170 JEROME CARDAN. 



Julius Caesar, after his place of education in Sclavonia, Da 

 Burden, in order to distinguish clearly between him and 

 his brother Titus. Enemies of Scaliger made light, after- 

 wards, of the Verona story, and undertook to prove that 

 he belonged to a family of humble tradesfolk, bearing the 

 name of Burden. Julius Caesar, rightly or wrongly, held 

 himself to be a prince born to a principality that was 

 maintained against him by the enemy, Verona being in 

 the hands of the Venetians. To get his own, he thought 

 that he could do nothing better than become a pope, and 

 declare war with Venice. He, therefore, at length quitted 

 his post in the army, and began a bold push for the pope- 

 dom by betaking himself to Bologna with a view to prepa- 

 ration for an entry into the Franciscan order. He studied 

 at Bologna logic and scholastic philosophy especially 

 the works of Duns Scotus but a little closer knowledge 

 of Franciscans soon disgusted him, and he forsook their 

 company. At Bologna he had made himself remarkable 

 by having his hair cropped, while other Italians wore it 

 tolerably long on each side of the face, as the monks used 

 to do. He became known, therefore, by his crown among 

 the Bolognese as Tonso da Burden. That name he re- 

 tained when he left study, and, resuming his old profes- 

 sion as a soldier, served under the King of France in 

 Italy. He was diverted at last from a military life by 

 love of knowledge and by gout, and having been suf- 



