(4) E'en with these words His aspect changed, and straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, all things were opened to me, and I see a Vision limitless, all things turned into Light - sweet, joyous [Light]. And I became transported as I gazed. But in a little while Darkness came settling down on part [of it], awesome and gloomy, coiling in sinuous folds, so that methought it like unto a snake. And then the Darkness changed into some sort of a Moist Nature, tossed about beyond all power of words, belching out smoke as from a fire, and groaning forth a wailing sound that beggars all description. [And] after that an outcry inarticulate came forth from it, as though it were a Voice of Fire.

(615) of man’s life, and the penalty being thus paid ten times in a thousand years. If, for example, there were any who had been the cause of many deaths, or had betrayed or enslaved cities or armies, or been guilty of any other evil behaviour, for each and all of their offences they received punishment ten times over, and the rewards of beneficence and justice and holiness were in the same proportion. /I need hardly repeat what he said concerning young children dying almost as soon as they were born. Of piety and impiety to gods and parents, and of murderers 7 , there were retributions other and greater far which he described. He mentioned that he was present when one of the spirits asked another, ‘Where is Ardiaeus the Great?’ (Now this Ardiaeus lived a thousand years before the time of Er: he had been the tyrant of some city of Pamphylia, and had murdered his aged father and his elder brother, and was said to have committed many other abominable crimes.) The answer of the other spirit was: ‘He comes not hither and will never come. And this,’ said he, ‘was one of the dreadful sights which we ourselves witnessed. We were at the mouth of the cavern, and, having completed all our experiences, were about to reascend, when of a sudden Ardiaeus appeared and several others, most of whom were tyrants; and there were also besides the tyrants private individuals

(615) who had been great criminals: they were just, as they fancied, about to return into the upper world, but the mouth, instead of admitting them, gave a roar, whenever any of these incurable sinners or some one who had not been sufficiently punished tried to ascend; and then wild men of fiery aspect, who were standing by and heard the sound, seized and carried them off; and Ardiaeus and others they bound head and foot and hand, and threw them down and flayed them with scourges, and dragged them along the road at the side, carding them on thorns like wool, and declaring to the passers-by what were their crimes, and that 8 they were being taken away to be cast into hell.’ And of all the many terrors which they had endured, he said that there was none like the terror which each of them felt at that moment, lest they should hear the voice; and when there was silence, one by one they ascended with exceeding joy. These, said Er, were the penalties and retributions, and there were blessings as great. Now when the spirits which were in the meadow had tarried seven days, on the eighth they were obliged to proceed on their journey, and, on the fourth day after, he said that they came to a place where they could see from above a line of light, straight as a column, extending right through the whole heaven and through the earth, in colour resembling the rainbow, only brighter and purer; another day’s journey brought them to the place, and there, in the

(11) We will now explain, in detail, to the best of our ability, certain works of God, of which we spoke. For I am not competent to sing all, much less to know accurately, and to reveal their mysteries to others. Now whatever things have been sung and ministered by the inspired Hierarchs, agreeably to the Oracles, these we will declare, as far as attainable to us, invoking the Hierarchical inspiration to our aid. When, in the beginning, our human nature had thoughtlessly fallen from the good things of God, it received, by inheritance, the life subject to many passions, and the goal of the destructive death. For, as a natural consequence, the pernicious falling away from genuine goodness and the transgression of the sacred Law in Paradise delivered the man fretted with the life-giving yoke, to his own downward inclinations and the enticing and hostile wiles of the adversary--the contraries of the divine goods; thence it pitiably exchanged for the eternal, the mortal, and, having had its own origin in deadly generations, the goal naturally corresponded with the beginning; but having willingly fallen from the Divine and elevating life, it was carried to the contrary extremity,--the variableness of many passions, and lead astray, and turned aside from the strait way leading to the true God,--and subjected to destructive and evil-working multitudes--naturally forgot that it was worshipping, not gods, or friends, but enemies. Now when these had treated it harshly, according to their own cruelty, it fell pitiably into danger of annihilation and destruction; but the boundless Loving-kindness of the supremely Divine goodness towards man did not, in Its benevolence, withdraw from us Its spontaneous forethought, but having truly participated sinlessly in all things belonging to us, and having been made one with our lowliness in connection with the unconfused and flawless possession of Its own properties in full perfection, It bequeathed to us, as henceforth members of the same family, the communion with Itself, and proclaimed us partakers of Its own beautiful things; having, as the secret teaching holds, loosed the power of the rebellious multiplicity, which was against us; not by force, as having the upper hand, but, according to the Logion, mystically transmitted to us, "in judgment and righteousness." The things within us, then, It benevolently changed to the entire contrary. For the lightless within Our mind It filled with blessed and most Divine Light, and adorned the formless with Godlike beauties; the tabernacle of our soul It liberated from most damnable passions and destructive stains by a perfected deliverance of our being which was all but prostrate, by shewing to us a supermundane elevation, and an inspired polity in our religious assimilation to Itself, as far as is possible.

