Book I. The Vision of Poimandres

In 1463, Marsilio Ficino was pulled from his translation of Plato by Lorenzo de' Medici's urgent command: a newly arrived Greek manuscript, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, was to be rendered into Latin first. Ficino obeyed. Within a few weeks he had produced the Pimander — his Latin translation of the Corpus Hermeticum — which would be printed at Treviso in 1471 and reprinted at least twenty-two times in the century that followed. It landed in Renaissance Europe with the force of a recovered scripture.

The Pimander presents what Ficino and his contemporaries believed to be a text older than Moses: a primordial theology, a prisca theologia, predating and anticipating the Platonic tradition and even Scripture itself. Modern scholarship has dated the Hermetic corpus to the first through third centuries CE — but its authority in the Renaissance rested on the weight of antiquity, and its influence was immense. Ficino's Latin shaped the entire Western esoteric tradition: alchemy, Renaissance magic, the Rosicrucian movement, and the philosophia perennis all drink from this stream.

This translation renders Book I — the Poimandres — from Ficino's Latin as preserved in the 1505 Lefèvre d'Étaples edition (Contenta in hoc volumine, Rome). Ficino's Latin is itself a rendering from a Greek original; this English therefore translates Ficino's distinct historical artifact, not the underlying Greek. Where Ficino's Latin diverges from the Greek Hermetica, those choices are his — and they shaped how two centuries of Renaissance readers encountered the text.

The Greek-based Corpus Hermeticum, translated from G. R. S. Mead's 1906 English, is preserved separately in this archive. The two translations are distinct in character and should be read as such.

When I was meditating on the nature of things, and lifting the mind's eye to the heights — the body's senses already stilled, as happens to those heavy with sleep from fullness or weariness — suddenly I seemed to behold a being of immense magnitude, who called me by name and cried out in this manner:

What is it, O Hermes, that you desire to hear and behold? What is it that you wish to learn and understand?

Then I said: Who are you?

I am Pimander, he said, the Mind of divine power. See what you will — I shall be with you everywhere.

I desire, I said, to learn the nature of things, and to know God.

Hold me in your mind, he answered, and I will teach you in all that you seek.

When he had said this, he changed his form, and suddenly revealed all.

I saw an immense spectacle — all things converted to light, sweet beyond measure and joyful, so that looking upon it I was wondrously delighted. A little after, a shadow, dreadful, came sliding down in an oblique revolution into the humid nature, which it stirred with a restless face. Then from it burst a great and settled sound; from the sound a voice issued, which I took to be the voice of the Light. And from this voice of the Light the Word was born and went forth. This Word, drawing near to the humid nature, fostered it. And from the depths of the humid nature, a pure and light fire flew up at once to the heights.

Air also, light and obedient to spirit, moved through the middle region between fire and water. Earth and water lay intermingled in such a way that the face of the earth, buried under the waters, could nowhere be seen. Then these two were stirred by the spiritual Word that moved above them, resounding in their ears.

Then Pimander said: Do you see what this vision means?

I shall know, I said.

That Light, said Pimander, is I — the Mind, your God, older than the humid nature that blazed out of shadow. The shining seed of Mind is the Son of God. What then? Understand this: what in you sees and hears the Word of the Lord — that is the Mind, the Father-God. They are not separate from each other; their union is life.

I am grateful, I said.

Pimander said: Meditate on the light, and know it.

When this was spoken, I prayed to him for a long time, that he would turn his image toward me. When he had done this, I suddenly saw in my mind a light existing with innumerable powers, an ornament without end, a fire confined by a great force, dominating in its very stability. These things I perceived through Pimander's word. He, when I stood struck with amazement, again addressed me:

You have seen in the mind the primal form of infinite sovereignty.

Then I asked him: From where did the elements of nature spring?

From God's will, he answered, which embraced the Word, looked upon the beautiful world, and adorned the rest — in the likeness of the Son — with vital elements and seeds. Mind, God, fully fertile with both sexes, being both life and light, by his own Word begot another Mind, the Maker — who, being god of fire and spirit, then fashioned seven Governors, who encompass the sensible world in circles. Their arrangement is called Fate.

