133 JEROME CARDAN. 



even when contracted from birth. Affections of his that 

 were not habitual were to be called diseases, as a blindness 

 and a deafness troubling him at times 1 ." 



But, says the philosopher, after having pointed out 

 various conjunctions of the stars, and pronounced among 

 other things that the monarch would have trouble from 

 quadrupeds, " he was a marvellous boy. I was told that 

 he had already mastered seven languages. In his own 

 language, French, and Latin, he was perfect. He was 

 not ignorant of dialectics, and in all things teachable. 

 When I had speech with him he was fifteen years old, 

 and he asked me (speaking Latin with as much polish and 

 promptitude as I could use myself) : 



" What is there in those rare books of yours on the 

 Variety of Things?" For I was obtaining leave to dedi- 

 cate them to him. 



Then I: "In the first chapter I show the cause of 

 comets, long sought for in vain." 



" What is it?" says he. 



" The concourse," I say, " of the light of the planets." 



But the king: " How is it, since the motions of those 

 stars are different, that it is not dissipated, or does not 

 move in accordance with their motion ?" 



But I: "It does so move, only much faster than they, 



1 Genituramm Exemplar, p. 15. 



