III. An Invocation to Lord Hbbmis

[Revised and restored text^ R. 81. It is worked in with the preceding, but is of later date.]
1. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, 0 thou of many names, who know'st the secrets hidden both beneath the poles [of heaven] and underneath the earth !
1 htn^po^iffUof wpoffSwov. See I. 13 above.
' The symbols of which are : the ibis in the east, ape in the west, the serpent in the north, the wolf (or jackal) in the south. So says the overworking of the text ; but perhaps wolf shoold rather be dog.
* The terebinth, or turpentine palm. Compare this with the itory of Terebinthus, from whose four Books Manes is said, in the Acta Archehi^ to have derived his system.
* The ebony ; perhaps symbolic of the ^dark** wisdom, the initiation ''in the black" of the K, K. Fragments.
* rk fimpfiapucii M/iara-^ht.^ barbarons, that is, non-Qreek.
* Of. L 11.
' Lit, with Agathodaimon ; compare vbw Off — blessing."
88 THUCS-ORKAT£8I HXRME8
2. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, thou benefactor, who doeet good to all the world !
3. Give ear to me, [and] give me grace with all that are on earth ; open for me the hands of all that give like thee ; ^ [and] make them give me what their hands contain!
4 Even as Horns,* if e'er he called on Uiee, O greatest of all gods, in every trial, in every space, 'gainst gods, and men, and dfdmones, and things that live in water and on earth, — had grace and riches with gods, and men, and every living thing beneath the earth ; — so let me, too, who call on thee 1 So give me grace, form, beauty !
6. Hear me, 0 Hermes, doer of good deeds, thou the inventor of [all] incantations,^ speak me good words!*
7. Hear me, 0 Hermes, for I have done all things [that I should do] for thy black dog-ape,* lord of the nether ones !
8. 0, soften all [towards me], and give me might
1 ffWf^mK^wrmv — a Crc{ Xf 7^^Mr«r — %4mm (ItMmiu) XDMJ be com- pared with vriKm (Imifii). The image may be taken from the weU-known symbolical representation of the son wending forth rays, each furnished with a hand for giving and hlessing, especially in the frescoes of the Atem-colt period. Cf. K. K.y 11 and 31.
' In the mystery-myth.
' Orig., medicines or philtres.
* •MMUcrr«f yww — a unique and inelegant expreesion in Qreek, and of uncertain transUition into English.
* This appears here to refer to Anubis, the ''dog'' of Hades, or the ''death-geniua," the attendant on Thoth. ''Black" is lit "Ethiopian." But compare in Pidu Sopkia^ 367, "iEthiopic Ariouth," a ruler among the infernal daimonials, who is " entirely hlack." The Ethiopians were famous for their sorcery and black magic They were the traditional opponents of the " white magicians " of Egypt. Compare " Hor, son of the Negress" in the '* Second Story of Khamnas," in Griffith's (F. LI) BUnriu (/ tiU High PristU qfMmfkU (Oxford, 1900X pp. 61 fL
THE POPULAR THBURGIC HBBME8-CULT 89
[and] form,^ and let them give me gold, and silver [too], and food of every kind continually.
9. Preserve me evermore for the eternity from spells, deceits, and witchery of every kind, from evil tongues, from every check and every enmity of gods and men!
10. Give unto me grace, victory, success, and satis- faction!
11. For thou art I, and I am thou; thy Name is mine, and mine is thine; for that I am thy likeness.'
12. Whatever shall befall me in this year, or month, or day, or hour,— it shall befall the Mighty Ood, whose Bjrmbol is upon the holy vessel's prow.^
1 This is not neoeBflacily a prayer iox physical form and the res^ but a prayer that the subtle ha of the man, the plastic soul- subetenoe, may take a form of power and beauty, in the unseen world.
' cfBti\«r, or image or double. The theurgist is endeavouring to identify his ha with that of the god. It was with hit ha also, presamably, that the conseerated statue of the god was " animated." Compare Uie exposition of this theory as given in P. S. i4., and the *^ image " or '^ likeness of God '' in Lactantius, ii. 10. Accord- ing to the Egyptians, man possessed : (1) a physical hody (khai) ; (8) a ioul (ba); (3) a heart (ab) ; (4) a double (ha); (6) an intelligence (khu) ; (6) a power (tdAem) ; (7) a shadow (kkatbU) ; (8) a spiritual body (adh [mc]) ; (9) a name (rm). See Budge, Ood» of ths EgypHansy iL 299, 300. These are, of course, not arranged in any natural order or in a scientific distribution. The precise meaning of most of these terms is not known. Budge (op. ctt., L 103, 164X however, writes : *^ Belated intimately to the body, but with undefined functions, as far as we can discover, was the nicKen^ a word which has been translated ' power,' and ' form,' and even *• vital force' ; finally the glorified body, to which had been united the soul, and spirit and power, and name of the deceased, had its abode in heaven. This new body of the deceased in heaven was called fd^."
* Thoth and liaat are represented as sitting on either side of Rain his boat
90 THRICE-ORBATBST HBRBCES
rv. An Invocation to Thoth as Logos
[BeviBed text^ B. 22. Tiiwmana, op. ciL^ II. 103, 7 ; Dieterieh, op. eU., 188.]
1. Thee I invoke alone, thou who alone in all the world imposest order upon gods and men/ who dost transform thyself in holy forms,' making to be from things that are not, and from the things that are making the not to be.
2. O holy Thoth,' the true sight of whose face none of the gods endures I
3. Make me to be in every creature's name^ — wolf, dog, [or] lion, fire, tree, [or] vulture,* wall,' [or] water,^ or what thou will'st, for thou art able [so to do].