Mind to Mercury — On the Chain from God to Generation, the Soul's Ascent, and God Visible in All Things

The eleventh book of Ficino's Pimander is addressed to Mercury — that is, to Hermes Trismegistus himself, taught by the divine Mind. It opens with a systematic unfolding of the five-fold chain: God makes eternity, eternity makes the world, the world makes time, time makes generation. From there Mind surveys the seven spheres, the unity of soul and life in all things, and the impossibility of more than one maker. The heart of the discourse is a double challenge: first, that God's work — making all things, breathing life into all — is the same in kind as what man himself already does; and second, the great meditation exercise, commanding the soul to pass to the ocean, fly to heaven, break through all spheres, stretch to boundless magnitude, surpass time, become eternity. The book closes with a question — Is God not invisible? — and the answer: God fashioned all things precisely so that you might see him through each one. Nothing is invisible. God is beheld in his operation.

This translation renders Book XI from Ficino's Latin as preserved in the 1505 Lefèvre d'Étaples edition. The underlying text is designated Corpus Hermeticum XI in modern scholarship.

Stop deferring so long, Mercury Trismegistus. Be still now; recall the great things we have spoken of — for I shall not scruple to express my mind to you, the more so since many and varied opinions about the world and God wander among mortals.

TRISMEGISTUS: To confess it freely: I do not yet myself hold the truth of this matter. So, my lord, express the pure truth — for I am confident that you alone are able to illuminate such things.

MIND: Listen to me then, O son.

God, eternity, the world, time, generation stand in this relation. God makes eternity; eternity makes the world; the world makes time; time makes generation.

The quasi-essence of God is: the Good, the Beautiful, Blessedness, Wisdom, Eternity — the essence itself being one and the same. The quasi-essence of the world: order, the transmutation of time, generation, death, and life. The act of God: mind and soul. The act of eternity: perseverance and immortality; the institution and restoration of the world; the increase and diminution of time; and finally the quality of generation.

Eternity therefore dwells in God; the world in eternity; time in the world; generation in time. Eternity stands about God. The world moves in eternity. Time is bounded by the world. Generation is completed in time.

The source therefore is God. And the essence is eternity. The work of eternity is the world — made not once at some time, but spoken always from the age. And since the age never ceases, the world shall never cease. And since the world is encompassed by eternity, no part of the world has perished.

TRISMEGISTUS: And what is the wisdom of God?

MIND: The Good, the Beautiful, Blessedness, all virtue, and gentleness — from which the immortal things are born from him.

Come now, contemplate through me the world set before your sight, and carefully survey its form — an inviolable body, than which nothing is more ancient, everywhere equal in maturity and strength. Observe furthermore the seven worlds set beneath it, fashioned with wondrous adornment, filled with eternal order; each completing its course in its own distinct way; each filled full with light — fire, however, in no way among them.

For the friendship and commingling of contraries and unlike things established that light: fixed by the act of God, father of all good things, prince of all order, guide of the seven worlds — the eternal sun enduring, while in nature it passes through all the rest — the instrument of nature, transforming lower matter. Earth, placed in the middle of the world, the footstool of the beautiful world — nourishment and nurse of all earthly things.

Reflect on the multitude of living things, mortal and immortal; and in the very middle, as though the boundary between the two — between mortal and immortal — the moon herself, circling.

All things again are filled with soul, stirred by movements proper to each — some circling the heavens, others the earth; those on the right not toward the left, nor the left toward the right; and likewise not those above toward what is below, nor those below again toward those above.

That all these things are born, O my sweetest Mercury — there is no need for you to learn this as I discourse upon it; for bodies live: they have soul, and they move. And it is impossible for these to be gathered into one without the power of a thinking being.

