The Hermetic Corpus and Renaissance Science
to which the Asclepius must be added. Cosimo de' Medici immediately understood the value of the Codex, asked Ficino to interrupt his translation of Plato and begin translating this other codex. Thus in 1471 the first edition of the Corpus Hermeticum translated into Latin under the name Poimandres was published.
IV
The role that this publication had at the time is difficult to render in a few words. One must consider that Europe had been eager for more than three centuries to have a reliable corpus of treatises by this Egyptian figure who was King like David, Philosopher like Plato and Prophet like Moses. One must also consider that the codex translated by Ficino, perhaps precisely because of its previous belonging to Michael Psellus who was an Orthodox monk and who had probably purged the text, integrated perfectly with Christian doctrine and theology, so much as to promote common reflection on the existence of a prisca or "most ancient" theology preceding every religion, independent of every cultural contingency and always valid.
As confirmed by Marsilio Ficino's introduction to the Corpus Hermeticum in the dedication to Cosimo de' Medici, where he identifies Hermes Trismegistus as the indirect master of Pythagoras and Plato:
Hermes Trismegistus first disputed with greatest wisdom about divine majesty, the hierarchy of spirits, the transmigration of souls. He was first called theologian: Orpheus followed him, second theologian, then Aglaophamus, Pythagoras and Philolaus, master of our divine Plato.
The Corpus Hermeticum thus had an incredible diffusion that led it to have sixteen reprints from the first publication date of 1471 until the end of the sixteenth century. All the greatest philosophers, scientists and intellectuals of the time would be profoundly indebted to it. Hermetic doctrines had an incredible weight in the development of modern scientific thought - suffice it to think that Copernicus, in endorsing the heliocentric theory, brings as authoritative reference that of Hermes Trismegistus.
In the midst of all stands the Sun seated on his throne. Could we think of placing this source of light in a better position in this most beautiful temple, so that it can simultaneously illuminate all things? Rightly is it called Lamp, Intelligence, Governor of the Universe; Hermes Trismegistus calls it the visible God, and Sophocles' Electra calls it That which sees all. Thus, ultimately, the Sun sits on his royal throne and commands his vassals, the planets, which revolve around him.
De Revolutionibus (Book I, Chapter X)
For example, in the XVI discourse of the Corpus Hermeticum we find the passage that would inspire heliocentric theories:
The sun, through the intelligible and sensible world, receives in largess from God the diffusion of good, of creative activity. Around the sun rotate the eight spheres that depend on it: that of the fixed stars, the six spheres of the planets and the single sphere that surrounds the earth. Angels depend on these spheres, men on angels and thus everything and everyone are dependent on God.
Corpus Hermeticum, Discourse XVII, 17
Hermes Trismegistus would also be invoked by Paracelsus, Gilbert, Bacon, Bruno, Harvey, Fludd, Newton, entire generations of scientists who saw in Hermetic doctrines the basis, inspiration or confirmation of their theories. The very idea of secular knowledge independent of ecclesiastical canons is largely due to the diffusion of the Hermetic conception of a prisca theologia preceding the Christian era although equivalent to it. Similarly, attention to experimental practice or constant attention to natural processes according to the famous Hermetic saying that the artist imitates nature are all concepts that draw their founding basis in Hermeticism. Gilbert himself invokes Hermes for the doctrine of terrestrial magnetism. Or, one for all, Newton who dedicated most of his life to the study of Hermetic doctrines rather than to physics. One of the translations of the Emerald Tablet into English is due precisely to Sir Isaac Newton.
Role in Astrology
Astrology in Hermeticism was presented in a much more philosophical way that had nothing to do with the judicial kind. In the Emerald Tablet, a kind of Hermetic summa already in circulation in Latin from the 11th century, and in the Corpus Hermeticum there are two principles or themes that are fundamental to our treatment, namely:
- the theme of analogy between microcosm and macrocosm
- the theme of spiritual regeneration
The Theme of Regeneration and Occult Philosophy
This theme of Regeneration that would lead to changing the place of application of Astrology from a material dimension to a spiritual dimension is addressed in the XIII dialogue of the Corpus Hermeticum, the Secret Discourse on the Mountain. In this discourse Hermes Trismegistus speaks to his son about Regeneration and how he has clothed himself with an immortal body of spiritual character. The son wants to know from his father the secret of regeneration. Hermes then tells him:
What can I tell you, son? An immaterial vision has occurred in me, I have come out of myself to enter into a body that does not die, now I am no longer the same, I have had intellectual rebirth
Then the son also wants to provoke this spiritual rebirth and since he does not give up, the father finally confides the secret to obtain intellectual regeneration and tells him:
Purify yourself from the irrational punishments of matter [...] These punishments are 12 in number [...] and force the interior man, through the prison of the body, to suffer at the hands of the bodily senses¹
But what then are these 12 punishments? First Hermes lists them all, they are twelve vices like ignorance, envy, greed, anger and then specifies the virtues with which these powers must be defeated and finally explains the origin of these forces that keep man chained forcing him to the phenomenal world saying:
this tent from which we came out, my son, was constituted by the circle of the zodiac, in turn composed of 12 elements, 12 in number, but of one nature and having an image that can take