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Bateleur, dice and memory
Hermes/Mercury was god over dice; and Apollo it is said granted him the gift of divining by dice. He was also the god of gymnasts (like 'bateleurs' types of 'tumblers').
"Hermes, draw near, and to my prayer incline, messenger of Zeus, and Maia’s son divine; prefect of contests, ruler of mankind, with heart almighty, and a prudent mind. Celestial messenger of various skill, whose powerful arts could watchful Argos kill. With winged feet ‘tis thine through air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse; great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine. With power endued all language to explain, of care the loosener, and the source of gain. Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod, Korykion, blessed, profitable God. Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, and in necessities to mortal kind. Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear; assist my works, conclude my life with peace, give graceful speech, and memory’s increase." - Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes.
quote:
"Each of the 21 points of the dice consecrates you to the devil. These 21 points are the steps to hell. Every dice has six faces, six rooms where are these steps, and they signify 21 games of chance named after demons."
end quote from:
http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Sermones_de_Ludo_Cum_Aliis
The terminology of the dices faces as 'rooms' reflects how the preacher (in which he probably is not the originator but following a common trope) uses the dice, its faces and pips as 'memory' places.
The concept of dismemberment, recollection and re-membering may also connect with the concept of memory and pedagogical theories of the time.
Giordano Bruno THE ASH WEDNESDAY SUPPER (LA CENA DE LE CENERI) Translated with an Introduction and Notes by STANLEY L. JAKI
"Intricate chains of stories, woven together in the activities of memory, are a characteristic medieval habit of mind that is not accidental, nor the manifestation of some time-spirit or 'mentality'. It was learned in school fromtexts like the Psychomachia. Like a tuning fork, the textual trope reverberates in the culture made personal memories of those who read it. So a reader's memory, not confined to worries about 'the author's intended meaning,' is freed to roam its memorial symphony, 'gathering up' harmonies and antithesis in the compositional activity which Hugh of St. Victor described as 'meditation,' the highest kind of study, that "takes the soul away from the noise of earthly business" (such as grammatical commentary) and "renders his life pleasant indeed" who makes a practice of it. Intrepretation can then become a form of prayer, a journey through memory like that Augustine took with his mother Monica, by means of which, at moments, the soul seems to
recollect beyond itself, to find out God's own sweetness."
"The Craft of Thought: Meditation, rhetoric and the making of images,
400-1200" (Cambridge University Press 1998) by Mary Carruthers, p.148.
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