JEROME CARDAN 175 



a certain powder to mix with Brandonia's food in order 

 to increase her flow of milk ; and, later on, when 

 confronted with the man from whom he had received 

 the poison, he confessed all ; and, simpleton as he was, 

 admitted that for two months past his mind had been 

 set upon the deed, and that on two previous occasions 

 he had attempted to administer to her the noxious drug 

 against the advice of his servant. From the first Cardan 

 had placed his hopes of deliverance in the intervention 

 of the Milanese Governor, the Duca di Sessa, who had 

 not long ago consulted him as physician, 1 but the Duke 

 refused to interfere. The intervention of an executive 

 officer in'the procedure of a Court of Justice was no rare 

 occurrence at that period, and Cardan was deeply disap- 

 pointed at the squeamishness or indolence of his whilom 

 patient. He records afterwards how the Duke met his 

 full share of the calamities which fell upon all those who 

 were concerned in Gian Battista's condemnation ; 2 and 

 in the Dialogus Tetim, a work which he wrote immedi- 

 ately after the trial, he bewails afresh the inaction of 

 this excellent ruler and the consequent loss of his son. 3 



For twenty days and more, while Gian Battista lay in 

 prison, Cardan, almost mad with apprehension and 

 suspense, spent his time studying in the library at 

 Milan. Sitting there one day, he heard a warning voice 

 which told him that the thing he most feared had indeed 



1 "Vocatus sum enim ad Ducem Suessanum ex Ticinensi 

 Academia accepique C. aureos coronates et dona ex serico." De 

 Vita Propria, ch. xl. p. 138. 



2 De Vita Propria, ch. xli. p. 153. 



3 Opera, torn. i. p. 671. He cites the names of former Governors 

 of Milan and other patrons, many of them harsh men, and not one as 

 kind and beneficent as the Duca di Sessa ; to wit Antonio Leva, 

 Cardinal Caracio, Alfonso d'Avalos, Ferrante Gonzaga, the Cardinal 

 of Trent, and the Duca d'Alba. Yet the rule of his best friend 

 brought him his worst misfortune. 



