174 JEROME CARDAN. 



although they were not equal to a contest with Cardan. 

 He was not so good a scholar and a critic as his son, but 

 he was a better poet, and a justly eminent physician. 

 During the first forty-seven years of his life he published 

 nothing ; then he began to print, and thenceforth poured 

 out writings in a flood. He had a wonderful memory, 

 and understood Hungarian, German, Italian, Spanish, 

 French, Greek, and Latin; he accomplished a feat that 

 had been achieved by no other alien, and by few French- 

 men not to the manner born he caught the Gascon dialect 

 most perfectly, and talked it like a native. He was kind 

 to the sick, and hated liars. He thought it no lie to 

 declare that Xenophon and Massinissa rolled together 

 would not make a Scaliger, He was well made, tall, and 

 robust, of course. How could he have been puny? At 

 the age of sixty-four he could carry a weight that four 

 ordinary men would barely lift. " My late father, in 

 walking, was so bold and erect, and yet he was gouty; 

 that belongs to us by race, bold and erect walking." 



I must add, upon the same authority, two or three 

 minor characteristics, to complete our picture of the man. 

 " My father painted perfectly, both in the Greek and 

 Latin style, yet only with two fingers, the thumb and 

 ring-finger, on account of gout, old pictures and new 



ones Neither my father nor I ever have needed 



spectacles. My father did not mend his pens, they were 



