2i6 JEROME CARDAN 



There was naturally a warning sign to be found in 

 this accident. 1 The smoke, Cardan said, denoted dis- 

 grace ; the fire, peril and fear ; the flame, a grave and 

 pressing danger to his life. The smouldering fire 

 signified secret plots which were to be put into execution 

 against him by his servants while he lay in bed. And 

 the fact that he set fire to the bed himself, denoted that 

 he would be able to meet any coming danger alone and 

 without assistance. The indictment against him was 

 foreshadowed by the fire and the flames and the smoke. 

 Poison and assault were not to be feared. Men might 

 indeed ask questions as to what kind of danger it could 

 be which only arose from those about him, and fell short 

 of poison and violence. The fire, he goes on to say, 

 signifies the Magistrate. More than once it seemed to 

 be extinct, but it always revived. Danger seemed to 

 threaten him less from open hostility than from the 

 cunning flattery of foes, and from over-confidence on 

 his own part. His books, which he had lately caused 

 to be printed, appeared to be in grave peril, but a graver 

 one overhung his life. He deemed that he would quit 

 the tribunal condemned by the empty scandal of the 

 crowd, suffering no slight loss, and worsted chiefly 

 through putting faith in false friends, and through his 

 own instability. On the whole, the loss would prove 

 inconsiderable ; the danger moderate, but the vexation 

 exceedingly heavy. These results might have sprung 

 from causes other than natural ones ; but, on the other 

 hand, such things often come about through chance. 

 They might prove to be a warning to him to keep clear 



1 He mentions this matter briefly in the De Vita Propria : " Bis 

 arsisset lectus, praedixi me non permansurum Bononise, et prima 

 vice restiti, secunda non potui." ch. xli. p. 151. A fuller account of 

 it is in Opera, torn. x. p. 464. 



