n6 JEROME CARDAN 



ing his thoughts fixed on holy things he rid himself at 

 last of the unclean spirit. 1 He quotes from Boethius the 

 whole story of Macbeth, 2 and tells how " Duffus rex " 

 languished and wasted under the malefic arts of certain 

 witches who made an image of the king in wax and, by 

 using various incantations, let the same melt slowly 

 away before the fire. The unhappy king came near to 

 die, but, as soon as these nefarious practices were dis- 

 covered, the image was destroyed, whereupon the king 

 was restored to health. 3 



When Cardan received the first letter from Scotland 

 the manuscript of the De Varietate must have been ready 

 or nearly ready for the printer ; but, for some reason or 

 other, he determined to postpone the publication of the 

 work until he should have finished with the Archbishop, 

 and took his manuscript with him when he set forth on 

 his travels. In 1550 there came another break in Cardan's 

 life as Professor at Pavia, the reason being the usual one 

 of dearth of funds. 4 In 1551 he went back for a short 

 time, but the storms of war were rising on all sides, and 

 the luckless city of Pavia was in the very centre of the 

 disturbance. The French once more crossed the Alps, 

 pillaging and devastating the country, their ostensible 

 mission being the vindication of the rights of Ottavio 

 Farnese to the Duchy of Parma. Ottavio had quarrelled 

 with Pope Julius III., who called upon the Emperor for 

 assistance. War was declared, and Charles set to work 

 to annex Parma and Piacenza as well to the Milanese. 

 Cardan withdrew to Milan at the end of the year. Gian 

 Battista had now completed his medical course, so there 

 was now no reason why he should continue to live 



1 De Varietate, p. 637. 2 Ibid., p. 637. 3 Ibid., p. 565. 

 4 " Peracto L anno quod stipendium non remuneraretur mansi 

 Mediolani." De Vita Propria, ch. iv. p. 15. 



