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A CHRISTIAN-HERMETIC-JUDAIC INITIATION...
souls. Ihen neither will the earth stand firm, nor the sea sailable; stars will not
cross heaven nor will the course of the stars stand firm in heaven. [ ...] The fruits
of the earth will rot; the soil will no more be fertile; and the very air will droopin
gloomy lethargy. (25, quoted from Copenhaver, Hermetica, 1992, 82)
It is difficult not to notice how similar this apocalyptic image is to 1 Enoch,
when the results ofthe union of angels and women are described with similarly
strong words and frightening images." And indeed, in a much cited article,
M. Philonenko suggested that the Asclepius might have been influenced by
the Enoch myth; this was positively confirmed by Moshe Idel: “One must
go a step further and reveal the real figure who is hidden under the name of
Hermes: it is Enoch. In the Asclepius, Hermes tells the story of the creation
of man and prophesizes the descent of the angels and the flood. In biblical
terms, Hermes seems to be an antediluvian prophetic figure, and this view
clearly points to the identification of Hermes of the Asclepius with Enoch.”'®
Lazzarelli’s explanation concerning the “daughters of men” is that they
stand for the degradation of the spirit and refer to an increasing distance
from the essential One. Contrary to 1 Enoch, Lazzarelli seems to believe
that Original Sin consisted of the sexual union between Adam and Eve, and
he brings quotations from Moses as well as the Pimander to illustrate the
dangers of this degradation: “Man is above the cosmic harmony, but having
fallen into that harmony he has become a slave” (cf. CH 1.15 in Copenhaver,
Hermetica, 3).
As one would expect from a true Hermetist, Lazzarelli’s main purpose with
this work is to prove that not everything has been lost and the dignity of
man can be restored. After all, the subtitle of the work is “A Dialogue on the
Supreme Dignity of Man,” and its tone indeed echoes Pico’s elevated claims
about human potential:
Thus you will come to understand the excellence of your own essence, [... and]
will rise up out of the body, [...] ascending absolutely and purely, to fly to that
transcendent and most shining darkness where God dwells, to take your place
among the number of the Powers; and having been received among the Powers you
shall enjoy God, and henceforth begetting a divine offspring, you will procreate for
God and not yourself. (Crater 21.4; Lazzarelli, 231)
1 Enoch, chapter 7. A recent detailed commentary of this chapter is offered by George W. E.
Nickelsburg in his 1 Enoch 1 (2001), 182-187.
1° See Philonenko, M. Une allusion de l’Asclepius au livre d’Hénoch (1975), 161-63; and Idel,
Hermeticism and Judaism (1988), 60.
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