(268) 370 To say: N. washes himself, R` appears, the Great Ennead sparkles; 370 the Ombite is high as chief of the 'itr.t-palace; 371 N. puts humanity off from him as a limb; 371 N. seizes the wrr.t-crown from the hand of the Ennead. 371 Isis nurses him, Nephthys suckles him, 372 Horus takes him by his fingers (to his side), 372 he purifies N. in the lake of the jackal, 372 he makes, the ka of N. clean in the lake of the D.t. 372 He rubs down the flesh of the ka of N. and his own 372 with that which is near R` in the horizon, that which he (R`) took, 373 when the two lands beamed and when he bared the face of the gods. 373 He brings the ka of N. and himself to the great palace, 373 after offices (?) were made for him and the mtt was knotted for him. 374 N. leads the imperishable stars, 374 he ferries over to the Marshes of Reeds, 374 the inhabitants of the horizon row him, the inhabitants of b.w navigate him. 375 N. is very capable (mighty), his arms will not desert him; 375 N. is very excellent (foremost), his ka comes to him (to his aid).

(17) [...] In the beginning, thought and thinkings appeared from mind, then teachings from thinkings, counsels from teachings, and power from counsels. And after all the attributes, all that was revealed appeared from his powers. And from what was created, what was fashioned appeared. And what was formed appeared from what was fashioned. What was named appeared from what was formed, while the difference among begotten things appeared from what was named, from beginning to end, by power of all the aeons. Now Immortal Man is full of every imperishable glory and ineffable joy. His whole kingdom rejoices in everlasting rejoicing, those who never have been heard of or known in any aeon that came after them and its worlds.

(31) And all natures from the Immortal One, from Unbegotten to the revelation of chaos, are in the light that shines without shadow and (in) ineffable joy and unutterable jubilation. They ever delight themselves on account of their glory that does not change, and the rest that is not measured, which cannot be described or conceived among all the aeons that came to be and their powers. But this much is enough. All I have just said to you, I said in the way that you might accept, until the one who need not be taught appears among you, and he will speak all these things to you joyously and in pure knowledge.

(36) But the Reader must not here understand it, as if the Word for this Incarnation at this Time did first come down, out of the highest Heaven above the Stars, hither beneath, and became Man, as the World teaches in Blindness. No; but the Word, which God spoke in Paradise to Adam and Eve, concerning the Treader upon the Serpent, (which imaged [or imprinted] itself in the Door of the Light of Life, standing in the Center of the Gate of Heaven, and waiting perceptibly in the Minds of the holy Men, even till this Time) that same Word is become Man; and that same divine Word is again entered into the Virgin of the divine Wisdom, which was given to the Soul of Adam near the Word, to be a Light, and a i Handmaid as to the Word.