There must therefore be some being of this kind — something altogether one. For since motions are many and varied, and bodies are unlike one another, yet there is one order of swiftness in all things — it is impossible that there be two or more makers; for one order would not be confirmed among many. Besides, whichever among them were weaker would naturally envy the stronger, from which some strife would arise. And so if one of them were the maker of changeable living things, he would desire to beget immortal things as well; just as the begetter of immortal things would long to beget mortal things.

Moreover, given one soul and one matter — to which of them does the chief act of making belong? And if to both — to which does the greater province belong?

Consider it thus: every living body, whether mortal or immortal, consists of matter and soul. All living bodies have soul; the non-living are nearly stripped of it in all things. Soul likewise, close to its parent through its own nature, is the cause of life; and the cause of life is whatever belongs to the immortals.

In what way then do mortal living things differ from merely mortal things, and immortal from immortal? Thus the supremacy of acting belongs above all things to one alone. For there is one soul, one life, one matter. Who is this? Who else but the one God? Does it belong to any other than God alone to bring forth living things? One God, therefore, has avowed one world, one Sun, one Moon, one divinity. And God himself we believe to be one. One therefore does each thing within the many.

Do you think it something difficult and laborious for God to bring about life, soul, immortality, and transformation? For you yourself can do so many and such great things: you see, hear, smell, taste, touch, speak, walk, breathe, understand. And there is not one in you who sees and another who hears; not one who speaks and another who walks; this one who smells and that one who tastes; this one breathing and that one understanding — one single being performs all these things. Nor is it possible for these to be accomplished without the nature of God.

For just as one who ceases from these things is no longer an animal, so one who ceased from the making of those things would not at all be God. And to suspect this is impious.

And if it is granted that nothing in nature subsists in which there is no inherent power of action and the execution of its specific work — how much more must we assert that God lacks no power, no effect upon all things? For whatever is idle is imperfect; and to call God imperfect is impiety. Therefore God makes all things.

Now, O Mercury, for a little time: be wholly present to me; dedicate yourself to me alone — and you shall at once understand the work of God.

This work was necessary to be present: so that those things which are, which were becoming, and which shall be hereafter, might exist.

And this, O my sweetest Mercury: this is life. This is the Beautiful. This is the Good. This, at last, is God.

But if you ask me to set this before your eyes through examples drawn from works — attend to what happens to you when you wish to beget; yet this is not like his begetting. For he is not poured out with pleasure; nor has he a helper in his work. Efficacious by his own nature, he works and moves by his own power — always existing himself within his work, whatever he has ever made.

If he should withdraw his own presence from any outflowing — all things would collapse into death, life failing.

But since all things live and there is one life of all things: God is one.

Again, if all things are living — those seen in heaven and those that lie on earth — one life of all truly flows from God, and that life itself and he himself is God. All things come from one creator.

Life is the union of mind and soul; death is not the destruction of things compounded, but the dissolution of the union of many.

The image of God therefore is the age; the image of the age is the world; the image of the world is the sun; the image of the sun is man.

Yet people suppose that a certain change is death — for this reason: that the mass of the body dissolves, and life withdraws itself into hiding.

Indeed, O beloved Mercury, that the world changes — I teach you this: because certain particles of it continually pass into hiding. Yet never suppose it perishes. These are the world's passions: revolution and concealment. Revolution is a turning; concealment is a renewal.

Moreover, the all-formed world does not receive foreign or alien forms from outside — rather it stirs them up within itself. What resembles the all-formed world will itself be all-formed; but if it had only one form, in this it would be inferior to the world.

What then shall we say to these things — lest we resist with dark ambiguity? What has long been ambiguous and not yet known has one idea. The idea proper to this, since it flees the sight of the eyes, is incorporeal — and it expresses form through each individual body. Let no astonishment hold you back, because there is a certain incorporeal idea; for there is one like the idea of speech and the marks of letters in writing — they seem to exceed greatly, yet plainly from nature they are light.

Now consider what shall be said more boldly — and what shall also be affirmed more truly: just as man cannot live without life, so God cannot live unless he produces good things. For this is the life of God, this his act: to stir each thing and to breathe life into all.

