Recollection

There are two types of recollection methods: memoria rerum - memorizing the "gist" of a piece of literature and memoria verborum - memorizing a text word for word. Cicero suggested when giving a speech that the speaker should create an image for each major topic in the speech and memorize them through a journey (rerum). Therefore, you hit the main points and it is far less information to memorize. He also said that the best way to memorize a piece of literature is to repeat a line two or three times before developing a series of images for it. For words that could not easily be turned into an image, like conjunctions "and", "or", and "the" he had pre-memorized images that he would insert into the journey he created. For unimaginable words he would visualize a similar sounding or punning word.