§11.2.13nam vix eo ultra limen egresso, triclinium illud supra convivas corruit atque ita confudit, ut non ora modo oppressorum, sed membra etiam omnia requirentes ad sepulturam propinqui nulla nota possent discernere.
For scarcely had he gone beyond the threshold, when that dining room collapsed upon the guests and so crushed them that the relatives seeking them for burial could not distinguish, by any mark, not only the faces of those who were crushed, but even all their limbs.
tum Simonides dicitur memor ordinis, quo quisque discubuerat, corpora suis reddidisse.
Then Simonides is said, remembering the order in which each had reclined, to have restored the bodies to their own.
§11.2.14est autem magna inter auctores dissensio, Glaucone Carystio an Leocrati an Agatharcho an Scopae scriptum sit id carmen; et Pharsali fuerit haec domus, ut ipse quodam loco significare Simonides videtur utque Apollodorus et Eratosthenes et Euphorion et Larissaeus Eurypylus tradiderunt, an Crannone, ut Apollas Callimachus, quam secutus Cicero hanc famam latius fudit.
There is, however, a great disagreement among authors as to whether that poem was written for Glauco of Carystus, or for Leocrates, or for Agatharchus, or for Scopas; and whether this house was at Pharsalus, as Simonides himself seems to indicate in a certain place and as Apollodorus, Eratosthenes, Euphorion, and Eurypylus of Larissa have handed down, or at Crannon, as Apollas and Callimachus record, following whom Cicero spread this story more widely.
§11.2.15scopam nobilem Thessalum periisse in eo convivio constat; adiicitur sororis eius filius; putant et ortos plerosque ab alio Scopa, qui maior aetate fuerit.
It is established that Scopas, a noble Thessalian, perished in that banquet; the son of his sister is added; they also think that most of those who died were descended from another Scopas, who was older.
§11.2.16quanquam mihi totum de Tyndaridis fabulosum videtur, neque omnino huius rei meminit usquam poeta ipse, profecto non taciturus de tanta sua gloria.
Although to me the whole story of the Tyndaridae seems legendary, and the poet himself nowhere makes any mention of this matter, who surely would not have been silent about his own so great glory.
§11.2.17ex hoc Simonidis facto notatum videtur, iuvari memoriam signatis animo sedibus, idque credere suo quisque experimento potest.
From this deed of Simonides, it seems to have been observed that memory is assisted by places marked in the mind, and anyone can believe this from his own experience.
Nam cum in loca aliqua post tempus reversi sumus, non ipsa agnoscimus tantum, sed etiam, quae in his fecerimus, reminiscimur personaeque subeunt, nonnunquam tacitae quoque cogitationes in mentem revertuntur.
For when we have returned to some places after a time, we not only recognize the places themselves, but we also remember what we did in them, and the persons come to mind, and sometimes even silent thoughts return to the mind.
nata est igitur, ut in plerisque, ars ab experimento.
Therefore, as in most things, the art was born from experience.
loca deligunt quam maxime spatiosa, §11.2.18multa varietate signata, domum forte magnam et in multos diductam recessus.
They select places as spacious as possible, marked by much variety, perhaps a large house divided into many recesses.
in ea quidquid notabile est, animo diligenter adfigunt, ut sine cunctatione ac mora partes eius omnes cogitatio possit percurrere.
In it, whatever is remarkable they diligently fix in their mind, so that without hesitation or delay thought can run through all its parts.
et primus hic labor est non haerere in occursu; plus enim quam firma debet esse memoria, quae aliam memoriam adiuvet.
And this first labor is not to hesitate at the meeting-place; for the memory which is to help another memory must be more than firm.
§11.2.19tum, quae scripserunt vel cogitatione complexi sunt, aliquo signo, quo moneantur, notant; quod esse vel ex re tota potest, ut de navigatione, militia, vel ex verbo aliquo; nam etiam excidentes unius admonitione verbi in memoriam reponuntur.
Then, what they have written or embraced in thought, they mark with some sign by which they may be reminded; which can be either from the whole matter, as of navigation or military service, or from some particular word; for even those who are forgetting are restored to memory by the reminder of a single word.
Sit autem signum navigationis ut ancora, militiae ut aliquid ex armis.
Let the sign of navigation be, for instance, an anchor, and of military service, something from arms.
§11.2.20haec ita digerunt.
They arrange these things thus.
primum sensum vestibulo quasi adsignant, secundum, puta, atrio, tum impluvia circumeunt, nec cubiculis modo aut exedris, sed statuis etiam similibusque per ordinem committunt.
They assign the first sense, as it were, to the vestibule, the second, say, to the atrium, then they go round the impluvia, and commit them in order not only to bedrooms or parlors, but also to statues and the like.
hoc facto, cum est repetenda memoria, incipiunt ab initio loca haec recensere, et quod cuique crediderunt reposcunt, ut eorum imagine admonentur.
Having done this, when the memory is to be recalled, they begin from the beginning to review these places, and demand back what they have entrusted to each, as they are reminded by their image.
ita, quamlibet multa sint, quorum meminisse oporteat, fiunt singula conexa quodam choro, nec errant coniungentes prioribus consequentia solo ediscendi labore.
Thus, however many things there are which it is necessary to remember, they all become connected in a kind of chorus, nor do those who join the subsequent to the prior go astray by the mere labor of learning by heart.
§11.2.21quod de domo dixi, et in operibus publicis et in itinere longo et urbium ambitu et picturis fieri potest.
What I have said of the house can also be done in public buildings, and on a long journey, and in the circuit of cities, and in paintings.
etiam fingere sibi has imagines licet.
It is also permitted to fashion these images for oneself.
opus est ergo locis, quae vel finguntur vel sumuntur, et imaginibus vel simulacris, quae utique fingenda sunt.
There is need, therefore, of places, which are either fashioned or selected, and of images or likenesses, which must in any case be fashioned.
imagines voces sunt, quibus ea quae ediscenda sunt notamus, ut, quomodo Cicero dicit, locis pro cera, simulacris pro litteris utamur.
Images are the words by which we mark those things which are to be learned by heart, so that, as Cicero says, we use places instead of wax, and likenesses instead of letters.
§11.2.22illud quoque ad verbum ponere optimum fuerit: locis est utendum multis, inlustribus, explicatis, modicis intervallis, imaginibus autem agentibus, acribus, insignitis, quae occurrere celeriterque percutere animum possint. quo magis miror, quomodo Metrodorus in XII signis, per quae sol meat, trecenos et sexagenos invenerit locos.
It will also be best to set down this word for word: "We must use many places, distinct, orderly, at moderate intervals, but images that are active, sharp, distinguished, which can present themselves and quickly strike the mind." Wherefore I wonder all the more how Metrodorus found three hundred and sixty places in the twelve signs through which the sun travels.
vanitas nimirum fuit atque iactatio circa memoriam sua potius arte quam natura gloriantis.
It was, indeed, vanity and boasting on the part of one glorifying his own art rather than nature in regard to memory.