IAMBLICHUS

DE MYSTE-

RIIS.

Concerning the knowledge of divine things.

The Egyptian writers, thinking that all things were discovered by Mercury, inscribed their books to Mercury. Mercury presides over wisdom and eloquence. Pythagoras, Plato, Democritus, Eudoxus, and many others approached the Egyptian priests. The dogmas of this book are of the Assyrians and Egyptians, and from the columns of Mercury. Pythagoras and Plato learned philosophy from the columns of Mercury in Egypt. The columns of Mercury are full of doctrines. Before any use of reason, there exists within us a naturally implanted notion of the gods—or rather, a certain touch of divinity, better than knowledge, from which arises a natural appetite for the good, as well as reasoning and judgment. Essential knowledge of divine things, which is the soul's perpetual state, is not in truth the knowledge by which we enjoy God. In knowledge