On the Common — Trismegistus to Tatius: Mind, Soul, Fate, and the World as God

The twelfth book of Ficino's Pimander is addressed to Tatius. It opens with one of the most direct declarations in the whole Hermetic corpus: you exist, O Tatius, out of God's very essence. Mind is to God as light is to the sun; it is God in humans, and for this reason some humans are gods — the good daemon declares that gods are immortal humans and men are mortal gods. The discourse then moves through the battle of mind against the soul's corruption by pleasure and pain; the good daemon's oracle on fate; the hierarchy from God through mind, word, and soul to matter; the declaration that the world is the great God, image of a greater; and the resolution that nothing in the world dies — dissolution is only the renewal of the old into the young. The book closes with what Ficino identified as the simplest and most complete summation of Hermetic worship: This word, worship and adore. The worship of God is one: not to be evil.

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

You exist indeed, O Tatius, out of God's very essence — if however there is an essence of his. This, whatever kind it is, it alone comprehends itself sincerely.

Mind therefore is in no way divided from God's essence; but is connected to it rather in the way light is to the body of the sun.

This mind is God in humans; and for this reason some among the number of humans are gods, and their humanity is nearest to divinity. The good daemon declares gods to be immortal humans, and humans mortal gods.

In irrational animals, that mind is nature. For wherever soul is, there too is mind — just as wherever life is, there too is soul in living things, without the running of reason. Soul is life empty of mind. Mind indeed is the helper of human souls, calling them back to their own good. In animals lacking reason, it operates with the nature of each. In human souls, it sometimes resists and struggles. For soul, poured into the body, is continually corrupted by pleasure and pain. From the body's mixture, pleasure and pain spring up as certain streams, in which the soul immersed is drowned.

For the souls over which mind presides, illuminated by its brightness, mind resists their inclinations and dispositions — just as the skilled physician afflicts the sick body with pain, burning it and cutting, for the sake of restoring health: in the same way mind afflicts the pleasure-loving soul, in order to uproot the roots of pleasure. From this springs all disease of the soul; the gravest disease of soul is impiety. Opinion, moreover, draws not toward any good at all, but toward evil rather. But that mind, struggling, so procures the soul's good as the physician procures health of the body.

As many human souls as have not received mind as governor suffer the same as brute animals. They are let go like murderers — or rather, as the murderer himself. To escape the quality of change is impossible, just as the effect of generation. But wickedness, for the one who has mind, can be avoided.

For which reason I, my son, have always heard the good daemon dictating — who, if he had committed these things to letters as well, would confer wonderful benefits daily on the human race. He alone, my son, like a god properly born for us, beholding all things, poured divine oracles upon us. Now I heard him predicting thus once: One, all are; in the first place, intelligible bodies — we live by potency, act, eternity. The mind of this is the Good, even as its soul is good. Since this is so, nothing of intelligible things is distant from the intelligible. Moreover, mind, prince of all things, and soul of God, can accomplish whatever it wills. So he spoke.

You therefore consider these things; and to this discourse on fate which I shall set forth — attend with mind and with erect ears. If you carefully avoid contentious quibbling, you shall find without doubt that mind, soul of God, dominates all things — you too, under law and all the rest; and nothing of those things which belong to fate is impossible for mind. Therefore the human soul is superior to fate — yet it does not neglect those things that are subject to fate. And these are the best oracles of the good daemon.

TATIUS: Truly divinely and conveniently have you handled these things, O father. But declare this further to me, I beg: you said that mind operates in brute animals by way of nature, cooperating with their passions. But the passions of irrational ones — as I judge — are passions of body; therefore mind is a kind of passion, since it conforms to passions.

TRISMEGISTUS: Well done, my son, how nobly you ask; it is right that I respond. All things in bodies that are incorporeal are passible — indeed they are properly passions. All motion of the body, if incorporeal things are moved also by mind — motion is passion. Both therefore, both what is moved and also what moves, suffer: this one dominating, that one subjected. When it is separated from body, it is freed from passions — nay, nothing is utterly impassible, my son; for all things are passible. But passion and passible differ most especially in this: that one acts and the other is acted upon. Bodies themselves also act by themselves — for they are either immovable or moved; whichever of these is the case, it is passion. Incorporeal things, however, always operate; and for that reason they are passible. Do not let the names trouble you: operation and passion are the same thing — though it does not matter to use a more honorable name.