(274) 393 To say: The sky is overcast, the stars are darkened, 393 the bows are agitated, the bones of the earth-gods quake. 393 The agitations cease 394 after they have seen N. dawning (as) a ba, 394 as a god, who lives on his fathers and feeds on his mothers. 394 N. is lord of craftiness, whose name his mother knows not. 395 The honour of N. is in heaven, his might is in the horizon, 395 like his father, Atum, who begat him. He has begotten him mightier than he. 396 The kas of N. are behind him, his maid-servants are under his feet, 396 his gods are over him, his uraeus-serpents are upon his brow; 396 the leader-serpent of N. is on his forehead, she who perceives the soul (of the enemy), (as) a diadem, a flame of fire; 396 the might of N. is for his protection. 397 N. is the bull of heaven, who (once) suffered want and decided (lit. gave in his heart) to live on the being of every god, 397 who ate their entrails (?) when it came (to pass) that their belly was full of magic 397 from the Isle of Flame. 398 N. is equipped, he who has incorporated his spirits. 398 N. dawns as the Great One, lord of those with (ready) hands. 398 He sits, his side towards Geb (the earth). 399 It is N. who judges with him whose name is hidden, 399 (on) this day of slaying the eldest (gods). 399 N. is lord of offerings, who knots the cord, 399 who himself prepares his meal. 400 N. is he who eats men and lives on gods, 400 lords of messengers, who distributes orders. 401 It is "Grasper-of-the-top-knot" who is in k.w who lassoes them for N. 401 It is "The serpent with raised head (dr-tp)" who watches them (the gods) for N., who repels them for him. 401 It is "He who is upon the willows" who binds them for N. 402 It is "Khonsu who slaughters the lords (gods)," in that he beheads them for N., 402 and takes out for him what is in their body. 402 He (Khonsu?) is the messenger whom he (N.) sends forth to punish. 403 It is Ssm.w who cuts them up for N., 403 cooking for him a meal of them in his evening cooking-pots. 403 It is N. who eats their magic and swallows their spirits; 404 their Great Ones are for his morning meal, 404 their middle-sized ones are for his evening meal, 404 their little ones are for his night meal, 404 their old men and old women are for his incense-burning (or, fire). 405 It is "The Great Ones in the north side of heaven" who lay for him the fire 405 to the kettles containing them, with the thighs of their eldest (as fuel). 406 The inhabitants of heaven wait on N., 406 when the hearth was constructed for him with (out of) the legs of their women. 406 He has completely encircled the two heavens; he has revolved about the two lands. 407 N. is the great mighty one, who has power over the mighty ones. 407 N. is the `hm-falcon, who surpasses the `hm-falcons--the great falcon. 407 Whom he finds on his way, he eats for himself bit by bit. 407 The respect of N. is before (first of) all noble ones, who are in the horizon. 408 N. is a god older than the eldest. 408 Thousands serve him; hundreds make offering to him. 408 A certificate as (of) a mighty, great one is given to him by , father of the gods. 409 N. has dawned again in heaven; he is crowned with the Upper Egyptian crown as lord of the horizon. 409 He has smashed the dorsal vertebra; 409 he has carried off the hearts of the gods; 410 he has eaten the red crown, he has swallowed the green one; 410 N. feeds on the lungs of the wise ones; 410 he is satisfied by living on hearts as well as their magic. 411 N. is disgusted when he licks the emetics which are in the red crown, 411 (but) he is delighted when their magic is in his belly. 411'c. The dignities of N. shall not be taken from him, 411 (for) he has swallowed the intelligence of every god. 412 The lifetime of N. is eternity, its limit is everlastingness 412 in this his dignity of "If he wishes he does, if he wishes not he does not," 412 who is within the boundary of the horizon for ever and ever. 413 Behold, their soul (of the gods) is in the belly of N., their spirits are with N., 413 as his soup � la ntr.w, cooked for N. from their bones, 413 Behold, their soul is, with N., their shadows are taken away from the hand of those to whom they belong. 414 N. is as that which dawns, which dawns, which endures, which endures. 414 The doers of evil shall not be able to destroy 414 the favourite place of N. among the living in this land for ever and ever. 11. CHARMS,

(23) The Earth is not eternal, and for the Sake of the Fragility [or Corruptibility,] therefore Man's Body must break [or perish,] because he has attracted the Corruptibility to him. Thus also the paradisical Knowledge, Delight and Joy is departed from him, and he is fallen into the kindled Anger, of the kindled four Elements, which (according to their Fierceness) P qualify with the eternal Anger in the Abyss; although the outward Region of the Sun is mitigated, so that it is a pleasant Habitation, as is seen before our Eyes; yet if the Sun should vanish away, then thou wouldst well see and feel the Anger of God. Consider it well.

(2) "And I appeared in the cloud of the hymen, in silence, without my holy garment. With my will I honored my garment, which has three forms in the cloud of the hymen. And the light that was in silence, the one from the rejoicing power, contained me. I wore it. And its two parts appeared in a single form. Its other parts did not appear on account of the fire. I became unable to speak in the cloud of the hymen, for its fire was frightful, lifting itself up without diminishing. And so that my greatness and the word might appear, I placed likewise my other garment in the cloud of silence. I went into the middle region and put on the light that was in it, that was sunk in forgetfulness and that was separated from the spirit of astonishment, for he had cast off the burden. At my wish, nothing mortal appeared to him, but they were all immortal things that the spirit granted to him. And he said in the mind of the light, 'AI EIS AI OU PHAR DOU IA EI OU, I have come in great rest in order that he may give rest to my light in his root, and may bring it out of harmful nature.'

