2 8 JEROME CARDAN 



legend for what it is worth. But it must likewise be 

 noted that in the extant records of the University there 

 is no mention of his name in the lists of Rectors. 1 



Jerome has left very few details as to his life at 

 Padua. Of those which he notices the following are 

 the most interesting: "In 1525, the year in which I 

 became Rector, I narrowly escaped drowning in the 

 Lago di Garda. I went on board the boat, unwillingly 

 enough, which carried likewise some hired horses ; and, 

 as we sailed on, the mast and the rudder, and one of 

 the two oars we had with us, were broken by the wind. 

 The sails, even those on the smaller mast, were split, 

 and the night came on. We landed at last safe and 

 sound at Sirmio, but not before all my companions 

 had given up hope, and I myself was beginning to 

 despair. Indeed, had we been a minute later we must 

 have perished, for the tempest was so violent that the 

 iron hinges of the inn windows were bent thereby. I, 

 though I had been sore afraid ever since the wind 

 began to blow, fell to supper with a good heart when 

 the host set upon the board a mighty pike, but none 

 of the others had any stomach for food, except the one 

 passenger who had advised us to make trial of this 

 perilous adventure, and who had proved to be an able 

 and courageous helper in our hour of distress. 



" Again, once when I was in Venice on the birthday 

 of the Virgin, I lost some money at dicing, and on the 



1 "Ab anno 1509 usque ad annum 1515 ob bellum Cameracense 

 Gymn. interrmissum fuit." Elenchus nominum Patavii (1706), p. 

 28. The first names given after this interregnum are Dom. Jo. 

 Maria de Zaffaris, Rector in Arts, and Dom. Marinus de Ongaris, 

 Rector in Jurisprudence in 1527. 



Papadapoli (Historia Gymn. Patav.} gives the name of As- 

 canius Serra as pro- Rector in 1526: no Rector being mentioned 

 at all. 