TATIUS: You have given a clear account of these things, O father.

TRISMEGISTUS: Consider this further, my son: that these two things alone of all animals, God himself has given to man — namely speech and mind. These are deemed to be of the same preeminence as immortality. Whoever uses these for what is fitting does not differ at all from the immortals. Indeed, freed from the chains of the body, he shall be led by both into the choir of the blessed and gods alike.

TATIUS: But do not the other animals besides man use speech?

TRISMEGISTUS: No, my son; but voice. There is a great difference between voice and speech. Speech is common to all humans; voice is proper to each man, proper also to each kind of living creature.

TATIUS: O father, different races of men use different speeches.

TRISMEGISTUS: Different, my son — yet there is one speech, which transferred through interpretation here and there, is found at last to be one single word. The word is the same among Egyptians, Persians, and Greeks. But you seem, my son, not to know the power and amplitude of word.

The blessed god, the good daemon, declared that soul is in body, mind in soul, word in mind — and asserted God to be the father of all these. Word therefore is the image and mind of God. The body is the idea; the idea is the soul; the purest portion of matter is the airy soul; for the soul is mind; for mind finally is God. God is around all things and simultaneously through all; mind is around soul; soul around air; air around matter. Necessity, providence, and nature are the instruments of the world and of the order of matter.

Each essence of intelligible things is their essence — their essence being this same thing. But among those in bodies, each is a multitude. Composite bodies, having the same among themselves and mutually passing into one another, preserve the immortality of the selfsame. In other composite bodies the number of each body is present; without number neither constitution nor composition nor dissolution can occur; units beget and augment number, and again dissolved, they withdraw number to unity.

Matter is indeed one; and this whole world is the great God — image of a greater, united with that one, serving the father's order and will, the whole fullness of life. Nor is there anything in it throughout all eternity and the father's restoration — whether toward the whole or toward a part — that does not enjoy life. Nor is there anything lifeless in the world, neither was there before, nor shall there be. For the father willed it to be alive as long as it is, as the world. Whence this must be a god. How can there be in God, in the image of all, in the fullness of life, things lacking life?

Deprivation of life is corruption; corruption is destruction. How therefore can any part of what is incorruptible be corrupted, or anything of God be destroyed?

TATIUS: Do not the animals in the world, O father, as parts of the world, die?

TRISMEGISTUS: Speak more carefully, my son. You err in the name. Nothing dies in the world; composite bodies dissolve. Dissolution is not death, but a certain resolution of mixture. It is dissolved — not so that the things which are might perish, but so that the old might grow young again.

TATIUS: Since there is a certain operation of life, is this not a kind of motion? And therefore, what in the world is immovable?

TRISMEGISTUS: Nothing, my son.

TATIUS: Does not the earth appear immovable to you?

TRISMEGISTUS: Not at all; it is agitated by many motions. Yet it alone is in a certain way stable. Would it not be ridiculous if the nurse of all things, conceiving and bringing forth individual things, should lack motion? For it is impossible to bring forth anything without motion. Nor is the following less ridiculous: to call that body sterile. For the name "immovable" signifies nothing other than something sterile. Consider all this generation, my son, that exists in the world: moving either by growing or by decreasing. What moves, moreover, lives — yet individual living things are not necessarily the same. For the world itself, existing all together, is wholly immovable as a whole; but its parts are agitated on all sides. Yet nothing is subject to corruption; but certain false names trouble men. For generation is not creation of life, but the manifestation of hidden life; and change is not death but concealment rather.

Since these things are so — all things are immortal. Matter indeed is the spirit of life; mind is of soul. From mind all living flows. Everything living therefore, through mind, remains immortal. Most immortal of all is man, who captures God, who is conformed to the divine essence — for this one alone of all the race of living things, God himself meets: by night through dreams, by day more frequently through signs; through all of which he announces all future things to man — through birds, through entrails, through spirit and through the sibyl. For which reason it is truly said that man knows what is, what was, and what shall presently arrive.

