Greene, Robert (c. 1678-1730)

The principles of the philosophy of the expansive and contractive forces. Or an inquiry into the principles of the modern philosophy, that is, into the several chief rational sciences, which are extant. In seven books

Cambridge

Printed at the University-Press, by Cornelius Crownfield, and are to be sold by him, E. Jefferys, and W. Thurlbourne booksellers in Cambridge, and by J. Knapton, R. Knaplock, W. and J. Innys, and B. Motte, London

1727

Artificial Memory "Consisted in making Choice of a Certain Number of Loci, or Places, which were Distinguished from each Other by their Order, of First, Second, &c. by Various Spaces, Figures, and Intervals, and by Certain Marks and Characters, where were Affixed to every Fifth, or Tenth place of them; These were Considered and Esteemed in the same Manner as Paper, or a Rasa Tabula, on all Occasions of Writing, as a Book of Vellum, which, upon the Dashing out of the Former Impressions made by a Pencil, is Fit to Receive any New Ones"

[...] This brings to my Thoughts the Artificial Memory, Described by the Author to Herennius, Practiced amongst the Ancient Romans, which the Orators made Use of to Enable them to Repeate Memoriter, and Verbatim, or Nearly, what they had before Premeditated for their Audience, and by the Assistance of which no Doubt it was, that Hortensius Pronounced his Oration, for Messala Word for Word, as he had Contrived and Set it Down in his own Mind, without any Tables or Writing; and which Tully gives us, as a Great Instance of the Memory of Words in that Orator, as he Informs us, Lucullus was such an Example for the Memory of Things; who, tho' he was wholly Unacquainted with the Art of War, when he went as General against Mithridates, yet by Reading only the Histories and Exploits of other Generals before him in his Passage from Italy to Greece, and in his Expedition against that Prince, became the most Accomplished General of his Age; And what was this Artificial Memory? It Consisted in making Choice of a Certain Number of Loci, or Places, which were Distinguished from each Other by their Order, of First, Second, &c. by Various Spaces, Figures, and Intervals, and by Certain Marks and Characters, where were Affixed to every Fifth, or Tenth place of them; These were Considered and Esteemed in the same Manner as Paper, or a Rasa Tabula, on all Occasions of Writing, as a Book of Vellum, which, upon the Dashing out of the Former Impressions made by a Pencil, is Fit to Receive any New Ones; When the Mind was Furnished with these Loci or Places, whatever was to be Repeated by the Memory, was Conceived in Images and Representations of Things, which were Set down in order, the First Image in the First Place, the Second in the Second, and so on; By these Means the Orator by going over the Places, which were Familiar to his Mind, Raised in himself the Images, which he had Affixed to those Places, as in the Instance, which we are now Considering of a Room, or a place, which Excites Certain Ideas in us Peculiar to those Places; This I Believe is the Strongest Instance, which can be given, of an Association of Ideas, which, it is something Wonderfull, should Escape the Great Learning and Reading of this Philosophy of them, which to shew it's Acquaintance with Antiquity, sometimes makes Mention of Alexander, and Bucephalus, and Socrates, tho' it may be almost Questioned, whether it Knew much more, than that the one was a Man, the other a Horse, and the Last a Philosopher; in the same Manner, as it Assumes in it's Explanations of it's Doctrine, that the Three Angles of a Triangle are Equal to Two Right Ones, and yet One may Reasonably Think it's Knowledge of such Proposition was rather from Hear-say, than from a Demonstration of it; Omitting which, this Greatest Instance of an Association of Ideas is Plainly Resolved into the Ideas of Memory and Recollection, and the Mind can Separate and Disjoin them, as it Pleases; For it could Remember these Places in Order, Backwards, or Forwards, or by other Ways of Combining them; It could Dispose Certain Images in these Places, and then Expunge them, and Affix others in the Room of them; All of which shews, that there was no Mechanical Association of these Ideas, but all of them were under the Management and Government of the Mind and Will, which made Use of them to those Designs and Purposes, which it Intended.
(V.viii.41, p. 689)

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Greene, Robert. The principles of the philosophy of the expansive and contractive forces. Or an inquiry into the principles of the modern philosophy, that is, into the several chief rational sciences, which are extant. In seven books. By Robert Greene, ... Cambridge, 1727. Based on information from English Short Title Catalogue. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Group. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO

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10/08/2006