It is from him [Cadmus] that this ingenious art comes to us of painting words and speaking to the eyes; and by the different forms of traced figures, giving colour and body to the thoughts.
C'est de lui que nous vient cet art ingenieux
De peindre la parole et de parler aux yeux;
Et par les traits divers de figures tracées,
Donner de la couleur et du corps aux pensées.
De peindre la parole et de parler aux yeux;
Et par les traits divers de figures tracées,
Donner de la couleur et du corps aux pensées.
Original text (French)
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Source, in full
The Invention of Letters. "I would give," said Corneille, "one of my tragedies for these four lines." So Lucan, Pharsalia, bk. 3, l. 220: "Phœnices primi, famæ si creditur, ausi / Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris." Reported in Craufurd Tait Ramage (ed.) Beautiful Thoughts from French and Italian Authors (Liverpool: Edward Howell, 1866) p. 10