The Latin Works of Giordano Bruno

...for the very few who are able to understand these things by themselves will be least able to bring a right judgment concerning them.

PHILOTHIMUS. — Do you hear what that man says?

HERMES. — I hear, but so that I may hear more, discuss it amongst yourselves.

PHILOTHIMUS. — I will debate with you then, Logifer Logifer: A name meaning "word-bearer," used by Bruno to represent a pedantic scholar or a logic-chopper who values words over actual wisdom., and I would say this first: your statement has no power of persuasion; rather, the very strength of your reasoning serves to confirm the opposite opinion. For those few who have attained an understanding of this invention—among whose number Hermes and I belong—would extol it with no small praise. Those, however, who have understood it not at all, will be able neither to praise nor to criticize it.

LOGIFER. — You speak of what ought to be, not what will be, what is, or what has been. Many, since they do not understand, for the very reason that they do not understand—and moreover out of the wicked spirit by which they are driven—heap many slanders upon the author himself and his art. Have you not heard with your own ears Doctor Bobus original: "doctorem Bobum." A satirical name derived from the Latin "bovis" (ox), implying the doctor is a dullard., who said there is no art of memory art of memory: A system of mental techniques used to organize and recall vast amounts of information using vivid images and structured mental locations., but that it is acquired only through habit and the frequent repetition of mental paths—by seeing again and again what was seen, and by receiving again and again what was heard?

PHILOTHIMUS. — If this man had a tail, he would be a long-tailed monkey original: "cercopitecus." Philothimus is mocking the "Doctor" as a mere mimic or an unintelligent beast..

LOGIFER. — What will you say to Master Anthoc Another satirical name, likely implying someone superficial or "flowery" but lacking substance., who thinks that those who perform memory feats beyond the common sort are sorcerers or possessed by spirits possessed by spirits: original "energumenos." In the Renaissance, exceptional intellectual or mnemonic feats were sometimes viewed with suspicion as being the result of demonic intervention or forbidden magic., or men of some such kind? You see how much he has grown old in his study of letters A jab at scholars who study for a lifetime but never gain true insight..

PHILOTHIMUS. — I would not doubt that this man is the grandson of that donkey who was preserved in Noah's Ark original: "Archa Noe." A humorous insult suggesting the critic is a "pure-bred" fool whose lineage traces back to the original animal saved from the flood. to ensure the survival of the species.