Then the Word of God joined together the descending elements as a pure work of nature, and united itself with the Maker-Mind, for they were of the same substance. The lower elements of nature were left without reason, to serve as bare matter. The Maker-Mind together with the Word, containing the circles and turning them in rapid flight, turned his own structure toward itself and commanded it to revolve from beginning to end without end — for it always begins where it ends. This revolution, as the Mind willed it, from the lower elements brought forth irrational living beings. Air brought forth creatures of the wing; water, those that swim. Earth and water were separated as the Mind willed. From within herself the earth brought forth the animals she had held — four-footed things, serpents, wild and tame alike.

But the Father-Mind, being life and light, created humanity in his own likeness, and rejoiced in him as in his son — for he was beautiful, bearing the Father's image. God, truly delighted with his own proper form, gave all his works to the human being's use.

When Man had contemplated, within himself, the creation of all things, he too wished to create. And so from the contemplation of the Father, he descended to the sphere of generation. Having the power of all things in himself, he perceived the works of the seven Governors. These, delighted with the meditation of the human mind, each made Man a partaker of their own proper order. When Man had learned their nature and come to know his own, he desired to penetrate and break through the boundary of the circles, and to comprehend the power of him who presides over the fire.

Having all authority and power over mortal and irrational creatures, he burst forth through Harmony and went out, revealing his nature to lower Nature below — which bore the beautiful form of God. When Nature saw him, endowed with wondrous beauty, possessing all the actions of the Seven Governors and moreover the image of God — she smiled upon him with love, as one who might behold the image of human beauty reflected in the water and admire it likewise on the earth.

Man, seeing his own form present in Nature as in the water, loved it and wished to dwell with it. Will followed thought. And he begot a form without reason. Nature embraced the one she had loved with her entire being and entwined herself with him utterly. Thus it was that man alone of all earth's living beings is of double nature — mortal because of the body, immortal because of the substantial man himself. He is indeed immortal, holding the authority of all things; yet falling under Harmony, he became a slave. Of both sexes, watched over by him who is the source of trees and rivers, and kept wakeful by him who is wakeful — he is contained and subject to that one's dominion.

After this I said: O Mind, I myself am that reason you speak of.

Then Pimander answered: That is the mystery which to this day has been hidden from the human race. For Nature, mingling herself with Man, brought forth a miracle surpassing all miracles in wonder. For when Man had already received the harmony of the Seven — from him I told you of, the Father and the Spirit — Nature herself did not resist. She straightway brought forth seven human beings, possessing both male and female nature, sharing the natures of the seven Governors, and sublime.

When I heard this I pressed Pimander further: I am inflamed with ardent desire, I said; I wish to hear the rest. Do not leave me, I beg you.

Be silent, he said; for I have not yet finished the first teaching.

Behold, I am silent.

The generation of these seven, as I said, came about thus. The air, female and ready for union, received from fire its ripeness and from the aether its spirit. And Nature conjoined their bodies after the form of the human. From life and light arose soul and death — life gave the soul; light gave death. At the close of the cycle, when all things were complete, the knot of all was dissolved by the will of God. For all living beings of both sexes — together with Man — were dissolved; male from one part and female likewise were resolved back.

Then God cried out with a holy Word: Increase, grow up, multiply — all creatures and every work. Let those who possess the portion of Mind recognize their race and know that their nature is immortal. Know that love of the body is the cause of death. Learn the nature of all things.

When this was said, Providence through Fate and Harmony established mixtures and ordered generations. And so all things were propagated according to their proper kind.

He who knew himself gained the Good, which is beyond essence. But he who through the error of love clung to the body wandered in darkness, suffering the ills of death in sense.

What, I asked, of those who fail? Those who, through ignorance, have lost immortality?

You seem, O Hermes, not to have rightly understood what you have heard, said Pimander.

Though I did not profess to understand, I said, yet I understand, and I remember.

I rejoice, said Pimander, that you hold fast what has been said. Tell me then: why do those who lie in death deserve death?

Because, he said, that grim shadow preceded their own body from humid nature. From it the body in the sensible world was constituted; from that body, death itself takes its rise. Have you grasped this, Hermes? And do you also know why he who knows himself passes over into God, as the Word of God teaches?

Because, I said, from life and light the Father of all is constituted; from him man was born.

You say well. Light and life is God the Father; from him man was born. If then you understand that you are composed of life and light, you shall pass again to life and light.

These things said Pimander. I said further: Mind, tell me how I may ascend to life.

God himself — Mind — commanded man who partakes of Mind to turn himself to recognition of the divine.

