192 JEROME CARDAN 



mind upset. Then a third attempt was made, which 

 was evident enough. A few days later, when they were 

 about to sing a new Mass, the same rascally crew came 

 to me, asking me whether I would lend them the 

 services of my two singing boys, for my enemies knew 

 well enough that these boys acted as my cup-bearers, 

 and over and beyond this they made an agreement with 

 my hired woman that she should give me poison. They 

 first went to Ercole and tried to persuade him to go 

 to the function ; and he, suspecting nothing, at first 

 promised his help ; but when he heard that his fellow 

 was to go likewise, he began to smell mischief and said, 

 ' Only one of us knows music.' Then Fioravanti, a 

 blunt fellow, was so wholly set on getting them out of the 

 house that he said, ' Let us have both of you, for we 

 know that the other is also a musician ; and, though he 

 may not be one of the best, still he will serve to swell 

 the band of choristers.' Then Ercole said somewhat 

 vaguely that he would ask his master. He came to me, 

 having fathomed and laid bare the whole intention of 

 the plot, so that, if I had not been stark mad and stupid, 

 I might easily have seen through their design. Fifteen 

 days or so had passed when the same men once more 

 sought me out and begged me to let them have the two 

 boys to help them in the performance of a comedy. 

 Then Ercole came to me and said, ' Now in sooth the 

 riddle is plain to read ; they are planning to get all 

 your people away from your table, so that they may 

 kill you with poison ; nor are they satisfied with plot- 

 ting your death merely by tricks of this sort ; they are 

 determined to kill you by any chance which may offer." l 

 How far these plots were real, and how far they 

 sprang from monomania it is impossible to say. Car- 

 1 De Vita Propria, ch. xxx. p. 86. 



