28 JEROME CARDAN. 



were the hours during which they had no father to watch 

 over them ; for, as Cardan has properly said, the man who 

 writes and is intent upon his writing, is for the time 

 being unable to see beyond his table ; blind, therefore, 

 and also deaf and dumb 1 . 



But the philosopher was not neglectful of his charge. 

 In 1547 he was called to see a patient in Genoa 2 , and 

 after his return from that journey made some amends to 

 his children for his absence by the composition of a little 

 Book of Precepts 3 for their use. Into it he put in a con- 

 densed form what he took to be the elements of wisdom, 

 wording it in proverbs, among which are some taken, 

 like the chief part of the learning of the time, from the 

 ancients, as from Cicero, Seneca, or Publius Syrus ; some 

 were Italian proverbs current in his day, but the greater 

 number were his own, for he was apt at writing pithy 

 sentences, and freely scattered them about his works. 

 Where they have been taken from others they were not 

 unfrequently adapted to his use before they were adopted 

 by him. 



The little Book of Precepts to his children is important 

 to this history of Cardan's life, because it is in the highest 

 degree characteristic of the writer. If we keep in mind 



1 De Subtilitate. Lib. xiv. 



2 De Libris Propriis. Lib. ult. Op. Tom. i. p. 109. 



3 Hieronymi Cardani Medici Mediolanensis Libellus Frseceptorum 



Filiis. 



