JEROME CARDAN 191 



was to take this step they began to threaten. What 

 was I to do, broken down by the cruel fate of my son, 

 and suffering every possible evil ? Finally I agreed, 

 induced by the promise they made me, that, in the 

 course of a few days, I should be relieved of my duties 

 as Professor ; but I did not then perceive the snare, or 

 consider how it was that they should now court the 

 fellowship of one whom, less than fifteen days ago, all 

 ranks of the College had declared to be a monster not 

 to be tolerated. Alas for faith in heaven, for the 

 barbarity of men, for the hatred of false friends, for that 

 shamelessness and cruelty more fell than serpent's bite ! 

 What more is there to tell ? The first time I entered 

 the room of the Affidati I saw that a heavy beam had 

 been poised above in such fashion that it might easily 

 fall and kill whatsoever person might be passing under- 

 neath. Whether this had been done by accident or 

 design I cannot say. But hereafter I attended as rarely 

 as possible, making excuses for my absence ; and, when 

 I did go, I went when no one looked for me, and out of 

 season, taking good heed of this trap the while. Where- 

 fore no evil befell me thereby, either because my foes 

 deemed it unwise to work such wickedness in public, or 

 because they had not finally agreed to put their scheme 

 in operation, or because they were plotting some fresh 

 evil against me. Another attempt was made a few 

 days later, when I was called to the ailing son of one 

 Piero Trono, a surgeon ; they placed high over the door 

 a leaden weight which might easily be made to fall, 

 pretending that it had been put there to hold up the 

 curtain. This weight did fall ; and, had it struck me, it 

 would certainly have killed me : how near I was to 

 death, God knows. Wherefore I began to be suspicious 

 of something I could not define, so greatly was my 