Then I asked: Do not all persons, then, possess Mind?

Pimander answered: Take care. I, the Mind, am present with the good, the pious, the pure, the religious, the holy. My presence helps them, so that they immediately know all things, placate the Father with thanksgiving, and bless him with solemn hymns, allowing their bodies to die. They disdain the body's pleasures, knowing clearly what the senses' allurements are. And I, acting as their guardian, prevent them from falling into the body's lowest impulses — I do not allow the vilest flatteries to enter through the openings where base delights flow in; I extinguish all the fuel of desire.

But from the ignorant, the wicked, the slothful, the envious, the unjust, the murderers, the impious — I keep myself far off. I yield them to the avenging demon, who drives in the sharpness of fire, afflicts the senses, arms man the more to do evil — so that he becomes guilty of worse faults and subject to sharper punishment. And without pause, the demon inflames him to insatiable lusts, wrestles with him in the dark, examines his sin, and kindles and amplifies the fire's assault for his torment.

O Mind, I said, you have set forth all things most carefully, just as I desired. Tell me further: what will happen after the ascent?

First, said Pimander, at the dissolution of the material body, the body surrenders to transformation, and the form it bore becomes invisible. The idle habit of character is given over to the demon. The bodily senses flow back, each to its own source, becoming once more parts of their proper actions. The powers of anger and desire pass into nature without reason. And so what remains rises through Harmony to the heights.

To the First Zone it returns the power of increase and decrease.
To the Second, the machination of evils and idle cunning.
To the Third, the idle deception of desire.
To the Fourth, the imperious and insatiable ambition.
To the Fifth, profane arrogance and the rashness of audacity.
To the Sixth, the base and idle occasions of wealth.
To the Seventh Zone, the lying deceit.

Then the soul, stripped of the movements of Harmony, enters into its received nature, having its own power. And together with those who are there, it praises the Father. Those who are there rejoice at its coming, and having become like them, it becomes a power. They feast on God. This is the highest good for those to whom the portion of knowledge belongs — to become God.

What more concerns you — save that you, embracing all things, become a guide to those who deserve your care, so that the human race may achieve divine salvation through your ministry?

When Pimander had spoken these things, he returned into the number of the divine powers. And I, giving thanks and blessing the Father of all, arose now strengthened by him, and fully taught in the order of all nature, and having beheld the most glorious vision.

And I began to proclaim to men the beauty of piety and knowledge: O peoples, O earth-born men who have given yourselves over to drunkenness, sleep, and ignorance — live sober. Cease from the surfeit of the belly — you who are soothed by irrational pleasure.

Those who heard came together with one accord. Then I spoke again: Why, O earth-born men, do you rush headlong into death, when you might attain immortality? Return, you who labor in poverty and are wrapped in the shadows of ignorance. Depart from the dark light; receive immortality; flee corruption.

Some of them, mocking, went away — already surrendered to the path of death. Others, prostrating themselves at my feet, begged that I instruct them. I lifted them up and became a guide of the human race, teaching the words of salvation and wisdom, which I poured into their ears. When at last evening came and the sun's rays were setting, I bade them give thanks to God. After they had given thanks, each retired to his own couch.

And I inscribed Pimander's gift in the depths of my soul, and having obtained all that I had sought, I rested in joy. For the body's sleep, when sobriety had prevailed, was the true seeing of closed eyes; the silence was the good's second pregnancy; and the bringing forth of speech was the birth of all good things. These things befell me, drawing from the Mind — that is, from Pimander, the Word of divine power. And thus I, breathed upon by the divine Spirit, was made a lover of truth, and so with all the strength of my soul I give thanks to God the Father:

Holy God, Father of all.
Holy God, whose will is fulfilled by his own powers.
Holy God, who makes himself known to his own.
Holy are you, who with the Word established all things.
Holy are you, whose image is all of nature.
Holy are you, whom nature has never created.
Holy are you, stronger than all power.
Holy are you, greater than all excellence.
Holy are you, better than all praise.

Receive the sacrifice of words, poured out from soul and heart, yearning toward you. O Ineffable, who can be spoken only by silence — by one who has turned away from those falsehoods that oppose true knowledge — grant this: strengthen me, and make partakers of this grace those who wander in ignorance, my brothers by kindred and your children by faith. And so I trust in you; I bear witness of you. I rise to life and light. You yourself are the adorable Father; your man desires to share in your holiness, since you have given him all authority and the dominion of all things.