But some of what we said above requires a precise understanding. Consider in this example what I most want to signify.

All things are in God — not as placed in a location. For a location is a body that is immobile, and what is placed in it lacks movement. What is located in a body is located differently from what is in imagination. Think of what contains all individual things; think that nothing is more capacious than incorporeal nature, nothing swifter, nothing more powerful — it is the most capacious, the swiftest, the most powerful of all.

Thus again, beginning from yourself, meditate — and give command to your soul, which will fly away faster than you give the command. Command it, I say, to pass to the ocean: it will be there before you give the command, yet it departs not at all from where it now is. Command it again to fly to heaven: it will need no wings. Nothing will obstruct its course — not the burning of the sun, not the vastness of the aether, not the turning of the heavens, not the bodies of the remaining stars — but penetrating all things, it shall ascend to the highest body. And if you wish even to pass beyond all the spheres of the heavens, to investigate what lies above them — it shall be permitted to you.

Observe how great is the power of your soul, how great its swiftness. Can you accomplish these things — and God cannot?

Contemplate God therefore in this manner: as one who holds within himself all intelligences, and holds himself as though entirely the whole world.

Unless you make yourself equal to God, you shall never understand God. For like is always known by its like.

Stretch yourself out to a magnitude without limit. Rise out of the body. Surpass all time entirely. Become eternity. In this way at last you shall know God — supposing nothing impossible in yourself.

Think yourself immortal — capable of comprehending all things: all knowledge and all art alike. Be more sublime than every sublimity; more profound than every depth. Gather in yourself the sense of all your works, each one: fire, water, dry, moist. Be present at once in all parts of the world: in heaven, on earth, in the sea; through every age. Inhabit beyond the vessel of your little body. Through death, suppose that nothing perishes. Comprehend all these together: places, times, masses, qualities, and quantities — and in this way you will be able to understand God.

But if you have plunged your soul into the body and cast it away, and prostrated yourself with these words — I know nothing; I am unable to know; I dread the vast deep of the sea; I cannot fly to heaven; I do not know what I am now; I do not know what I shall be hereafter — what have you to do with God? You cannot, being wicked and a slave to your foul body, perceive the Beautiful and the Good.

And the utmost wickedness is not to know God.

But to settle, and to hope that one may yet find the Good — this is a certain divine road, leading to the Good along a straight path, easy and open. It shall meet you at every turn as you proceed — walking, sailing, by day and by night, speaking or likewise silent. For there is nothing in the nature of things that does not bear before it some image of divinity.

TRISMEGISTUS: Is God not invisible?

MIND: Speak more reverently, Trismegistus. For who is clearer than light? He fashioned all things for this very reason: that you might see him through each individual thing. This is God's goodness, this his power: to shine through all things. Nothing is invisible — not even among incorporeal things. Mind itself is seen through understanding. God is beheld in his operation.

Let these things be made clear to you thus far, Trismegistus; all the rest you shall search out for yourself — and you shall not be deceived by a false image of truth.

Ficino's Scholion: This discourse on Mind, full of divine speech, declares that eternity depends on God, the world on eternity, time on the world, transmutation on time, and from transmutation death and life depend. No power — whether divine or human, of things above or below — is comparable to the insuperable power of God: which he demonstrates most graciously through a single argument, with reasons and analogies.

Since God cannot be idle, he always makes all things. That you may rightly understand what is said about the eternal generation of the Word: for the text says the divine work was necessary to be present — so that those things which come to be, which were becoming, and which shall be hereafter might exist. That is life; that is the Beautiful; that is the Good; that is finally God and the life of all. But what is this, if not what the Evangelist's trumpet sings from a higher register when he says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. This was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was made nothing. What was made in him was life. From God, therefore, life flows to all — and it itself is God.

