(^624) MANICHAEAN LITERATURE
even that. Don't beat Pamoun, the ox.
Shake the spirit vessels
in you. I will make you sit in a place
where generations
will pass through you, planting, repaying,
making you the living.
Freedom. Even they who are my kin. On
a day of the great.^7
Song of Herakleides
COME TOGETHER
Come together, O sons of the earth, and hear
the angel who was sent out
with the message^8 of the skies.
You came and were a gathering, you came
and they gathered in you.
Tell us the message of the skies.
You came and the aeons were in rank,
you came and they gathered in you.
Tell us
the message of the skies.
Wake, you who sleep.
Wake, you who sleep. Sleep in the cavern^9
that you can receive the sky's message.
The carrier of the message is on his way
- The song's last words are missing. The last word is "amen."
- The "message" may be thought of as good news, but the word is neutral and permits the long
song to develop theme and suspense. Here and throughout the song there are clear parallels to
the Song of the Pearl. - The symbolic meaning of the cavern or pit is uncertain, but it is clearly a place to receive a
heavenly message.