Philostratus the Athenian, Lives of the Sophists

τοιάδε μὲν ἡ ἐπίπαν ἰδέα τοῦ Διονυσίου, καθʼ ἣν τὰ τῆς μελέτης αὐτῷ προὔβαινεν ἐπισκοπουμένῳ καιρόν, ὅσονπερ ὁ Ἰσαῖος, ὁ δὲ λόγος ὁ περὶ τοῦ Διονυσίου λεγόμενος, ὡς Χαλδαίοις τέχναις τοὺς ὁμιλητὰς τὸ μνημονικὸν ἀναπαιδεύοντος πόθεν εἴρηται, ἐγὼ δηλώσω· τέχναι μνήμης οὔτε εἰσὶν οὔτʼ ἂν γένοιντο, μνήμη μὲν γὰρ δίδωσι τέχνας, αὐτὴ δὲ ἀδίδακτος καὶ οὐδεμιᾷ τέχνῃ ἁλωτός, ἔστι γὰρ πλεονέκτημα φύσεως ἢ τῆς ἀθανάτου ψυχῆς μοῖρα. οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε θνητὰ νομισθείη τὰ ἀνθρώπεια, οὐδὲ διδακτά, ἃ ἐμάθομεν, εἰ μνήμη συνεπολιτεύετο ἀνθρώποις, ἣν εἴτε μητέρα δεῖ χρόνου καλεῖν, εἴτε παῖδα, μὴ διαφερώμεθα πρὸς τοὺς ποιητάς, ἀλλʼ ἔστω, ὅ τι βούλονται. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τίς οὕτως εὐήθης κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δόξης ἐν σοφοῖς γραφόμενος, ὡς γοητεύων ἐν μειρακίοις διαβάλλειν καὶ ἃ ὀρθῶς ἐπαιδεύθη; πόθεν οὖν τὸ μνημονικὸν τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις; ἄπληστα τὴν ἡδονὴν ἐδόκει τὰ τοῦ Διονυσίου καὶ πολλάκις ἐπαναλαμβάνειν αὐτὰ ἠναγκάζετο, ἐπειδὴ ξυνίει σφῶν χαιρόντων τῇ ἀκροάσει. οἱ δὴ εὐμαθέστεροι τῶν νέων ἐνετυποῦντο αὐτὰ ταῖς γνώμαις καὶ ἀπήγγελλον ἑτέροις μελέτῃ μᾶλλον ἢ μνήμῃ ξυνειληφότες, ὅθεν μνημονικοί τε ὠνομάζοντο καὶ τέχνην αὐτὸ πεποιημένοι. ἔνθεν ὁρμώμενοί τινες τὰς τοῦ Διονυσίου μελέτας ἐσπερματολογῆσθαί φασιν, ὡς δὴ ἄλλο ἄλλου ξυνενεγκόντων ἐς αὐτάς, ἐν ᾧ ἐβραχυλόγησεν.

Such, then, was Dionysius' manner in general, by which his declamation proceeded, for he watched for the right measure as much as Isaeus did. But the story told about Dionysius, that he trained his pupils' memory by Chaldaean arts — where it came from I will make clear. Arts of memory neither exist nor could exist; for memory gives the arts, but is itself unteachable and not to be caught by any art, since it is either a gift of nature or a portion of the immortal soul. For human things would never be thought mortal, nor what we have learned be thought to have been taught, if memory lived as a fellow citizen among men; and whether we should call her the mother of Time or its child, let us not quarrel with the poets, but let it be as they wish. Besides this, who, enrolled among the wise, would be so foolish against his own reputation as to bring discredit, by working sorcery among youths, even on what had been rightly taught? Whence, then, came the memory of his hearers? Dionysius' speeches seemed to give insatiable pleasure, and he was often compelled to repeat them, since he saw that his hearers delighted in listening. So the quicker learners among the young imprinted them on their minds and recited them to others, having got hold of them by practice rather than by memory; whence they were called 'memory-men', and were said to have made it an art. Starting from this, some say that Dionysius' declamations were gleaned together from scraps, as if different people had contributed different pieces to them, wherever he had spoken briefly.