he attempts to deny the identity of Armísá and Hermes. Armísá was a sage of Babylon; and, indeed, Armísá is represented in many Sabian traditions as a Chaldæan philosopher. But nothing can be deduced from that circumstance. The Hermesian books were accepted by all the East, and at Babylon as if their second country; it was from them that the Arabs derived all their traditions respecting Hermes; and this explains the singular transfer by means of
Trismegister as their countrymen ("Journal Asiatique," March–April, 1854, p. 263). Now the works attributed by Ibn-Abi-Oceibia to this Hermes are astrological. Besides, Ibn-Abi-Oceibia connects Hermes Trismegister with the Babylonians and the Harranians (ibid. August–Sept. 1854, pp. 185, 187, 189, 191, 192). I find in the Kitab thabacat al-úmen of Said (p. 20, 21 of M. Schefer’s manuscript) the following passage, where Hermes is represented as a modern Babylonian sage, contemporary with Socrates, and devoting his life to revising and correcting the writings of his predecessors:
This is in accordance with various legends in which Hermes is connected with Babylon. Hermes appears again in the chapter on Egypt.
