66 JEROME CARDAN 



pope is an old man, a tottering wall, as it were. Why 

 should I abandon a certainty for an uncertainty ? " l 

 The certainty he here alludes to must have been the 

 salary for the Plat lectureship ; and, as this emolument 

 was a very small one, it would appear that he did not 

 rate at a high figure any profits which might come to 

 him in the future from his acceptance of the Pope's 

 offer ; but, as he admits subsequently, he did not then 

 fully realize the benevolence of the Cardinal who 

 approached him on the subject, or the magnificent 

 patronage of the Farnesi. 2 It is quite possible that this 

 refusal of his may have been caused by a reluctance to 

 quit Milan, the city which had treated him in such 

 cruel and inhospitable fashion, just at the time when he 

 had become a man of mark. In the arrogance of success 

 it was doubtless a keen pleasure to let his fellow-towns- 

 men see that the man upon whom they had heaped 

 insult after insult for so many years was one who could 

 afford to let Popes and Cardinals pray for his services 

 in vain. But whatever may have been his humour, he 

 resolved to remain in Milan ; and, as he had no other 

 public duty to perform except the delivery of the Plat 

 lectures, he had abundant leisure to spend upon the 

 many and important works he had on hand at this 

 season. 



Cardan had now achieved European fame, and was 

 apparently on the high road to fortune, but on the 



1 "At ego qui, ut dixi, Harpocraticus sum dicebam: Summus 

 Pont : decrepitus est : murus ruinosus, certa pro incertis derelin- 

 quam?" De Vita Propria, ch. iv. p. 15. It is quite possible that 

 Paul III. may have desired to have Cardan about him on account 

 of his reputation as an astrologer, the Pope being a firm believer 

 in the influence of the stars. Vide Ranke, History of the Popes 

 i. 166. 



2 " Neque ego turn Moroni probitatem, nee Pharnesiorum 

 splendorem intelligebam." De Vita Propria, ch. iv. p. 15. 



