CARDAN PENSIONED BY THE POPE. 299 



Cardan certainly was not a contumacious heretic, and, 

 being scarcely of sane mind, seemed to have gone astray 

 unwittingly, respect might be paid fairly to his unex- 

 ampled learning and the lustre of his name. He could 

 urge, therefore, that it would be a wise and sufficient mea- 

 sure in his case, simply and without harshness, to take care 

 that he should not again disseminate any opinions either 

 by lectures or by books, and that it would be prudent to 

 substitute for the means of subsistence so taken away a 

 pension that would for the future keep him out of mis- 

 chief, by compelling him to live at Rome, under the 

 control of the Pope, as his immediate dependent 1 . 



Cardinal Morone, too, had long been indebted to Car- 

 dan's skill as a physician, and being a most intelligent and 

 able man, had a sincere respect for him as a man of genius 

 and intellect. Morone had been the foremost Churchman 

 in the last sittings of the Council of Trent held at Bo- 

 logna, and by writers of every creed he has always been 

 looked back upon with a sincere respect. He was a just, 

 temperate, and accomplished man, second to no other 

 cardinal in influence ; and the patronage was irresistible 

 when he joined Borromeo in commending Cardan to the 

 favourable consideration of the Pope. 



1 For the account of Cardan's patrons and friends of Rome, see De 

 Vita Propria, cap. xv., which is the evidence for all that follows till a 

 fresh authority is cited. 