But attend above all to this, my son: that each remaining kind of living thing inhabits its own province of the world. Wet things inhabit water; terrestrial creatures the earth; winged things the air. But man uses all these — earth, water, and air — and fire; heaven is his ceiling, and he looks upon it from there. But God is around all things simultaneously and through all. For act is all things and power. It is something difficult, my son, to perceive God. Whenever you wish to contemplate him, attend to the order of the world and the ornament of its order. Attend to the necessity of things perceived by sense, and the providence of all — those things made before, those that happen daily. Attend to matter full of life, and to such and so great a God walking together with all good and beautiful gods, daemons, and men.

TATIUS: But these, father, are certain operations.

TRISMEGISTUS: Ah, my son — from where do these come if not from God himself? Do you not know that just as the parts of the world are heaven, water, earth, and air, so in the same way the members of God are life, immortality, necessity, providence, nature, soul, mind? And the sharing of all these: himself the Good. Nor is anything made anywhere, nor is there any place where God himself is not present.

TATIUS: In matter then, father?

TRISMEGISTUS: Matter, my son, is apart from God, so that a proper place may be assigned to it. What else do you think it can be — existing as this rude, undigested mass? It could not be otherwise unless it were formed. But since it is formed, it is certainly formed by something; for we said that the operations of forming are parts of God. From whom therefore are individual living things given life, from whom are they made immortal and enjoy the gift of immortality, from whom are mutable things changed — whether you call it matter, body, or substance — remember it is the act of God. Act toward matter: by the reason of matter. Act toward body: by the reason of body. Act toward essence: by the reason of essence. And this is the all; nor is there anything in all things that is not God himself. Therefore neither magnitude, nor place, nor quality, nor figure, nor even time is around God — for all is he. All is around all and through all.

This word, my son, worship and adore. The worship of God is one: not to be evil.

Ficino's Scholion: The twelfth discourse carries the image of the divine mind — as the first mind's image it follows after the first mind's exact determination, dealing out its influence to individual souls. But in irrational beings, mind is nature. Through this the good things of the good are obtained — to whom mind presides. Those destined to be bereft of it are carried away by some burning impulse toward the satisfaction of their lusts, setting no limit to their desires, finding no end to their evils, suffering the penalties of their ignorance by fate and divine decree. The good, by contrast, for whom mind presides — images of the good and beautiful — receive the good things that fate has established for them. By no means therefore shall you escape fate; it is plainly the divine law. But you can flee evils and the penalties of wickedness. Mercury, full of oracles, discusses many things: he often heard the oracle foretelling. He commends two divine gifts to humans — mind and speech. The oracles of the good daemon, or if you prefer, the divine spirit, open the mysteries of God, of the word, of the world, of matter: saying nothing in the world is without life; calling nothing mortal — though dissoluble rather, as something to be understood; nothing immovable. And that God meets man in various ways; and in what manner man, rising from himself, is able to advance toward perceiving God. This is the twelfth.

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 XII of Ficino's Pimander — the text Ficino designates De Communi, addressed to Tatius, corresponding to Corpus Hermeticum XII 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. The source text was fetched in two byte ranges: the opening of Book XII from bytes ~93,100–103,280, and the remainder from bytes 103,280–120,000 of the djvu.txt file; the two segments were joined at the transition point (identified by the mid-sentence OCR break between the two fetches).

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

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Source Text: De Communi — Liber XII

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. The opening segment (through "pauuntur") comes from bytes ~93,100–103,280; the remainder from bytes 103,280–120,000.

