248 JEROME CARDAN. 



half the expression of an allegory. But in his last years 

 the belief was real. He thus wrote in the dialogue, 

 speaking of himself through his imaginary character : 



" Ram. So many and such great marvels have hap- 

 pened to him against his will, that I am forced to suspect, 

 and he too with whom I am very intimate, himself thinks, 

 that he has a genius, and a great, powerful, and rare one; 

 so that he is not lord of his own actions, but what he 

 desires he does not have, what he has he did not desire, 

 or even hope for. But he turns with horror from this 

 thought, and acquiesces in it only when he thinks that 

 all things are prepared by God. 



" Tetim. But what is its nature? For some are said 

 to be saturnine, others jovial, and so of others. 



"Ram. It is suspected to be under Venus, with a 

 mixture from Mercury and Saturn. 



" Tetim. All such live miserably and perish, though 

 the name of some grows to be great. 



' ' Ram. I do not know that, because I know no one 

 who has had a familiar genius of this sort except the man 

 of whom I speak, and his father, and Socrates." 



The sudden loss of character and fortune that had fallen 

 on Cardan deprived him of the power of assisting properly 

 the English William who still dwelt in his house, and had 

 grown up to be a young man twenty-two years old, for 

 whose future career the provision had been still from year 

 to year delayed. Cardan had strong affection for him, 



