The Latin Works of Giordano Bruno

LOGIFER. — And Master Roccus, a grand master of arts and medicine, who prefers practical experience to a taught system of memory, would consider these things nonsense rather than skillful instructions.

PHILOTHIMUS. — He should not look beyond his own chamber pot. original: "Non ultra matulam." A biting idiom. Since physicians of the era diagnosed patients by inspecting urine in a glass vessel (matula), Philothimus is telling the doctor to stick to his specialty and stop commenting on philosophy.

LOGIFER. — One of the ancient doctors said that this art cannot be accessible to everyone, except for those who already possess a powerful natural memory. natural memory: The innate ability to remember things without the use of specific techniques, as opposed to the "artificial memory" developed through the mnemonic arts.

PHILOTHIMUS. — A worthless, outdated opinion. original: "Depontana sententia." Literally "a sentence of the bridge-tossed." In ancient Rome, men over sixty (sexagenarians) were called "depontani," implying they were past their prime and should be cast off the bridge. Philothimus uses it to mean the idea is obsolete.

LOGIFER. — Pharfacon Likely a satirical pseudonym for a contemporary critic., a doctor of both civil and canon law and a philosopher of letters, feels that this art burdens rather than relieves the mind. For whereas things should be recalled without any art, we are now bound by art to recall things, places, and many images; there is no doubt that the natural memory is more confused and entangled by these.

PHILOTHIMUS. — The "sharpness" of Chrysippus Chrysippus: A Stoic philosopher famous for his intricate, often frustratingly complex logic.! That is an opinion that needs to be carded with a massive iron comb. Philothimus mocks the "sharpness" of the logic, suggesting it is so tangled and rough it requires a heavy-duty tool to straighten it out.

LOGIFER. — Doctor Berling said that even the most learned can harvest nothing from Hermes’ speech—I believe this is because he harvests nothing himself.

PHILOTHIMUS. — Is there any chestnut under those prickly husks? original: "Sub illis echinis ulla ne castanea?" He compares the difficult language to a chestnut’s spiky outer shell (echinus); he is asking if there is actually any nourishment inside the difficult exterior.

LOGIFER. — Master Maines says: "Even if it pleases everyone, it will never please me."

PHILOTHIMUS. — Nor will the wine he never tastes.

LOGIFER. — What do you think that friend of yours—whom you know well—will feel about this matter?

PHILOTHIMUS. — Adding cuttlefish ink to a lamp makes men appear as dark as Africans; so too a mind corrupted by envy judges even clearly beautiful things to be foul.

LOGIFER. — Even the lofty Master Scoppet among...