Whence it comes about that true death and true destruction is not the dissolution of things as people commonly suppose, but the life of living things withdrawing itself into hiding, things departing from view. He uses a wondrous proportion to comprehend him who escapes all proportion — who, once comprehended, remains incomprehensible; and who, unknown to all, shows himself knowable in all things.

You therefore, all who are pious — come hither now, and incline your minds to the discourses of Mind: that you may at last know him who fashioned all things for this reason: that you might see him through each individual thing. This is Mind.

Colophon

Translated from Ficino's Latin Pimander as preserved in the 1505 Lefèvre d'Étaples edition: Contenta in hoc volumine. Pimander. Mercurij Trismegisti liber De sapientia et potestate dei. Asclepius. Eiusdem Mercurij liber De voluntate divina. Item Crater Hermetis a Lazarelo Septempedano (Rome, 1505). Digital text from the Internet Archive, identifier bub_gb_SbGbIvDI0ekC, held by the National Central Library of Rome. Public Domain Mark 1.0.

This is Book XI of Ficino's Pimander — the text Ficino designates Mens ad Mercurium, corresponding to Corpus Hermeticum XI in modern scholarship. The modern critical Greek edition (Nock and Festugière 1945) was not consulted; translation is derived independently from Ficino's Latin. G. R. S. Mead's 1905 English was not consulted.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Mens ad Mercurium — Liber XI

Latin source text from Ficino's Pimander as preserved in the Lefèvre d'Étaples 1505 edition, accessed via the Internet Archive (identifier: bub_gb_SbGbIvDI0ekC). Transcribed from the OCR text with corrections for long-s rendering (ſ → s), hyphenated line-breaks rejoined, and obvious OCR splits resolved.

