The , also known as the Perfect Discourse (from the Greek ), is a religio-philosophical Hermetic treatise. The original Greek text, which was likely written in Alexandria between 100 CE and 300 CE, is largely lost and only a few fragments remain. However, the full text is extant in an early Latin translation, and fragments from a Coptic translation have also been found among the documents discovered in Nag Hammadi.
The text takes the form of a dialogue, set in the sanctuary of an Egyptian temple, between Hermes Trismegistus and three of his students: Asclepius (a grandson of the Greek god and physician Asclepius), Tat, and Hammon.
Medieval Latin readers had access to many Hermetic treatises of a 'technical' nature (astrological, alchemical, or magical, often translated from the Arabic). However, the was the only Hermetic treatise belonging to the 'religio-philosophical' category that was available in Latin before Marsilio Ficino's (1433âÂÂ1499) and Lodovico Lazzarelli's (1447âÂÂ1500) translation of the 17 Greek treatises that constitute the . During the Middle Ages, the was falsely attributed to the Middle Platonist philosopher Apuleius ( â after 170).
The text of the was used by the philosopher Peter Abelard (1079âÂÂ1142) and his student Robert of Melun (âÂÂ1167) as a means to prove that knowledge of the Trinity was naturally available to pagans. Albertus Magnus (âÂÂ1280) praised the idea developed in the that the human being forms a link between God and the world, uniting in themselves both the spiritual nature of divine beings and the corporeal nature of the material world.