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they themselves chose. And these same Scythians remained in Persia from that time until the present; who were called Parthians by the Persians, which is interpreted in the Persian dialect as Scythians; who also have the dress and the speech and the laws of the Scythians until the present, and are most warlike in battles, as the most wise Herodotus wrote. In the times of the reign of the aforementioned Sostrus was Hermes Trismegistus the Egyptian, a man formidable in wisdom; who said that the name of the ineffable creator has three greatest hypostases, but said it was one divinity; for which reason he was also called Trismegistus Hermes by the Egyptians. for it is reported in his various discourses to Asclepius that he said these things concerning the nature of God. if there were not some providence of the Lord of all so as to reveal this word to me, neither would such a desire have possessed you, that you should inquire about this; for it is not possible for such mysteries to be imparted to the uninitiated, but listen with the mind. There is only one intellectual light before intellectual light; and there was always a luminous mind of mind, 27 and there was nothing else than its unity, being always in himself, he always contains all things in his own mind and light and spirit. Apart from him there is no god, no angel, no demon, no other substance; for he is lord and God of all, and all things are under him and in him. For his word, having gone forth, being all-perfect and generative and creative, having fallen on generative nature, on generative water, made the water pregnant. And having said these things he prayed, saying, I adjure you, heaven, wise work of the great God, be gracious; I adjure you, voice of the Father, which he uttered first, when he established the whole cosmos by his will. the voice of the Father, which he uttered first, his only-begotten Word. And these things are also reported in the works collected by the most holy Cyril against Julian the emperor, that even Trismegistus Hermes, being ignorant of what was to come, confessed a consubstantial trinity. But king Sostris, after the victory, having taken possession of Egypt, dies; and after him Pharao, who was also called Maracho, reigned over the land of the Egyptians. and from the same family the rest of the Egyptians reigned. 28 And in the aforementioned times of Picus Zeus, in the western parts there appeared someone from the tribe of Japheth in the country of the Argives, named Inachus; who first reigned in that country, and founded a city there in the name of the moon, for he honored it, which he called Iopolis; for the Argives mystically call the hidden name of the moon Io even now. And he also built a temple in the city to the moon, having erected for her a bronze stele, on which he inscribed, Io, blessed torch-bearer. This same Inachus took a wife named Melia; from whom he had three children, Casus and Belus and a daughter, whom he named Io in the name of the moon; for the girl was very beautiful. Then Picus, who is also Zeus, having heard about Inachus that he had a beautiful virgin daughter, the king of the western parts sent and seized Io, the daughter of Inachus, and violates her, and having made her pregnant had from her a daughter, whom he called Libya. But Io took what had happened to her badly, and not wishing to be with Picus, eluding him and everyone and leaving her daughter, and being ashamed before her father Inachus, she fled, sailing down to Egypt. And having entered the land of Egypt, Io lived there; and having learned after a time that Hermes, the son of Picus Zeus, was king of Egypt, and fearing this same Hermes, she flees from there to Syria to 29 Mount Silpius; on which Seleucus Nicator the Macedonian founded a city 29 after some time and called it Antioch the Great in the name of his own son. And having gone to Syria, Io died there, as the most wise Theophilus wrote. But others have set forth that in Egypt died the

