καὶ τὸ τῆς μειώσεως), which men call death' — belongs only to earthly creatures; the heavenly bodies keep 'one order (μίαν τάξιν),' kept 'indissoluble (ἀδιάλυτος) by the restoration of each (ὑπὸ… ἀποκαταστάσεως).' The word ἀποκατάστασις — astronomical return, and later the great term for universal restoration (Acts 3:21) — is the hinge: nothing is lost because everything returns. Earthly 'dissolution is itself restored into the indissoluble bodies, the immortal ones.' So the treatise lands its redefinition, the sentence the whole book was built to reach: 'thus there comes a privation of sense-perception, not a destruction of the bodies (στέρησις γίνεται τῆς αἰσθήσεως, οὐκ ἀπώλεια τῶν σωμάτων).' Death is a losing of awareness, not a losing of substance. The bodies go on; only the sensing stops. It is the most philosophically careful consolation in the corpus — death demoted from annihilation (ἀπώλεια) to mere privation (στέρησις).
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