The supreme nature is understood and exists beyond all, beyond mind, reason, and wonder, having willed to make the living being like itself, as far as possible; for this very reason, and quite fittingly, so that the living being destined to be in its image and likeness—that is, man—might not seem to be something small and despised, or to differ little from the other animals, it does not make his generation unconsidered. 2.29 And yet someone might say, and would not miss the truth, that nothing could escape the divine mind; for he knows, he knows all things before their creation. Why then did he deliberate, although he foreknew the nature of man? Economically, as I said, the most excellent Moses says that man was honored, as it were, with preliminary counsel, not introducing his generation as simple, one might say, and in no way different from the others, but as if God had made the matter an object of care. And though the statement is hyperbolic, it would, I think, have the appearance of being well-made, if we say that man is the best of all animals on earth, and has been made in the image of the creator. That the entire creation was brought into existence by the most powerful nods of God is not at all difficult, I think, to learn even from what the teachers of his religion have written; for it seemed good to all both to think and to say that all things in sum were created by him, both intelligible and sensible, invisible and visible. For they have agreed that all things exist around the King and Lord of all; and indeed Plato goes so far as to say: Gods of gods, of whom I am creator and father of works. Now then, we have introduced the usages of the Greeks, I mean on these points, and I will pass over tautology, but I will recall the words of Hermes Trismegistus. 2.30 For he said this in the *To Asclepius*: And Osiris said, he says: Then, O greatest good spirit, how did the whole earth appear? And the great good spirit said: In order and by drying up, as I said, and when the many waters were commanded by the Lord to withdraw into themselves, the whole earth appeared muddy and trembling; then, when the sun shone forth and unceasingly burned and dried it, the earth was established in the waters, being contained by the water. And indeed elsewhere: The Creator and Lord of all spoke thus: Let there be earth, and let a firmament appear, and immediately earth became the beginning of creation. And these things were about the earth; but concerning the sun he says again as follows: And Osiris said, O Trismegistus, good spirit, from where did this great sun appear? And he said: Osiris, do you wish us to recount the generation of the sun, from where it appeared? It appeared by the providence of the Master of all. And the generation of the sun is from the Master of all, having come to be through his holy and creative Word. Likewise he himself also says in the first detailed discourse *To Tat*: And the Lord of all immediately spoke to his own holy and intelligible and creative Word: Let there be sun; and at the same time as he spoke, Nature with her own spirit drew up the fire that partakes of an upward-tending nature—I mean, that which is pure and most bright and most active and most generative—and raised it to a height from the water. 2.31 Therefore, that all things were made by the command of God through the creative Word would be fitting for a man to understand and true to say; but how or in what manner, he alone would know. But that he distributes to each of the things that have come to be its being in such a way by his authority, and that the manner of the existence of all things has him as its definer, would become clear also through what Moses said: Let there be a firmament, and it was so; and, Let the water be gathered into one collection, and let the dry land appear. For these things indeed define the nature of each of the things brought into existence. And Hermes Trismegistus among them recalls this again; for he has introduced God saying to his creations: But Necessity

