CHAPTER XIII 



AFTER the accusation brought against him at Milan 

 in 1562, Cardan had been prohibited from teaching or 

 lecturing in that city, and similar disabilities had followed 

 his recent imprisonment at Bologna. At Rome no duties 

 of this kind awaited him, so he had full time to follow 

 his physician's calling after taking up his residence there. 

 He records the cure of a noble matron, Clementina 

 Massa, and of Cesare Buontempo, a jurisconsult, both 

 of whom had been suffering for nearly two years. The 

 circumstances of his retirement from Bologna would not 

 affect his reputation as a physician, and he seems to 

 have had in Rome as many or even more patients 

 than he cared to treat ; and in writing in general terms 

 concerning his successes as a healer, he says : " In all, I 

 restored to health more than a hundred patients, given 

 up as incurable in Milan, in Bologna, and in Rome." Of 

 all the friends Cardan had in this closing period of his 

 life, none was more useful or benevolent than Cardinal 

 Alciati, who, although he had been secretary to Pius IV., 

 contrived to retain the favour of his successor. This 

 piece of good fortune Alciati owed to the protection of 

 Carlo Borromeo, who had been his pupil at Pavia, and 

 had procured for him from Pius IV. a bishopric, a car- 

 dinal's hat, and the secretaryship of Dataria. Another 

 of Cardan's powerful friends was the Prince of Matellica, 



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