Corpus Hermeticum XVI: The Definitions of Asclepius unto King Ammon · 3 of 6 · tr. G.R.S. Mead
Section 1c
For there are many choirs of daimons round Him, like unto hosts of very various kinds; who though they dwell with mortals, yet are not far from the immortals; but having as their lot from here unto the spaces of the Gods, 2 they watch o’er the affairs of men, and work out things appointed by the Gods—by means of storms, whirlwinds and hurricanes, by transmutations wrought by fire and shakings of the earth, 3 with famines also and with wars requiting [man’s] impiety,—for this is in man’s case the greatest ill against the Gods.
11.
For that the duty of the Gods is to give benefits; the duty of mankind is to give worship 4 ; the duty of the daimons is to give requital.
For as to all the other things men do, through p.
273 error, or foolhardiness, or by necessity, which they call Fate, 1 or ignorance—these are not held requitable among the Gods; impiety alone is guilty at their bar.
12.
The Sun is the preserver 2 and the nurse of every class.
3 And just as the Intelligible World, 4 holding the Sensible in its embrace, fills it [all] full, distending it with forms of every kind and every shape—so, too, the Sun distendeth all in Cosmos, affording births to all, and strengtheneth them.
When they are weary or they fail, He takes them in His arms again.
13.
And under Him is ranged the choir of daimons—or, rather, choirs; for these are multitudinous and very varied, ranked underneath the groups of Stars, 5 in equal number with each one of them.
So, marshalled in their ranks, they are the ministers of each one of the Stars, being in their natures good, and bad, that is, in their activities (for that a daimon’s essence is activity); while p.
274 some of them are [of] mixed [natures], good and bad.
14.
To all of these has been allotted the authority o’er things upon the Earth; and it is they who bring about the multifold confusion of the turmoils on the Earth—for states and nations generally, and for each individual separately.
For they do shape our souls like to themselves, and set them moving with them,—obsessing nerves, and marrow, veins and arteries, the brain itself, down to the very heart.
1 15.
For on each one of us being born and made alive, the daimons take hold on us—those [daimones] who are in service at that moment [of the wheel] of Genesis, who are ranged under each one of the Stars.
2 For that these change at every moment; they do not stay the same, but circle back again.
These, then, descending through the body 3 to the two parts 4 of the soul, set it 5 awhirling, each one towards its own activity.
But the soul’s rational part is set above the lordship of the daimons—designed to be receptacle of God.
p.
275 16.
Who then doth have a Ray shining upon him through the Sun within his rational part—and these in all are few on them the daimons do not act; for no one of the daimons or of Gods has any power against one Ray of God.
As for the rest, they are all led and driven, soul and body, by the daimons—loving and hating the activities of these.
The reason ( logos ), [then,] is not the love that is deceived and that deceives.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text draws an analogy between the Intelligible/Sensible worlds and the Sun/Cosmos, reflecting the 'as above, so below' principle.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
Daimons are ministers of the Stars who shape human souls and set them moving in resonance with celestial activities.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The text states that daimons work out things 'appointed by the Gods,' indicating an ordered divine plan.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
[auto] The passage outlines a structured order of beings from the supreme God to daimons and finally mortals, each with specific duties and proximities.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The text describes requital for impiety through storms, famines, and wars as a judgment by the Gods.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The human soul is shaped by daimons and stars, with the rational part serving as a receptacle for God, mirroring cosmic structure.