Ens quidem o Tati ex ipsa dei essentia, si quam tamen est eius essentia, nascitur. Haec qualiscumque sit, sola seipsam sincera comprehendit. Mens igitur ab essentia dei nequaquam divisa: sed illi potius eo modo connexa, quo solis corpori lumen. Haec mens deus est in hominibus: atque idcirco nonnulli ex hominum numero, dii sunt, eorumque humanitas est divinitati proxima. Etenim bonus daemon deos quidem praedicat immortales; homines autem mortales deos. In animalibus autem irrationabilibus: mens illa natura est. Nam ubicunque anima: ibique mens. Quemadmodum ubicunque vita: ibi etiam anima in viventibus, absque rationis discursu. Anima est vita vacua mentis. Mens quippe adiutrix est hominum animarum, eas in bonum proprium revocans. In animalibus ratione carentibus: cum natura cuiusque operando congreditur; in animis hominum resistit interdum atque repugnat. Anima siquidem infusa corpori: a voluptate atque dolore continuo depravatur. Ex corporis enim commixtione voluptas et dolor, ceu rivuli quidam scaturiunt, in quos madens anima suffocatur. Quibuscumque igitur animis mens praesidet: suo illa fulgore illustrati, earum moribus animisque resistens. Quemadmodum vero medicus eruditus aegrotantis corpus doloribus afficit, urendo illud atque secando, recuperandae valetudinis gratia: eodem modo mens voluptuosam affligit animam, ut radices voluptatis evellat. Ab hac enim omnis animae morbus: morbus animae gravissimus, impietas est. Opinio autem non ad bonum prorsus ullum, sed ad malum potius allicit. At vero mens illa repugnans, sic animae bonum procurat, ut sanitatem corporis medicus. Quotcumque hominum animae mentem nequaquam fortitae sunt gubernatricem: eadem quae et brutorum animae pauuntur.

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...sed quemadmodum homicida. Qualitatem transmutationis effugere impossibile est, sicut et generationis effectu. Pravitatem vero mente habenti vitare licet. Quaobrem ego mi fili, bonum semper daemonem audivi dictantem: qui si litteris quoque monumenta mandavisset, mira quaedam indies humano generi emolumenta conferret. Solus ille mi fili, tanquam proprie genitus deus, universa conspiciens, divina in nos effudit oracula. Nunc equidem audivi sic aliquando praedicantem: unum omnia sunt; praesertim intelligibilia corpora vivimus potentia, actu, aeternitate. Mens huius Boni, quemadmodum et eius anima bona; cum id ita se habeat, nihil est intelligibilium ab intelligibili distans. Potest praeterea mens princeps omnium atque anima dei, quaecumque vult efficere. Haec ille. Tu igitur ista considera: et ad hunc quem inferam sermonem de fato: mente arrectisque auribus adsta. Si diligenter litigiosas captiunculas evitaveris, invenies absque dubio, quod mens, anima dei, dominatur omnibus: tu etiam legi ac ceteris universis. Neque aliquid illorum, quae ad fatum spectant, impossibile menti. Ideoque humanus animus fato superior: non tamen quae fato subiecta sunt negligit. Atque ista sunt oracula boni daemonis optima. TAT. Vere divine atque etiam commode tractasti haec o pater. At illud insuper mihi declares obsecro. Mentem in brutis operari naturae modo dixisti; cum illorum affectibus cooperantem. Affectus autem irrationalium (ut arbitror) passiones sunt: mens ergo passio quaedam est; sic enim passionibus conformatur. TRISME. Euge fili, bone, quam generose rogas: aequum est ut tibi respondeam. Omnia quae insunt in corporibus incorporea, patibilia sunt, imo passiones proprie sunt. Omnis motus corporis, si incorporea quoque movetur a mente; motus autem passio. Utraque ergo, tum quod movetur, tum etiam quod movet, patiuntur; hoc quidem dominans, illud vero subiectum. Cum vero separatur a corpore, a passionibus liberatur; immo nihil usque impatibile, fili; cuncta enim patibilia. Sed passio et patibile in hoc maxime differunt: quod unum agit, alterum patitur. Corpora vero secundum seipsa etiam agunt: aut enim immobilia sunt, aut moventur; utrum vero sit horum, passio est. Haec corporalia autem operantur semper; proptereaque patibilia sunt. Neque te appellationes moveant: operatio enim et passio idem; vocabulo tamen magis honorando uti nil obest. TAT. Perspicuam de his rationem reddidisti o pater. TRISME. Illud praeterea considera o fili: quod duo haec soli ex omnibus animalibus homini, deus ipse largitus est — sermonem scilicet atque mentem. Quae quidem eiusdem (ac immortalitas) praemii esse censentur. Is quisquis ad id quod decet utitur, nihil ab immortalibus discrepat. Quinetiam corporis solutus compedibus, ab utrisque ducetur in chorum beatorum simulque et deorum. TAT. Cetera praeter hominem animantia, nonne sermone utuntur? TRISME. Non fili; sed voce. Permultum interest vocem inter atque sermonem. Sermo cunctis communis hominibus; vox autem propria cuiusque hominis, propria etiam cuiusque generis animantium. TAT. O pater, diversa genera hominum diversis utuntur sermonibus. TRISME. Diversis o fili; unus etiam sermo, qui per interpretationem huc atque illuc translatus, unum denique verbum exsistere reperitur. Verbum idem apud Aegyptios, Persas, et Graecos. Sed videris mi fili, verbi virtute et amplitudine ignorare.