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αὐτοὶ ἐπελέξαντο. καὶ ἔμειναν ἐν Περσίδι οἱ αὐτοὶ Σκύθαι ἐξ ἐκείνου ἕως τῆς νῦν· οἵτινες ἐκλήθησαν ἀπὸ τῶν Περσῶν Πάρθοι, ὅ ἐστιν ἑρμηνευόμενον Περσικῇ διαλέκτῳ Σκύθαι· οἳ καὶ τὴν φορεσίαν καὶ τὴν λαλιὰν καὶ τοὺς νόμους Σκυθῶν ἔχουσιν ἕως τῆς νῦν, καὶ εἰσὶ μαχιμώτατοι ἐν πολέμοις, καθὼς Ἡρόδοτος ὁ σοφώτατος συνεγράψατο. Ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ προειρημένου Σώστρου ἦν Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος ὁ Αἰγύπτιος, ἀνὴρ φοβερὸς ἐν σοφίᾳ· ὃς ἔφρασε τρεῖς μεγίστας ὑποστάσεις εἶναι τὸ τοῦ ἀῤῥήτου καὶ δημιουργοῦ ὄνομα, μίαν δὲ θεότητα εἶπε· διὸ καὶ ἐκλήθη ἀπὸ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων Τρισμέγιστος Ἑρμῆς. ἐμφέρεται γὰρ ἐν διαφόροις αὐτοῦ λόγοις πρὸς Ἀσκληπιὸν εἰρηκὼς περὶ θεοῦ φύσεως ταῦτα. εἰ μὴ πρόνοιά τις ἦν τοῦ πάντων κυρίου ὥστε μοι τὸν λόγον τοῦτον ἀποκαλύψαι, οὐδὲ ὑμᾶς τοιοῦτος ἔρως κατεῖχεν, ἵνα περὶ τούτου ζητήσητε· οὐ γὰρ ἐφικτόν ἐστιν εἰς ἀμυήτους τοιαῦτα μυστήρια παρέχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῷ νοῒ ἀκούσατε. ἓν μόνον ἐστὶ τὸ φῶς νοερὸν πρὸ φωτὸς νοεροῦ· καὶ ἦν ἀεὶ νοῦς νοὸς φωτεινός, 27 καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἦν ἢ ἡ τούτου ἑνότης, ἀεὶ ἐν αὑτῷ ὢν ἀεὶ τῷ αὑτοῦ νοῒ καὶ φωτὶ καὶ πνεύματι πάντα περιέχει. ἐκτὸς τούτου οὐ θεός, οὐκ ἄγγελος, οὐ δαίμων, οὐκ οὐσία τις ἄλλη· πάντων γὰρ κύριος καὶ θεός, καὶ πάντα ὑπ' αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐστιν. ὁ γὰρ λόγος αὐτοῦ προελθὼν παντέλειος ὢν καὶ γόνιμος καὶ δημιουργός, ἐν γονίμῳ φύσει πεσών, ἐν γονίμῳ ὕδατι, ἔγκυον τὸ ὕδωρ ἐποίησε. καὶ ταῦτα εἰρηκὼς ηὔξατο λέγων, Ὁρκίζω σε, οὐρανέ, θεοῦ μεγάλου σοφὸν ἔργον, ἵλαος ἔσο· ὁρκίζω σε, φωνὴ πατρός, ἣν ἐφθέγξατο πρώτην, ἡνίκα κόσμον ἅπαντα ἐστηρίξατο βουλῇ. φωνὴν πατρός, ἣν ἐφθέγξατο πρώτην, τὸν μονογενῆ λόγον αὐτοῦ. ταῦτα δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ Ἰουλιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπὸ τοῦ ὁσιωτάτου Κυρίλλου συναχθεῖσιν ἐμφέρεται, ὅτι καὶ ὁ Τρισμέγιστος Ἑρμῆς ἀγνοῶν τὸ μέλλον τριάδα ὁμοούσιον ὡμολόγησεν. Ὁ δὲ Σῶστρις βασιλεὺς μετὰ τὴν νίκην καταλαβὼν τὴν Αἴγυπτον τελευτᾷ· καὶ ἐβασίλευσε μετ' αὐτὸν τῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων χώρας Φαραὼ ὁ καὶ Μαραχὼ καλούμενος. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους ἐβασίλευσαν Αἰγυπτίων οἱ λοιποί. 28 Ἐν δὲ τοῖς προειρημένοις τοῦ Πίκου ∆ιὸς χρόνοις ἐπὶ τὰ δυτικὰ μέρη ἀναφαίνεταί τις ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰάφεθ ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Ἀργείων, ὀνόματι Ἴναχος· ὅστις πρῶτος ἐβασίλευσεν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, καὶ κτίζει πόλιν ἐκεῖ εἰς ὄνομα τῆς σελήνης, ἐτίμα γὰρ αὐτήν, ἣν ἐκάλεσεν Ἰώπολιν· οἱ γὰρ Ἀργεῖοι μυστικῶς τὸ ὄνομα τῆς σελήνης τὸ ἀπόκρυφον Ἰὼ λέγουσιν ἕως ἄρτι. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ ἱερὸν ἐν τῇ πόλει τῇ σελήνῃ, ἀναστήσας αὐτῇ στήλην χαλκῆν, ἐν ᾗ ἐπέγραψεν, Ἰὼ μάκαιρα λαμπαδηφόρε. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Ἴναχος ἠγάγετο γυναῖκα Μελίαν ὀνόματι· ἐξ ἧς ἔσχε παῖδας τρεῖς, Κάσον καὶ Βῆλον καὶ θυγατέρα, ἣν ἐπωνόμασεν Ἰὼ εἰς ὄνομα τῆς σελήνης· ἦν γὰρ ἡ κόρη εὐπρεπεστάτη πάνυ. τότε ὁ Πῖκος ὁ καὶ Ζεὺς ἀκούσας περὶ τοῦ Ἰνάχου ὅτι ἔχει θυγατέρα παρθένον εὐπρεπῆ, ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν δυτικῶν μερῶν πέμψας ἥρπασε τὴν Ἰώ, θυγατέρα τοῦ Ἰνάχου, καὶ ταύτην φθείρει, καὶ ἔγκυον ποιήσας ἔσχεν ἐξ αὐτῆς θυγατέρα, ἥντινα ἐκάλεσε Λιβύην. ἡ δὲ Ἰὼ ἐπαχθῶς ἔφερεν ἐπὶ τῷ συμβάντι αὐτῇ, καὶ μὴ θέλουσα συνεῖναι τῷ Πίκῳ, διαλαθοῦσα αὐτὸν καὶ πάντας καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῆς ἐάσασα, καὶ τὸν πατέρα αὐτῆς Ἴναχον αἰσχυνομένη, ἔφυγεν, εἰς Αἴγυπτον καταπλεύσασα. καὶ εἰσελθοῦσα ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἡ Ἰὼ ἐκεῖ διῆγε· καὶ μαθοῦσα μετὰ χρόνον ὅτι Ἑρμῆς βασιλεύει τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὁ υἱὸς Πίκου ∆ιός, καὶ φοβηθεῖσα τὸν αὐτὸν Ἑρμῆν, φεύγει ἐκεῖθεν ἐπὶ τὴν Συρίαν εἰς 29 τὸ Σίλπιον ὄρος· εἰς ὅπερ Σέλευκος ὁ Νικάτωρ ὁ Μακεδὼν ἔκτισε 29 πόλιν μετὰ χρόνους καὶ ἐκάλεσεν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἰδίου αὐτοῦ υἱοῦ Ἀντιόχειαν τὴν μεγάλην. ἀπελθοῦσα δὲ εἰς τὴν Συρίαν ἡ Ἰὼ ἐκεῖ ἐτελεύτησεν, ὡς Θεόφιλος ὁ σοφώτατος συνεγράψατο. ἕτεροι δὲ ἐξέθεντο ὅτι ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἐτελεύτα ἡ