This contribution examines the mnemonic functions of a topical persona on the comic stage of early modern Italy: it portrays the capitano or braggart soldier and the conditions of theatrical farces as privileged sites for the appearance of abject images. The focus is on a close reading of two plays by Giovan Battista Della Porta (1535–1615), Trappolaria and Chiappinaria, the former a topical commedia erudita, the latter a farcical play. The prolific playwright and polymath also authored a treatise on the art of memory. Building on the research of G.L. Clubb and L. Bolzoni, who first highlighted the imbrications between Della Porta's mnemonics and his art of writing comedies, this chapter presents a first case study. It argues that as capitano is a topically farcical persona whose character unites the contradictory aspects of hyperbolic cruelty, cowardice, ridicule. He qualifies as an abject image in the strict sense: the capitano embodies traumatic violence and yet, he causes irrepressible, liberating laughter.