194 JEROME CARDAN. 



need to be condoled with over sorrow, because there is one 

 end to us all. And although contempt of money would be 

 foolish, and in these times (if ever) hard, nevertheless even 

 for money to contemn God would be a great deal worse. 

 Therefore your grandfather Fazio imposed upon me two 

 main precepts: one, daily to remember God and think 

 of his vast bounty and of all his benefits; the other, to 

 be thoroughly intent on anything I did while I was 

 doing it. 



" As for the Uses of Adversity, they teach you these 

 things : First, never to be angry. Anger impedes the 

 mind, and hinders it from seeing truth. There is grief 

 in anger, and it corrupts the habit of the body, making a 

 man in face and manner like a lunatic. Therefore when 

 Aristotle was asked what anger was, he replied, A tem- 

 porary madness. Do not be a liar : that is not only com- 

 manded by Scripture and philosophy, but the liar suffers 

 this loss, that his truth is not afterwards believed. Do not 

 live in idleness, but study perpetually, mindful of the saying 

 of the holy man : When the mind is idle, evil thoughts come 

 into it, as weeds and snakes abound in the uncultivated 

 field. Do not indulge in games of chance : it is written, 

 Fly from the dice ; gamblers of all kinds used to be in- 

 famous. You lose time, the dearest of things, and esti- 

 mation: you lose also your money. Never believe that 

 your fortune will change for the better if you do not free 



