Iamblichus: On the Mysteries · 161 of 218 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Chapter VIII-a
And thus we have answered, to the utmost of our ability, your inquiries concerning divination and theurgy.
It remains, therefore, at the end of this discussion, that I should beseech the Gods to afford me an immutable guard of true conceptions, to insert in me truth eternally, and to supply me abundantly with the participation of more perfect conceptions of the Gods, in which the most blessed end of our good is posited, and the confirmation of our concordant friendship with each other.
337 ADDITIONAL NOTES.
Page 9 .
Anebo.
Porphyry in his Life of Plotinus, and also in the second book of his Treatise on Abstinence from Animals, informs us that he was familiar with a certain Egyptian priest, who, as Gale conjectures, is probably the priest to whom Porphyry now writes.
The diction, indeed, as Gale observes, denotes that the person to whom this Epistle is addressed was a very great prophet , who, nevertheless, is afterwards said to be a priest .
This, however, is not any thing novel or incongruous.
For by Apuleius in Metamorph.
lib.
xi.
the Egyptian Zaclas is said to be propheta primarius et sacerdos , a chief prophet and priest .
Page 9 .
Hermes the God who presides over language.
The Egyptians celebrated two Hermes, the former of which is here signified by Iamblichus.
This deity is the source of invention , and hence he is said to be the son of Maia ; because search , which is implied by Maia , leads invention into light.
He bestows too mathesis on souls, by unfolding the will of his father Jupiter; and this he accomplishes as the angel or messenger of Jupiter.
Proclus in MS.
Comment.
in Alcibiad.
observes, “that this deity is the inspective guardian of gymnastic exercises ; and hence hermæ , or carved statues of Mercury, were placed in the Palæstræ; of music , and hence he is honoured as the lyrist λυραιος among the celestial constellations; and of disciplines , because the invention of geometry, reasoning, and discourse is referred to this God.
He presides, therefore, over every species of erudition, leading us to an intelligible essence from this mortal abode, governing the different herds of souls, and dispersing the sleep and oblivion with which they are oppressed.
He is likewise the supplier of recollection, the end of which is a genuine intellectual apprehension of divine natures.” P.
10 .
The ancient pillars of Hermes.
These pillars, according to Amm.
Marcellinus, lib.
xxii.
were concealed prior to the deluge in certain caverns, which were called 338 συριγγες , syringes , not far from the Egyptian Thebes.
The second Hermes interpreted these pillars, and his interpretation formed many volumes, as Iamblichus informs us in Section viii.
of this work.
These pillars are mentioned by Laertius in his Life of Democritus; by Dio Chrysostom in Orat.
49; by Achilles Tatius on Aratus; and by others of the ancients.
P.
15 .
There is, therefore, the good itself which is beyond essence, and there is that good which subsists according to essence.
There are three orders of good; viz.
that which is imparticipable and superessential; that which is imparticipable and essential; and that which is essential and participable.
Of these, the last is such as our nature contains; the good which ranks among forms is essential; and that which is beyond essence is superessential.
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.
The passage mentions governing the different herds of souls and dispersing sleep with which they are oppressed.
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 Hermes presides over disciplines and leads souls from mortal abode to intelligible essence.
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.
The distinction between superessential, essential, and participable good implies a hierarchical structure of being.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The text describes supplying the soul with participation in more perfect conceptions of the Gods.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The passage explicitly discusses divination and theurgy as central topics of inquiry and practice.