(33) Now these three Kingdoms were in Adam, and also without him; and in the Essences there was a mighty Strife, all drew as well in Adam as without Adam, and would fain have him; for he was a great Lord [come] out of all the [Powers or] Virtues of Nature. The Heart of God desired to have him in Paradise, and [would] dwell in him; for it said, it is my Image and Similitude. And the Kingdom of Wrath [and of the fierce Tartness] would also have him; for it said, he is mine, and he is [proceeded] out of my Fountain, out of the eternal Mind of the Darkness; I will be in him, and he shall live in my Might, for he is generated out of [that which is] mine, I will, through him, shew great and strong Power. The Kingdom of this World said, he is mine; for he bears my Image, and he lives in [that which is] mine, and I in him; he must be obedient to me, I will tame him and compel him, I have all my Members in him, and he in me; I am greater than he, he must be my Householder, I will show my fair Wonders and Virtues in him, he must manifest my Wonders and Virtues, he shall keep and manage my Herds, I will cloathe him with my fair Glory; as now it is to be seen.

(697) 2169 To say: O N., the mouth of the earth opens for thee; Geb speaks to thee: 2169 "Thou art great like a king; thou art mighty like R`. 2170 Thou purifiest thyself in the lake of the jackal; thou cleansest thyself in the lake of the Dt." 2170 "Come in peace," say the Two Enneads to thee. 2170 The eastern door of heaven is open for thee by 'Imn-km. 2171a . Nut has given her arms to thee, N., she of the long hair, she of the hanging breasts; 2171 she lifts thee high to herself to heaven; she did not cast N. down to the earth. 2172 She gives thee birth, N., like S'h; 2172 she makes thee remain as chief of the two 'itr.t-palaces." 21 72 N. descends into the boat like R`, on the shores, of the Winding Watercourse. 2173 N. is transported by the indefatigables; 2173 N. commands the imperishable stars; 2173 N. is transported on the nti-ocean; 2173 N. takes the helm to the fields of . 2174 Thy messengers go; thy runners hasten. 2174 They say to R`: "Behold, N. is come; behold, N. is come in peace." 2175 Do not go by these water-courses of the west; 2175 those who go there, they do not come back. 2175 Go thou, N., by these water-courses of the east, 2175 among the Followers of [R`] 2175 ------ him who lifts up the arm in the east. 2175 -----------------------------------

(20) But now when the light rose up again in the outward comprehensibility, or in death, then the eternal word stood in its full birth, and generated the life through and out of death, and the corrupted Salitter brought forth fruit again.

There was a great disturbance in the whole earthly area, with confusion and flight, as well as in the plan of the rulers. And some were persuaded, when they saw the wonders that were being accomplished by me. And all those fled, those of the race that descended from the one who fled from the throne to the Sophia of hope, since she had earlier given the sign concerning us and all the ones with me—those of the race of Adonaios. Others also fled, as though sent from the world ruler and those with him, and brought every kind of punishment upon me. And there was a flight of their mind about what they would counsel concerning me, thinking that their own greatness is all, and speaking false witness, moreover, against the human and the whole greatness of the assembly. It was not possible for them to know who is the father of truth, the human of greatness. They took the name because of contact with ignorance—which is a burning and a vessel created to destroy Adam, whom they had made, in order to cover up those who are theirs in the same way. But they, the rulers, of the place of Yaldabaoth, reveal the realm of the angels, which human beings were seeking because they did not know the human of truth. For Adam, whom they had formed, appeared to them. And a fearful disturbance came about throughout their entire dwelling, lest the angels surrounding them rebel. For on account of those who were offering praise I died, but not really, because their archangel was vacuous.

(49) And the Spirit of the eternal Essences (which has Understanding and Knowledge, and also the Trial and Proving of every Thing, in which the Source [or active Property or Quality] which is in Man, consists) that was breathed into him, by the Wisdom of God, through the driving Will, which goes forward, out of the eternal Mind, out of the opened Gates of the Deep, through the Word, [together] with the moving Spirit of God. And he had the Touch of the Center of the Abyss [viz.'] the eternal Source a behind him, as a Band, and before him, the Heart and Light of God, as a Glance of the Joy and Kindling of Paradise, which springs up in the Essences with the Light of the Joy; and beneath him [he had] the four Elements in the Budding out of the Limbus which was in him.