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 (digitized via Google Books). Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Ficino's Pimander was first translated into Latin in 1463 at the urgent request of Cosimo de' Medici and first printed at Treviso in 1471. The 1505 Lefèvre d'Étaples edition — the source used here — was the standard vehicle for Hermetic dissemination across Renaissance Europe, and includes both Ficino's translation and Lazzarelli's Crater Hermetis in the same volume. G. R. S. Mead's 1906 English of the Greek text was consulted after translation was complete for structural orientation; no passages were derived from Mead. The colophon of the 1505 edition credits Ficino's translation "ex Greco in latinum" to Cosimo de' Medici, Pater Patriae — the dedication maintained by Lefèvre d'Étaples in his edition.

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

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Source Text: Mercurii Trismegisti Pimander — Liber I

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) and abbreviated forms. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Mercurii Trismegisti liber de Potestate et Sapientia Dei: e Greco in latinum traductus a Marsilio Ficino Florentino, ad Cosmum Medicem Patrem Patriae. Pimander.

Cum de rerum natura cogitarem, ac mentis aciem ad superna erigerem: sopitis iam corporis sensibus, quemadmodum accidere solet iis, qui ob saturationem vel defatigationem somno gravati sunt: subito mihi visus sum cernere quendam immensa magnitudine corporis, qui me nomine vocans, in hunc modum clamaret. Quid est o Mercuri: quod et audire et intueri desideras? Quid est quod discere atque intelligere cupis? Tum ego quisnam es inquam. Sum inquit ille Pimander mens divinae potentiae, ac tu vide quid velis, ubique vero tibi adero. Cupio inquam rerum naturam discere, deumque cognoscere. Ad haec ille: Tua me mente complectere, et ego te in cunctis quae optaris erudiam. Tum haec dixisset: mutavit formam, et universa subito revelavit.

Cernebam enim immensum quoddam spectaculum: omnia videlicet in lumen conversa, suave nimium atque iucundum, quod intuentem me mirifice oblectabat. Paulo post umbra quaedam horrenda, obliqua revolutione subter labebatur: in humidam naturam migrabat, iactabili tum vultu exagitatam. Inde firmus quidam magnus in sonitum erumpebat: ex sonitu vox egredebatur, quam ego luminis vocem existimabam: ex hac luminis voce verbum factum prodiit. Verum hoc naturae humidae aditans: eam fouebat. Ex humidae autem naturae visceribus, sincerus ac levis ignis protinus evolans alta petit.

Aer quoque levis spiritu parens, mediam regionem inter ignem et aquam torrebatur. Terra vero et aqua sic invicem commixte iacebant: ut terrae facies aquis obruta nusquam pateret. Haec duo deinde commota sunt a spiritali verbo, quod eis superferebatur: aures eorum circumsonans. Tunc Pimander ait: Advertis quid sibi haec visio velit? Cognoscam inquam. Ait ergo Pimander: Lumen illud ego sum mens, deus tuus: antiquior quam natura humida, quae ex umbra effulsit. Mentis vero germen lucens, dei filius. Quid ergo inquam? Sic inquit. Cogita: quod in te videt et audit verbum domini: mens autem pater deus. Neque enim disstat ad invicem: horum unio vitae est. TRISME: Gratias habeo tibi. PIMAN: Verum in primis meditare lumen, atque cognosce. TRISME: Haec ubi dicta sunt, diu illum oravi, vt eius ideam ad me converteret. Quod cum ille fecisset: repente prospicio mea in mente lucem viribus innumeris existentem: ornatum sine termino ignem, vi ingenti circumseptum, et in ipsa stabilitate dominantem. Haec ipsa percepi per Pimandri verbum: qui me stupore attonitum, sic iterum affatus est. Vidisti in mente primam speciem infinito imperio praevalente? Eiusmodi quaedam mihi Pimander. At ego illi: Elementa naturae unde manabant? PIMAN: Ex voluntate dei: quae verbum complexa, pulchrumque intuita mundum, ad eius exemplar, reliqua filii ipsius elementis vitalibusque seminibus exornavit. Mens autem deus utriusque sexus fecunditate plenissimus, vita et lux, eo verbo suo mentem alteram opificem peperit: qui quidem deus ignis atque spiritus numen. Septem deinceps fabricavit gubernatores: qui circulis mundum sensibilem complectuntur, eorumque dispositio fatum vocatur.