Desine tamdiu differre, Trismegiste Mercuri. Sile iam, tante dictorum reminiscere: etenim sensum tibi meum non pigebit exprimere, eoque magis, quo multae et variae inter mortales de mundo deoque opiniones pererrant. TRISME. Equide ut ingenue fatear, huius rei veritatem nondum teneo ipse. ergo mi domine puram exprime veritatem. nam unicum te elucidare talia posse confido. MENS. Audi me igitur o fili. Tempus, deus, et universum sic se habent. Deus: eternitas: [mundus]: generatio. Deus eternitate/eternitas mundum: mundus tempus/tempus generationem efficit. Dei quasi essentiam: bonum/pulchrum/beatitudo/sapientia/eternitas. Essentiam ipsum idem. Mundi ordo: temporis transmutatio/generatio/mors et vita. Actus dei: mens et anima. Eternitas: perseveratio atque immortalitas: mundi institutio et restitutio temporis. Augmentum et diminutio. Generationis denique qualitas. Eternitas ergo in deo: in eternitate mundus: tempus in mundo: in tempore generatio. Eternitas extat circa deum. Mundus in eternitate movetur. Tempus terminatur in mundo: generatio complectitur in tempore. Forsitaque quidem deus: essentia vero eternitas. Opus eternitatis est mundus factus quidem non aliquando: dictus autem semper ab evo. Cum vero nunquam cesset evum: nunquam cessabit ac mundus. Cumque sit mundus aeternitate comprehensus: nulla mundi pars interiit. TRISME. Dei vero sapientia quid est? MENS. Bonum/pulchrum/beatitudo/omnis virtus et lenum: unde immortalia ab illo progenita. Age, contemplare per me subjectum tuo conspectui mundum/atque eius diligenter circumspice formam: inviolabile corpus: quo nihil antiquius: per aeque idem adultum ac vires. Inspice praeterea mundos septem suppositos/ornatu mirifico fabricatos: ordine sempiterno: cursu suo differenter completes: eos plena lumine singula/ignis vero in illis nullo modo. Amicitia enim contrariorum dissimiliumque commixtio: lumen instituit illud: fixatum ab actu dei/bonorum omnium genitoris/totius ordinis principis: septemque mundorum ducis: eterni durante/natura vero ceteris percurrente: naturae organum: inferiorem materiam transmutantem. Terra in mundi medio sita: pulchri mundi subsellio: nutrimentum terrenorum omnium: eademque nutrix. Meditate numerum mortalium immortaliumque viventium: in medio vero quasi confinium utrorumque mortalium videlicet atque immortalium: luna ipsa circumeuntem. Anima rursus omnia plena: propriis ab ea motibus agitata: partim quidem circa caelum/partim vero circa terram. nec ea quae dextra sunt ad sinistram: neque laeva ad dextra. Item nec supra ad infra: neque infra iterum ad superna. Quod autem haec omnia genita sint o dulcissime mi Mercuri: nequaquam nunc opus est ut me disserente perdiscas. nam corpora vivunt: habent anima et moventur. Haec autem in unum cogi absque cogitantis virtute impossibile est. Oportet igitur aliquem esse tale ac penitus unum. Nam cum multi variique sint motus/et dissimilia corpora: unus autem ordo velocitatis in omnibus: impossibile est duos aut plures esse factores: neque enim ordo unus probaretur in multis. Praeterea qui inter illos imbecillior esset: potentiori nimirum invideret: ex quo seditio quaedam exorietur. Itaque si unus eorum actor mutabilium animalium extitisset: cuperet quoque et immortalia gignere: quemadmodum genitor immortalium affectaret mortalia. quinetiam una existente anima unaque materia: ad quam illorum potissimum fabricatio pertinet: quod si ad utrumque: ad quem provincia maior pertinet? Sic autem cogita: omne corpus vivens sive mortale sive immortale: ex materia constat et anima. omnia sane viventia corpora alata sunt: non viventia vero nuda pene in omnia. Anima quoque similiter secundum seipsam suo propinqua parenti: vitae causa est. vitae autem causa est quilibet immortalium. Quonam igitur modo: mortalia viventia differunt a mortalibus: itemque ab immortalibus immortalia? Esse itaque horum omnium actoris prae ceteris est praecipuum. Nam anima una/vita una/una quoque materia. Quisnam iste: quis alter praeter unicum deum? Num alteri cuipiam quam soli deo convenit parere viventia? Unus itaque deus: mundum unum est confessus: et Solem unum/unicam lunam/unaque divinitate. Ipsum vero deum: unum quidem credimus esse. Unus igitur: singula facit in multis. Num censes arduum quiddam et laboriosum deo vitam/animam/immortalitatem/mutationemque efficere? Tu enim tot tantaque potes: vides/audis/odoras/gustas/tangis/loqueris/gradiris/spiras/intelligis. Neque alter est in te: qui videt/quive audit alter. Nec loquitur unus/graditur alius: hic odorat/ille gustat/hic spirat/intelligit ille: at unus haec omnia praestat: neque etiam possibile est illa sine dei natura fieri. Ut enim qui cessat ab ijs: non est amplius animal: sic qui ab illorum constructione cessaret: minime deus esset. Id autem suspicari nefarium. Quod si concessum nihil rerum natura consistere: cui non insit naturalis quidam agendi vigor suique certi operis executio: quanto magis asserenda est deo non deesse potestas omnium et effectus? nam quicquid otiosum: imperfectum. Imperfectum dicere deum nefas. Facit igitur omnia deus. Nunc mihi id paulula temporis o Mercuri: totus adesto/ipse te mihi dedicato: opus dei confestim intelligis. Hoc opus adesse necessarium erat: ut essent ea quae sunt/quaeque fiebant/quae fient in posterum. Id autem o suavissime mi Mercuri: vita est. id vero pulchrum. id autem bonum. id denique deus. Sin autem petieris: ut