JEROME CARDAN 201 



physician that he was a fool, thereby delivering Cardan 

 at least from this annoyance. 



He had refused the terms which the party opposed to 

 him in the Senate at Bologna had sent for his accept- 

 ance, and was still waiting to hear whether they would 

 carry out their original propositions. It was during 

 this time of suspense that he was subjected to strange 

 and inexplicable treatment at the hands of the Milanese 

 Senate, treatment which, viewed by the light of his own 

 report the only one extant seems very harsh and 

 unjust. He writes : " At the time when I was greatly 

 angered by the action of the Bolognese agent, four of 

 the Senators persuaded me to seek practice once more 

 in Milan, wherefore I, having altered my plans, began to 

 try to earn an honest living, for I reckoned that the 

 Senate of Milan knew that I had rejected the offers 

 from Bologna, since these offers were unjust in them- 

 selves, and put before me in unjust fashion. But after- 

 wards, although the same iniquitous terms were offered 

 to me, I accepted them, not indeed because I was 

 satisfied therewith, but because of my necessity, and so 

 that I might be free from those dangers which, as I 

 have before stated, pressed upon me in those days. 

 The reason why I took this step was that the Senate, by 

 most unexpected action, removed my name from the 

 lists of those licensed to teach ; nor was this all. They 

 warned me by a message that they had recently given 

 hearing to a double charge against me of very grave 

 offences, and that nothing but my position, and the 

 interests of the College, kept them back from laying me 

 in hold. Nevertheless, influenced by these considera- 

 tions, they had been moved to reduce my punishment to 

 that of exile. But neither my good fortune nor God 

 deserted me ; for on the same day certain things came 



