230 JEROME CARDAN. 



upon which most people insisted. How so? He was a 

 peaceful doctor who had never carried arms ; she had 

 three brothers, soldiers, already privately given to prac- 

 tices which were against the law, but " which," said 

 Jerome, " I pass over, because I am not here to accuse 

 them, but to defend my son. They are known once to 

 have secretly threatened me for not doing what I could 

 not afford to do for the support of their dowerless sister, 

 and that fact may be seen in the public records. It is on 

 record also, that one of the brothers, Sforza, threatened 

 my son in my presence. In my absence, what might 

 they not do ? What law, then, can be so Scythian, as to 

 urge men whether they act, or do not act, to death and 

 infamy?" Moreover, he observed, that poison was an 

 agent which it was more honourable to use, since it re- 

 spected the woman's family, and removed from them the 

 occasion for an open scandal. 



He further entreated that the senate would not be 

 influenced by the bitterness of spirit shown by his son's 

 accusers. He quoted from ancient history a case decided 

 by the Areopagus, to which body he likened the most 

 learned senate. The boy had been despoiled by his wife's 

 family. He had been so preyed upon by the avarice of 

 his father-in-law, the poverty of his sisters, the petulance 

 of his mother-in-law, and of his wife, that in the bitterest 

 days of winter he had been forced to travel out on foot 



