Waiting for Plato

The sacred texts of Hermeticism, the Corpus Hermeticum, were a key component of the renaissance occult tradition. Authored by Hermes Trismegistus, a mythical figure who was supposedly an Egyptian priest and coeval of Moses. As such, the Corpus Hermeticum was considered by renaissance scholar-magicians to be as significant and authoritative as any other ancient religious text, including the Bible. This story, however, did not hold up, as we now know the works were originally written in Greek, not translated from Egyptian, some time around 200 C.E.

Nonetheless, when a Balkan monk appeared in Florence in 1463 with the fabled texts in his bag—previously, only fragments had been available—the intellectual community was agog. Cosimo de’Medici, noted humanist and patron of the arts, immediately instructed his court scholar, Marsillo Ficino, to set aside his current work and translate the long-sought after Hermetic texts into Latin.

What is interesting here is the philosopher that Ficino was translating at the time. As he later recalled

[Cosimo de’Medici] charged me with translating first Mercury Trismegistus and then Plato. I finished Mercury in a few months while Cosimo was still living, and then I began work on Plato.

As my source for this tale, David Katz, notes incredulously:

In other words, so important was the Hermetic tradition to the Renaissance humanists, that they wanted to have the Corpus Hermeticum translated into Latin even before Plato! A readable copy of the works of Hermes Trismegistus was more urgently required than the Republic or the Symposium.¹

Obviously, the delay of a few months is ultimately of little consequence. However, if one pictures Plato’s works stacked idly in the corner of Ficino’s study, while he devotes himself to translating treatises devoted largely to astrology and alchemy, the difference to contemporary intellectual priorities is fairly stark.

                                Hermes Trismegistus                                         Plato and friend

CITATIONS:

1.  David S. Katz, The Occult Tradition: From the Renaissance to the Present Day, London: Pimlico, 2007, p.22-7 (both quotes from p.25).

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