JEROME CARDAN 169 



and contrived that this rumour should come to the ears 

 of the injured husband. The consequence of their 

 malignant tale-bearing was a quarrel more violent than 

 ever, and the rise of a resolution in Gian Battista's mind 

 to rid himself at all hazard of the accursed burden he 

 had bound upon his shoulders. 



Until the end of 1559 Cardan continued to live in 

 Milan, vexed no doubt by the ever-present spectacle of 

 the wretched case into which his beloved son had fallen. 

 He records how the young wife, unknown to her 

 husband, handed over to her father the wedding-ring 

 which he (Cardan) had given to his son, along with a piece 

 of silken stuff, in order to pledge them for money. This 

 outrage, joined to the certain conviction that his wife 

 was false to him, proved a provocation beyond the limits 

 of Gian Battista's patience, and finally incited him to 

 make a criminal attempt upon Brandonia's life. Hitherto 

 he had been earnest enough in his desire to rid himself 

 of his wife so long as she raged against him ; but, on the 

 restoration of peace, his anger against her would vanish. 

 Now he had lost all patience ; he laid his plans advisedly, 

 and set to work to execute them by enlisting the co- 

 operation of the servant who had been with him ever 

 since his marriage, and by taking to live with him in 

 his own house Seroni, his wife, and son and daughter. 1 

 It cannot be said that the would-be murderer displayed 

 at this juncture any of the traditional Italian craft in 

 setting about his deadly task. The day before the 

 attempt was made he took out of pawn the goods 

 which Evangelista Seroni had pledged, and promised his 

 servant a gift of clothes and money if he would compass 



1 Cardan in describing this action of Gian Battista, who was 

 then determined to murder his wife, says of him : " Erat enim 

 natura clemens admodum et gratus." De Utilitate> p. 834. 