haec tibi per exempla operum ante oculos ponam: adverte quid tibi accidat generare volenti: non tamen illius hoc simile. ille siquidem non diffunditur voluptate: nec habet operis adiutorem. Suapte natura efficax: vi propria operans versatur: in opere semper existens ipse/quodcumque fecerit unquam. Si a quodam influxu suum ille subtraxerit: deficiente vita in mortem corruet universa. Cum vero vivant omnia/unaque sit vita cunctorum: unus est deus. Rursus si omnia viventia sunt: quae in caelo videntur/quae iacent in terra: una profecto vita cunctorum manat ex deo/atque ipsa et ipse est deus. Ab uno fiunt omnia conditore. Vita vero est unio mentis animaeque: mors autem non pernicies concretorum: sed unionis plurium dissolutio. Imago ergo dei aevum: aevi mundus/mundi sol/solis autem homo. At vero mutationem quandam/populi mortem esse arbitrantur: ob eam causam/quia moles resolvitur corporis/et vita se revocat in occultum. Equide o dilecte Mercuri: mundum quidem mutari: hac te doceo ratione. quia quaedam illius particulae in occultum iugiter abeunt: nunquam tamen interire illum existimato. Illae profecto mundi sunt passiones: revolutio scilicet atque occultatio. Revolutio quidem conversio: occultatio autem renovatio est. Omniformis praeterea mundus: formas haud sane adventitias/peregrinasque suscipit: verum ipse eas in seipso coagitat: etiam omniformis mundi similis erit. at si unam formam habuerit: in hoc erit mundo deterior. Quid itaque dicemus ad haec: ut ne obscuro ambiguo resistamus? Quod enim diutinus ambiguum/nondum cognitum: una igitur habet ideam. huius autem idea propria: cum aspectum fugiat oculorum: incorporea est. formamque per corpora singula exprimit. Neque ulla te prorsus admiratio teneat: quia sit quaedam incorporalis idea. est enim qualis idea sermonis et inscriptionibus apices. videntur enim permultum excedere: plane tamen ex natura levesque sunt. Meditate autem quod nunc dicetur audentius: quodque verius etiam asseretur: quemadmodum homo nequit sine vita vivere: ita nec deus vivere potest: nisi bona producat. Haec enim dei vita/hic eius actus: agitare singula/vitaque omnibus inspirare. Quaedam vero eorum quae supra diximus: certa quaedam requirunt intelligentiam. Considera in hoc exemplo: quid potissimum significare velim. Omnia sunt in deo: non tanquam in loco posita. Locus enim corpus est immobile: atque ea quae posita sunt motu carent. Locatur quippe aliter in corpore: aliter in phantasia. Cogita singula continentem: cogita nihil esse quam incorporalis natura capacius/nihil velocius/nihil validius/ipsumque omnium capacissimum/velocissimum/potentissimum. Sic iterum a teipso incipiens meditate: atque animae tuae praecipito/quae citius quam praecipies: evolabit. Iubeto inquam: ut transeat in oceanum. illa priusquam iusseris ibi erit: inde vero ubi nunc est nequaquam discedens. Iubeto iterum: ut in caelum volet: nullis pennis egebit. nihil eius obstabit cursui. non solis incendium. non aetheris amplitudo. non vertigio caelorum. non reliquorum siderum corpora: quin penetrans omnia: ad supernum corpus usque transcendat. Quinetiam si volueris: globos omnes transire caelorum/quodque superius est investigare: tibi licebit. Adverte quanta sit animae tuae potestas/quanta celeritas. Tu ne potes ista: deus non potest? Hoc igitur pacto contemplare deum: ut in seipso intelligentias omnes habentem/habentemque seipsum/ceu mundum penitus universum. nisi te deo aequaveris: deum nunquam intelliges. nam simile semper a simili suo cognoscitur. Extende teipsum in magnitudine sine termino. emerge ex corpore. totum supergredere tempus. aeternitas esto. sic deum denique noveris: impossibile nihil in teipso supponens. Teipsum immortalem puta: comprehendere omnia potentem: scientiam omnem atque omnem pariter artem. omni sublimitate sublimior esto. omni fundo profundior. sensuique factorum tuorum singulos in te colligito: ignis/aquae/aridi/humidi: adesto simul mundi partibus omnibus: caelo/terrae/maraque/per omnem aetatem: extra corpusculi tui utrem habitato: per mortem nihil interire putato. Cuncta haec simul comprehendito: loca/tempora/moles/qualitates et quantitates: sic deum intelligere poteris. Contra si animam tuam in corpus demerseris: ipsamque abieceris: iisque te verbis incenu prostraveris: nescio quicquam/neque scire etiam valeo/vastum horreo maris fundum/in caelum volare nequeo/non novi quid nunc sim/non novi quid sim futurus in posterum: quid tibi cum deo? neque enim potes cum sis malus/corporis foetidi servus: ipsum pulchrum/bonumque percipere. extrema vero pravitas: non recognoscere deum. At vero considere/atque sperare se/bonum aliquando reperire posse: via quaedam divina est/ad bonum recto tramite ducens/facilisque et peruia. passim procedenti tibi: identidem occurret/ambulanti/naviganti/die/nocteque/loquenti/pariter atque tacenti. nihil est enim in rerum natura: quod non aliqua prae se ferat divinitatis imaginem. TRISME. Nonne invisibilis deus? MENS. Religiosius loquere Trismegiste. nam quis eo lucis clarior? ille quippe omnia ob eam causam fabricavit: ut eum per singula cerneres. Haec dei bonitas/haec eius virtus est: illa fulgere per omnia. nihil est vel in incorporeis etiam invisibile. mens ipsa intellectione videtur. at deus in operatione conspicitur. Haec hactenus enodata tibi sint Trismegiste: cetera omnia ipse per te iam perscrutaberis/neque falsa veritatis imagine decipieris.

