JEROME CARDAN 199 



charge made against him of an infamous character. It 

 is almost certain that his way was made all the harder 

 for him from the complaints which he had put in print 

 about the indifference of the Duca di Sessa to his 

 interests at the time of Gian Battista's trial. The 

 Milanese doctors had no love for him, and every 

 petulant word he might let fall would almost surely be 

 brought to the Governor's ears. By Cardan's own ad- 

 mission it appears that utterances of this sort were both 

 frequent and acrid. There was a certain physician of 

 the city who wished to place his son gratis in Cardan's 

 household. Cardan, however, refused, whereupon the 

 physician in question called attention to a certain 

 book in which Cardan had made some remarks to the 

 effect that the friendship of the Duca di Sessa had been 

 a fatal one to him, inasmuch as, having trusted too 

 entirely to this friendship for his support, he had let go 

 other interests which might have served him better. 

 The physician aforesaid made a second application to 

 Cardan to receive his son, offering this time to intercede 

 with the Governor on his behalf. This proposition 

 roused the old man's anger, and he exclaimed that he 

 had no need of such friendship or protection ; that in 

 fact the interruption of their good understanding had 

 come about more by his own act than the Governor's, 

 who had been either unable or unwilling to save Gian 

 Battista's life. The doctor replied, in the presence of 

 divers persons, that Gian Battista had perished through 

 his own foolishness : if he had not confessed he would 

 never have been condemned ; that the Senate had con- 

 demned him and not the Duca di Sessa, and that 

 Cardan was now slandering this prince most unjustly. 

 A lot of busy-bodies had by this time been attracted 

 by the wrangle, and these heard the doctor's accusations 