Connexuit inde dei verbum ex elementis deorsum tendentibus, purum naturae artificium: unitumque est opifici menti, consubstantiale enim erat. Relicta sunt elementa naturae deorsum cadentia sine ratione: ut sint tanquam sola materies. Mens quidem opifex una cum verbo circulos continens, ac celeri rapacitate convertens: suam ad se machinam flexit, eamque volui a principio ad finem absque fine praecepit. Incipit enim illic semper ubi definit. Norunt profecto cunctorum circuitus. Quemadmodum ipsa mens voluit: ex elementis inferioribus animalia constavit rationis expertia. Neque enim praebuit rationem. Aer volatilia protulit: aqua vero natantia. Distincta quoque inter se sunt aqua et terra: eum in modum qui menti placuerat. Terra postmodum animalia (quae intus haberat) peperit: quadrupedia videlicet serpentia, fera, agrestia, pariter atque domestica. At pater omnium intellectus, vita et fulgor existens, hominem sibi similem creavit: atque ei tanquam filio suo congratulatus est. Pulcher enim erat: patrisque suae ferebat imaginem. Deus enim re vera propria forma miru delectatus: opera eius omnia usui concessit humano.

Homo autem cum considerasset, in tempore suo rerum omnium creationem: ipse quoque fabricare voluit. Unde a contemplatione patris: ad sphaeram generationis delapsus est. Cumque omnium in se potestatem haberet: opificia septem gubernatorum animadvertit. Hi autem humanae mentis meditatione gaudentes: singuli eorum proprii ordinis participem hominem reddidere. Qui postquam didicit horum essentiam, propriamque naturam conspexit: penetrare atque rescindere iam exoptabat ambitum circulorum, vimque gubernatoris praesidentis igni comprehendere. Quippe arbitrium et potestatem omnium habens: in animantia mundi mortalia et ratione carentia per harmoniam emersit atque exiit, penetrans ac resolvens potestate circulorum. Ostenditque naturam, deorsum lapsurus, velut pulchra dei Forma. Qui cum natura contueretur mira pulchritudine praeditam esse, actionsque omnes septem gubernatorum, atque insuper dei ipsius effigiem possidere: illi amore ingenti subrisit, ut pote qui humanae pulchritudinis speciem in aqua specularcetur, eiusdemque admiratione quadam in terra conspiceret. Ille propterea consecutus similem sibi formam in seipso existentem, velut in aquam amavit eam, secumque congredi concupivit. Effectus evestigio secutus est voluntatem: formaque carentem ratione genuit. Natura illud in quod toto ferebatur amore complexa: illi penitus sese implicuit atque commiscuit. Quandoquidem solus homo ex universis terrenis animantibus duplicis naturae censetur: mortalis quidem propter corpus, immortalis autem propter hominem ipsum substantialem. Immortalis enim est, cunctorumque arbitrium obtinet: cetera vero viventium quae mortalia sunt, fato subiecta patiuntur. Non igitur harmonia superior obstitit: in harmoniam vero lapsus periclitatus servus effectus est. Hic utriusque sexus fecunditate munitus, ab eo qui arborum et rivorum fons est, vigilque factus ab eo qui est vigilans: continetur atque eius dominationi subijcitur.

TRISME: Post haec: mens inquam meae rationis ipse es. Tum Pimander: id est inquit mysterium, quod in hanc usque diem genus humanum latuit. Natura quippe homini sese immiscens, miraculum attulit, quod omnium miraculorum vincit admirationem. Nam cum septem illorum harmoniam ipse iam fuisset imbutus ab eo (quem tibi paulo ante narravimus) patre videlicet atque spiritu: natura ipsa non restitit. Quinimo septem protinus homines peperit: septem gubernatorum naturas, masculini pariter ac feminini generis compotes atque sublimes. Ad haec ipse sic intuli: O Pimander, ardenti desiderio nuper affectus sum: audire praeterea reliqua cupio. Quare me hic ne deseras obsecro. Ceterum ille mihi: PIMAN: Sile, nondum enim primum sermonem absolvi. TRISME: Ecce iam taceo. PIMAN: Horum septem (ut dixi) generatio in hunc modum effecta est. Femina enim aer et aqua coeundi compos: ex igne maturitatem, ex ethere sumpsit spiritum, conglutinitque natura corpora ad hominis speciem confingendam. Non autem ex vita et luce: in animam, mortemque processit. Vita quippe animam largita est: lux denique mortem. Talia profecto usque ad finem circuitus principiorum simul et generum: cuncta mundi sensibilis membra manebant.

