THE POPE'S OFFER DECLINED. 9 



habits as a student, it enabled him to renew with energy, 

 under the best conditions, that study of his profession 

 which he had suffered to become lax at Milan, and a far 

 more important advantage attached to it was, that it 

 placed him in the best position for the education of his 

 eldest son ; Gianbatista then was of an age to study medi- 

 cine, and a young relative, Gaspar Cardan, worked with 

 him under Jerome's supervision. His love for his studies 

 and his love for his son, alike bound the new professor to 

 the lecture-table 1 . He had quitted Pavia only for a time 

 while trouble made the university a bankrupt, but he did 

 not remain absent longer than a year. In 1547 he re- 

 turned to the duties of his professorship, and in that year 

 was tempted by another dazzling offer 2 . 



Jerome had gone to Pavia with great honour, accom- 

 panied and lauded by his former teacher, Curtius, whose 

 fame he was already surpassing. It was probably at 

 Pavia that he had the opportunity of establishing a 

 friendship with a very famous teacher, the bold founder 

 of modern anatomy, Andreas Vesalius. Vesalius was 

 thriving rapidly. He had defied the prejudices of 

 his age, and based the study of the human frame on 

 actual dissection of the divine image. He had contra- 



De Lib. Prop. Lib. ult. Opera, Tom. i. p. 131. 



2 Authority for the details of the succeeding offer, and the reasons 

 given for its refusal, will be found in chapter iv. De Vita Propria, and 

 in the last book of De Libris Propriis. Opera, Tom. i. 



