Iamblichus on the mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians

The various translations and original works of Thomas Taylor, though still in request by the more zealous students of ancient philosophy and occult science, have now become so scarce and expensive that it is only within the power of comparatively wealthy collectors to obtain them. This is a matter for regret, inasmuch as it cannot be affirmed that his writings have been, or are likely to be superseded, or that they are without value. They can hardly be neglected without loss by those who desire to understand the systems of philosophy which satisfied the spiritual needs of the antique world. It is not possible, even for the most fervent believer in modern “progress,” to dismiss the speculations of the ancient philosophers as antiquated notions which have had their day and no longer possess interest or value. The names of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle can never grow dim with age, nor is it possible to conceive a time when men shall cease to study and reverence them. As the disciple, the translator, and the expounder of these and of other sages of antiquity, Thomas Taylor deserves to be held in honour and remembrance, and it would be a misfortune if his labours remained unknown because of the scarcity of his books. It is for this reason that the present reprint has been undertaken; and it is hoped that it will meet with such a measure of success as may encourage the republication of various other works by the same author. It has been printed in handsome style and published at a moderate price in order that it may be regarded as a desirable addition to the scholar’s library, while yet it will not tax severely the means of the not too wealthy student. For the rest it is only necessary to say that this reprint is, in size, number of pages, type, and general get-up, an almost exact facsimile of the original edition, which was first printed in 1821. No alterations or additions have been made in or to the original text, as it is thought that those who care for Taylor’s writings will prefer to have them in their integrity. Should it be found possible, however, to continue the series it is intended to prefix to a future volume an essay on Taylor, which will contain a biography of him, and a critical estimate of his writings.

May, 1895.

INTRODUCTION.

It appears to me that there are two descriptions of persons by whom the present work must be considered to be of inestimable worth, the lovers of antiquity and the lovers of ancient philosophy and religion. To the former of these it must be invaluable, because it is replete with information derived from the wise men of the Chaldeans, the prophets of the Egyptians, the dogmas of the Assyrians, and the ancient pillars of Hermes; and to the latter, because of the doctrines contained in it, some of which originated from the Hermaic pillars, were known by Pythagoras and Plato, and were the sources of their philosophy; and others are profoundly theological, and unfold the mysteries of ancient religion with an admirable conciseness of diction, and an inimitable vigour and elegance of conception. To which also may be added, as the colophon of excellence, that it is the most copious, the clearest, and the most satisfactory defence extant of genuine ancient theology.

This theology, the sacred operations pertaining to which called theurgy are here developed, has for the most part, since the destruction of it, been surveyed only in its corruptions among barbarous nations, or during the decline and fall of the Roman empire, with which, overwhelmed with pollution, it gradually fell, and at length totally vanished from what is called the polished part of the globe. This will be evident to the intelligent reader from the following remarks, which are an epitome of what has been elsewhere more largely discussed by me on this subject, and which also demonstrate the religion of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Greeks to be no less scientific than sublime.

In the first place, this theology celebrates the immense principle of things as something superior even to being itself; as exempt from the whole of things, of which it is nevertheless ineffably the source; and does not, therefore, think fit to enumerate it with any triad[1] or order of beings. Indeed it even apologizes for giving the appellation of the most simple of our conceptions to that which is beyond all knowledge and all conception. It denominates this principle however, the one and the good; by the former of these names indicating its transcendent simplicity, and by the latter its subsistence as the object of desire to all beings. For all things desire good. At the same time, however, it asserts that these appellations are in reality nothing more than the parturitions of the soul, which, standing as it were in the vestibules of the adytum of deity, announce nothing pertaining to the ineffable, but only indicate her spontaneous tendencies towards it, and belong rather to the immediate offspring of the first God than to the first itself. Hence, as the result of this most venerable conception of the supreme, when it ventures not only to denominate it, though ineffable, but also to assert something of its relation to other things, it considers this as preeminently its peculiarity, that it is the principle of principles; it being necessary that the characteristic property of principle, after the same manner as other things, should not begin from multitude, but should be collected into one monad as a summit, and which is the principle of all principles.