Verum audi iam reliquum (quem sumopere cupiebas) sermonem. Expleto demum circuitu: omnium (volente deo) solutus est nodus. Nam cuncta utriusque generis animantia, una cum homine dissolvuntur. Et mascula quidem ex parte, feminea similiter conficiebantur. Extemplo deus verbo sancto clamavit: Pullulate, adolescite, propagate universa germina, atque opera mea. Vos insuper, quibus mentis portio concessa est: genus recognoscite vestrum, vestrumque naturam immortalem considerate. Amorem corporis: mortis causam esse scite. Rerum omnium naturam discite. His dictis providentia per fatum harmoniamque constavit mixtiones, generationesque constituit. Unde cuncta sunt secundum genus proprium propagata.

Demum qui seipsum cognovit, bonum (quod est super essentiam) consecutus est. Qui vero corporis amoris errore complectebatur: is oberrabat in tenebris, mortis mala sensu percipiens. TRISME: Quot tamen delinquunt: ignorantes inquam, ut ob eam causam immortalitate priventur? PIMAN: Videris o Mercuri non satis intelligere quae audieris. TRISME: Etsi nondum intelligere sum professus, intelligo tamen, ac memini. PIMAN: Gratulor si quae dicta sunt teneas. TRISME: Responde mihi quaeso Pimander, cur digni morte sint ij qui in morte iacent? PIMAN: Quia praecessit proprio corpori tristis umbra: ex hac quidem natura humida: ex hac vero corpus in mundo sensibili constitit: ex hoc denique mors ipsa nascitur. Num hoc tenes Mercuri? Tenes etiam qua de causa, qui seipsum cognoscit, transit in deum, ut dei verbum tradidit? TRISME: Quoniam ex vita et luce consistit omnium pater: ex quo natus est homo. PIMAN: Recte loqueris. Lux et vita deus est, et pater: ex quo natus est homo. Si igitur comprehenderis teipsum ex vita ac luce compositum: ad vitam rursus lucemque transcendes.

TRISME: Haec ait Pimander. At ego: Adhuc mihi mens dicas oro, quonam pacto ad vitam ascendere queam. PIMAN: Deus ipse mens iussit, ut homo mentis particeps: seipsum ad divinorum adverteret. TRISME: Non ergo omnes singuli mentem habent? PIMAN: Recte dicis Mercuri. Assumo enim: ego mens adsum iis qui boni, pii, puri, religiosi, sanctique sunt. Praesentiaque mea fert illis opem, adeoqe ut statim cuncta dinoscant, patremque pacatum et propitium habeant. Itaque gratias agunt benedicentes pie: et hymnis solemnibus collaudantes, concedunt sane corpus morti suae sensuum illecebras fastidiunt, ut pote qui clare diiudicant sensuum lenocinia. Quietiam ipsa mens tantoris munere fungens: incidentes in infimas corporis, haud quaquam permitto finem consequi suum. Aditus enim per quos turpes blanditiae manare solent, iugiter intercludo, libidinum fomites omnes exstinguo. Contra ab ignaris, improbis, ignauis, inuidis, iniquis, homicidis, impiis: procul admodum habito, permittens eos daemonis ultoris arbitrio, qui ignis acumen incutiens: sensus affligit, magisque ad patranda scelera armat hominem, ut turpioris culpae reus, acriori supplicio sit obnoxius. Eumque sine ulla intermissione: ad insatiabiles concupiscentias inflammat, cum eo pugnat in tenebris: peccatum examinat, et ignis impetum in eius cruciatum mirum in modum concitat atque adauget.

TRISME: Diligenter mihi omnia o mens, quemadmodum postulabam, exposuisti. Ulterius autem id responde: quid post ascensionem futurum sit? PIMAN: Primum quidem in corporis materialis resolutione: corpus in alterationem flatur. Species quam ante habuerat, invisibilis deinde delitescit in posterum. Morum otiosus habitus daemoni conceditur atque dimittitur. Sensus corporei, partes animae facti, suos in fontes refluunt, aliquando in suos actus iterum surrrecturi. Irasciendi appetendique vires in naturam convertunt ratione carentem. Itaque residuum tum per harmoniam recurrit ad supera.

