66 JEROME CARDAN. 



the boat some horses. Their sail was torn, they had their 

 mast broken, lost also their rudder and one of their two 

 oars, when night came on. At last they came ashore at 

 Sirmione, when they were all despairing of a rescue, 

 Cardan most of all. They came ashore in good time, for 

 very few minutes afterwards, when they were housed 

 safely in their inn, a fierce burst of the storm arose, which 

 their disabled boat could by no chance have weathered. 

 The iron hinges of the windows in the inn were bent by 

 it. Jerome, who had been out of doors a confessed 

 coward, tells philosophically how all his valour came to 

 him when a fine pike was brought to table, and he supped 

 joyously, though his companions could not eat. The only 

 youth, except Cardan, who had an appetite, was he whose 

 rashness led the party into danger, and whose courage 

 found a safe way out of it 1 . 



But the scholar who was bold over his supper, and 

 cared little for the howling of the wind outside, may 

 have lost something of his boldness when the lights were 

 out and the loud wind at night hindered him from sleep- 

 ing. His philosophy had comprehended studies that 

 gave strength to superstition. Astrologers had predicted 

 from his horoscope that he would not live to be older 

 than forty or forty-five ; and he, believing them, took no 

 pains in the management of his inheritance to reserve any 

 1 De Vit. Propr. cap. xxx. p. ill. 