Beatus deus, daemon bonus: animam esse in corpore, mentem in anima, in mente verbum pronuntiavit; deumque horum patrem asseruit. Verbum itaque imago ac mens dei est. Est corpus quidem ideae; idea vero animae; purissima materiae portio aeriae animae; animae mens; mentis denique deus. Deus vero circa omnia, simulque per omnia; mens circa animam; anima circa aerem; aer circa materiam. Necessitas autem, providentiaque et natura, organa mundi sunt, ordinisque materiae. Etenim intelligibilium unumquodque essentia; essentia vero illorum ipsum idem. At eorum quaemodo insunt corporum, unumquodque est multitudo. Corpora composita ipsum idem habentia, atque invicem mutuo transeuntia, immortalitatem ipsius eiusdem perpetuo servant. In ceteris corporibus quae composita sunt: corporis cuiusque numerus est. Absque numero constitutionem vel compositionem vel dissolutionem fieri impossibile est. Unitates quippe gignunt atque augent numerum; rursusque solutae, sine numero retrahunt. Materia quidem una totusque hic mundus: magnus est deus, imago maioris, unitus illi, patris ordinem voluntatemque servans, vitae totius integra plenitudo. Neque est in eo quicquam per omnem aeternitatem, restitutionemque paternam (sive ad totum, sive ad partem spectans) quod non vita fruatur. Neque est vitae expers in mundo quicquam, nec fuit ante, nec erit. Viventem enim voluit pater eius, quamdiu est, esse mundum; unde hunc deum esse necesse est. Quomodo possunt o fili in deo, in totius imagine, in plenitudine vitae, esse quaedam vita carentia. Privatio vitae corruptio est; corruptio vero pernicies. Quonam igitur pacto, pars ulla eius quod incorruptibile est, corrumpi, vel dei quicquam destrui potest? TAT. Nonne o pater animalia quae in mundo sunt, mundi partes sunt, intereunt? TRISME. Rectius loquere fili. Erras enim in nomine. Non moritur in mundo quicquam; sed composita corpora dissolvuntur. Dissolutio mors non est, sed mixtionis resolutio quaedam. Solvitur enim unio, non ut ea quae sunt intereant, sed ut vetera iuvenescant. TAT. Cum sit quaedam operatio vitae, nonne motio quaedam haec est, atque idcirco quid in mundo immobile? TRISME. Nihil o fili. TAT. Numquid immobilis tibi terra videtur? TRISME. Minime; sed multis motibus agitata. Sola tamen haec quodammodo stabilis. An non ridiculum esset ipsa nutrice omnium, concipiente parturientiaque singula, motu careret? Impossibile enim aliquid absque motu parere. Nec minus ridiculum illud: quod corpus sterile nuncupare. Nihil enim aliud ipsius immobilis appellatio quam sterile quiddam significat. Totum hoc o fili generationem considera, quod est in mundo: aut crescendo aut decrescendo movetur. Quod vero movetur, id praeterea vivit; singula tamen viventia, haud eadem esse necesse est. Simul quippe mundus universus existens, totus quidem immobilis; partes autem eius agitabiles undique. Nihil tamen corruptioni subiectum; sed appellationes quaedam falsae homines turbant. Neque enim generatio vitae creatio est, sed latentis explicatio vitae; neque mutatio mors, sed occultatio potius. Cum haec igitur ita se habeant, immortalia cuncta. Materia quidem vitae spiritus est; mens animae. Ex mente vivens omne fluit. Omne igitur vivens per mentem, permanet immortale. Maxime vero omnium immortalis est homo, qui deum capit, qui divinae conformatur essentiae; huic enim soli ex omni viventium genere: deus ipse congreditur; nocte quidem per somnia; die crebrius per portenta; per quae omnia sibi futura pronuntiat, per aves, per intestina, per spiritum, perque sibyllam. Propter quae vere dicitur homo scire quae sunt, quae fuerunt, quae mox ventura trahuntur. Illud autem in primis advertas fili mi volo: quod unumquodque genus viventium reliquorum, propriam sibi mundi provinciam habitat. Humida quidem aquam; terrestria terram; aerea volatilia. Homo autem his omnibus utitur: terra, aqua, aereque et ignem; coelum sufficit; seseque illud attigit. Deus vero circa omnia simul atque per omnia. Actus enim est omnium atque potestas. Nam arduum quiddam est o fili, Deum percipere. Hunc quotiens intueri volueris: adverte mundi ordinem atque ordinis eius ornatum. Adverte necessitatem eorum quae sensu percipiuntur, providentiamque cunctorum; quae facta sint ante, quae quotidie fiunt. Adverte plenam vitae materiam; talem ac tantum Deum cum omnibus bonis et pulchris dis daemonibusque atque hominibus incedentem. TAT. At iste o pater operationes quaedam sunt. TRISME. Ah fili, unde haec, nisi ab ipso Deo proficiscuntur? Num ignoras, quod quemadmodum mundi partes sunt coelum aqua terra et aer, eodem modo dei membra: vita, immortalitas, necessitas, providentia, natura, anima, mens? Horumque omnium participatio: ipsum bonum. Neque fit aliud usquam, nec est factum, ubi deus ipse non adsit. TAT. In materia ergo pater? TRISME. Materia fili mi seorsum est a Deo, ut locus illi proprius assignetur. Quid aliud illam existimas existere posse — existens ut rudi indigestaque congeriem? Accus credas nisi formetur. Quod si formatur, ab aliquo certe formatur; operationes enim formandi partes Dei esse diximus. A quo ergo vita donantur animantia singula; a quo fiunt immortalia, quae immortalitatis munere perfruuntur; a quo mutantur quae mutabilia sunt — sive materiam sive corpus nuncupaveris — Dei actus esse memento. Actum ad materiem: materiae ratione. Actum corporem, corporis ratione. Actum essentiae: essentiae ratione. Idque omne; neque quicquam est in omni quod non sit ipse Deus. Itaque nec magnitudo, neque locus, neque qualitas, nec figura, neque etiam tempus circa Deum: omne enim est. Omne autem circa omnia, atque per omnia. Hoc verbum o fili, cole atque adora. Cultus autem Dei unus est: non esse malum.