Primae dehinde zone crescendi pariter et decrescendi officium reddit.
Secundae machinationem malorum: otiosum dolum.
Tertiae otiosam concupiscentiae deceptionem.
Quartae imperiosam atque inexplebilem ambitionem.
Quintae prophanam arrogantiam: audaciae temeritatem.
Sextae occasiones divitiarum pravas itemque otiosas.
Septimae zone mendacium iniustum.

Tunc sane animus harmoniae motiones exutus, in adoptatum naturae revectitur, vim propriam habens: unaque cum iis qui illic sunt, patrem laudant. Ipsi quoque in potestatem se numerum conferunt: effectique potestates, deo fruuntur. Atque id est summum bonum eorum, quibus cognoscendi sors competit: deum scilicet fieri. Quid praeter haec ad te pertinet: nisi ut cuncta amplexus, dux fore velis eorum qui cura sint tua digni, ut humanum genus tuo munere divinam salutem consequatur?

Talia quaedam effatus Pimander, in potestatem divinarum numerum se reduxit. Ego autem benedicens, ac gratias agens universorum parenti, surrexi iam corroboratus ab illo, totiusque edoctus naturae ordinem, spectaculum etiam clarissimum contemplatus.

Hinc ipse coepi hominibus pietatis et scientiae decorem enuciare. O populi, viri terrigene, qui vos ipsos ebrietati, somno, et ignorantiae dedistis: sobrii vivite. Abstinete a ventris luxu, vos qui irrationali furore demulcti estis. Illi autem exaudientes, mecum unanimes convenere. Tunc rursus adieci: Cur o viri terrigene praecipites in mortem ruitis, cum vobis haudquaquam desit immortalitatis consequendae facultas? Revocate iam vosmet, qui laboratis inopia, ignorantiae tenebris involuti: discedite ab obscuro lumine, fasciscite immortalitatem, corruptionem fugite. Eorum vero partim deridentes abcedebant: in mortis iter praecipitati. Partim autem ad pedes meos prostrati, ut eos instruerem precabantur. Sublevans igitur eos, dux humani factus sum generis. Ostendebam quippe illis qua ratione esset consequendae salutis: sapientiaeque sermones illorum auribus infundebam. Quo factum est, ut illi ex imbrium procellis emerserint.

Tandem adveniente vespere, solis radiis occidentibus (ut deo gratias agerent) pracipiebam. Postquam vero gratias egerant: quisque in proprium se cubile condebat. Ego autem Pimandri beneficium inscripsi penetralibus animi: atque adeptus (quae petieram) omnia, in gaudio quievi. Corporis enim somnus (cum sobrietas extiterat) oculorum compressione, verus intuitus: silentium vero bonitatis secunda praegnatio: sermonis prolatio bonorum omnium genitura. Haec mihi contingerunt ex mente haurienti, id est ex Pimandro divinae potentiae verbo. Unde ipse divino afflatus spiritu, veritatis amator effectus sum: quamobrem omnibus animi viribus, patri deo gratias ago.

Sanctus deus, pater omnium.
Sanctus deus, cuius voluntas a propriis potestatibus adimpletur.
Sanctus deus, qui suis familiaribus innotescit.
Sanctus es, qui verbo cuncta constituisti.
Sanctus es, cuius imago est omnis natura.
Sanctus es, quem nunquam natura creavit.
Sanctus es, omni potestate validior.
Sanctus es, omni excellentia maior.
Sanctus es, omni laude melior.

Excipe verborum sacrificia, facta ab animo et corde debito tibi manantia. Ineffabilis, solo silentio praedicandus ab eo, qui fallacias verae cognitioni contrarias declinavit. Annue: corrobora me, atque huius gratiae participes effice eos: qui in ignorantia versantur, cognatione quidem mihi fratres, tibi autem filii. Etenim fidem tibi praesto, testimonium de te perhibeo. In vitam ac lumen assurgo. Ipse pater es venerandus. Homo autem tuus: sanctitate una tecum potiri desiderat, cum potestatem illi, omniumque arbitrium concesseris.

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. The critical 1505 Lefèvre text is considered the standard vehicle of Ficino's Pimander across Renaissance Europe.

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