JEROME CARDAN 193 



dan's relations with his brother physicians had never 

 been of the happiest, and it is quite possible that a 

 set may have been made in the Pavian Academy to get 

 rid of a colleague, difficult to live with at the best, and 

 now cankered still more in temper by misfortune, and 

 likewise, in a measure, disgraced by the same. Sur- 

 rounded by annoyances such as these, and tormented 

 by the intolerable memories and associations of the last 

 few years, it is not wonderful that he should seek a way 

 out of his troubles by a change of scene and occupation. 

 As early as 1536 Cardan had had professional rela- 

 tions with certain members of the Borromeo family, 

 which was one of the most illustrious in Milan, and in 

 1560 Carlo Borromeo was appointed Archbishop of 

 Milan. There is no record of the date when Cardan first 

 made acquaintance with this generous patron, who was 

 the nephew of the reigning Pope, Pius IV., himself a 

 Milanese, but it is certain that Cardan had at an earlier 

 date successfully treated the mother of the future Cardinal, 1 

 wherefore it is legitimate to assume that the physician 

 was persona grata to the whole family. As soon as 

 Cardan had determined to withdraw from Pavia he 

 applied to the Cardinal, who had just made a magnificent 

 benefaction to Bologna in the form of the University 

 buildings. He espoused Cardan's interests at once, and 

 most opportunely, for the protection of a powerful per- 

 sonage was almost as needful at Bologna, as the sequel 

 shows, as it would have been at Pavia. It was evident 

 that Cardan had foes elsewhere than in Pavia; indeed the 

 early stages of the negotiation, which went on in refer- 

 ence to his transfer to Bologna, suggest a doubt whether 

 the change would bring him any advantage other than 

 the substitution of one set of enemies for another. He 

 1 De Vita Propria^ ch. xvii. p. 55. 