τοῦ παντὸς ἐπέκεινα καὶ νοῦ καὶ λόγου καὶ θαύματος ἡ ὑπερτάτη νοεῖταί τε καί ἐστι φύσις, ἑαυτῇ τὸ ζῷον ἀφομοιοῦν, ὡς ἔνι, βεβούληται· ταύτητοι καὶ μάλα εἰκότως, ἵνα μή τι μικρὸν εἶναι δοκῇ καὶ κατερριμμένον, ἢ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ὀλίγα διενεγκεῖν τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν αὐτοῦ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι ζῷον, τουτέστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἀκατάσκεπτον αὐτοῦ ποιεῖται τὴν γένεσιν. 2.29 Καίτοι φαίη τις ἄν, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τἀληθοῦς, ὡς οὐκ ἄν τι τὸν θεῖον διαλάθοι νοῦν· οἶδε δέ, οἶδε τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν. Τί οὖν ἐσκέπτετο, καίτοι προεγνωκὼς τὴν ἀνθρώπου φύσιν; Οἰκονομικῶς, ὡς ἔφην, ὁ πανάριστος Μωσῆς οἰονεί πως καὶ προβουλίοις φησὶ τετιμῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὐχ ἁπλῆν, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, καὶ κατ' οὐδὲν τῶν ἄλλων ἐξηλλαγμένην τὴν αὐτοῦ γένεσιν εἰσφέρων, ἀλλ' οἱονεί πως καὶ ἐν φροντίδι θεμένου τὸ χρῆμα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ ὑπερβολικὸς μὲν ὁ λόγος, ἔχοι δ' ἄν, οἶμαι, τὸ εὖ πεποιῆσθαι δοκεῖν, εἰ πάντων ἄριστον τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ζῴων φαμὲν εἶναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, πεποιῆσθαί τε καὶ κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος. Ὅτι δὲ τοῖς πανσθενεστάτοις τοῦ Θεοῦ νεύμασι παρεκομίσθη πρὸς ὕπαρξιν ἡ σύμπασα κτίσις, χαλεπὸν οὐδέν, ὥς γε οἶμαι, διαμαθεῖν καὶ ἐξ ὧν γεγράφασιν οἱ τῆς αὐτοῦ δεισιδαιμονίας διδάσκαλοι· ἐδόκει γὰρ ἅπασι καὶ φρονεῖν καὶ λέγειν συλλήβδην ἅπαντα δεδημιουργῆσθαι παρ' αὐτοῦ, νοητά τε καὶ αἰσθητά, ἀόρατα καὶ ὁρώμενα. Συνωμολογήκασι γὰρ ὅτι περὶ τὸν ἁπάντων Βασιλέα καὶ Κύριον πάντα ἐστί· καὶ δὴ καὶ εἰπεῖν ὁ Πλάτων διατείνεται· Θεοὶ θεῶν, ὧν ἐγὼ δημιουργὸς πατήρ τε ἔργων. Ἤδη μὲν οὖν τὰς Ἑλλήνων παρηγάγομεν χρήσεις, τὰς ἐπί γε τούτοις φημί, καὶ παρήσω μὲν τὸ ταὐτοεπεῖν, διαμεμνήσομαι δὲ τῶν Ἑρμοῦ τοῦ Τρισμεγίστου λόγων. 2.30 Ἔφη γὰρ οὗτος ἐν τῷ Πρὸς Ἀσκληπιόν· Καὶ εἶπε, φησίν, Ὄσιρις· Εἶτα, ὦ μέγιστε ἀγαθὸς δαίμων, πῶς ὅλη ἡ γῆ ἐφάνη; Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ μέγας ἀγαθὸς δαίμων· Κατὰ τάξιν καὶ ἀναξήρανσιν, ὡς εἶπον, καὶ τῶν πολλῶν ὑδάτων κελευσθέντων ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἑαυτὰ ἀναχωρῆσαι ἐφάνη ὅλη ἡ γῆ ἔμπηλος καὶ τρέμουσα· ἡλίου λοιπὸν ἀναλάμψαντος καὶ ἀδιαλείπτως διακαίοντος καὶ ξηραίνοντος, ἡ γῆ ἐστηρίζετο ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν, ἐμπεριεχομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος. Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἑτέρωθι· Ὁ πάντων ∆ημιουργὸς καὶ Κύριος ἐφώνησεν οὕτως· Ἔστω γῆ, καὶ φανήτω στερέωμα, καὶ εὐθέως ἀρχὴ τῆς δημιουργίας γῆ ἐγένετο. Καὶ ταυτὶ μὲν περὶ τῆς γῆς· ἡλίου δὲ πέρι πάλιν ὧδέ φησι· Καὶ εἶπεν Ὄσιρις. Ὦ Τρισμέγιστε ἀγαθὸς δαίμων, πόθεν ἀνεφάνη ὁ μέγας οὗτος ἥλιος; Καὶ εἶπεν· Ὄσιρι, ἡλίου γένεσιν βούλει ἡμᾶς καταλέξαι πόθεν ἐφάνη; Ἐφάνη προνοίᾳ τοῦ πάντων ∆εσπότου. Ἔστι δὲ ἡ γένεσις τοῦ ἡλίου ἀπὸ τοῦ πάντων ∆εσπότου διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ δημιουργικοῦ Λόγου αὐτοῦ γενομένη. Ὁμοίως καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ Πρὸς τὸν Τὰτ διεξοδικῷ λόγῳ πρώτῳ φησίν. Ὁ δὲ πάντων Κύριος εὐθέως ἐφώνησε τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ἁγίῳ καὶ νοητῷ καὶ δημιουργικῷ Λόγῳ· Ἔστω ἥλιος· καὶ ἅμα τῷ φάναι τὸ πῦρ τὸ φύσεως ἀνωφεροῦς ἐχόμενον λέγω δὴ τὸ ἄκρατον καὶ φωτεινώτατον καὶ δραστικώτερον καὶ γονιμώτερον ἐπεσπάσατο ἡ Φύσις τῷ ἑαυτῆς πνεύματι καὶ ἤγειρεν εἰς ὕψος ἀπὸ ὕδατος. 2.31 Τὸ μὲν οὖν προστάξει Θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ πεποιῆσθαι Λόγου τὰ πάντα πρέποι ἂν ἀνθρώπῳ νοεῖν καὶ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν· τὸ δὲ ὅπως ἢ τίνα τρόπον, αὐτὸς ἂν εἰδείη καὶ μόνος. Ὅτι δὲ τῶν γεγονότων ἑκάστῳ τὸ εἶναι τοιῶσδε διανέμει κατ' ἐξουσίαν, καὶ ὁ τῆς ἁπάντων ὑπάρξεως τρόπος αὐτὸν ἔχει τὸν ὁριστὴν, σαφὲς ἂν γένοιτο καὶ δι' ὧν ἔφη Μωσῆς· Γενηθήτω στερέωμα, καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως καὶ· Συναχθήτω τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν καὶ ὀφθήτω ἡ ξηρά. Ταῦτα γὰρ δὴ τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν εἰς γένεσιν παρενηνεγμένων ὁρίζει φύσιν. ∆ιαμνημονεύει δὲ καὶ τούτου πάλιν ὁ παρ' αὐτοῖς Τρισμέγιστος Ἑρμῆς· εἰσκεκόμικε γὰρ λέγοντα τὸν Θεὸν τοῖς κτίσμασιν· Ἀνάγκην δὲ