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metonymy for cause: silkworms for clothing; |
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metonymy for effect: the flayed Marsias for the scene of a massacre; |
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metonymy for ruler and ruled: Neptune for the nautical arts; |
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metonymy for agent and action: Paris for the tribunal; |
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metonymy for agent and end: a maiden with a vial of fragrance for perfumery; |
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antonomasia: Prometheus, giver of fire, for the artisans; |
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vectorial iconism: Hercules drawing an arrow with three points and aiming toward the heavens for the sciences of heavenly things; |
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direct inference: Mercury with a cock for trade. |
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The most systematic of these works is perhaps Cosma Rosselli's Thesaurus Artificiosae Memoriae (1579). Rosselli lists the following correlations: |
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by a sample: a quantity of iron in order to recall iron; |
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by similarity, which in turn is subdivided into similarity of substance (the human being as the microcosmic image of the macrocosm) and of quantity (ten fingers for the Ten Commandments); |
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by metonymy and antonomasia: Atlas for the astronomers or for astronomy, a bear for the angry man, the lion for pride, Cicero for rhetoric; |
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by homonymy: the animal dog for the dog star; |
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by irony and contrast: the fool for the wise man; |
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by vestigial traces: the track for the wolf, the mirror in which Titus admired himself for Titus; |
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by a word of different pronunciation: sanguine for sane; |
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by similarity of name: Arista for Aristotle; |
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by genus and species: the leopard for the animal; |
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by pagan symbol: the eagle for Jove; |
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by peoples: the Parthians for arrows, the Phoenicians for the alphabet; |
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by zodiacal sign: the sign for the constellation; |
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by relation between an organ and its function; |
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by common attribute: the crow for Ethiopia; |
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by hieroglyphic: the ant for prudence; |
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and finally, totally idiosyncratic associations such as any monster of any sort for anything to be remembered. |
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The main feature of Hermetic drift seems to be the uncontrolled ability to shift from meaning to meaning, from similarity to similarity, |
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