170 JEROME CARDAN 



the death of Brandonia, who was still ailing from the 

 effects of her second confinement. To this suggestion 

 the servant, who had also warned Gian Battista of his 

 wife's misconduct, at once assented. 



But even on the very day when he had fully deter- 

 mined to make his essay in murder he vacillated again 

 and again, and it seemed likely that Brandonia would 

 once more be reprieved. When he entered her bed- 

 chamber, full of his resolve to strike for freedom, he found 

 her lying gravely ill with an attack of fever, shivering 

 violently, and cold at the extremities. His anger forth- 

 with vanished, and his hand was stayed ; but as if urged 

 on by ruthless fate, the mother-in-law, and the sister, and 

 Brandonia herself, ill as she was, attacked Gian Battista 

 with the foulest abuse and reproaches ; this was the last 

 straw. He went out and sought his servant, and told 

 the fellow at once to make a cake and put a poison 

 therein. The date of this fatal action was some day 

 early in 1560. 



On October i, 1559, Cardan had left Milan, and 

 gone back to Pavia to resume his work as professor, 

 taking Aldo with him. He threw himself into the dis- 

 charge of his office and the life of the city with his 

 customary ardour. Over and above his work of teach- 

 ing he completed his treatise De Secretis, and likewise 

 found time to hold a long disputation on the decisions 

 of Galen with Andrea Camutio, one of the most illus- 

 trious physicians of the age. Concerning this episode 

 he writes : " In disputation I showed myself so keen of 

 wit that all men marvelled at the instances I brought 

 forward, but for a long time no one ventured to put me 

 to the proof. Thus I escaped the trouble of any such 

 undertaking until two accidents both unforeseen in- 

 volved me therein. At Pavia, Branda Porro, my whilom 