[Scholion:] [Hic sermo] de mente: divino sermone plenus: declarat aeternitatem a deo/mundum ab aeternitate/tempus a mundo/transmutationem a tempore/a transmutatione mortem atque vitam pendere. insuperabili dei potestati nulla potentiam/nec divinam/nec humanam/nec supernorum/nec infernorum: ei comparabile esse: quam unico dicendo cum rationibus/et analogijs/gratissime demonstrat. qui cum otiosus esse nequit: semper omnia facit. quod de aeterna verbi generatione dictum recte concipias. ait enim opus divinum adesse necessarium erat: ut essent ea quae fiunt/quae fiebant/et quae fient in posterum. id vita est: id pulchrum/id bonum/id denique deus et vita cunctorum. sed quid hoc nisi quod altius evangelistae tuba cecinit cum inquit: In principio erat verbum et verbum erat apud deum: deus erat verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud deum: omnia per ipsum facta sunt/et sine ipso factum est nihil. quod factum est in ipso vita erat. Cunctis ergo vita a deo manat atque ipsa deus est. Quo fit ut ea vera mors verusque interitus non sit rerum: quam vulgo putant. verum ea quam viventium vita in abditum se revocat: res deserit. Mira profecto proportione ad eum comprehendendum utitur: qui omnem effugit proportionem: qui comprehensus incomprehensibilis manet. et qui omnibus incognitus: omnibus in rebus se praestat cognoscibilem. Vos ergo quicunque pii: huc toti nunc adeste: et mentis sermonibus vestram mentem inclinate: ut eum tandem cognoscatis: qui omnia ob eam causam fabricatus est: ut eum per singula cerneretis. Haec Mens.

Source Colophon

Latin source text drawn from Contenta in hoc volumine. Pimander. Mercurij Trismegisti liber De sapientia et potestate dei (Rome: Lefèvre d'Étaples, 1505), digitized by the National Central Library of Rome and made freely available on the Internet Archive (identifier: bub_gb_SbGbIvDI0ekC). Public Domain Mark 1.0. OCR text corrected for long-s rendering (ſ → s) and standard Latin abbreviations expanded.

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