Simonides Redivivus, or the Art of Memory and Oblivion (1610) - Page 24

AS Venus painted the Coan with a small shell a reference to the painter Apelles, often associated with the Coan school

While she sits and is carried, born by the sea, through the sea:

So now BRUXIUS has polished the art of remembering,

Marking out with his tables the deeds that lie in his way;

Which the faithful hearts of the mind might retain,

As long as their breast contains vital blood.

He teaches how to comprehend great things in small figures,

In this series he will be for us another Coan Apelles.

Thus, a mark is disposed and inserted into various things,

Whence you may be more certain of what you seek.

And so the sign leads you to the sought-after shores,

Just as if you were carrying the threads of the thumb of Theseus a reference to the thread of Ariadne.

The Perseian offspring Perseus, often linked to the use of a mirror/shield also knows these forms,

And gave certain names to his soldiers.

And the son of Neocles Themistocles taught of the Pandionian shores,

Such things as BRUXIUS advises with mnemonic art.

He who handles such things, with what honor should he be handled?

He also deserves to be inscribed with eternal marks.

JOAN. SIGLICIUS D.

Decorative horizontal ornament composed of repeated floral fleurons.