ANTONIO MARIA PIOR. 



Hieronimo Cardano, who is a very great mathematician, 

 and reads Euclid there in Milan publicly, and who is at 

 present causing to be printed a work of his on the Prac- 

 tice of Arithmetic and Geometry and Algebra, which 

 \vill be of some note. And because he has understood 

 that you have been engaged in disputation with Master 

 Antonio Maria Fior, and that you agreed each to propose 

 thirty cases or questions, and did so ; and his excellency has 

 understood that the said Master Antonio Maria proposed 

 to you all his thirty which led you in algebra to a case of 

 the cosa and cube equal to the number. And that you 

 found a general rule for such case, and by the so great 

 strength of your invention you had resolved all the said 

 thirty questions proposed to you at the end of two hours. 

 Therefore his excellency prays you that you will kindly 

 make known to him that rule discovered by you, and 

 if you think fit he will make it public under your name 

 in his present work, but if you do not think fit that it 

 should be published he will keep it secret. 



NICOLO. Tell his excellency that he must pardon me; 

 when I propose to publish my invention, I will publish it 

 in a work [of my own, and not in the work of another 

 man, so that his excellency must hold me excused. 



ZUAN ANTONIO. If you object to make known to 

 him your discovery, his excellency has bidden me to pray 

 that you will, however, give him the said thirty questions 



