JEROME CARDAN 85 



ness. It begins with an attempt to soften down the 

 asperities of their former correspondence, some abuse of 

 Giovanni Colla, and an apology for the rough words of 

 his last epistle. Cardan then shows how their mis- 

 understanding arose chiefly from a blunder made by 

 Juan Antonio in delivering the message, and invites 

 Tartaglia to come and visit him in his own house in 

 Milan, so that they might deliberate together on mathe- 

 matical questions ; but the true significance of the letter 

 appears in the closing lines. " I told the Marchese of 

 the instruments which you had sent him, and he showed 

 himself greatly pleased with all you had done. And he 

 commanded me to write to you forthwith in pressing 

 terms, and to tell you that, on the receipt of my letter, 

 you should come to Milan without fail, for he desires to 

 speak with you. And I, too, exhort you to come at 

 once without further deliberation, seeing that this said 

 Marchese is wonted to reward all men of worth in such 

 noble and magnanimous and liberal fashion that none 

 of them ever goes away dissatisfied." 



The receipt of this letter seems to have disquieted 

 Tartaglia somewhat ; for he has added a note to it, in 

 which he says that Cardan has placed him in a position 

 of embarrassment. He had evidently wished for an in- 

 troduction to D'Avalos, but now it was offered to him 

 it seemed a burden rather than a benefit. He disliked 

 the notion of going to Milan ; yet, if he did not go, the 

 Marchese d'Avalos might take offence. But in the end 

 he decided to undertake the journey ; and, as D'Avalos 

 happened then to be absent from Milan on a visit to 

 his country villa at Vigevano, he stayed for three days 

 in Cardan's house. As a recorder of conversations Tar- 

 taglia seems to have had something of Boswell's gift. 

 He gives an abstract of an eventful dialogue with his 



