The Centiloquium Hermetis is a Latin collection of one hundred astrological aphorisms attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, compiled and translated from Greek by Stephen of Messina for King Manfred of Sicily ().
At least 22 of the aphorisms are ultimately derived from the , a collection of sayings of Abà « Maÿshar (787âÂÂ886) compiled by his student, Abà « Saÿëd ShÃÂdhÃÂn ibn Bahr. The was included with other texts by Abà « Maÿshar in the Mysteria, a Greek translation from around 1000. The Greek text was excerpted and translated into Latin as . The relationship between the Centiloquium and the is uncertain, but their wording is different. At least one other aphorism can be traced to MÃÂshÃÂþallÃÂh, but the exact wording is different between the Centiloquium and an earlier translation, . Charles Burnett suggests that Stephen's source for the Centiloquium was an existing Greek compendium, but it cannot be ruled out that he authored some of the aphorisms himself. He may have been working from an Arabic source.
The first letter of each aphorism together form an acrostic that reads:
The aphorisms cover weather, harvests, travel, illness, war, etc. Several seem chosen specifically for the king.
During the Middle Ages, the Centiloquium Hermetis was exceeded in popularity among Hermetic treatises only by the Asclepius. It is preserved in over 80 manuscripts. It was printed 16 times between 1484 and 1674, including two further incunable editions (1492, 1493).
Henry Coley published an English translation in 1676.