90 JEROME CARDAN 



for which was indeed contained in Tartaglia's verses, 

 but expressed somewhat obscurely, for which reason 

 Cardan had missed its meaning. 1 In his reply, Tar- 

 taglia ignores Jerome's courtesies altogether, and tells 

 him that what he especially desires at the present 

 moment is a sight of that volume on the Practice of 

 Arithmetic, "for," says he, "if I do not see it soon, I 

 shall begin to suspect that this work of yours will prob- 

 ably make manifest some breach of faith ; in other words, 

 that it will contain as interpolations certain of the rules 

 I taught you." Niccolo then goes on to explain the 

 difficulty which had puzzled Cardan, using terms which 

 showed plainly that he had as poor an opinion of his 

 correspondent's wit as of his veracity. 



Cardan was an irascible man, and it is a high tribute 

 to his powers of restraint that he managed to keep his 

 temper under the uncouth insults of such a letter as 

 the foregoing. The more clearly Tartaglia's jealous, 

 suspicious nature displays itself, the greater seems the 

 wonder that a man of such a disposition should ever 

 have disclosed such a secret. He did not believe Cardan 

 when he promised that he would not publish the rules 

 in question without his (the discoverer's) consent why 

 then did he believe him when he swore by the Gospel ? 

 The age was one in which the binding force of an oath 

 was not regarded as an obligation of any particular 

 sanctity if circumstances should arise which made the 

 violation of the oath more convenient than its observ- 

 ance. However, the time was not yet come for Jerome 



1 Cardan writes: " Vi supplico per I'amor che mi portati, et per 

 1'amicitia ch'e tra noi, che spero durara fin che viveremo, che mi 

 mandati sciolta questa questione. I cubo piu 3. cose egual a 10." 

 Cardan had mistaken (| ^) 3 for i #*> or tne cube of \ of the co- 

 efficient for \ of the cube of the co-efficient. Quesiti et Inventioni 

 p. 124. 



