Simonides Redivivus, or the Art of Memory and Oblivion

PREFACE.

I wish to warn the readers of this so that they do not descend into the opinions of certain men who, according to the proverb, bark at the unknown. These men, because I transposed the letters or elements of my name and resolved one of them into two other equivalent ones, claim that most things in that booklet are false and fabricated.

However, I would wish that they, before they rashly pronounce judgment, look with a sharp and attentive mind at those things which the most serious and trustworthy authors, both ancient and modern, have attested regarding the art of remembering. I would also wish them to look into their own minds and, by turning this over with every thought, inquire whether the mere transposition of a name suffices to accuse someone of the crime of falsehood; since we see that very many things have been written most truthfully and learnedly, which nevertheless display either no author's name or a completely altered one. Let Euonymus Philiater be an example to us (to bring up one out of many): it is already a common topic of conversation for many who should be understood by this name. Finally, I would wish them to place before their eyes the supreme dignity and supreme splendor of the Prince, born for the good of the Republic, in whose dedication of that aforementioned book, the mind would certainly have trembled to speak for an art whose foundations would be non-existent.

Moreover, I religiously affirm that all those things which have been posited by me regarding the effects of the art are more true than the truth itself, even if not according to the opinion of just anyone who is ignorant of it.

Decorative floral ornament at the bottom left corner.