[Scholion] Duodecimus dei senore mente, quam primae mentis imago aut vestigium quoddam est, prosequens post primae mentis exactam determinationem, ea singulis animabus adornatis; sed in irrationalibus mens natura est; in hominibus autem. Cuius beneficio assequi, qui hominum destituuntur, nati ferarum flagranti quodam impetu ac cupidatum expletione rapiuntur; nec suae libidini statuum ullum, nec suorum malorum inveniunt, passionumque terminum; qui fato divinoque decreto patiuntur, dantes suae mentis ignorantiae poenas. Boni contra, quibus mens praesidet, boni pulchrique imago: bona suscipiunt quae illis constituerunt fatum. Minime ergo fatum effugies: lex liquide divina est fatum. Mala tamen, poenasque pravitatis altedas fugere potes. Mercurius oraculo plenus multa discutit; saepius oraculo insidenti audivit. Duo divina in hominibus munera commendat, mentem atque sermonem. Oracula boni daemonis, vel si mavis, caelestis spiritus divinitus afflati, aperiunt de deo, de verbo, de mundo, de materia: nihil esse in mundo vitae expers; nihil mortale dicens (sed potius dissolubile quid esse sentiendum); nihil immobile. Et soli dissolubilium homini, deum variis modis congredi; et quo pacto ex seipso ad deum percipendum homo adurgere possit. Haec duodecimus.

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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