(456) 852 To say: Greetings to thee, Great One, son of a Great One! 852 The w of the pri-wr run for thee; 852 the pri-nsr work for thee; 852 the apertures of the (heavenly) windows are open for thee; 852 the steps of light are revealed for thee. 853 Greetings to thee, sole one, of whom it is said, he will live always! 853 Horus comes, he with the long stride comes; 853 he comes, he who wins power over the horizon, who wins power over the gods. 854 Greetings to thee, soul, who is in his red blood, 854 sole one, as his father named him, wise one, as the gods called him, 854 who took his place, as the sky was separated (from the earth), at the place where thy heart was satisfied, 854 that thou mayest stride over the sky according to thy stride, 854 that thou mayest traverse Lower and Upper Egypt in the midst of that which thou stridest! 855 He who really knows it--this saying of R`, 855 he who uses them--those charms of Harachte, 855 he shall be indeed an intimate of R`, 855 he shall be a friend of Harachte. 856 N. knows this saying of R`; 856 N. uses them--these charms of Harachte. 856 N. shall be an intimate of R`, 856 N. shall be a friend of Harachte. 856 The arm of N. will be taken to heaven in the following of R`. Utterance 497. 857 To say: The watered fields are satisfied, the canals are inundated 857 for N. on this day, 857 when his spirit is given to him, when his might is given to him. 858 Raise thyself up, N., take to thyself thy water; gather to thee thy bones. 858 Stand up upon thy feet; spirit art thou at the head of the spirits. 859 Raise thyself up for this thy bread, which cannot mould, 859 for thy beer, which cannot become sour, 859 by which thou shalt become spiritually mighty, by which thou shalt become pre-eminent, by which thou shalt become physically mighty, 859 by which thou shalt give thereof to him who was, before thee. O N., thou art glorious and thy successor is glorious.

(2) Ensample hereof may be seen by the ascension of our Lord: for when the time appointed was come, that Him liked to wend to His Father bodily in His manhood, the which was never nor never may be absent in His Godhead, then mightily by the virtue of the Spirit God, the manhood with the body followed in onehead of person. The visibility of this was most seemly, and most according, to be upward.

(17) But we should not here again wholly set down the Ground of the Deity, so far as it is otherwise meet and known by us, we account that needless [here,] for you may find it before the Incarnation of a Child in the Mother's [Womb or] Body. We set down thus much here, to the End that the Region of his World may be understood. And thus we give the Reader exactly to understand and know how the Region of Good and Evil are in one another, and how it is an imperishable Thing [or Substance,] so that one is generated out of the other, and that also the one goes forth out of the other into another Substance [or Being,] which it was not in the Beginning; as you may learn to understand this in Man, who in his Beginning, in the Will of Man and Woman, viz. in the Limbus, and in the Matrix, is conceived in the Tincture, and sown in an earthly Soil; where then the first Tincture A Desiring or Attracting. Dispels. (in the Will) breaks, and his own Tincture springs forth out of the anxious [or aching] Chamber of Darkness, and of Death, out of the anxious Source [or Property,] and blossoms out of the Darkness, in the broken Gate of the Darkness in it, as a pleasant Habitation, and so generates its Light out of the anxious Fierceness out of itself; where then (in the Light) there goes forth again the endless Source of the [Thoughts or] Senses, which make a Throne and Region of Reason, which governs the whole House, and desires to enter into the Region of Heaven, out of which it proceeded not. And therefore now this is not the original Will, which there desires to enter into the Region of the Heaven; but it is the preconceived Will out of the Source of the Anxiety, [which Will is a Desire to] enter through the deep Gate of God.

(617) hold of either in turn, first with one hand and then with the other. When Er and the spirits arrived, their duty was to go at once to Lachesis; but first of all there came a prophet who arranged them in order; then he took from the knees of Lachesis lots and samples of lives, and having mounted a high pulpit, spoke as follows: ‘Hear the word of Lachesis, the daughter of Necessity. Mortal souls, behold a new cycle of life and mortality. Your genius will not be allotted to you, but you will choose your genius; and let him who draws the first lot have the first choice, and the life which he chooses shall be his destiny. Virtue is free, and as a man honours or dishonours her he will have more or less of her; the responsibility is with the chooser—God is justified.’ When the Interpreter had thus spoken he scattered lots indifferently among them all, and each of them took up the lot which fell near him, all but Er himself (he was not allowed), and each as he took his lot perceived the number which he had obtained. Then the Interpreter placed on the ground before them the samples of lives; and there were many more lives than the souls present, and they were of all sorts. There were lives of every animal and of man in every condition. And there were tyrannies among them, some lasting out the tyrant’s life, others which broke off in the middle and came to an end in poverty and exile and beggary; and there were lives of famous men, some who were famous for their form and beauty as well as for their strength and success in games,