ASCLEPIUS OF MERCURY

On the immortality of the soul.

...as can be seen in the connection of the elements and in the most orderly administration of all other things. But beyond that "good of order" which things have in relation to one another, they are connected in the First Good, in which all good things are a single Good. Then, having left behind the dispute concerning the Good, he turns himself to the proposed discourse.

Text: "But you shall learn of the discourse to come with diligent attention. You, however, O Asclepius, proceed a little way and call to us the one who should be present."

When he had entered, Asclepius suggested that Ammon should also be present. Trismegistus said: "No envy prevents Ammon from being with us; for indeed we remember many things written by us to his name, just as we have written many things on physics and very many exotic matters to our most beloved and good son This refers to Tat, the son of Hermes Trismegistus.. This present treatise, however, I shall ascribe to your name. But call no other besides Ammon, lest the most religious discourse on so great a matter be violated by the intervention and presence of many people coming in."

He had clearly proposed to say great things which it is not permitted for everyone to hear, especially since not everyone is of one and the same opinion. The divine Paul, writing to the Corinthians in his first epistle, says: 'We speak wisdom among the perfect' original: "Sapientiam... loquimur inter perfectos." From 1 Corinthians 2:6.. He calls it a 'most religious discourse' because he was about to speak words concerning the nature of man, who alone among all living beings cultivates religion. He says 'Lest it be violated,' meaning lest it happen to be undermined by the arrival of many, since even among the sons of God, Satan is sometimes accustomed to be present.

Text: "Moreover, it is the mark of an irreligious mind to publish to the consciousness of many a treatise full of the entire majesty of the Divinity."

Since man is the image of the entire Trinity, a treatise on the nature of man is rightly most full of the entire Trinity. But it is the mark of an irreligious mind to 'throw pearls before swine' A reference to Matthew 7:6, meaning to share sacred truths with those who cannot appreciate them. and to publish a secret discourse to the unlearned multitude, which easily despises those things it does not understand.

Text: "When Ammon also had entered the sanctuary term: "adytum" — the innermost, most sacred part of a temple, restricted to priests., and that holy place was filled with the devotion of the four men and the divine presence of God—with a fitting and venerable silence, and with the souls and minds of each one hanging upon the lips of Hermes—Divine Love original: "divinus Cupido." In this context, it refers to a sacred, inspired longing or the spirit of divine eros that initiates the teaching. began to speak thus:"

It was truly a great and religious colloquy of four men—namely Mercury, Tat, Asclepius, and Ammon—filled with devotion and the divine presence of God. While those three were hanging upon the words of Mercury, the most wise Hermes began to speak.

Text: "O Asclepius, every human soul is immortal, but not all in a uniform way; rather, some in one manner or time, and others in another."

The sense is: 'You should know, O Asclepius, that every human soul is unable to die; otherwise, it would not be a soul, but merely a "thing animated."' Nevertheless, some distinction—appearing in their accidents term: "accidents" — in philosophy, these are qualities or characteristics (like behavior) that can change without changing the essential nature or "substance" of the thing. rather than their substance—appears in them due to the diversity of behavior and time. For those souls which have been adorned with honorable and upright character enjoy not only immortality but also eternal happiness of life. On the contrary, those which are wicked and infected with the stains of an obscene life continue as immortals, but they live forever in filth and squalor, and in the gravest torments and punishments. 'Or in time,' because not all are commanded to depart from the present life at one and the same time. When Asclepius had not correctly perceived this, he thought that one soul was substantially separated from another.

Text: Asclepius: "For is not every soul of one quality, O Trismegistus?"

The sense is: 'Are not all souls of men of one specific quality? Is one man specifically more perfect than another?'

Text: Trismegistus: "O Asclepius, how quickly you have fallen from the true consistency of reason! For I did not say this: that all things are one and one is all things, inasmuch as all things were in the Creator before He had created all things. Nor is He unworthily called 'all things,' whose members are all things. Therefore, throughout this entire dispute, take care to remember Him who is the One-All, or who is Himself the Creator of all things."

The sense is: although all things are one in God, and God is one in all, and all things are His 'members' because they receive motion and life from God—for they are not called members of God's body, because God is incorporeal...