The Travels of Cyrus by Chevalier Ramsay
this is not yet come , but it approaches ; until that happy moment , be content with knowing that the God of Israel loves you , will go before you , and will accomplish his will by you : This accomplishment will be an invincible proof of the truth of all I have said to you . Make haste to verify his oracles , and return with speed into Persia , where your presence is necessary . 25
The narrative concludes , in accordance with the Book of Ezra , with the liberation of the Jews , who set off to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem . 26 It is thus possible to link these two episodes . As the Figurist Pierre-Daniel Huet would maintain , Hermes Trismegistus had long been identified with Moses , also a liberator of the Jewish people . The pairing of Daniel and Cyrus represents another echo of this , since it was the king of Babylon who ended the exile of the chosen people . Thus , the Hermetic episode heralds the tale ’ s conclusion . Zoroaster had been content to predict the king ’ s political and military triumphs . Daniel discloses above all else his metaphysical role , if not his predestination . Hence , the end of Cyrus ’ s wanderings corresponds to the end of the exile of the Jews : his initiation can now be realized .
Nevertheless , this initiation , this revelation , would not be complete without the transmission of a fundamental principle in Ramsay ’ s theology : what might be described as anti-literalism . Indeed , in matters of exegesis , wanting to stick to the letter is a fatal mistake . For this anti-literalism effectively comes from the primordial unity of religion : being literalist is the symptom of the loss of the original meaning , the sign of a degradation of authentic wisdom . In short , it concerns the most obvious manifestation of ignorance . However , it also involves an additional danger : abandoning piety and sliding into heresy . According to Amenophis , this was the fate of the Egyptians when they were governed by the “ Shepherd Kings ” who came from Arabia : “ It was then that idolatry came into Egypt : Sculpture , painting and poesy obscured all pure ideas , and transformed them into sensible images ; the vulgar stop there , without seeing into the hidden meaning of the allegories .” 27 The idolatry in question is evidence of how the human condition was degraded by the end of the golden age . Now the wicked cannot delve into these mysteries without the risk of tarnishing them , and that is why allegories , whose purpose is both protective and didactic , are necessary . Here , for example , is an explanation of how Hermeticism functions :
Trismegistus concealed the mysteries of religion under hieroglyphicks and allegories , and exposed nothing to the eyes of the vulgar but the beauties of
25 Ramsay , The Travels of Cyrus , p . 273 .
26 Although Ramsay had certainly not been made a Freemason by 1721 , it should be noted that the theme of Solomon ’ s Temple was already a feature of the Order .
27 Ramsay , The Travels of Cyrus , p . 91 .
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